Ethnic Chinese in ASEAN to see limited Spring Festival celebrations amid pandemic

Kuala Lumpur resident Yuen Munn feels a pity that she could not return to her hometown in northwestern Malaysia this year for the coming Lunar New Year.

The business executive in her 30s usually spends Chinese New Year with her mother and extended home in Penang, where the whole clan gathers together for the annual reunion. But this year restrictions in wake of the pandemic are reducing the gathering to a "family reunion" via video calls.

Still, "I bought oranges and cookies so that I feel the spirit of the Chinese New Year holiday," she said.

Yuen is just one of the millions of ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia who are welcoming the Spring Festival around Feb 12 with limited activities. In this multi-ethnic region, this major festival is a public holiday in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

In Malaysia, where the ethnic Chinese community comprises over 20 percent of its roughly 32 million population, the National Unity Ministry said a maximum of 15 members from different households living within 10 kilometers of each other will be allowed to dine together for their reunion dinner as inter-state travel remains barred. So the usual huge family gatherings and lion-and-dragon dance performances are unlikely this time and even temple praying is limited.

Similar limits on household visits and reunion dinners are seen in Singapore, where 70 percent of the population are ethnic Chinese.

Despite its general success in fighting COVID-19, the Singaporean government prefers caution especially during a festive period like the Chinese New Year holiday.

At present each household can only accept a maximum of eight guests each day and visits to family are capped to two households per day. Those who will hold reunion dinners in restaurants are barred from having multiple table bookings, unless they belong from the same household. Inter-mingling across tables is discouraged and everyone is required to wear a mask even during the tossing of yusheng – a raw fish salad that symbolizes prosperity and abundance.

"This Chinese New Year is literally 'cancelled' for us actually, since we won't be meeting those other relatives whom we usually meet once a year," said Chua Guan Cheong, a forty-something business manager, who still plans to spend the holiday visiting his parents and sibling.

Manila-based lawyer Kristine Jane Liu will be using this Lunar New Year holiday playing with her eight-month old son Kai. "I will just stay at home because it's too risky to go out, " Liu said.

Liu is a Chinese-Filipina growing up in Binondo, a district in the Philippine capital and known as the country's Chinatown and usually a center of the country's annual Chinese New Year festivities.

But this year, Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso has issued an executive order banning the holding of parades, street dances and other festivities during the Chinese New Year. He also banned the selling of alcoholic beverages in Binondo.

Domagoso said these activities have to be cancelled as they can serve as an "easy medium of COVID-19 spread and transmission" and will threaten not only the health of Binondo resident but also visitors to the celebrations.

Compared with other countries in the region, Brunei has a low infection rate. Health Minister Mohammad Isham Jaafar said the government allows big families to hold their dinner at banquet halls, hotels or restaurants but these gatherings are limited to 350 people and health protocols should be followed.

Brunei is home to more than 40,000 ethnic Chinese, accounting for about 10 percent of the sultanate's predominantly Malay population. Chinese New Year in Brunei always involves "open houses" -- households inviting friends, neighbors and colleagues for a day of feasting – which are suspended this time.

"Overall, I think most of us are glad that COVID-19 cases in Brunei (are not high) enough to warrant a full lockdown," said Khoo Jin Shen, a Bruneian journalist.

Koo is looking forward to his grandmother's homemade snacks such as prawn crackers and traditional Malay cakes known as kueh that will be served at Chinese New Year's Eve family dinner. He also expects that most Bruneians will enjoy a "more relaxed" Chinese New Year.