The National Status Of The Chinese In Indonesia

Originally published: Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, c1961.

For decades, Chinese Indonesians have been in numerous harshspotlights in their own country. Starting from supposedly simple thingslike obtaining official documents to be legal citizens of Indonesia, theironly homeland now, where they can be harassed and cornered, whichnot seldom can extend to the extremes where they are made as victimsand scapegoat particularly when issues related to racism arise.Similar to other ethnic groups, they also live in different economicclasses. Some are very wealthy, some are rich, some live in the middleclasseconomy, some dwell in their simple lives, some are poor, andsome try to survive their abject poverty.In the urban areas, they are seen to live a good life; some arevery rich or even extremely prosperous. Most of these people arebusinessmen, ranging from a colossal size to a mere small business.However, reality also shows that many Chinese Indonesians in thesuburb areas live an uncertain day-to-day life and some are evenextremely poor. Fishermen in Tangerang, North Sumatra, Riau, Bangkaor pedicab drivers, unskilled labor, angkot (a small public minibus)drivers, domestic maids, office boys, and blue collar workers in WestKalimantan (Sambas and Singkawang) and Bangka are factual examplesof the grueling lives that they have to carry on striving.In spite of all the facts, people often forget or even intentionallyignore the facts that many Chinese Indonesians have also madepositive contributions to their country in many different aspects, suchas economy, sports, culture, science, or political sectors to name afew. These facts also need to be understood and enlightened to fellowcountrymen in order to portray a more balanced, objective view, andnon-discriminatory judgment which in turn can prevent hatred, dislike,and other unfavorable prejudice against Indonesian citizens of Chinesedescent due to the past inaccurate stereotype and labeling.This book tries to present an objective portrait of ChineseIndonesians and their roles within their own beloved country and state,with the very same goal of all proud Indonesian countrymen—to createa stronger unity and integrity of Indonesia, a country that highly valuespluralism and the unity-in-diversity principle through the distinguishedPancasila philosophy

For decades, Chinese Indonesians have been in numerous harsh spotlights in their own country. Starting from supposedly simple things like obtaining official documents to be legal citizens of Indonesia, their only homeland now, where they can be harassed and cornered, which not seldom can extend to the extremes where they are made as victims and scapegoat particularly when issues related to racism arise. Similar to other ethnic groups, they also live in different economic classes. Some are very wealthy, some are rich, some live in the middleclass economy, some dwell in their simple lives, some are poor, and some try to survive their abject poverty. In the urban areas, they are seen to live a good life; some are very rich or even extremely prosperous. Most of these people are businessmen, ranging from a colossal size to a mere small business. However, reality also shows that many Chinese Indonesians in the suburb areas live an uncertain day-to-day life and some are even extremely poor. Fishermen in Tangerang, North Sumatra, Riau, Bangka or pedicab drivers, unskilled labor, angkot (a small public minibus) drivers, domestic maids, office boys, and blue collar workers in West Kalimantan (Sambas and Singkawang) and Bangka are factual examples of the grueling lives that they have to carry on striving. In spite of all the facts, people often forget or even intentionally ignore the facts that many Chinese Indonesians have also made positive contributions to their country in many different aspects, such as economy, sports, culture, science, or political sectors to name a few. These facts also need to be understood and enlightened to fellow countrymen in order to portray a more balanced, objective view, and non-discriminatory judgment which in turn can prevent hatred, dislike, and other unfavorable prejudice against Indonesian citizens of Chinese descent due to the past inaccurate stereotype and labeling. This book tries to present an objective portrait of Chinese Indonesians and their roles within their own beloved country and state, with the very same goal of all proud Indonesian countrymen—to create a stronger unity and integrity of Indonesia, a country that highly values pluralism and the unity-in-diversity principle through the distinguished Pancasila philosophy

By taking regime change as its main theme this book offers a new perspective on the multiple roles that Chinese Indonesians played in terms of shaping, moderating, and stimulating social change in Indonesia.

This book examines how the Indonesian Chinese who were born after 1966 negotiate meanings about their culture and identity through their collective memory of growing up in a restrictive media environment that specifically curtailed Chinese language and culture. The restrictive media environment was the result of a series of policies administered during the Suharto era (1965-1998). According to the regulations, the Indonesian government closed all Chinese-language schools and prohibited the use of Chinese characters in public places, the import of Chinese-language publications, and all public forms and expressions of Chinese culture. In the past century, and particularly in the past decade, much attention has been given to China and its rising status as a world economic power. Scholarship on overseas Chinese has also shed light on their relationship with their 'mythic homeland', China. In their work, scholars discovered that the Chinese of Southeast Asia have created a prominent economic, political, and cultural presence in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. In the 1960s, scholars such as George Kahin, Ruth McVey, and Benedict Anderson were drawn to the political upheavals in Indonesia and the various roles that the Chinese of Indonesia have played in the economic, political, and cultural arenas of their country. In later years, Charles Coppel and Leo Suryadinata have published extensively on various aspects of the Chinese in Indonesia, such as their religious affiliations and education. Despite the considerable attention given to the Chinese of Indonesia, scholars have not specifically studied, through the lens of the media, how a certain group of Chinese Indonesians grew up in a restrictive media and cultural environment during the 33 years when Indonesia was ruled by Suharto. This book takes the first step in examining this generation's collective memory of growing up in a state-controlled environment that has had a significant impact on their identity formation, maintenance, and the (re)negotiation of 'Chineseness' in their everyday lives. This book will appeal especially to media, cultural studies, and Southeast Asian studies scholars, researchers, and students.

This report is the latest of the studies of the Chinese minority in Indonesia to be published by the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. The Project has a long-term interest in this subject, and earlier studies which it has published include Giok-Lan Tan's The Chinese of Sukabumi and Donald E. Willmott's The National Status of the Chinese in Indonesia 1900-1958. In the present Interim Report Mary F. Somers undertakes to view the overseas Chinese question as part of the politics of Indonesia, concentrating on the persons of Chinese descent who are Indonesian citizens. She devotes particular attention to the peranakan Chinese organization, Baperkip and the role it has played, both in Indonesia's Chinese community and generally on the Indonesian political scene. She is also concerned with the reaction of the peranakan Chinese to the possibility of cultural assimilation into Indonesian society and the willingness of the Indonesians to accept them. After gaining her B.A. in History and Chinese Language at Trinity College in Washington, D.C., Miss Somers entered Cornell University in 1958 as a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Government and Southeast Asia Program. Following an initial period of research at Cornell and an intensive study of the Chinese (Mandarin) and Indonesian languages, she carried out research in Indonesia from December 1961 to May 1963 under a Foreign Area Training Fellowship. While there she interviewed prominent Chinese widely - both in Java and in Sumatra (Palembang, Medan, Padang), in Sulawesi (Makassar) and in Kalimantan (Bandjarmasin, Pontianak, Singkawang). Miss Somers wishes to emphasize that the conclusions she has reached in the report are tentative; and she hopes to develop them further in a forthcoming publication. She would, therefore, welcome any comments on or criticisms of her study. - George McT. Kahin, March 16, 1964