Conciliation or confrontation: Chinese responses to anti-Chinese violence in North Sumatra during the Indonesian revolution, 1945-1949

Abstract

“Gajah berjuang sama gajah, pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah (or when two great powers fight, the people in between become the victim).” This old Indonesian saying was cited by a Chinese newspaper from Medan in April 1947 to describe the situation of Chinese people in Indonesia. Chinese people had become victims of violence during the Indonesian revolution, especially in places where military conflict between Indonesian forces and Dutch forces took place. This paper focuses on the responses of Chinese people and their organisations to anti-Chinese violence in North Sumatra during the revolution. Concentrating - at specific turning points - on external interventions, internal tensions, and social networks, it will be shown that Chinese people in North Sumatra employed divergent strategies of response to protect themselves against violence. Ranging between expressing support for Indonesian independence and promoting solidarity between the Chinese people and the Indonesian people on the one hand, and armed confrontation and the “use violence against violence” on the other hand, responses violence became increasingly divided between conciliation and outright confrontation. Finally, the effect of the strategies of conciliation and confrontation will be assessed. Keywords: Indonesian national revolution, North Sumatra, violence, ethnicity.