Exclusive victimhood, higher ethnic and lower national identities predict less support for reconciliation among native and Chinese Indonesians through mutual prejudice

Abstract

Although the colonial era in Indonesia has ended, the legacy of conflict persists. Current conflicts between native and Chinese Indonesians has a colonial underpinning as well. The Dutch classified Chinese Indonesians as middle class, having higher status than natives which changed in the post-colonial era. This classification and the consequent status changes created competitive victimhood beliefs among both groups and impacted each other’s perception, which evolved into stereotypes and persisting conflicts. This paper is based on an online survey study conducted among native and Chinese Indonesians (N = 656) who are divided by ethnicity, religion, language, and their different histories of collective victimhood but united by being part of the Indonesian nation. Using structural equation modeling, we hypothesized and found that exclusive victimhood and ethnic identity predicted higher, whereas Indonesian national identity predicted lower prejudice, and in turn, higher prejudice predicted lower support for reconciliation. These findings have theoretical implications for research on social identity and collective victimhood and practical consequences for understanding intergroup relations in multi-ethnic post-colonial contexts.