Imagining Indonesia From Afar: Exploratory Thoughts on Utopian, Nostalgic, and Embodied Longing for the Homeland

Abstract

Unlike India and China, which have largest diaspora worldwide and have been nurturing their connections with their multi-generational overseas population for a long time, Indonesia has only recently started to pay more attention to fellow Indonesians outside of homeland. In August 2013, Wahid Supriyadi, head of Diaspora Desk at Indonesian Foreign Ministry, welcomed more than three thousand diasporans at a three-day conference in Jakarta. This event served to discuss issues, such as immigration and citizenship, business and investment, education, culture and youth affairs, and other matters of interest to Indonesian diaspora (Soemartopo, 2012). Wahid Supriyadi, main organizer of event, expressed his hope stating that the fundamental objective of engaging with diaspora was to find ways for Indonesia to benefit. In other words, Indonesians overseas could potentially be courted to invest in country and contribute to its development (3,000 to Attend Sunday's, 2013). Economic aspirations aside, how do 'ordinary' Indonesian diasporans, outside of such business-minded organizations, perceive their 'homeland'? What non-economic imaginations of and anchorages (Meel, 2011) for Indonesia do they have in their minds and hearts? In order to explore in more depth what Indonesians located overseas aspire to for their homeland beyond economic progress and how they imagine a 'better' Indonesia for future, which includes their own participation and contributions while living outside tanah air (homeland), this special issue has compiled work of five authors who have critically examined this question within realms of their specific disciplines.Currently, between 1.8 and 6 million Indonesians are living and working overseas (Muhidin & Utomo, 2013), first and foremost in Malaysia and Middle East. With most Indonesians just having recently established overseas communities, there are, however, also some rather established Indonesian diaspora communities (Martinez & Vickers, 2012; Meel, 2011). While away from 'home', 'homeland' shapes post-migratory life significantly and therefore remains a special point of reference for people's biographies. Many overseas Indonesians choose to uphold their connections with people and institutions in Indonesia due to modern communication technologies and more affordable transportation, both of which allow for more regular real-time contact (Trupp & Dolezal, 2013). Despite these opportunities for 'staying in touch' with current developments in Indonesia, homeland imaginaries are shaped to a large extent by other, often rather emotive, factors. As Peter Meel (2011) reminds us, anchorage includes in particular language, religion, cuisine, etiquette, art, dance, literature, and music. Whether homeland is primarily understood as country of origin or simply country that ancestors hailed from, remains open for debate.Like other diasporic or exilic populations, Indonesians overseas can choose from all homeland information available to them and selectively decide on what to consume and what to ignore. In fact, they can easily opt for cherishing past memories (or traumas) over taking into account developments and changes and thereby generate distorted homeland views and 'time warps' (Missbach, 2011). Depending on whether emigration or departure from home was voluntary or not and whether stay overseas was meant to be short-term, mid-term, long-term, or even permanent, people create and recreate their collective and individual homeland relations over time in multiple ways, for example, through overseas student organizations, diasporic business collectives, or cultural and folkloristic associations.While away from Indonesia, people might delve in memories of their past, or they might dream of their return and brighter futures for Indonesia more generally. In fact, current research shows that Indonesia serves overseas Indonesians as a multi-faceted canvas for projections of longings for a better tomorrow and of a golden yesteryear (Chauvel, 2009; Dragojlovic, 2010, 2012; Hearman, 2010; Hill, 2010; Missbach, 2011; Steijlen, 2010; Van Amersfoort, 2004). …