Chinese Indonesians Research Articles

Chinese as a Cultural Capital: The Case Study of Chinese Heritage Language Learners

Chinese language education in Indonesia is closely related to the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the country. The change of power in the country in 1998 affected the development of Chinese language. Since the ban imposed on Chinese language and culture since 1965 was lifted, there have been an increasing number of Chinese language schools. Under the theoretical frameworks of Gardner’s motivational orientations and Bourdieu’s cultural capital, this study explored varied motivations of Chinese Indonesians to learn Chinese, and how their perception of China influenced their efforts in learning the language. Data were obtained through focus group discussions and interviews. The findings showed that integrative and instrumental orientations were found among participants, but due to the learners’ social milieu, instrumentality of Chinese dominated their orientations. The instrumentality of Chinese and the positive perception of China worked together to make Chinese language as a cultural capital for these CHL learners.

Migrants, Minorities, and Populism in Asia

Populists in East and Southeast Asia generally refrain from invoking anti-migrant and anti-minority sentiments as part of their mobilizational strategies. This differentiates them from “exclusionary” populists in Europe and the United States, even though many Asian countries are diverse societies with long histories of migration and ethnic chauvinism. In this essay I propose that Asian populists work within rather than against existing categories of peoplehood that were set alongside the onset of mass politics. Because these categories of peoplehood remain salient today, they constrain contemporary Asian populists’ rhetorical and mobilizational strategies. Exceptional cases such as the Rohingya and Chinese Indonesians, who are vulnerable to populist mobilization, provide further support for this argument about how contested notions of peoplehood make exclusionary populism possible. The Asian experience thus reveals the flexibility of identity, nation, and membership in contemporary populism.

Authenticity in cultural built heritage: learning from Chinese Indonesians’ houses

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore authenticity conception of cultural built heritage. As a core of heritage management, authenticity is often seen as a validation of certain identity. In the cultural built heritage context, authenticity is vital for the community, particularly the ethnic minority community, because it can be viewed as a tool to tackle discrimination and misrecognition issues.Design/methodology/approachThis research was conducted in two Indonesian Chinatowns, namely, Lasem and Semarang Chinatowns. An ethnography method was employed to address the research aim. Four techniques to carry out data collection were used in this research; they were life story interview, participant observation, documentary research and physical observation through house tour. Two theories were used to analyse the data, and they were Technologies of the Self from Foucault and Habitus from Bourdieu.FindingsResult shows that authenticity conception in cultural built heritage is not fixed because it lies on the immaterial aspect (the community’s cultural values) that is continuously reinvented. This research also reveals that the immaterial aspect of cultural built heritage, the community’s cultural values, becomes the core of the conception of authenticity. These cultural values become the foundation for the community to create their cultural built environment.Social implicationsThis research brings an important perspective on authenticity to be applied in heritage management. Interestingly, by adopting this perspective, heritage management could become a tool to create an inclusive society.Originality/valueThis research offers a unique perspective on heritage authenticity, which was constructed through sociological and materiality approach.

Colonial Structure, Chinese Minority and Racial Violence in Indonesia: A Social Reflection

Under the Dutch colonial, the Dutch (white skin) become the political, economic and social elites in the colonial society, while middle class consisted of far east people (Chinese, Arab, India, etc), and bumiputera (indigenous Muslim) people laying in lower layer functioning producer of natural resources or traditional (feo­dal) elite. Dutch elites (top local officials, such as resident), Chinese elite (officer), and traditional elite (regents) are "Top Branch" of colonial society. The structure has been continuing in the era of Soekarno’s Old Order and Soeharto’s New Order. And under the New Order, the political practices of minority have serious social-political implications related to negative image that always inherent in Tionghoa (Chinese) people of Indonesia. The Indonesian Chinese (Tionghoa) often be assumed as source of various problems, simply could be ‘scapegoat’, if there are riots, economic crisis and racialism. Under the New Order, the Indonesian Chinese remain to treated as the others, the marginalized people. In the post Soeharto’s New Order 1998, however, the Chinese have been awakening gradually to join political parties and social organizations to take part in democratization and governance, even most of the Chinese conglomerates (taipan) has been the richest in Indonesia.

Discrimination, sport and nation building among Indonesian Chinese in the 1950s

ABSTRACTThis article examines the attempts to promote sport among Indonesian athletes during the 1950s. Drawing on archival and secondary sources from the period immediately after Independence, the article analyses the processes and practices through which ethnic Chinese athletes in Indonesia were positioned in opposition to the Indigenous athletes and progressively marginalised from competitive sport on the national and international stage. The article argues that some of the attempts to counter these practices through affirmative action policies and strategies imposed by the new Indonesian government led to forms of boundary-making or discrimination that were enforced to better promote the achievements of Indigenous athletes at a time when its ethnic Chinese citizens were visibly dominant in some sporting arenas. The study of ethnic discrimination by the Indonesian government of the time provides a compelling example of the ways in which dominant and historical discourses of nationalism may be contested by challenges to the legitimacy of athletic identities.

Stories from the South: Literary Depictions of Indonesians in Australia

Indonesian immigrants use Australia as a mirror by which they examine and perceive their homeland, but not all in the same way, nor is the experience of liminality in their host country the same. Rather, ethnicity seems to trump national origin when it comes to how Indonesians in Australia perceive their hostland and in their patriotic attachments to homeland. This difference in attitude to both homeland and hostland stems largely from the differing status of ethnically native Indonesians, who only temporarily reside in Australia, and ethnic-Chinese Indonesians, who are often permanent residents. Ethnicity and residency status are related in this case, partly because the long victimization of Chinese Indonesians in Indonesian history contributes to their reason for immigrating to Australia in the first place. This is the reality depicted, and whose consequences are dramatized, in the two works of fiction considered here: a collection of short stories titled Satu Pertanyaan dari Selatan: Kumpulan Cerpen Berlatar Australia (A Question from the South: A Collection of Short Stories Set in Australia), whose characters and authors are mostly Indonesian students studying in Australia; and Rani Pramesti's digital graphic memoir The Chinese Whispers, which represents the experience of ethnic-Chinese Indonesians. Juxtaposed, the two texts dramatize the extent of the differences in these two groups.

Representasi Etnis Tionghoa dalam Film “Ku Kejar Cinta Ke Negeri Cina” dan “Ngenest”

The construction of representations of certain groups in the mass media reflects existing power relations. This is what happened to the description of Chinese in Indonesian films. Ethnic representation reflects the social, cultural, political, and economic values of the people who produce it. Government policies related to the existence of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia have been issued several times. Through Presidential Decree No. 12 in 2014 the government again made a regulation that tried to place Chinese people not to be seen and treated discriminatively. The purpose of this study was to determine the description of ethnic Chinese characters in films in Indonesia after the issuance of the regulation. By using semiotic analysis, researchers wanted to see the depiction in the film Ku Kejar Cinta ke Negeri Cina and Ngenest. The results show that the image of Chinese ethnicity is still maintained, which is related to physical problems, religion, and national identity, while the changing depiction relates to social class that are economy and education. The retention of these Chinese portrayals shows that government interference through regulation has not been able to change the general view of Chinese ethnicity.

Journeys between Europe and China: My Three-Decade Quest for Chinese Overseas History

This is a factual story of an academic journey of three-decades told by the author about how she thrived in her research on Chinese Overseas in Europe. The author was among few academics from prc who went to study in Amsterdam in the mid-1980s. Ill-prepared and bewildered, she received help from Chinese Overseas. The experience marked the beginning of her life-long academic interest in Chinese Overseas. She was trained as a historian at Xiamen University specializing in Chinese in Indonesia for her ma, and she completed her doctoral degree in sociology at the University of Amsterdam specializing in Chinese migrants in Europe. She spent years conducting field work to study Chinese communities in different European countries. She became a Professor at Xiamen University, China, and published many papers and books on Chinese in Europe.

Dari Tionghoa ke Tjina: Telaah Sejarah terhadap Demonisasi Etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia [From Tionghoa to China: A Historical Review of the Demonization of Chinese Ethnicity in Indonesia

This paper attempts to investigate the reasons behind the negative sentiments directed towards Chinese Indonesians from an International Relations (IR) perspective. By tracing back the treatment of the New Order government towards ethnic Chinese, it was found that such demonization initially happened due to two politically motivated reasons. Firstly, as part of de-Soekarnoization done by the New Order, the Chinese were outcast because Chinese identity does not conform to the “Indonesian identity”, which was in essence, the Javanese identity. Secondly, the condition reflected the change in Indonesian foreign policy which drifted apart from People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the latter was suspected to be involved in September 30 Movement. Then, I argue that due to those reasons, coupled by systematic maltreatment from the New Order Government, Chinese Indonesians were constructed as the “others”, that is, as non-Indonesians. Such construct has been deeply embedded such that reconciliation attempts done by the Reformation Era government were not sufficient enough to stop ethnic discrimination towards Chinese Indonesians from happening even until the present.

Tionghoa Decoration Motifs Adaptation in Property Design in Animated Film “Cio Tao”

Animated film “Cio Tao” highlights the topic of Cio Tao ceremony; a maturity ceremony before marriage in Tionghoa Peranakan (Indonesian Chinese) ethnicity. The practice of this ceremony is getting more and more forgotten because people don’t know the moral meanings in every rituals of the ceremony. Those meanings are implied in the Tionghoa's (Chinese) properties used in the marriage ceremony. This paper interprets the decoration motifs and then implements the adaptation concept into the property design in the animated film “Cio Tao”. This paper uses qualitative method research to explain the relationship between the motifs’ meanings and shapes with the properties used. The design methodology was used to create this animated film. There are some modifications from cultural Tionghoa's visual pattern for designing property of the animated film. The visual adaptation of this study uses literature, existing visual pattern, and the Tionghoa's (Chinese) marriage ceremony properties observation as data for motif decoration conceptualization.

An Identity to Retain: Self-Expressive Chinese Indonesians under the Rule of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

From the Dutch colonial era until the end of Suharto administration, Chinese Indonesians have perpetually been the victims of racial prejudice and negative stereotyping addressed by pribumi. However, the most difficult situations and unpleasant experiences occurred under Suharto's New Order, where the forced assimilation policy was implemented and Chinese Indonesians at that time were drawn to Chinese films and series to search for their Chinese-ness, while escaping reality. The previous researches did not provide comprehensive studies on the identity formation of Chinese Indonesians in Post-Suharto era, especially after the reformation era, under different presidents. Therefore, the subjective reality of third and fourth generations of Chinese Indonesians who spent their adolescence and/or adulthood over the course of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY)’s tenure has been explored in this study. From the constructive nature of reality to the situational constraints that shape inquiry, the Chinese Indonesians were indeed more emotionally expressive, supported by a more stable political and economic condition, exposure to the new media, and enhanced bilateral partnership between China and Indonesia. The use of new media in disseminating the Chinese cultural values through the media product, as well as the Chinese cultural practice publicly held by mostly Chinese communities in Indonesia became the influential factors in connecting those younger generations of Chinese Indonesia to their heritage. Ethnic pride and cultural long-distance nationalism can be eventually observed.

MASALAH CINA, MASALAH CINTA: POSISI ORANG TIONGHOA DALAM DI KAKI BUKIT CIBALAK KARYA AHMAD TOHARI

e-width: 0px; "> For the duration of the New Order era (1966–98), the position of Chinese Indonesians was considered a problematic question: they were not “Pribumi” (native), but also not entirely Chinese. This “Chinese Problem” was discussed by a variety of speakers and writers, including several authors of literary works. In Di Kaki Bukit Cibalak (1977), Ahmad Tohari presents two ethnic Chinese characters, Nyonya Wibawa and Mulyani, the first as the employer and the second as the lover of the main character, Pambudi. By applying Goldmann’s theory of genetic structuralism, we show that through his depiction of the physical and behavioural aspects of the characters, Tohari promotes an assimilationist approach as the only possible solution to the Chinese problem (if it can be solved): the dichotomies between ethnic Chinese and Native Indonesians must be erased. However, Tohari continues to differentiate the ethnic Chinese by positioning them as persons who must only act to support the welfare of the Pribumi. Keywords: “The Chinese Problem”, Ahmad Tohari, position of Chinese Indonesians, Di Kaki Bukit Cibalak

Khalfīyat wa taḥaddīyāt al-aqalīyah al-muslimah al-Ṣīnīyah fi Pontianak

Chinese Indonesians are not homogeneous community. Study of the Chinese is also important to understand not only their presence in Indonesia but also religious life. This article seeks to shed light on Indonesia’s Chinese Muslims in Pontianak City. It explains the reasons that led the Chinese Indonesians to convert to Islam and the challenges they face. Several important reasons behind their conversion, among others, are intellectuality, morality, social relations, and mysticism. In contrast with conversion to other religions, a Chinese Indonesians conversion to Islam is such problematic. This is mainly due to the negative stereotype against Muslims. It has also been worsened by the behavior of religious fanaticism of some Muslims under the banner of fundamentalism. Thus, those who are converting to Islam, to some extent, have experienced various challenges such as rejection from family members as well as their original community, and some of them also receive death threats. Besides, they even had to forsake their Chinese identity.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v25i1.6034

The Growing Interest of Indonesian Students Studying in China Post Suharto Era

Abstract In the Suharto era (1966-1998), there were eight discriminatory regulations toward regarding Chinese Indonesians that effectively banned the use of Chinese language and culture in public. For three decades, these regulations forced Chinese Indonesians to forget about Chinese language and culture and embedded anti-Chinese sentiment into non-Chinese Indonesians. After the end of the Suharto era, some regulations annulled the previous regulations, thus allowing Chinese culture including Chinese language to be practiced in public again. It created an unexpected Chinese boom. An increasing number of Indonesian students went to China to study the Chinese language. Today, many Indonesian students (Chinese Indonesians and non-Chinese Indonesians) not only study Chinese but have started to enroll in various faculties for degree programs in Chinese universities. This article uses statistical data and interviews in an attempt to explain Indonesian students’ reasons for studying in China and their degree preferences.

Positive-Self and Negative-Other Representation in the Online News Behind Indonesia’s Anti-Chinese Riots and Indonesia Turns Its Chinese into Scapegoats

Anti-Chinese riots (1998) was reported in Behind Indonesia’s Anti-Chinese Riot and Indonesia Turns Its Chinese into Scapegoats. This study aims to reveal the ways how lexical choices in articles constructed positive-self [henceforth (+)] and negative-other [henceforth (-)] representation. Van Dijk’s Critical Dis-course Analysis was used specifically on the lexical choice to analyze discourse. The socialism and liberal-ism theories were examined to analyze cognition and the history of Chinese Indonesians in Indonesia was explored to analyze society. Finding shows the article uses biased lexical choices. The articles represent Chinese Indonesian as a victim; Indonesian Government, Police, Military, Press, Moslem as a provocateur; and Native Indonesians as a prosecutor. Also, the articles present social and liberal ideology. Hence, the readers must be aware of the representation since it can shape their belief.

Intermestic security challenges: Managing transnational bonds

AbstractIntermestic security challenges arise when there is concern in a country that a dissatisfied minority relies on transnational bonds with a foreign kin group for support. They result from ethnic and/or ideological affinities translating into foreign support seen as problematic, and they are aggravated when the dissatisfied minority is able to raise territorial claims. This can lead to complications not only in domestic politics, but also in international relations (hence, the term ‘intermestic’). Intermestic challenges can escalate into civil war and other political calamities, but they can also be managed by governments. This article develops a theoretical model and discusses it with regard to China and its Muslim-majority neighbouring countries. To the west of China, transnational bonds of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang with co-ethnics and coreligionists in Central Asia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan complicate Chinese relations with those countries. In the southeast, transnational bonds of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia and Malaysia with their ancestral homeland have complicated Indonesian and Malaysian relations with China. While the cases have followed different trajectories, Beijing has managed either challenge rather successfully. The theoretical model developed and the management strategies discussed are likely to be useful in other contexts.

Understanding China as practicing Chineseness: selected cases of Vietnamese scholarship

ABSTRACTThe notion of post-Chineseness is enlisted to analyze Vietnamese Sinology as a comparative agenda. Post-Chineseness refers to the cultural preparation and the political process of mutual acknowledgement among those who consider one another sharing (some kind of) Chineseness, practically defined according to the context and its trajectories, at each time and each site. Chineseness can thus have various, if not entirely irrelevant, meanings. Vietnamese Sinologists have relied on different kinds of post-Chineseness to make sense of their relationship with the encountered Chinese to select and determine the mode of self-understanding, the purpose and a strategy to reconnect, and the normative criterion to assess and manage the relationship. Chinese Vietnamese are significantly less numerous than Chinese Malaysian, Thai, and Indonesians. However, the history of Vietnam is considerably closer to China than are those of Korea and Japan, in terms of length of merger. The post-Chineseness of Vietnamese scholarship therefore complicates its role-identity vis-à-vis China, intellectually as well as practically.

Bridging Ethnic Diversity through Service-Learning on Teaching Chinese Characters for Surabaya-Indonesia Toddler

This social activity is to give low-income children a chance to let the, understand the evolution of Chinese characters, hope through this activity, can attract the group of children to have more interested in other language, especially Chinese language. To understand the Chinese culture, no longer discriminate against the Indonesian Chinese culture. Evidence of discrimination against Chinese Indonesians can be found throughout the history of Indonesia, although government policies implemented since 1998 have attempted to redress this. Due to this discrimination, Chinese Indonesians have suffered an identity crisis, unable to be accepted by both native Chinese and native Indonesians. With this program, there is a hope to bridge the differences that exist with the introduction of the Chinese character on poor children in Surabaya, to let them more understand about Chinese language and the culture behind. And create a better relationship for the next generation in Indonesia. After the progress, we asking the children about this program, and they said they love it and wish to know more about China and their culture.

Cultural Pride in the Era of Pluralism: A Closer Look to Chinese Indonesians’ Ethnic Identity under the Reign of Jokowi

Over the past two decades, Chinese Indonesians have entered a democratic upsurge, where the discriminatory regulations implemented during Suharto’s New Order with its forced assimilation policy had been revoked and Chinese Indonesians have gained accesses to Chinese culture and language. Since previous studies on Chinese Indonesians’ identity in post-Suharto authoritarian rule have concentrated on qualitative research, in which the construction of identity was complicated and the remaining negative stereotyping against Chinese Indonesians still occurred, this study used a quantitative approach, assessing a number of determinants that were supposed to affect the ethnic identity and self-esteem of third and fourth generations of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. This research utilized Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) that was applied using maximum likelihood method. Based on the result of examination, Chinese Media and cultural practice appear to be the most significant variables influencing cultural long-distance nationalism. In addition, ethnic pride, ethnic performance, and self-esteem were most significantly affected by cultural long-distance nationalism, compared to another variable; self-identification. In short, Chinese Indonesians today have a strong sense of belonging to Chinese identity, regardless of the sociocultural context and political situation which to some extent influence their identity formation.

Chinese Indonesians under Jokowi: Flourishing Yet Unsettling

From the Dutch colonial times until the end of Suharto era, Chinese Indonesians had gone through a series of institutional racism, as well as racial prejudice and discrimination, but Suharto’s New Order period was portrayed by some scholars as the toughest situation most Chinese Indonesians had to deal with at that time. If during the reign of Suharto, they found few accesses to express their Chinese identity, after the fall of Suharto, they were given more alternatives to articulate their Chinese-ness, either through media products or cultural activities. Nonetheless, in the first six years of post-Suharto era, the political and economic conditions were not yet stable, while the residual prejudice against Chinese Indonesians and the shadow of cultural trauma remained. Since previous studies have merely focused on the negative stereotypes towards ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, this research elaborates the identity formation of Chinese Indonesians during the administration of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who is popularly known as pluralist figure. By using in-depth interview and participant observation to 30 participants who were mostly fourth generations of Chinese Indonesians, Chinese Indonesians today are still facing identity dilemma, in which they were predisposed to hide their ethnic identity, yet they were inclined to recover the image of Chinese identity in public. The cultural long-distance nationalism observed indicates that the younger generations of Chinese Indonesians nowadays have indeed strong emotional ties to their ancestral homeland.