Discrimination against Chinese Indonesians
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Discrimination |
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Forms
Violence
Violence against Chinese Indonesians generally consists of attacks on property, including factories and shops.[2] However, killings and assaults have happened, including in Batavia in 1740, Tangerang in 1946, during the period after the 30 September Movement of 1965, and during the May 1998 riots.[3]
Some observers suggest that Chinese Indonesians have become "the typical scapegoat" in situations where widespread discontent and social unrest becomes violent. The scapegoating has become more pronounced during the period since Indonesia's independence.[4]
Language
Terms considered disparaging against Chinese Indonesians have entered common Indonesian usage, at both the regional and national levels. The term Cina, the use of which was mandated in 1967 instead of the then-commonly used Tionghoa, was perceived as having similar negative connotations to Inlander for Native Indonesians.[5] The term Tionghoa began to be used again after the beginning of Reformation, but by then Cina was not considered negative by the younger generation of Chinese Indonesians.[6]
In different regions different terms have come into use that reflect common stereotypes. The following examples are from Surakarta.[7]
Original | Translation | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Porsi Cina | Chinese portion | The largest portion of food |
Mambu Cina | Smelling of the Chinese | Newly purchased items |
Tangisan Cina | Chinese tears | Mourning cry |
Legislation
After the end of Company rule and the introduction of metropolitan colonial rule in 1815, legislation was introduced specifically against Chinese Indonesians. One of the first was in 1816 and required ethnic Chinese to carry a special pass at all times.[8]
During the
History
Background
Based on Chinese artifacts found in Indonesia, China is thought to have had trading relations with the
Later,
Colonial era
By 1740, there were over 2,500 Chinese-owned houses within the
As the situation became tenser, Governor General
When the VOC was nationalised on 31 December 1799, the freedoms the Chinese experienced under the corporation were taken away by the Dutch government.[32] An 1816 regulation introduced a requirement for the indigenous population and Chinese travelling within the territory to obtain a travel permit. Those who did not carry a permit risked being arrested by security officers. The Governor-General also introduced a resolution in 1825 which forbade "foreign Asians" from living within the same neighbourhood as the native population.[8]
During the Java War, thousands of Chinese Indonesians were killed by Prince Diponegoro's forces during raids on the southern coast of Java. Survivors fled to the northern coast or to Dutch settlements for protection. Setiono cites the Chinese's status as tax collectors and loan providers as a cause, as well as Diponegoro's belief that the Chinese brought bad luck upon his campaign.[33]
In 1848, the Dutch colonial government enacted the legislation sorting all inhabitants of the archipelago into two groups, based on whether or not they practised Christianity. This was later amended in 1855, combining Native Indonesian, Chinese,
"The establishment of Sarekat Islam ... marked a watershed for ethnic Chinese in Indonesia."
By 1912, the Dutch government had abandoned the policy of segregation. During the same period, the
Japanese occupation and National Revolution (1942–1949)
After the
This was followed by the
From 30 May to 4 June 1946, attacks from Indonesian independence fighters killed 653 Chinese Indonesians. Roughly a thousand Chinese Indonesian-owned homes were burned;
As the Dutch implemented a war of attrition and scorch earth, they forced Chinese on Java to flee inland and the Dutch destroyed all important assets including Chinese factories and property. Local Indonesians joined in on the Dutch violence against the Chinese looting Chinese property and trying to attack Chinese. However, when the Japanese troops landed and seized control of Java from the Dutch, to people's surprise, the Japanese forced the native Indonesians to stop looting and attacking Chinese and warned the Indonesians they would not tolerate anti-Chinese violence in Java. The Japanese viewed the Chinese in Java and their economic power specifically as important and vital to Japanese war effort so they did not physically harm the Chinese of Java with no execution or torture of Chinese taking place unlike in other places. There was no violent confrontation between Japanese and Chinese on Java, unlike in British Malaya. The Japanese also allowed Chinese of Java in the Federation of Overseas-Chinese Associations (Hua Chiao Tsung Hui) to form the Keibotai, their own armed Chinese defence corps for protection with Japanese military instructors training them how to shoot and use spears. The Chinese viewed this as important to defending themselves from local Indonesians. The majority of Chinese of Java did not die in the war. It was only after the war ended when Japanese control fell and then the native Indonesians again started attacks against the Chinese of Java when the Japanese were unable to protect them.[42]
In Java, the Japanese heavily recruited Javanese girls as comfort women and brought them to New Guinea, Malaysia, Thailand and other areas foreign to Indonesia besides using them in Java itself. The Japanese brought Javanese women as comfort women to Buru island, and Kalimantan. The Japanese recruited help from local collaborator police of all ethnicities to recruit Javanese girls, with one account accusing Chinese recruiters of tricking a Javanese regent into sending good Javanese girls into prostitution for the Japanese in May 1942. The Japanese also lied to the Javanese telling them that their girls would become waitresses and actresses when recruiting them.[43] The Japanese brought Javanese women as comfort women prostitutes to Kupang in Timor while in East Timor the Japanese took local women in Dili. In Bali, the Japanese sexually harassed Balinese women when they came and started forcing Balinese women into brothels for prostitution, with Balinese men and Chinese men used as recruiters for the Balinese women. All of the brothels in Bali were staffed by Balinese women.[44] In brothels in Kalimantan, native Indonesian women made up 80% of the prostitutes.[45] Javanese girls and local girls were used in a Japanese brothel in Ambon in Batu Gantung. European Dutch women were overrepresented in documents on Dutch East Indies comfort women which didn't reflect the actual reality because the Dutch did not care about native Indonesian women being victimised by Japan, refusing to prosecute cases against them since Indonesia was not a UN member at the time.[46] Javanese comfort women who were taken by Japanese to islands outside Java were treated differently depending on whether they stayed on those islands or returned to Java. Since Javanese society was sexually permissive and they kept it secret from other Javanese, the Javanese women who returned to Java fared better, but the Javanese women who stayed on the islands like Buru were treated harsher by their hosts since they locals in Buru were more patriarchal.[47] The Japanese murdered Christians and forced girls into prostitution in Timor and Sumba, desecrating sacred vessels and vestments in churches and using the churches as brothels. Javanese girls were brought as prostitutes by the Japanese to Flores and Buru.[48] Eurasians, Indians, Chinese, Dutch, Menadonese, Bataks, Bugis, Dayaks, Javanese, Arabs and Malays were arrested and massacred in the Mandor affair.[49]
Guided Democracy (1949–1966)
In 1955, Zhou Enlai declared that Chinese citizenship was jus sanguinis. This led to a treaty between China and Indonesia regarding the legal status of Chinese Indonesians, which formed the basis for the Citizenship Law of 1958.[50] This law required all Chinese Indonesians to choose between Chinese and Indonesian citizenship, making a statement at the nearest district court.[51] Approximately 390,000 ethnic Chinese rejected Chinese citizenship.[52]
In May 1959, the Sukarno government passed legislation revoking the trading rights of foreign nationals in rural areas; this was based on two previous, lower-level legislations.[53] Due to uncertainty relating to the legal status of the ethnic Chinese, they were included as well.[9] This led to the exodus of between 102,000[54] and 136,000 Chinese Indonesians,[55] who left for China on ships sent by the Chinese government.[56]
Between 1963 and early 1965, the situation for Chinese Indonesians generally became more stable. Numerous Chinese-language schools were opened and Chinese-language press flourished. However, there were still minor attacks on Chinese Indonesians in Cirebon, Sukabumi, and Bandung in 1963.[57]
New Order (1966–1998)
During the riots following the
"The history of the ethnic Chinese during the Suharto regime can indeed be described as the history of a minority ethnic group that had no choice but to comply with the policies applied to them."
During the same period, numerous discriminating laws were passed. In April 1966, all Chinese schools (at the time numbering 629) were closed.[64] On 8 May 1966, Territorial Military Commander of Aceh Ishak Djuarsa declared that all ethnic Chinese had to leave Aceh prior to 17 August 1966; this was followed by a similar decree by the North Sumatra government.[65] In 1967, the usage of the term Cina, considered disparaging, became mandated for all official communications.[5] Furthermore, to promote assimilation of the influential Chinese Indonesians, the Suharto government passed several laws as part of so-called "Basic Policy for the Solution of Chinese Problem", whereby only one Chinese-language publication – controlled by the Army – was allowed to continue, all Chinese cultural and religious expressions (including display of Chinese characters) were prohibited from public space, and the ethnic-Chinese were forced to take-up Indonesian-sounding names; creating a systematic cultural genocide.
On 5 August 1973, a riot in Bandung, West Java, caused by three Chinese Indonesian teenagers beating another driver to death after a minor traffic accident, led to the looting and destruction of more than 1,500 Chinese Indonesian-owned shops and houses. The riots were not stopped by the local military; and nineteen soldiers were arrested for participating in the riots. The riots were later blamed on an underground section of the PKI.[66]
On 15 January 1974, student demonstrations against corruption, foreign investment, and President Suharto's clique of personal assistants were diverted by suspected Special Forces provocateurs into a full riot.,[67][68] and later an anti-Chinese Indonesian pogrom. Stores in Glodok, owned by ethnic Chinese, were looted and burned; the largest of these was the Senen shopping complex. The security forces did almost nothing to stop the looting.[69] The demonstrations and their aftermath came to be known as the Malari incident.[68]
In 1978, the government began requiring a
Suharto's economic programs continued to work, with Indonesia experiencing an economic boom with its Gross Domestic Product growing at a rate of 8 per cent in 1996, led by the manufacturing sector.
On 4 May, more than 500 protestors from the
On 12 May, less than a week after the violence in Medan subsided, the police
Indonesian Muslims who physically looked Chinese were attacked by rioters, despite not identifying as Chinese at all and only having one distant Chinese great-grandfather. An Indonesian Muslim woman who had 5 sons, Ruminah, mentioned she had just one Chinese grandfather who married a local Muslim woman and she did not identify as Chinese at all or speak Chinese, but she and her family were constantly harassed and hated by their neighbours just for their Chinese physical looks; her hair salon was ransacked and one of her sons died in a fire at the mall during the riots.[86]
Reformation (1998–present)
After the fall of Suharto, numerous discriminative laws were recalled and others promoting unity were passed. President Habibie passed legislation requiring the elimination of the terms pribumi and non-pribumi (native Indonesian and non-native) in 1998. In 2000, the next president, Abdurrahman Wahid, recalled the legislation forbidding the practice of Chinese culture and use of Mandarin Chinese in public. In 2002, Megawati Sukarnoputri declared Chinese New Year a national holiday. However, some discriminative legislation still remains.[87]
Under the administration of Megawati Sukarnoputri and later
Causes
The use of Chinese Indonesians as scapegoats is partly caused by their lack of political power and government protection.[91] The New Order policy of assimilation has also been seen as a factor; the need to assimilate the ethnic Chinese "indicated that Chinese cultural elements are unacceptable".[92]
Discrimination, distrust, and violence against Chinese Indonesians is caused in part by a perception that they are still loyal to China, and only see Indonesia as a place to live and work. They are also seen as being "exclusive", unwilling to mingle with other ethnic groups, as well as discriminating against native Indonesians in their business relations.[93] The Chinese Indonesians whose predominant religion is Christianity also suffers from Christophobia and persecutions.[94]
Effects
During the Old and New Orders, Chinese Indonesians generally complied with legal restrictions as best they could. However, the May 1998 riots caused a change in attitude, including greater political activity and assertiveness.[95] Additionally, the discrimination led to an ethnic identity crisis, with Chinese Indonesians with strong Chinese ties feeling unaccepted by the Indonesian populace, and those with strong Indonesian ties wanting equal rights.[96]
Sociologist Mely G. Tan notes that presently many Chinese Indonesian families have prepared escape plans in case of further unrest and find themselves unable to trust ethnic Indonesians. She also notes that younger Chinese Indonesians are increasingly impatient with the inability of the government and military to prevent inter-ethnic violence.[97]
Issues within Muslims
Even after the
See also
- Anti-Chinese sentiment
- Chinese Indonesians
- Chinese Indonesian surname
- Legislation on Chinese Indonesians
- 1740 Batavia massacre
- 1918 Kudus riot
- Mergosono massacre (1947)
- Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66
- Banjarmasin riot of May 1997
- May 1998 riots of Indonesia
Notes
- ^ Law Number 62 of 1958 (text in Indonesian)
- ^ Presidential Regulation 10 of 1959 (text in Indonesian), which required all foreign national-owned businesses to be located in urban areas. Due to uncertainty relating to the status of Chinese Indonesians, they were included as foreign nationals as well. See Setiono 2008, pp. 811–815.
- ^ Cabinet Presidium Decision 127 of 1966 (text in Indonesian).
- ^ Presidential Instruction 14 of 1967 (text in Indonesian).
References
Footnotes
- ^ Coppel 2008, p. 122.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 241.
- ^ Tan 2008, pp. 239–248.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 239.
- ^ a b Setiono 2008, pp. 986–987.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 2.
- ^ Kinasih 2007, p. 111.
- ^ a b Phoa 1992, p. 12.
- ^ a b Setiono 2008, pp. 811–815.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 987.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 230.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 1028.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 247.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 1090–1091.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 179.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 20.
- ^ Reid 2001, p. 17.
- ^ Ma 2005, p. 115.
- ^ Tan 2005, p. 795.
- ^ Reid 2001, p. 33.
- ^ Reid 1999, p. 52.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 109.
- ^ a b c d Setiono 2008, pp. 111–113.
- ^ OCLC 312809187.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 113.
- ^ a b Setiono 2008, p. 114.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 114–116.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 117–118.
- ^ a b Setiono 2008, p. 119.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 121.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 14.
- ^ Phoa 1992, p. 11.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 173–181.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 15.
- ^ a b Purdey 2006, p. 6.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 383–387.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 530–531.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 534–535.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 7.
- ^ Tan 2005, p. 792.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 586–592.
- ISBN 978-1136125065.
- ISBN 978-9004190177.
- ISBN 978-9004190177.
- ISBN 978-9004190177.
- ISBN 978-9004190177.
- ISBN 978-9004190177.
- ^ Hului, Patricia (19 July 2021). "The influence of Catholicism on Flores island during WWII". Kajo Mag.
- ^ Hului, Patricia (18 September 2019). "The Mandor Affair, the massacres in West Kalimantan during WWII". Kajo Mag.
- ^ Effendi & Prasetyadji 2008, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 751.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 9.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 11.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 12.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 815.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 28.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 13.
- ^ Tan 2008, pp. 240–242.
- ^ Cribb & Coppel 2009.
- ^ Schwarz (1994), p. 21.
- ISBN 978-1-921666-22-3.camps (p. 173). The Chinese retreated to major towns. The Chinese in West Kalimantan rarely resisted (though they had in nineteenth century conflict with the Dutch and in 1914). Instead, they fled. One old Chinese man who fled to Pontianak in 1967 said that the Chinese did not even consider or discuss striking back at Dayaks as an option. This was because they were imbued with a philosophy of being a guest on other people's land to become a great trading diaspora.
In 1967, Dayaks had expelled Chinese from the interior of West Kalimantan. In this Chinese ethnic cleansing, Dayaks were coopted by the military who wanted to remove Chinese from the interior who they believed were supporting communists. The most certain way to accomplish this was to drive all Chinese out of the interior of West Kalimantan. An estimated 2,000–5,000 people were massacred (Davidson 2002:158) and probably a greater number died from the conditions in overcrowded refugee camps, including 1,500 Chinese children aged between one and eight who died of starvation in Pontianak
- ISBN 978-0-87727-745-3.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 243.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 979.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 981–982.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 1023–1024.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 1026.
- ^ a b Schwarz 2000, p. 34.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 1027.
- ^ Effendi & Prasetyadji 2008, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 39.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 79.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 80.
- ^ a b Purdey 2006, p. 115.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 116.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 123.
- ^ Wijayanta & Tjiauw 1998, p. 18–22.
- ^ Kompas & 1998-05-15.
- ^ Kompas & 1998-05-16.
- ^ "Inside Indonesia - Digest 86 - Towards a mapping of 'at risk' groups in Indonesia". Archived from the original on 20 September 2000.
- ^ "DIGEST - The May Riot". Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ ""Over 1,000 killed in Indonesia riots: rights body Reuters - June 3, 1998 Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta", "The May riots DIGEST No.61 - May 29, 1998"". Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ISBN 9781107355248.
- ^ Collins 2002 Archived 13 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine, p. 597.
- ^ Purdey 2006, p. 130.
- ^ GLIONNA, JOHN M. (4 July 2010). "In Indonesia, 1998 violence against ethnic Chinese remains unaddressed". LOS ANGELES TIMES.
- ^ Setiono 2008, pp. 1088–1099.
- ^ Tan 2008, pp. 230–231.
- ^ Tan 2008, pp. 20–21.
- ^ "Sustaining anti-Chinese sentiment in Jakarta". Australia National University. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
- ^ Setiono 2008, p. 977.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 24.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 217.
- ^ "Indonesia - Open Doors USA - Open Doors USA". www.opendoorsusa.org. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 218.
- ^ Tan 2008, p. 29.
- ^ Tan 2008, pp. 229–230.
Bibliography
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- Kinasih, Ayu Windy (2007). Identitas Etnis Tionghoa di Kota Solo [The Identity of Chinese Indonesians in Solo] (in Indonesian). Yogyakarta: ISBN 978-979-25-3663-8.
- Ma, Rosey Wang (2005). "Hui Diaspora". In Ember, Melvin; Ember, Carol R.; Skoggard, Ian (eds.). Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. New York, N.Y.: ISBN 978-0-387-29904-4.
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- Schwarz, Adam (2000). A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s.
- Setiono, Benny G. (2008). Tionghoa dalam Pusaran Politik [Indonesia's Chinese Community under Political Turmoil]. Jakarta: TransMedia Pustaka. ISBN 978-979-799-052-7.
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- Cribb, Robert; Coppel, Charles (2009). "A genocide that never was: explaining the myth of anti-Chinese massacres in Indonesia, 1965–66". Journal of Genocide Research. 11 (4): 447–465. S2CID 145011789.
- Wijayanta, Hanibal W.Y; Tjiauw, Sen (1998). Percik Bara Seantero Nusantara [A Smouldering Stain Throughout the Archipelago] (Thesis) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Forum Keadilan. pp. 18–22.
Online sources
- "Ethnic Chinese tell of mass rapes". BBC. 23 June 1998. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
- Daihani, Dadan Umar; Purnomo, Agus Budi (2001). "The May 1998 Riot in Jakarta, Indonesia, Analyzed with GIS". Retrieved 15 May 2009.
- "Kota Solo Penuh Asap" [Solo is Full of Smoke]. Kompas (in Indonesian). Jakarta. 15 May 1998. p. 11.
- "Amuk Massa Landa Boyolali" [Masses Rage in Boyolali]. Kompas (in Indonesian). Jakarta. 16 May 1998. p. 7.