For a long time, Chinese people had a very difficult time in Indonesia and suffered from violence and discrimination. This was already the case during the Dutch colony of the Dutch East Indies. In times of trouble they were repeatedly black sheep, often with the knowledge of the government, which managed to distract the population from the real problems. The low point was 1998 when hundreds of Chinese fell victim to the violence resulting from the fall of Suharto’s government. The tide now seems to be turning and Chinese are becoming more accepted in modern Indonesian society.
The Chinese in the Dutch East Indies
The ties between China and Indonesia are very old and the first Chinese settled on Java as early as 1293, during the Mongol invasion of that island. They brought with them all kinds of new things, such as more modern shipbuilding and coin minting. In the early fifteenth century, Muslim Chinese settled in various places on the Indonesian coast. Scientists assume that these Chinese have merged with the local population. From that moment until the first Dutch came to Indonesia, no new Chinese settled on the islands. With the arrival of the Dutch, trade with China was restored and 50 ships per year were allowed from 1567. Chinese colonies were established in cities on the coast on various islands and slowly but surely the Chinese population grew. During the eighteenth century, dissatisfaction among the Indonesian population with their colonial rulers increased and the Chinese supported this resistance. On July 25, 1740, a law was issued by the Dutch that the Chinese had to ‘die or disappear’ without a ‘permission note’. Houses were searched and people were extorted. Those who were actually arrested were deported from the country. The Chinese soon took up arms and when a Dutch fortress in Tanah Adang was stormed on October 7, 1740, killing fifty people, this was the signal for the Dutch to strike back. For two weeks the Dutch raged against the Chinese, soon helped by local people, and 10,000 people were killed. The survivors were settled in a special neighborhood just outside Batavia, today’s Glodok. Soon, special neighborhoods were created in other cities and special taxes were introduced for the Chinese population. It became necessary to ask permission to travel around the country and there was a ban on living in the same neighborhoods as the local population. However, in 1912 the rules were relaxed, but now new problems arose as nationalism was growing among both the Chinese and the Indonesian population, which led to problems between the two groups. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, the Chinese again had to deal with special regulations. During the Pontaniak Affair, a large group of Chinese were killed by the Japanese.
The Chinese during Sukarno
After the Japanese occupation, the Indonesian population rose up in arms and wanted to put an end to the colonial regime of the Dutch. This brought new difficulties for the Chinese, with the darkest period being from May 30 to June 4, 1946. Hundreds of Chinese were killed and thousands of houses were burned by Indonesian rebels. In 1949, modern Indonesia was a fact and Sukarno became president. In 1958, local Chinese were forced to choose between Chinese or Indonesian nationality as a result of the so-called Citizenship Law. Nearly 400,000 Chinese refused Chinese nationality and opted for Indonesian. From 1963 onwards, Chinese people slowly but surely gained more freedom, Chinese schools were founded and Chinese newspapers were born.
The Chinese during Suharto
The Chinese revival was short-lived. In 1965, Suharto came to power and the riots during the uprising quickly targeted the Chinese population. Many Chinese were killed and their property was confiscated or destroyed. Suharto did nothing to stop the violence, on the contrary, he started issuing laws that made life difficult for the Chinese. For Suharto, the Chinese were an easy scapegoat to blame for problems and divert attention from other matters. Chinese schools were closed and the Chinese from Aceh and North Sumatra were expelled. In 1973 there were heavy riots in West Java, which specifically targeted the Chinese population. The army did nothing to stop the riots, which were later blamed on the Communist Party (PKI). During riots against Suharto’s regime, this caused attention to be diverted and the Chinese again became victims of the violence that broke out. This later became known as the Malari Incident. In 1998, the poor economy led to several riots in which, again, mainly Chinese people became victims, their shops were emptied and destroyed and many women became victims of rape. Ultimately, Suharto resigned and his position was taken by Habibie.
Life after Suharto
Habibie immediately began to soften the laws previously introduced by Suharto. Discriminatory laws were abolished and unity was sought, with the difference between pribumi (original occupant) and non-pribumi being abolished. In 2000, the new president Wahid reintroduced some bans, such as the ban on Mandarin in public, but the next president Sukarnoputri later even declared the Chinese New Year as a national holiday. However, some discriminatory laws still exist. However, the Chinese population is now a lot more assertive than in the time of Suharto. A 2000 census showed that the number of ethnic Chinese consists of about 1.7 million people, but that figure is not reliable because many Chinese were probably hesitant to to be identified as such.
Causes
There are several reasons for the precarious position of the Chinese. First of all, there is their ethnic and religious origin, which is usually different from that of the average Indonesian and this idea has been nourished over time, giving many Indonesians the impression that their loyalty still lies in China, even though they live most Chinese have been in Indonesia for generations. The fact that the Chinese have had so little political influence and protection has made it extra easy to see them as a scapegoat. Because Suharto emphasized assimilation, the population got the impression that Chinese culture and background was something negative. His policies isolated them even further. The fact that many Chinese are in business, some of them very successful, has marked them as separate and many Indonesians have grown up with the idea that the Chinese do not want to integrate.