| Summary: | This article examines the position of ethnic Chinese Indonesians from the Dutch colonial
period to the post-Suharto era and analyses the factors that shaped their position. This article
will focus on the' position of ethnic Chinese Indonesians in the aspects of economy, sociocultural
sphere and politics. Under Dutch colonial rule, which began in the seventeenth
century, the colonial regime enforced the divide-and-rule policy that deterred the interactions
between the Chinese and the indigenous population. The Dutch allowed the Chinese to form
ethnic-based organisations, establish Chinese-language presses and open Chinese-medium
schools as they wanted the Chinese to maintain their "Chinese-ness" in order to keep them as
a distinct ethnic group. Moreover, the Dutch used the Chinese instead of the indigenous
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population to fill most economic niches in order to prevent the rise of an indigenous merchant
class that might challenge their position. This had further widened the economic disparity
between the Chinese and the indigenous people. During the Sukarno years (1950-1965), the
Chinese continued to enjoy freedom to establish and operate Chinese organisations, Chineselanguage
presses and Chinese-medium schools because Sukarno was close to China and
hence was relatively tole;ant to the Chinese in Indonesia. The Chinese were also allowed to
actively getting involved in politics. However, the Sukarno regime introduced a few
discriminatory policies to reduce Chinese economic interests and assist indigenous
businesspeople. During the Suharto's rule (1966-1998), due to the anti-communist politics
associated with the Cold War, the Suharto regime perceived the ethnic Chinese as the
potential 'fifth column' for China and introduced forced assimilation policies to curtail
Chinese culture as well as control the Chinese. The Chinese were also discouraged from
actively getting involved in politics and were only given opportunities to get involved in
business activities. In the post-Suharto era (1998-present), the position of ethnic Chinese
Indonesians has improved considerably as they are now allowed to openly express their
ethnic and cultural identities as well as actively participate in politics. This article argues that
the reversal of attitudes toward the Chinese was catalysed by capital flight and the 'exodus'
of Chinese after the anti-Chinese riots in May 1998. It was also due to the rise of political
leaders who were open-minded and sympathetic to the situation of the Chinese such as
former presidents Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri. Besides that, the rise of
China as an economic power also indirectly changed the attitude of post-Suharto
governments towards Chinese Indonesians. This article concludes that the position of ethnic
Chinese Indonesians was shaped by not only the interests and agendas of the power-holders
but also the anti-communist politics associated with the Cold War, the rise of open-minded
Indonesian political leaders, Indonesia-China relations and the globalisation of the economic
position of China.
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