By taking regime change as its main theme this book offers a new perspective on the multiple roles that Chinese Indonesians played in terms of shaping, moderating, and stimulating social change in Indonesia.

This book examines how the Indonesian Chinese who were born after 1966 negotiate meanings about their culture and identity through their collective memory of growing up in a restrictive media environment that specifically curtailed Chinese language and culture. The restrictive media environment was the result of a series of policies administered during the Suharto era (1965-1998). According to the regulations, the Indonesian government closed all Chinese-language schools and prohibited the use of Chinese characters in public places, the import of Chinese-language publications, and all public forms and expressions of Chinese culture. In the past century, and particularly in the past decade, much attention has been given to China and its rising status as a world economic power. Scholarship on overseas Chinese has also shed light on their relationship with their 'mythic homeland', China. In their work, scholars discovered that the Chinese of Southeast Asia have created a prominent economic, political, and cultural presence in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. In the 1960s, scholars such as George Kahin, Ruth McVey, and Benedict Anderson were drawn to the political upheavals in Indonesia and the various roles that the Chinese of Indonesia have played in the economic, political, and cultural arenas of their country. In later years, Charles Coppel and Leo Suryadinata have published extensively on various aspects of the Chinese in Indonesia, such as their religious affiliations and education. Despite the considerable attention given to the Chinese of Indonesia, scholars have not specifically studied, through the lens of the media, how a certain group of Chinese Indonesians grew up in a restrictive media and cultural environment during the 33 years when Indonesia was ruled by Suharto. This book takes the first step in examining this generation's collective memory of growing up in a state-controlled environment that has had a significant impact on their identity formation, maintenance, and the (re)negotiation of 'Chineseness' in their everyday lives. This book will appeal especially to media, cultural studies, and Southeast Asian studies scholars, researchers, and students.

Approaches to accommodating Chineseness -- Historical constructions of Chinese identity -- Chinese "culture" and self-identity -- Heterogeneity and internal dynamics of Chinese politics -- Reemergence of the Chinese press -- "Race," class and stereotyping : Pribumi perceptions of Chineseness -- Preserving ethnicity : boundary maintenance and border-crossing -- Conclusion : reconceptualizing Chineseness

Honours and reflects on the life and work of the Australian Indonesianist, Charles A. Coppel. His interests - reflected in this volume - are broad, ranging from history, politics, legal issues, and violence against the Chinese through culture and religion. Both authors are at the University of Melbourne.

[Truncated abstract] The May 1998 anti-Chinese riots brought to the fore the highly problematic position of the ethnic Chinese in the Indonesian nation. The ethnic Chinese were traumatised by the event, and experienced an identity crisis. They were confronted with the reality that many Indonesians still viewed and treated them as outsiders or foreigners, despite the fact that they had lived in Indonesia for many generations. During Suharto's New Order (1966-1998), the ethnic Chinese had been given the privilege to expand the nation's economy (and their own wealth), but, paradoxically, were marginalised and discriminated against in all social spheres: culture, language, politics, entrance to state-owned universities, public service and public employment. This intentional official discrimination against the Chinese continuously reproduced their "foreignness" and placed them in a vulnerable position vis-à-vis the pribumi ("indigenous" Indonesians). Following the fall of Suharto in May 1998, Indonesia underwent a process of "Reformasi" and democratisation. As a result, a whole new sphere for the public discourse of Chinese identity was opened up, and for the first time in several decades Chinese culture was allowed visibility in public. Many ethnic Chinese took advantage of the new democratic space to establish political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and action groups to fight for the abolition of discriminatory laws, defend their rights and promote solidarity between ethnic groups in Indonesia. ...This thesis seeks to unpack the complex meanings of "Chineseness" in post-1998 Indonesia. It draws on participant observation and interviews conducted over a period of ten months of fieldwork in Jakarta as well as pop culture and media sources. The thesis explores the "resurgence" of Chinese identity, including the ways in which the policy of multiculturalism enabled such "resurgence", the forces that shaped it and the possibilities for "resinicisation". Apart from examining the ways that the ethnic Chinese self-identify, the thesis also investigates how the pribumi "Other" has contributed to such identification. To this end, the thesis explicates the concepts of "race", class and ethnicity in determining the ethnic boundary between the Chinese and the pribumi. The thesis also investigates the idea of hybridity, encompassing syncretism and the complexities of cultural crossing, borrowing and mixing, as it considers the border-crossing experience of Chinese-Indonesians through localisation and globalisation.

The ethnic Chinese have had a long and problematic history in Indonesia, commonly stereotyped as a market-dominant minority with dubious political loyalty toward Indonesia. For over three decades under Suharto’s New Order regime, a cultural assimilation policy banned Chinese languages, cultural expression, schools, media, and organizations. This policy was only abolished in 1998 following the riots and anti-Chinese attacks that preceded the fall of the New Order. In the post-Suharto era, Chinese Indonesians were finally free to assert their Chineseness again. But how does an ethnic group recover from the trauma of assimilation and regain a lost cultural identity? Memories of Unbelonging is an ethnographic study of how collective memories of state-sponsored ethnic discrimination have shaped Chinese identity politics in Indonesia. Combining case studies, in-depth primary data, and incisive analysis of Indonesia’s contemporary political landscape, anthropologist Charlotte Setijadi argues that trauma narratives are at the core of modern Chinese identity politics. Examining spaces and domains such as residential enclaves, educational institutions, the creative arts, and politics, this book paints a vivid picture of how different generations of Chinese Indonesians make sense of their historical trauma, ethnic identity, and belonging in a post-assimilation environment. Far from being passive victims of history, the ethnic Chinese are actively challenging old stereotypes and boundaries of acceptable Chineseness in the country. This emphasis on group and individual agency marks a strong departure from structural analyses of Chinese Indonesians that mostly highlight their disempowerment as an oppressed minority. Furthermore, placing the analysis within the broader context of China’s rise in the twenty-first century demonstrates how the combination of persisting local anti-Chinese sentiments and renewed pride over China’s growing global dominance have prompted many Chinese Indonesians to re-evaluate their sense of ethnic and national belonging. By focusing on the nexus between collective memory, local identity politics, and the rise of China as an external factor, Memories of Unbelonging offers new perspectives of understanding about Chinese Indonesians, post-Suharto Indonesian society, and the relationship between China and ethnic Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.

Selfish, obscenely rich, insular, and opportunistic: these remain how Chinese minorities in Indonesia are perceived by the indigenous population. However, far from being passive victims of discrimination and marginalisation, Chong presents a forceful case in which Chinese Indonesians possess the agency to shape their future in the country, particularly in the changing political, business, and socio-cultural environment after the fall of Suharto. While a lack of good governance that promotes the rule of law and accountability allows or even encourages some Chinese to maintain the status quo by perpetuating corrupt business practices inherited from Suharto’s New Order regime, there are other Chinese Indonesians who make full use of the democratic space opened up under the new administrations, acting as agents of reform by participating in electoral politics and establishing inter-ethnic socio-cultural organisations. Building on Anthony Giddens’s structure-agency theory and Pierre Bourdieu’s notions of habitus and field, Chong shows that the Chinese minorities have played an active role in the democratic process, even though they continue to occupy an ambivalent position in Indonesia. The Chinese Indonesians’ diverse strategies to safeguard their personal interests and cultural identities make a stimulating case study of what an ethnic minority could do to make a difference. ‘Backed by formidable research, Chong has produced an intriguing and original view of the political, social, and economic activity of the still precariously placed Chinese minority in Indonesia.’ —Donald L. Horowitz, Duke University; author of Constitutional Change and Democracy in Indonesia ‘In this illuminating study, Chong traces the political economy of Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority as they navigate the country’s post-1998 politics, which is more free but still lacks strong rule of law. Focusing especially on Medan and Surabaya, she analyses how some have strongly supported reforms while many continue old practices of surviving and profiting by participating in massive corruption and extortion.’ —Jeffrey A. Winters, Northwestern University; author of Oligarchy