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

For the Peranakan Chinese in Indonesia, this century has brought many changes which have heightened the dilemma of their identity, both as a minority group and as individuals. With the rising tide of nationalism in Southeast Asia, the Peranakans were torn between their ancestral identity as Chinese, and their own cultural identity in the former Netherlands Indies, where they had been born, lived, intermarried and become part of local society to the extent that they no longer even spoke Chinese. Dutch colonial society and education which emphasized the concept of race and ethnic identity added further complexity to their dilemma. In this reissue, Leo Suryadinata examines how different Peranakans, each prominent in their own cultural and political spheres, sought unique ways to find and establish an identity that was personal as well as significant in the wider context of being Peranakan in Indonesia.

Explores how the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia construct themselves through material reproduction.

The book shows how the Chinese minority is much more diverse, and the picture much richer and more complicated, than previous studies have allowed. Subjects covered include the historical development of Chinese communities in peripheral areas of Indonesia, the religious practices of Chinese Indonesians, which are by no means confined to "Chinese" religions, and Chinese ethnic events, where a wide range of Indonesians, not just Chinese, participate.