DOCSLIB.ORG

Studies on the Chinese in Southeast Asia in the Twenty-First Century

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Studies on the Chinese in Southeast Asia in the Twenty-First Century Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Vol. 166, no. 4 (2010), pp. 533-544 URL: http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-100894 Copyright: content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License ISSN: 0006-2294 REVIEW ESSAY KWEE HUI KIAN Studies on the Chinese in Southeast Asia in the twenty-first century Michael D. Barr and Zlatko Skrbis, Constructing Singapore; Elitism, ethnicity and the nation-building project. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2008, xiii + 304 pp. ISBN 978877694028, price GBP 50.00 (hard- back); 9788776940294, GBP 16.99 (paperback). Marleen Dieleman, The rhythm of strategy; A corporate biography of the Salim Group of Indonesia. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007, 205 pp. [ICAS Publications Series, Monograph 1.] ISBN 9789053560334. Price: EUR 29.50 (paperback). Kristina Goransson, The binding tie; Chinese intergenerational rela- tions in modern Singapore. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2009, x + 191 pp. ISBN 9780824832599, price USD 57.00 (hard- back); 9780824833527, USD 26.00 (paperback). Chang-Yau Hoon, Chinese identity in post-Suharto Indonesia; Culture, politics and media. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2008, xi + 230 pp. ISBN 9781845192686. Price: GBP 49.95 (hardback). Leo Suryadinata, Understanding the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2007, x + 310 pp. ISBN 9789812304377. Price: USD 21.90 (paperback). Sikko Visscher, The business of politics and ethnicity; A history of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Singapore: NUS Press, 2007, xviii + 372 pp. ISBN 97899713657. Price: USD 32.00 (paperback). Voon Phin Keong (ed.), Malaysian Chinese and nation-building; Before Merdeka and fifty years after. Vol. 2. Kuala Lumpur: Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, 2008. ISBN 9789833808066 (hard- back); 9789833908059 (paperback). Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 11:17:00AM via free access 534 Book reviews University of Toronto [email protected] With their achievement of independence from the colonial powers in the pe- riod from the 1940s to the 1960s, most Southeast Asian countries granted citi- zenship to resident migrant Chinese as well as to those who were born locally but had ancestral links in China. However, collectively speaking, the Chinese were regarded as a formerly alien people who needed to be assimilated into the Southeast Asian societies. As part of the nation-building process, many Southeast Asian regimes closed down the Chinese schools and press. Even in Singapore, which has a Chinese majority exceeding 70 per cent, all Chi- nese schools were gradually converted to national schools with English as the main medium of instruction. Moreover, the new ruling elites of Southeast Asia also maintained that the Chinese controlled disproportionately large shares of the economy. Governments therefore intervened to discriminate against the Chinese and in favour of those regarded as indigenous. Indonesia implemented the Benteng policy, by which import and export licenses were granted only to pribumi (indigenous) entrepreneurs, and the PP-10, which prohibited foreign nation- als from doing retail business in rural areas. In Malaysia, the New Economic Policy (NEP) launched in 1970 involved wealth restructuring measures to ensure that bumiputera (children of the soil) would acquire 30 per cent of the corporate sector in the economy within 20 years. The period from the 1950s to the 1970s thus saw a boom in scholarly writ- ing on the overseas Chinese. Many academics expressed strong objections towards extreme discriminatory measures such as those taken in Indonesia, where all manifestations of Chinese language and culture and imports of Chinese-language materials were ultimately prohibited. At the same time however, most scholars were concerned with the phenomenon of Chinese economic dominance. Hence, although they protested against anti-Chinese discrimination, there was an implicit agreement among them that some form of affirmative economic action, along the lines of the NEP, was necessary. The Chinese in Southeast Asia still attract much academic attention today. A contextual factor here is that national politics in these countries, particu- larly Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, has continued to operate along communal lines up to to the present. Furthermore, the economic rise of China following Deng Xiaoping’s adoption of an open-door policy in the late 1970s appears to have influenced policies towards the Chinese in the Southeast Asian countries. Since the early 1990s, the Malaysian and Indonesian gov- ernments have become less stringent in their prohibitions of the celebration of Chinese festivals and cultural performances such as the lion dance. In Singapore, where the PAP regime has professed multiculturalism and meri- Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 11:17:00AM via free access Book reviews 535 tocracy as its ruling ideology since 1965, the government began to adopt a pro-Chinese stance from the 1980s. Some governments also appeared to adjust their economic and nation- building policies in the 1990s. With the conclusion of the NEP in Malaysia in 1991, then Prime Minister Mahathir announced ‘Vision 2020’ as the new nationalist ideology, a concept that promises to be more Malaysian- oriented rather than bumiputera-oriented in policy terms. Regime change in the Southeast Asian countries also precipitated shifts in policies towards the Chinese. With the fall of Soeharto in 1998, the subsequent governments gradually abolished anti-Chinese legislation in Indonesia. Published between 2007 and 2009, the seven books under review mainly concern the Chinese in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia in recent decades. The books edited by Voon feature the results of a major research project undertaken by the Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies in 2006 on the Chinese in Malaysia in the last 50 years. Written exclusively by Chinese Malaysian academics, volume 1 is on the historical background and economic aspects of nation-building, while volume 2 focuses on political and cultural features.1 In the latter volume, several authors examine Chinese political par- ticipation in Malaysia through their voting patterns and support for various political parties, and also through the lobbying activities of Chinese guilds and associations (Lee Kam Hing, Danny Wong Tze Ken, Ho Hui Ling, and Thock Ker Pong). Others look at the development of Chinese schools and the Chinese arts and literary scene in Malaysia (Lim Chooi Kwa, Chong Fah Hing, and Chung Yi). Authors such as Wong Wun Bin and Voon Phin Keong also analyse Chinese culture and philosophy, proposing that Chinese moral elements could enrich Malaysian nation-building. Contributors to the anthology apparently perceive a continuation of the bumiputera-oriented policies of the Malaysian regime despite the end of NEP and Mahathir’s proclamation of Vision 2020. Wong Wun Bin, for example, criticizes the state’s pro-Malay stance (p. 482): in a multi-ethnic country such as Malaysia, inter-ethnic harmony and moral values are far more important than administering the country from a dominant perspec- tive of ethnicity or that of resource contestation. In other words, nation-building in a multi-ethnic country goes well beyond material progress but requires constant efforts to nurture inter-ethnic harmony, tolerance, accommodation and other ‘in- tangibles’. Various authors also appeal for the inclusion of the interests of Chinese Ma- laysians in the nation-building process. These sentiments are best summa- rized in Yow Cheun Hoe’s chapter: yes, it is true that in the British colonial pe- 1 Unfortunately, the present reviewer was not able to inspect volume 1 for this review. Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 11:17:00AM via free access 536 Book reviews riod, many Chinese were sojourning and wanted to return to China. But in the post-colonial era, these Chinese have become citizens and no longer profess loyalty to China. Chinese Malaysians are here to stay and are looking for ‘a more open national paradigm amidst all the ascending transnational possibil- ities’ (p. 568). If the Malaysian state continues to deny Chinese culture, it will lead to ‘involuntary brain drain’ (p. 565). Yow also states that with China’s emergence as a global economic powerhouse, Chinese Malaysian investments are ‘based on business calculations’ rather than loyal sentiments (pp. 565-6). One may obtain a better understanding of these particular sentiments and appeals by examining the background of the Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, the sponsor of the research projects and publisher of the anthol- ogies. In 1985, 15 national-level Chinese organizations submitted a ‘Joint Declaration’ to the Malaysian government, appealing to the latter to consider the ‘civil rights of all Malaysians’ and not merely those of the bumiputera. Simultaneously, these organizations set up the Centre as a research unit and think tank. It seems fitting then that the contributions sought by the Centre for its publication to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Malaysia’s independence reiterate the appeal for a more inclusive nationalist ideology for all Malaysians. The book by Suryadinata is an anthology of articles he has previously published in the past two decades. In these articles, Suryadinata mainly analyses political, economic, and cultural developments among the Chinese in Southeast Asian societies in the last 20 years. As these articles have been previously published as separate articles, there is
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Immigrant Parenting in the United States and Singapore
    genealogy Article Challenges and Strategies for Promoting Children’s Education: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Immigrant Parenting in the United States and Singapore Min Zhou 1,* and Jun Wang 2 1 Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1551, USA 2 School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639818, Singapore; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 18 February 2019; Accepted: 11 April 2019; Published: 15 April 2019 Abstract: Confucian heritage culture holds that a good education is the path to upward social mobility as well as the road to realizing an individual’s fullest potential in life. In both China and Chinese diasporic communities around the world, education is of utmost importance and is central to childrearing in the family. In this paper, we address one of the most serious resettlement issues that new Chinese immigrants face—children’s education. We examine how receiving contexts matter for parenting, what immigrant parents do to promote their children’s education, and what enables parenting strategies to yield expected outcomes. Our analysis is based mainly on data collected from face-to-face interviews and participant observations in Chinese immigrant communities in Los Angeles and New York in the United States and in Singapore. We find that, despite different contexts of reception, new Chinese immigrant parents hold similar views and expectations on children’s education, are equally concerned about achievement outcomes, and tend to adopt overbearing parenting strategies. We also find that, while the Chinese way of parenting is severely contested in the processes of migration and adaptation, the success in promoting children’s educational excellence involves not only the right set of culturally specific strategies but also tangible support from host-society institutions and familial and ethnic social networks.
    [Show full text]
  • Committed to Growth Annual Report 2017 Annual Report 2017
    GALLANT VENTURE LTD. GALLANT VENTURE LTD. COMMITTED TO GROWTH ANNUAL REPORT 2017 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 ANNUAL REPORT GALLANT VENTURE LTD. 3 HarbourFront Place #16-01 HarbourFront Tower Two Singapore 099254 Tel: (65) 6389 3535 Fax: (65) 6396 7758 www.gallantventure.com TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 OUR PROFILE 02 OUR CORE BUSINESSES • AUTOMOTIVE • PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT • INDUSTRIAL PARKS • UTILITIES • RESORT OPERATIONS 07 LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS 09 BUSINESS REVIEW 13 FINANCIAL REVIEW 15 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS 16 GROUP STRUCTURE 20 BOARD OF DIRECTORS 23 KEY EXECUTIVES 24 CORPORATE INFORMATION 25 FINANCIAL CONTENTS GALLANT VENTURE LTD Annual Report 2017 01 OUR PROFILE Gallant Venture Ltd is an Indonesia focused investment holding company headquartered in Singapore. We are an integrated automotive group with coverage across Indonesia and a master planner for industrial parks and resorts in Batam and Bintan. With vision and perseverance, we have successfully plots in Bintan. Progressive completion of the Lagoi developed Batam and Bintan into an investment and Bay project will bring our Bintan Resorts to new tourist destination offering integrated businesses and heights and significantly enhance the business services such as industrial parks, utilities, property prospects on the island. development and resort operations. Our businesses are well-positioned to leverage on the strategic With our acquired automotive arm – PT Indomobil alliance between the Singapore and Indonesia Sukses Internasional Tbk (“IMAS”), we have governments and close proximity to Singapore.
    [Show full text]
  • Contact Languages: Ecology and Evolution in Asia
    This page intentionally left blank Contact Languages Why do groups of speakers in certain times and places come up with new varieties of languages? What are the social settings that determine whether a mixed language, a pidgin, or a Creole will develop, and how can we under- stand the ways in which different languages contribute to the new grammar? Through the study of Malay contact varieties such as Baba and Bazaar Malay, Cocos Malay, and Sri Lanka Malay, as well as the Asian Portuguese ver- nacular of Macau, and China Coast Pidgin, the book explores the social and structural dynamics that underlie the fascinating phenomenon of the creation of new, or restructured, grammars. It emphasizes the importance and inter- play of historical documentation, socio-cultural observation, and linguistic analysis in the study of contact languages, offering an evolutionary frame- work for the study of contact language formation – including pidgins and Creoles – in which historical, socio-cultural, and typological observations come together. umberto ansaldo is Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong. He was formerly a senior researcher and lecturer with the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication at the University of Amsterdam. He has also worked in Sweden and Singapore and conducted fieldwork in China, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, and Sri Lanka. He is the co-editor of the Creole Language Library Series and has co-edited various journals and books including Deconstructing Creole (2007). Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact General Editor Salikoko S. Mufwene, University of Chicago Editorial Board Robert Chaudenson, Université d’Aix-en-Provence Braj Kachru, University of Illinois at Urbana Raj Mesthrie, University of Cape Town Lesley Milroy, University of Michigan Shana Poplack, University of Ottawa Michael Silverstein, University of Chicago Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact is an interdisciplinary series bringing together work on language contact from a diverse range of research areas.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Economy of Business Groups in Developing Countries
    Studies in Comparative International Development https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-021-09339-4 Trust and Envy: the Political Economy of Business Groups in Developing Countries Nathaniel H. Lef1 · Rachael Behr2 · Jefry Frieden3 · Shelby Grossman4 Accepted: 18 June 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021 Abstract Diversifed business groups play a major role in the economies of many developing countries. Business group members, often from the same communal, ethnic, or tribal group, have or develop interpersonal relations that make it easier to obtain informa- tion and monitor compliance related to transactions that require a strong measure of trust. This in-group cohesion facilitates proftable and productive economic activity. However, it can create resentment among other members of society who are barred from membership in a group that is, of necessity, exclusive. This envy can fuel a self-reinforcing cycle of societal hostility and group protectiveness that can deprive society of the economic benefts the groups can provide. There are several possible reactions such as “afrmative action” programs that can slow or stop the cycle of envy and group vulnerability. Keywords Diversifed business groups · Business groups · Property rights · Afrmative action · Minority trading groups Introduction Business groups are ubiquitous in the economies of many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Khanna and Yafeh 2007). They help mitigate informational and other contractual
    [Show full text]
  • Language Ideologies, Chinese Identities and Imagined Futures Perspectives from Ethnic Chinese Singaporean University Students
    Journal of Chinese Overseas 17 (2021) 1–30 brill.com/jco Language Ideologies, Chinese Identities and Imagined Futures Perspectives from Ethnic Chinese Singaporean University Students 语言意识形态、华人身份认同、未来憧憬: 新加坡华族大学生的视野 Audrey Lin Lin Toh1 (陶琳琳) | ORCID: 0000-0002-2462-7321 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore [email protected] Hong Liu2 (刘宏) | ORCID: 0000-0003-3328-8429 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore [email protected] Abstract Since independence in 1965, the Singapore government has established a strongly mandated education policy with an English-first and official mother tongue Mandarin-second bilingualism. A majority of local-born Chinese have inclined toward a Western rather than Chinese identity, with some scholars regarding English as Singapore’s “new mother tongue.” Other research has found a more local identity built on Singlish, a localized form of English which adopts expressions from the ethnic mother tongues. However, a re-emergent China and new waves of mainland migrants over the past two decades seem to have strengthened Chinese language ideologies in the nation’s linguistic space. This article revisits the intriguing relationships between language and identity through a case study of Chineseness among young ethnic Chinese Singaporeans. Guided by a theory of identity and investment and founded on 1 Lecturer, Language and Communication Centre, School of Humanities, Nanyang Techno- logical University, Singapore. 2 Tan Lark Sye Chair Professor in Public Policy and Global Affairs, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. © Audrey Lin Lin Toh and Hong Liu, 2021 | doi:10.1163/17932548-12341432 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0Downloaded license.
    [Show full text]
  • ICTM Abstracts Final2
    ABSTRACTS FOR THE 45th ICTM WORLD CONFERENCE BANGKOK, 11–17 JULY 2019 THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 IA KEYNOTE ADDRESS Jarernchai Chonpairot (Mahasarakham UnIversIty). Transborder TheorIes and ParadIgms In EthnomusIcological StudIes of Folk MusIc: VIsIons for Mo Lam in Mainland Southeast Asia ThIs talk explores the nature and IdentIty of tradItIonal musIc, prIncIpally khaen musIc and lam performIng arts In northeastern ThaIland (Isan) and Laos. Mo lam refers to an expert of lam singIng who Is routInely accompanIed by a mo khaen, a skIlled player of the bamboo panpIpe. DurIng 1972 and 1973, Dr. ChonpaIrot conducted fIeld studIes on Mo lam in northeast Thailand and Laos with Dr. Terry E. Miller. For many generatIons, LaotIan and Thai villagers have crossed the natIonal border constItuted by the Mekong RIver to visit relatIves and to partIcipate In regular festivals. However, ChonpaIrot and Miller’s fieldwork took place durIng the fInal stages of the VIetnam War which had begun more than a decade earlIer. DurIng theIr fIeldwork they collected cassette recordings of lam singIng from LaotIan radIo statIons In VIentIane and Savannakhet. ChonpaIrot also conducted fieldwork among Laotian artists living in Thai refugee camps. After the VIetnam War ended, many more Laotians who had worked for the AmerIcans fled to ThaI refugee camps. ChonpaIrot delIneated Mo lam regIonal melodIes coupled to specIfic IdentItIes In each locality of the music’s origin. He chose Lam Khon Savan from southern Laos for hIs dIssertation topIc, and also collected data from senIor Laotian mo lam tradItion-bearers then resIdent In the United States and France. These became his main informants.
    [Show full text]
  • Attitudes to Mandarin Chinese Varieties in Singapore
    Attitudes to Mandarin Chinese varieties in Singapore Francesco Cavallaro, Mark Fifer Seilhamer, Ho Yen Yee and Ng Bee Chin Nanyang Technological University This study aims to shed light on the attitudes of Chinese Singaporeans and Chinese nationals residing in Singapore to varieties of Mandarin Chinese. 64 Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants took matched and verbal-guise tests, evaluating recorded speakers of two varieties of Singapore Mandarin (standard and colloquial) and the variety spoken in the PRC on status and solidarity traits. These evaluations were followed by optional questionnaire items intended to probe for additional more insights into the participants’ atti- tudes and perceptions of one another. Both Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants assigned higher status to the PRC’s variety of Mandarin. Attitudes toward the two varieties of Singapore Mandarin, however, varied, with Singaporeans rating the standard variety higher than the colloquial variety on all traits and Chinese nationals favouring the colloquial variety. Interestingly, for all three varieties of Mandarin, solidarity traits were rated higher than status traits by all participants, suggesting that, in Singapore, Mandarin Chinese is now viewed more as a language of solidarity than status. Keywords: language attitudes, matched-guise, Putonghua, Singapore Mandarin, verbal-guise Introduction After explaining that he makes a conscious effort to speak Mandarin Chinese ac- cording to mainland China ‘standard’ pronunciation norms, Singaporean blogger Limpeh recounts an experience he had in a Singapore clothing store: Now the staff in there are very Chinese speaking (or Singlish speaking) – but it is distinctly Singaporean-Mandarin that they speak. One of the standard lines the shop assistants there use is this: “你可以 try!” Yeah, precisely in that combination.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Ethnic Branding Strategies and the Roles of Language in the Movie Crazy Rich Asians
    PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI CHINESE ETHNIC BRANDING STRATEGIES AND THE ROLES OF LANGUAGE IN THE MOVIE CRAZY RICH ASIANS A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Program in English Language Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) in English Language Studies By Fennie Karline Rosario Tenau Student Number: 186332004 THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2020 i PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI “ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can find out what God has done from beginning to end.” - Ecclesiastes 3:11- I dedicated this Thesis to My angel mother, Margaretha Warayaan. iv PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI ABSTRACT Tenau, Fennie Karline Rosario. 2020. Chinese Ethnic Branding Strategies and The Roles of Language in The Movie Crazy Rich Asians. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies. Graduate Program. Sanata Dharma University. Chinese attempt to show their existence in the world‘s eyes can be seen in their branding. Branding is important in the aspect of ethnicity because it creates certain assumptions about an ethnic group. They try to show their identity by using several strategies both in explicit and implicit ways. However, Chinese themselves barely participate in Hollywood movies as the main characters. Crazy Rich Asians then appears as a movie that highlights the real-life portrayal of Chinese and diaspora in real life. Much of the plot conflict focuses on the Eastern- educated family welcoming Rachel, a Chinese-American as a part of them. Most of the main characters classify themselves as culturally Chinese, so they are playing Chinese ethnicity characters.
    [Show full text]
  • In Asia Copyright © First Pacific Company Limited 7 July 2020
    Proposed Acquisition of Pinehill Company by Indofood CBP, A Subsidiary of Indofood HKEx: 00142 Creating ADR: FPAFY long-term value www.firstpacific.com in Asia Copyright © First Pacific Company Limited 7 July 2020. All rights reserved. Ownership Structure of Pinehill Company Argyle Street Management Limited Independent Third Relative of Anthoni Salim (Hong Kong-based asset manager, Parties Mr. Salim Beneficial Owner of Steele Lake) 49% 42.7% 8.3% 100% Pinehill Corpora Limited Steele Lake Limited (Affiliated) Seller (Non-Affiliated) Seller 51% 49% Pinehill Company Limited (Target Company, “Pinehill Group”) 59% 59% 59% 100% Salim Wazaran Group Limited Salim Wazaran Gida Sanayi Pinehill Arabia Food Limited Platinum Stream Profits “SAWAZ” (Egypt, Kenya, ve Yatirim Anonim Sirketi Serbia, Morocco) “PAFL” (Saudi Arabia) Limited 80% 49% Adkoturk Gida Sanayi ve DUFIL Prima Plc “DUFIL” Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Nigeria, Ghana) “Adkoturk” (Turkey) The four main Pinehill Group noodle makers. 2 Note: FPC Chairman A. Salim has a 25% economic interest in Pinehill. Pinehill Group Brings Continental Scale Four Companies In Eight Markets Serving 550 mln People DUFIL Pinehill Arabia Food (PAFL) Production2.8 from:x 4.9 1995 Production2.8 from:x 4.9 1995 2019 Sales: 4,062 mln 2019 Sales: 1,779 mln Population:13.4 x 5.0237 mln Population:19.2 x 5.035 mln SAWAZ Adkoturk Home marKets Production4.2 from:x 4.9 2010 Production2.8 from:x 4.9 2015 Neighboring marKets 2019 Sales: 1,550 mln 2019 Sales: 211 mln Population:13.4 x 8.2195 mln Population:19.2 x 8.284 mln Export markets bring total population to 885 million potential consumers Note: Sales are in units of 70g equivalent pacKs while “production from” refers to first factory operation.
    [Show full text]
  • A Rising China Affects Ethnic Identities in Southeast Asia
    ISSUE: 2021 No. 74 ISSN 2335-6677 RESEARCHERS AT ISEAS – YUSOF ISHAK INSTITUTE ANALYSE CURRENT EVENTS Singapore | 3 June 2021 A Rising China Affects Ethnic Identities in Southeast Asia Leo Suryadinata* In this picture, festive lights are reflected on a car in Chinatown on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Bangkok on February 12, 2021. Ethnic Chinese in Thailand are considered the most assimilated in Southeast Asia, and it has been argued that Buddhism is a key factor in this process. Photo: Mladen ANTONOV, AFP. * Leo Suryadinata is Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, and Professor (Adj.) at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at NTU. He was formerly Director of the Chinese Heritage Centre, NTU. 1 ISSUE: 2021 No. 74 ISSN 2335-6677 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • From Zhou Enlai to Deng Xiaoping, Beijing’s policy towards Chinese overseas was luodi shenggen (to take local roots), which encouraged them to take local citizenship and integrate themselves into local society. • In the 21st century, following the rise of China, this policy changed with a new wave of xinyimin (new migrants). Beijing advocated a policy of luoye guigen (return to original roots), thus blurring the distinction between huaqiao (Chinese nationals overseas) and huaren (foreign nationals of Chinese descent), and urging Chinese overseas regardless of citizenship to be oriented towards China and to serve Beijing’s interest. • China began calling huaqiao and huaren, especially people in business, to help China support the Beijing Olympics and BRI, and to return and develop closer links with China. • Responses from ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand have been muted, as they are localised and are participating in local politics.
    [Show full text]
  • MDM2 Promoter SNP309 Is Associated with Risk of Occurrence
    Imaging, Diagnosis, Prognosis MDM2 Promoter SNP309 Is Associated with Risk of Occurrence and Advanced Lymph Node Metastasis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Chinese Population Gangqiao Zhou,1, 2 , 3 Yun Z hai,1, 2 Ying Cui,4 Xiumei Zhang,2 Xiaojia Dong,3 HaoYang,1, 2 Ying He,5 KaitaiYao,5 Hongxing Zhang,1, 2 Lianteng Zhi,1, 2 XiaoyanYuan,1, 2 Wei Qiu,1, 2 Xiaoai Zhang,1, 2 Ya n Sh e n, 3 Boqing Qiang,3 and Fuchu He1, 2 , 3, 6 Abstract Purpose: Mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) is a key negative regulator of the p53 activity. Recently, a polymorphism in the MDM2 intronic promoter, SNP309, was shown to influence MDM2 expression and p53 activity.We examined whether the SNP309 was related to the risk of developing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) among Chinese populations. Experimental Design: We genotyped the SNP309 in two independent case-control popula- tions in southern China, one is from Guangxi province (including 593 NPC patients and 480 controls) and the other is from Guangdong province (including 239 patients and 286 controls), by PCR direct sequencing. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to calculate adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: We observed that compared with theTT genotype, the genotypes containing G allele (GT + GG genotype) were associated with significant increased susceptibility to NPC in both Guangxi (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.04-1.91) and Guangdong population (OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.00-2.36).When these two sample sets were combined, the OR of the GT + GG genotype developing NPC was 1.45 (95% CI, 1.12-1.85) compared with the TT genotype.
    [Show full text]
  • Chineseness Is in the Eye of the Beholder
    CHINESENESS IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: THE TRANSFORMATION OF CHINESE INDONESIAN AFTER REFORMASI A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Setefanus Suprajitno August 2013 © 2013 Setefanus Suprajitno CHINESENESS IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: THE TRANSFORMATION OF CHINESE INDONESIAN AFTER REFORMASI Setefanus Suprajitno, Ph.D. Cornell University 2013 My dissertation is an ethnographic project documenting the transformation of Chinese Indonesians post-Suharto Indonesia. When Suharto was in power (1966–1998), the Chinese in his country were not considered an ethnicity with the freedom to maintain their ethnic and cultural heritage. They were marked as “the Other” by various policies and measures that suppressed their cultural markers of ethnicity. The regime banned Chinese language education, prohibited Chinese media, and dissolved Chinese organizations, an effort that many Chinese thought of as destroying the Chinese community in Indonesia as they were seen as the three pillars that sustained the Chinese community. Those efforts were intended to make the Chinese more Indonesian; ironically, they highlighted the otherness of Chinese Indonesians and made them perpetual foreigners who remained the object of discrimination despite their total assimilation into Indonesian society. However, the May 1998 anti-Chinese riot that led to the fall of the New Order regime brought about political and social reform. The three pillars of the Chinese community were restored. This restoration produces new possibilities for Chinese cultural expression. Situated in this area of anthropological inquiry, my dissertation examines how the Chinese negotiate and formulate these identities, and how they ascribe meaning to Chinese identities.
    [Show full text]