15501 Rika Theo Thesis.Indd
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Unravelling Indonesian Student Mobility to China: Politics, Identities, and Trajectories ISBN 978-94-6299-995-4 © Rika Theao, 2018. Cover design: Paula Amelia Sutanudjaja. Cover photo: Rika Theo, Margaret Kamal, Wikimedia common. Printing and layout: Ridderprint BV, www.ridderprint.nl Unravelling Indonesian Student Mobility to China: Politics, Identities, and Trajectories De ontrafeling van de mobiliteit van Indonesische studenten naar China: Politiek, identiteiten en trajecten (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Mengurai Mobilitas Pelajar Indonesia ke Tiongkok Politik, Identitas, dan Trajektori (dengan ringkasan dalam bahasa Indonesia) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promotie in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 22 juni 2018 te 2.30 uur door Rika geboren op 22 mei 1981 te Kotabumi, Indonesië Promotor: Prof. dr. E.B. Zoomers Copromotor: Dr. W.H.M. Leung I will not close my eyes neither those in my head nor those in my soul, as the ship carries me away, along with my future, my dreams, and my beliefs. Pramoedya Ananta Toer 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 10 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 13 1. INTRODUCTION 17 Rationale 19 The changing landscape in international higher education 21 The emergence of China: market player vis-à-vis soft power player 23 Research focus : the linkages between Indonesia and China 27 Politics, identities and trajectories in ISM 31 Research aim and questions 32 Methodology 33 Methods 33 Juggling curiosity, reflexivity, utility and personal bias 34 Research outline 36 2. OF STATES AND IDENTITY POLITICS: A CULTURAL POLITICAL ECONOMY 43 TRAJECTORY OF INDONESIAN STUDENT MOBILITY TO CHINA Introduction 45 Bringing the states back to the analysis of international student mobility 47 Research setting and methodology 49 Historicising and unravelling Indonesian student mobility to China 49 1. Colonial epoch (1900-1949) 50 2. Post-colonial epoch (1950-1956) 52 3. Communist epoch (1957-1965) 53 4. Authoritarian epoch (1966-1998) 55 5. Economic globalisation epoch (1999-now) 56 A comparison across history 61 Conclusion 64 3. WHAT CHINA? WHICH CHINESE? WHO ARE INDONESIANS? 69 CHINESEINDONESIAN STUDENTS IN CHINA AND THE RESHAPING OF TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITY Introduction 71 International students, transnational subjects 73 Student mobility and transnational identity capital 74 7 Methodology 75 Chinese-Indonesian students: growing up to be transnationals? 76 Findings and discussions 79 1. Diaspora consciousness: transnational identity’s impact on mobility 79 2. Identity negotiation: mobility impact on identity 81 3. Strategic translation: utilizing transnational identity capital 84 Conclusion 86 4. YOUNG BRIDGES, OLD GAPS: MAKING SENSE OF PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE 91 EXCHANGES IN INDONESIAN STUDENT MOBILITY TO CHINA Introduction 93 Understanding bridging in international student mobility 93 Methodology 98 People to people exchange in the turbulent relationship 98 between Indonesia and China The great expectations 100 What actually happened: bridging as practised by the students 102 1. Bridging the knowledge gap between societies 103 2. Bridging among the Indonesians 105 3. Bridging: new networks between China and Indonesia 107 Bridging over calm and troubled water 110 Conclusion 112 5. FROM PRIVILEGE TO PRECARITY: INDONESIAN STUDENT EXILES 117 AND THEIR LEGACY Introduction 119 Methodology 121 Linking precarity and international student mobility 121 Student-exiles in precarity and political (im)mobility 123 The Indonesian student-exiles in political precarity 125 Encountering the proliferation of vulnerability and uncertainty 129 Engaging precarity 134 Intersecting student mobility trajectories 136 Conclusion 141 8 6. CHINA’S CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE IN INDONESIA: MOBILITY, FRICTIONS 147 AND LOCAL SURPRISES Introduction 149 The mobility and frictions of the cross-border education institution 152 The Confucius Institute and the encountered friction 154 Material and methods 155 Case 1 (National level – Jakarta): what’s in a name? A friction 156 Case 2 (Makassar): the enabling friction 159 Case 3 (Bandung): the impeding friction 163 Conclusion 165 7. CONCLUSION: POLITICS, IDENTITIES AND TRAJECTORIES IN INDONESIAN 171 STUDENT MOBILITY TO CHINA Politics 173 Identities 174 Trajectories 177 Reflections 178 ISM in the changeful China-Indonesia relations: imagining the future 178 ISM for development, reconsidering the South, and lesson learnt 180 ANNEX 1. LIST OF INTERVIEWEES 187 SUMMARY 191 SAMENVATTING 193 RINGKASAN 197 CURRICULUM VITAE 201 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 3C Communism, China, and Chinese-Indonesians 3T Tibet, Taiwan and Tiananmen BRI Belt and Road Initiative BKPBM Badan Koordinasi Pendidikan Bahasa Mandarin (Coordinating Association for Mandarin Education) CI Confucius Institute IDR Indonesian rupiah IHE International Higher Education IIE Insititute of International Education ISM International Student Mobility LGBT Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Mahid Mahasiswa ikatan dinas (Indonesian international students with national bond scholarship) MoU Memorandum of Understanding OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development PBM Pusat Bahasa Mandarin (Mandarin Language Center -CI brand in Indonesia) PKI Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesia Communist Party) PRC People Republic of China RMB Renminbi (China yuan) SDG Sustainable Development Goals STEM Science, technology, engineering, mathematics UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Unhas Universitas Hasanuddin (Hassanuddin University) USD United States Dollar 10 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1 Number of Indonesian students in China 58 Table 2-2 Constellation of Indonesian Student Mobility to China 1900-present 60 Table 4-1 Growth of Indonesian students in China based on funding sources 100 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1 International student (tertiary level) mobility long 19 term growth, 1975-2015 Figure 1-2 Top 10 countries of origin of international higher education 23 students in China 2017 Figure 1-3 Top 4 destination countries of Indonesia higher education students 27 in 2017 (Open Doors® Report on International Educational Exchange, 2017) Figure 4-1 Study field of Indonesian students in China (2012) 101 Figure 4-2 The City Branches of the Indonesian Student Association in China 106 Figure 5-1 The Mobility Map of Indonesian 1965 Exiles 130 Figure 5-2 Sarmadji in his library apartment 133 Figure 5-3 Indonesian students with the exiles on the street protest during 137 the Indonesian president’s visit to the Netherlands 11 12 Acknowledgement ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The completion of this dissertation ends my journey as an international student. It was never a journey travelled exclusively and in vacuum. It instead deeply intersected with my other journeys: as a daughter and woman, a journalist, a Chinese-Indonesian, a sojourner and a learner. While half of my PhD journey was filled with exciting adventures and continuous curiosity during my transits in various places, another half was more moored and bounded with a lot of thoughts and reflections. The latter, the writing process of this book, has happened along with the ups and downs of my journey of being a new mother. This book is thus dedicated to all the PhD moms out there who struggle to complete their academic research while kept busy in raising kids and face the gender-based challenges. These dual tracks challenges are overwhelming and incredibly difficult, but at the same time are awesome and most memorable. Four years ago, I was warned by more than two friends that this PhD journey was going to be a long lonely journey. Now I conclude that this PhD journey is indeed relatively long, but certainly not lonely (except for the nights and dawns when I was all alone staring at my laptop). I met and interacted with so many diverse people along the way. Some of them gave me new perspectives on seeing things. Among all, Maggi, who has shared her knowledge and experiences throughout those four years. I owe her more than a thank you note for being a PhD supervisor with persistent effort on developing me as academics, but also for being someone, with whom I can share, discuss and debate various topics about life over a cup of coffee or two glasses of Leffe Blond. I would also like to thank Annelies for her valuable unprecedented inputs and attentive motivation that moved me closer and closer to the finish line. I thank all the IDS colleagues and staffs who crossed my path, especially my paranymphs Pete and Ari for their willingness to hear my constant sighs and their kind help to make a good ending of this journey, Erda and Erlis for always standing by, Pak Suseno for the great discussions and sweet intervention, Femke for her help in the last minute of the finishing process, Murtah who always let me borrow his office key when I did not have place to work in campus, and Kabede for his optimistic encouragement. I am also deeply indebted to every one of my research participants for their time and willingness to talk and share their experiences with me. It was because of them that this research could be fulfilled. My heartfelt thanks go to bung Gogol, Tri, om Tom and pakde Kuslan for their help, support and openness during my research on the exiles. For PPI Tiongkok and the students I met in Beijing that I cannot mention one by one, I am very much thankful. This PhD journey began with a very different research in Bangka Island. I sincerely thank Koko Sadmoko and Amel who made my early research days there a fascinating 13 memory. Although the research about Chinese capital and knowledge flows in Bangka's tin mining could not be continued, the one-year research experiences were very valuable in shaping my following research and perspective. I should thank Henky Widjaja for introducing me to this PhD journey and his support at the beginning of my research. And at the near end of my journey, I am thankful to Jeremy who copy-edited my articles with much perfection.