Reconceptualising Ethnic Chinese Identity in Post-Suharto Indonesia Chang-Yau Hoon BA (Hons), BCom This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia School of Social and Cultural Studies Discipline of Asian Studies 2006 DECLARATION FOR THESES CONTAINING PUBLISHED WORK AND/OR WORK PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION This thesis contains sole-authored published work and/or work prepared for publication. The bibliographic details of the work and where it appears in the thesis is outlined below: Hoon, Chang-Yau. 2004, “Multiculturalism and Hybridity in Accommodating ‘Chineseness’ in Post-Soeharto Indonesia”, in Alchemies: Community exChanges, Glenn Pass and Denise Woods (eds), Black Swan Press, Perth, pp. 17-37. (A revised version of this paper appears in Chapter One of the thesis). ---. 2006, “Assimilation, Multiculturalism, Hybridity: The Dilemma of the Ethnic Chinese in Post-Suharto Indonesia”, Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 149-166. (A revised version of this paper appears in Chapter One of the thesis). ---. 2006, “Defining (Multiple) Selves: Reflections on Fieldwork in Jakarta”, Life Writing, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 79-100. (A revised version of this paper appears in a few sections of Chapter Two of the thesis). ---. 2006, “‘A Hundred Flowers Bloom’: The Re-emergence of the Chinese Press in post-Suharto Indonesia”, in Media and the Chinese Diaspora: Community, Communications and Commerce, Wanning Sun (ed.), Routledge, London and New York, pp. 91-118. (A revised version of this paper appears in Chapter Six of the thesis). This thesis is the original work of the author except where otherwise acknowledged. Signature……………………………… Date ………………………………… ii 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. In the cultural sphere, they utilised the Reformasi atmosphere to promote pluralism and multiculturalism and to liberate their long-suppressed identity and cultural iii heritage. The result was a “resurgence” of Chinese identity, reflected in the “revival” of Chinese culture, media, religion and language in post-Suharto 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. iv CONTENTS Declaration ii Abstract iii Contents v Acknowledgements viii Glossary and abbreviations xi List of figures xvi Note on stylistic conventions xviii Introduction The Problematic Identity of the Ethnic Chinese 1 “Chineseness” and the Indonesian nation 2 Heterogeneity of the ethnic Chinese 5 Terms of reference 8 The politics of identity 10 Identity crisis of the ethnic Chinese post-May 1998 riots 13 The thesis chapters 15 Chapter One Accommodating the Ethnic Chinese: Assimilation, Multiculturalism and Hybridity 20 Assimilationism under Suharto’s New Order 21 The politics of multiculturalism 24 The politics of hybridity 32 Conclusion 40 Chapter Two Problematising Site, Methodology and the Researcher’s Self 42 Problematising the research site – Jakarta 45 Contesting sites – where is Chinatown? 49 Destabilising “home” and “away” 53 Academic discipline and research methodology 58 Mapping the logistics of fieldwork 59 Defining the researcher’s (multiple) selves 66 Conclusion 81 Chapter Three Historical Constructions of Chinese Identity to May 1998 83 Colonial “Divide-and-Rule” policies 85 Pan-Chinese nationalism 87 The Japanese Occupation and the Indonesian Revolution 91 Sukarno’s “Old Order” 93 Suharto’s “New Order” 99 The stigmatisation of ethnic Chinese 100 The marginalisation of the ethnic Chinese 107 The victimisation of the ethnic Chinese 113 Conclusion 118 v Chapter Four Chinese “Culture” and Self-identity post-Suharto 120 “Chineseness” during Suharto’s New Order: was it totally “dead”? 124 “Chineseness” in post-Suharto Indonesia: which “Chineseness”? 130 The reinvention of Imlek: cultural or religious? 138 The post-1999 “Go Mandarin” trend: idealism or pragmatism? 149 The representations of “Chineseness”: empowerment or essentialism? 158 Conclusion 167 Chapter Five Heterogeneity and Internal Dynamics of Chinese politics in post-Suharto Indonesia 169 Categories of post-Suharto Chinese organisations: a critical review 172 Mass organisations: social-cultural/political? 173 Clan associations and alumni groups: totok/peranakan? 176 Anti-discrimination groups: ethnic/non-ethnic approach? 180 Political parties: establishment and transformations 185 Chinese political views and the 2004 Election 187 PARTI and the commemoration of the May 1998 Tragedy 190 Imagining national belonging 193 Inter-generational dynamics 199 Women, politics and representation 205 Conclusion 208 Chapter Six “A Hundred Flowers Bloom”: The Re-emergence of the Chinese Press 210 Defining the Chinese press in Indonesia 212 Sin Po and the history of the Chinese press 215 Suharto’s New Order – the “dark ages” for the Chinese press 219 “Out of darkness” – the Chinese press in post-Suharto’s Indonesia 221 The Indonesian-language Chinese press: a humble start 224 Idealist press struggling to survive in a commercial world 226 Self-essentialism and the perpetuation of stereotypes 228 The need for an Indonesian-language Chinese press 231 The Chinese-language press: a display of multiculturalism 234 Negotiating multiple identities 235 Politics and the Chinese-language press 241 Cultural “mission” and “resinicisation” 246 Sustainability of the Chinese-language press 249 Conclusion 253 Chapter Seven “Race”, Class and Stereotyping: Pribumi Perceptions of “Chineseness” 255 Pribumi-Chinese relations: a relationship of ambivalence 260 Essentialising Chinese identity: “once a pendatang, always a pendatang” 272 Counter narratives = counter stereotypes? 280 Conclusion 283 vi Chapter Eight Preserving Ethnicity: Negotiating Boundary Maintenance and Border Crossing 285 Delineating the Chinese | Pribumi boundary 290 Stereotypes and ethnic interactions 290 The dialogical ethnic “Self” 296 The pertinence of “race” as boundary marker 301 Physical and spatial (ethnic) boundary 306 Revisiting the inescapable “original sin” 312 Name-calling and labeling in maintaining ethnic difference 315 Inter-ethnic romance: negotiating “race”, class and religion 325 Counter-stereotypes and boundary-crossing 330 Conclusion 338 Conclusion 340 Bibliography 348 Appendices 382 Appendix 1: Time for Chinese-Indonesian to claim equal rights as citizenship 383 Appendix 2: List of interviewees 386 Appendix 3: Project information sheet and participant consent form 389 Appendix 4: Interview questionnaire 395 Appendix 5: In fact, is it you or we who have had enough? 401 Appendix 6: Religious discriminations faced by Chinese-Indonesians 403 vii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS This PhD project and the field research were conducted under the auspices of an Australian Government Australian Postgraduate Award, with support from the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta. Financial support also came from a Dean’s Postgraduate Award from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Western Australia (UWA), and Postgraduate Fieldwork Funds from the School of Social and Cultural Studies at UWA, and the UWA Postgraduate Travel Award.