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Chinese Indonesians Under Jokowi: Flourishing Yet Unsettling

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Chinese Indonesians Under Jokowi: Flourishing Yet Unsettling Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2018, 6, 94-121 http://www.scirp.org/journal/jss ISSN Online: 2327-5960 ISSN Print: 2327-5952 Chinese Indonesians under Jokowi: Flourishing Yet Unsettling Enny Ingketria1,2 1School of Journalism and Information Communication, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China 2Sub Directorate of Oil and Gas Cooperation Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Jakarta, Indonesia How to cite this paper: Ingketria, E. Abstract (2018) Chinese Indonesians under Jokowi: Flourishing Yet Unsettling. Open Journal From the Dutch colonial times until the end of Suharto era, Chinese Indone- of Social Sciences, 6, 94-121. sians had gone through a series of institutional racism, as well as racial preju- https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2018.67009 dice and discrimination, but Suharto’s New Order period was portrayed by some scholars as the toughest situation most Chinese Indonesians had to deal Received: June 24, 2018 Accepted: July 17, 2018 with at that time. If during the reign of Suharto, they found few accesses to Published: July 20, 2018 express their Chinese identity, after the fall of Suharto, they were given more alternatives to articulate their Chinese-ness, either through media products or Copyright © 2018 by author and cultural activities. Nonetheless, in the first six years of post-Suharto era, the Scientific Research Publishing Inc. political and economic conditions were not yet stable, while the residual pre- This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International judice against Chinese Indonesians and the shadow of cultural trauma re- License (CC BY 4.0). mained. Since previous studies have merely focused on the negative stereo- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ types towards ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, this research elaborates the identi- Open Access ty formation of Chinese Indonesians during the administration of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who is popularly known as pluralist figure. By using in-depth interview and participant observation to 30 participants who were mostly fourth generations of Chinese Indonesians, Chinese Indonesians today are still facing identity dilemma, in which they were predisposed to hide their ethnic identity, yet they were inclined to recover the image of Chinese identity in public. The cultural long-distance nationalism observed indicates that the younger generations of Chinese Indonesians nowadays have indeed strong emotional ties to their ancestral homeland. Keywords Chinese Indonesians, Cultural Long-Distance Nationalism, Ethnic Identity, Identity Dilemma 1. Introduction As an archipelagic state, Indonesia is comprised of diverse ethnic groups, in DOI: 10.4236/jss.2018.67009 Jul. 20, 2018 94 Open Journal of Social Sciences E. Ingketria which ethnic Chinese made up just about 1.2% of the population (Source: CIA World Factbook). Throughout Indonesia’s history, Chinese Indonesians were overwhelmed by insecurities and anxiety, due to the perpetual racial prejudice, stereotype, and discrimination addressed by pribumi. Nevertheless, the toughest situation occurred during Suharto’s authoritarian rule, with his implementation of forced assimilation policy, where ethnic Chinese faced severe cultural and educational restrictions. After the fall of Suharto, the rigid restrictions have been lifted and Chinese Indonesians have more accessed to Chinese culture and lan- guage. However, those previous studies that paid more attention on Chinese In- donesians’ identity in post-Suharto era mostly emphasized on the residual ste- reotype and prejudice [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. In addition, there has not been a more focused research on identity of Chinese Indonesians under the incumbent Pres- ident of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi). Chinese Indonesians has entered a “real” democratic phase in the first two years under the 7th President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, for he is popularly known as a leader with ideas of respectful toleration and pluralism. Under his rule, an Indonesian of Chinese Descent, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok), served as the Governor of Jakarta November 2014-May 2017. Ahok does not only represent a new milestone for inclusiveness, he is known for his main priorities that include good governance, better welfare, programs of health care, and edu- cation. Aside from his good performance, Ahok is recognized for being brash and blunt, different from the soft-spoken Javanese politicians the capital is used to. This led him to the blasphemy allegations in September 2016. He found guilty and faced a two-year imprisonment in 2017. Ahok’s blasphemy case has undermined the first two years of Chinese Indonesians’ confidence and their positive image as well. Ahok’s imprisonment has become the highest point of tension during Jokowi’s administration, therefore how those Chinese Indone- sians cope with the process and how their identity maintained will be further discussed in this study. This paper will describe the research methods, followed by Jokowi’s positive image of being the popular and people-centric leader. In addition, this study also emphasize that under Jokowi, Indonesia forges stronger ties with China, while a number of Chinese Indonesians who hold leadership positions in the govern- ment act as the bridge between Indonesia and Mainland China. However, this favorable external condition under President Jokowi was abruptly undermined due to the accusation of blasphemy against Ahok. What should also be taken in- to account is the digital media boom under Jokowi that has significant impact for establishing good image of both President Jokowi and Chinese Indonesians themselves. Therefore, this study is trying to find out how younger generations of Chinese Indonesians today maintain their ethnic identity under such condi- tion. In order to confirm the results of the interview and observation, two second-generations of Chinese Indonesians were also interviewed and observed. The findings will be elaborated in Chapter 9. DOI: 10.4236/jss.2018.67009 95 Open Journal of Social Sciences E. Ingketria 2. Methods According to Phinney [6], both conceptual and empirical writings acknowledge that ethnic identity is a dynamic construct that changes over time and context and varies across individuals. Adolescents and young adults are assumed to progress over time from an unexamined or received view of their ethnici- ty—based on attitudes of parents, communities, or society—through a crisis or exploration phase, in which they immerse themselves in the history and culture of their group, to an achieved, secure sense of their ethnicity. This study analyzed the identity formation of Chinese Indonesians during Jo- kowi era using qualitative method; in-depth interview and participant observa- tion. In order to obtain rich and descriptive data about the participants’ identity formation, in-depth interview has to be conducted, combined with participant observation that is aimed at gaining a close and intimate familiarity with the respondents. As the first step, links to screening questionnaire were shared through social media and e-mail. As the screening questionnaire indicates, the items were presented in a qualification format and the questionnaire was de- signed in such a way. Those who were self identified as Chinese Indonesians, re- sided either in Jakarta, Tangerang, or Bandung, and with ages range from 20 - 30, were selected to be part of in-depth interview and participant observation process. The selection is also based on their answers regarding their fluency in Chinese language and their political attitudes. There were 30 participants who were shortlisted and willing to follow the whole process of survey. 3. Joko Widodo’s Popular Image as the 2014 Indonesian Presidential Candidate The Indonesian legislative elections were held on April 9, 2014 and took place in 33 provinces [7]. There were three secular parties that received high percentages of votes, based on the quick counts by polling agencies; the opposition Indone- sian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), Party of the Functional Groups (Gol- kar), and Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) [8]. Joko Widodo, popu- larly known as Jokowi, was at that time the PDIP-P presidential candidate and the incumbent governor of Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, as well. He was ex- pected to be the next Indonesian president who would improve the particularly economic and social conditions in Indonesia. As emphasized by Bland [8], the 6th President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), failed to live up to expectations that he would fight corruption and fix the nation’s ailing infra- structure, in spite of the fact that his administration was much better compared to his predecessors; B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, and Megawati Sukar- noputri. He led Indonesia to a more peaceful and democratic phase. As a figure of hope, Jokowi came in the right place at the right time. In addi- tion, his image had been successfully established by the media since he became the successful mayor of Surakarta, a city in Central Java, Indonesia, from 2005 until 2012. Jokowi was then nominated by PDI-P as their candidate for the 2012 DOI: 10.4236/jss.2018.67009 96 Open Journal of Social Sciences E. Ingketria Jakarta gubernatorial election, alongside with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) who was nominated by Gerindra as the potential running mate candidate for Jokowi. In October 2012, Jokowi was then elected and officially appointed as the Governor of Jakarta. He rose to national prominence because of his continuous
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