View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarBank@NUS DEMOCRATISATION AND ETHNIC MINORITIES: CHINESE INDONESIANS IN POST-SUHARTO INDONESIA CHONG WU LING (B.Eng. [Hons.], University of Malaya) (M.A. Southeast Asian History, University of Malaya) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2014 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information which have been used in the thesis. The thesis has also not been submitted for any degree in any university previously. ______________________________ CHONG Wu Ling July 7, 2014 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In writing this thesis, I am grateful to a number of people who assisted me throughout the period of research. First of foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Maribeth Erb, whose guidance and assistance were critical in seeing me through my research. I have benefited enormously from her advice, criticisms and suggestions. I would also like to express my appreciation to Professor Vedi R. Hadiz, my former supervisor, for his earlier guidance, and Assistant Professor Douglas Kammen, my thesis committee member, for his input on my thesis. My sincere gratitude as well goes to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS), which provided funding for my research. I am particularly grateful to Ms. Maria Ling and Dr. Tsai Yen-Ling for introducing me to a few friends in Medan, who later assisted me to look for informants in the city. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Christian Chua, Dr. Manuel Victor J. Sapitula and Dr. Thomas Barker for their advice on conducting fieldwork. I am thankful to Dr. Linda Darmajanti and Dr. Rochman Achwan, both from the Department of Sociology at the University of Indonesia, for their sponsorship to my fieldwork research in Indonesia. I wish to express my appreciation to a number of individuals in Indonesia who provided me invaluable help during my fieldwork: Mr. Elfenda Ananda, Ms. Suci Al- Falah, Mr. Edward Sinaga (deceased), Mr. J. Anto, Mr. Johan Tjongiran, Dr. Sofyan Tan, Mr. Hasyim a.k.a. Oei Kien Lim (Medan city parliamentarian from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, 2009-2014), Mr. Law Kek Ping, Dr. Indra Wahidin, Ms. Yustiana Khosasih and her husband Mr. Yeoh, Mr. Daud Kosasih, Mr. Johnny Halim, Dr. iii Dédé Oetomo, Mr. Anton Prijatno, Mr. Aditya Nugraha, Madam Elisa Christiana, Mr. Hendi Prayogo, Mr. William Rahardja, Mr. Samas H. Widjaja, Mr. Oei Hiem Hwie, Professor Kacung Marijan, Professor Hotman Siahaan, Ms. Evi Sutrisno, Mr. Setefanus Suprajitno, Ms. Vanda Augustine and her aunt Ms. Winnie, Dr. Mely G. Tan, Mr. Christianto Wibisono and Ms. Titi Kusumandari. I also owe a debt of gratitude to all my informants who were very generous in sharing their views and stories with me over the period of fieldwork in Indonesia. I would also like to thank the staff of the various institutions who have assisted me in various ways throughout the research: in Singapore, the library of the National University of Singapore (NUS), the library of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), and the National Library; in Jakarta, the National Library of Indonesia, the library of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS- Badan Pusat Statistics), and the library of KITLV-Jakarta; in Medan, the North Sumatra Provincial Library, the library of the University of North Sumatra, and the library of the Central Statistics Agency of North Sumatra (BPS Sumatera Utara); in Surabaya, the library of the Petra Christian University, the library of the Airlangga University, the library of the Central Statistics Agency of East Java (BPS Jawa Timur), and the Medayu Agung Library; and in Taipei City, the Joint Library of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Academia Sinica. I am also grateful to the staff of Su Bei Ri Bao, a Chinese-language press in Medan, for allowing me to access their newspaper archives during my fieldwork. Many thanks to Dr. Stefani Haning Swarati, Dr. Kim Jiyoon, Ms. Phoon Yuen Ming, Dr. Hoon Chang Yau, Dr. Wong Chin Huat, Mr. Teng Kok Liang, Associate Professor Bridget Welsh, Associate Professor Sivachandralingam Sundara Raja and iv Associate Professor Chia Oai Peng for their moral support and encouragement throughout my Ph.D. journey. And for their constant prayer and continuous encouragement, I am blessed to have friends like the Lim family, Ms. See Shen Leng, Ms. Chrissy Christa Craats, Ms. Phoon Yen Mei, Dr. Emelyn Tan, Ms. Carrie Chia, Ms. Peggy Koh, Ms. Pauline Ong and Reverend Yap Kim Hao. I reserve my final thanks for my family in Malaysia for their sacrifices and support in allowing me to pursue this aspiration for postgraduate studies. Chong Wu Ling Department of Sociology Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences National University of Singapore July 2014 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ___________________________________________________________ ii Acknowledgements ____________________________________________________ iii Table of Contents ______________________________________________________ vi Abstract _____________________________________________________________ viii List of Figures _________________________________________________________ ix Abbreviations and Glossary ______________________________________________ x Chapter One: Contemplating the Role of the Ethnic Chinese: Ethnic Politics, Criminality and Civil Society in Post-Suharto Indonesia _____________________ 1 1.1 Rethinking the position of Ethnic Chinese Indonesians ______________________ 9 1.2 Scope of Research __________________________________________________ 20 1.3 Methods of Research ________________________________________________ 25 1.4 Outline for the Thesis _______________________________________________ 28 Part One: “Pariah” Ethnic Minorities and Democratisation _______ 32 Chapter Two: A Short History of The Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia: Creating a “Pariah” Class _______________________________________________________ 33 Chapter Three: Democratisation and Ethnic Minorities: A Look at Indonesia’s Democratisation and the Ethnic Chinese __________________________________ 55 3.1 Democratisation and Ethnic Minorities __________________________________ 55 3.2 Democratisation in Post-New Order Indonesia ____________________________ 60 3.3 Democratisation, Decentralisation and Ethnic Minorities in Indonesia __________ 75 3.4 Summary and Conclusion: Democracy in Indonesia ________________________ 85 Part Two: Civil Society, Business and Politics: The Ambivalent Position of the Chinese in Post-Suharto Indonesia _______________________ 87 Chapter Four: Opening up the Chinese Socio-Cultural Sphere: The Ambivalence of Increasing Visibility ___________________________________________________ 90 4.1 The Revival of Ethnic and Cultural Identities in Post-Suharto Indonesia ________ 96 4.2 Promoting Chinese Culture: Socialising, Language and Business _____________ 107 4.3 Cross-Ethnic Endeavours ____________________________________________ 123 4.4 The Perceptions of Indigenous Indonesians ______________________________ 135 4.5 Conclusion _______________________________________________________ 141 Chapter Five: Local Ethnic Chinese Business _____________________________ 144 5.1 The Economic Role of the Ethnic Chinese in Post-New Order Medan and Surabaya ____________________________________________________________________ 146 5.2 The Business Environment in Post-New Order Indonesia ___________________ 147 5.3 Dealing with Power-Holders, Police and Military Commanders ______________ 157 5.4 Relations with Premans _____________________________________________ 167 5.5 Financial Coercion against the Media __________________________________ 169 vi 5.6 Illegal Business Practices ____________________________________________ 173 5.7 Conclusion _______________________________________________________ 184 Chapter Six: Electoral Politics and the Chinese in Post-Suharto Indonesia _____ 187 6.1 Politics at the National Level _________________________________________ 189 6.2 The Political Landscape in Post-Suharto Medan and Surabaya _______________ 198 6.3 The Rise of Money Politics and the Role of Chinese Businesspeople __________ 200 6.4 Political Achievements of Chinese Indonesians ___________________________ 204 6.5 The Political Participation of Chinese Indonesians in Post-Suharto Medan and Surabaya: High Political Ideals vs. Personal Agendas _________________________ 208 6.6 Conclusion _______________________________________________________ 253 Chapter Seven: Conclusion ____________________________________________ 259 Bibliography ________________________________________________________ 263 Appendix One: List of Informants ______________________________________ 309 Appendix Two: Major Ethnic Chinese Organisations in Post-Suharto Medan and Surabaya ___________________________________________________________ 315 Appendix Three: Chinese-Language Presses in Post-Suharto Medan and Surabaya ____________________________________________________________________ 317 Appendix Four: Occupational Backgrounds of Local Major Chinese Organisations’ Leaders in Medan and Surabaya, 2010-2011 _____________________________ 318 Appendix Five: Numbers of Protégés of Sultan Iskandar Muda Educational Foundation, 1990/1991-2011/2012 _______________________________________ 320 Appendix Six: Original Text of Letter in Koran Tempo (May 15,