Roots of anti-Chinese sentiment<\/p>\n
By Onghokham<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Chinese, as they are referred to,
\nare an important element among Indonesia's middle and upper class
\ncapitalists, entrepreneurs, business people, traders,
\nprofessionals and skilled people.<\/p>\n
It should not be forgotten that although there are also poor
\nChinese, seven or eight of the top 10 capitalists in Indonesia
\nare of Chinese origin. On the list of the 200 richest people in
\nthe country over 50 percent are Chinese.<\/p>\n
Indicative of this predominance in the economy is the
\nproliferation of Chinese-owned shops along the main streets of
\nall Indonesian towns and cities. The retail trade is an important
\naspect of the livelihood made by the Chinese community in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
The Chinese are not a homogeneous group and are almost as
\ndiverse as the archipelago itself. The Chinese in Java came as
\nindividuals or in small groups and arrived here even before
\npeople from the West. The migrants largely became integrated into
\nthe local population so that now Javanese-Chinese in the main do
\nnot speak any of the Chinese languages.<\/p>\n
In West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo and on the East-
\ncoast of Sumatra, the Chinese migrated as whole communities to
\nwork on plantations and in mines. The Chinese in these regions
\nhave retained their own languages. In Northern Sulawesi (Celebes)
\nand the Moluccas they have become assimilated into local society.<\/p>\n
In addition to these different circumstances, the Chinese
\npractice a variety of religions, including denominations of the
\nChristian faith, Buddhism and Taoism.<\/p>\n
The origins of the Chinese minority dates, like so many other
\nthings in modern Indonesia, from the days of the Dutch colonial
\nregime. Both the Dutch and the Chinese were trading peoples and
\ncame to the archipelago for that purpose.<\/p>\n
The Chinese were the trading partners of the Dutch, right from
\nthe early days of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), and they
\nnever lost this intermediary position. This did not mean that
\nrelations were always smooth. In fact, the first massacre of
\nChinese occurred in Batavia in 1740 and was perpetrated by
\nmembers of the Dutch population in the city.<\/p>\n
After this event, the Dutch enforced an official racial
\nsegregation policy. The Chinese had to live in their own
\nquarters, which were found in all towns, and a permit was
\nrequired to travel between Chinese areas in different cities.
\nThis ghetto system restricting Chinese physical mobility was not
\nabolished until 1905.<\/p>\n
The Dutch East Indies split the population of the archipelago
\ninto three groups for administrative purposes -- Europeans,
\nForeign Orientals, and Natives. The system was an embryonic form
\nof what later became known in South Africa as apartheid, and
\nwhich now has pariah status among the world's political
\nideologies. It is therefore a fallacy that Dutch favoritism
\nhelped the Chinese into their powerful economic position.<\/p>\n
Strong anti-Chinese sentiment existed among Dutch colonial
\nofficials and was particularly evident under the Ethical Policy
\n(1900) which was introduced to promote the interests of the
\nindigenous population. Dutch colonial officials felt they had to
\nprotect the native population against the shrewd Chinese.<\/p>\n
However, this and other discriminatory practices did not mean
\nthat the Chinese did not flourish under the colonial system.<\/p>\n
Wealth has traditionally been made through governments in the
\nIndonesian archipelago. In the nineteenth century, the Chinese
\nwere granted the privilege to grow and trade in opium and to run
\npawn shops in exchange for lucrative tax payments which they had
\nto make to the government. This did not endear them to the native
\npopulation. Farms were usually owned by semi-hereditary headmen.
\nThe owners were also usually the main traders because their
\nfavored status with the government meant that they and their
\nagents were exempt from the travel restrictions imposed on other
\nmembers of the Chinese community. This system promoted the
\ndevelopment of Chinese capitalism.<\/p>\n
The Chinese, as Dutch trading partners, were subjected to
\nDutch property and business laws. From the early 20th century
\nthey were also subjected to Dutch family law. These laws gave the
\nChinese a degree of security on their commercial holdings which
\ncould not be obtained under the arbitrary adat (traditional) law
\nwhich was laid down upon them by the high and mighty Indonesians
\nof the day.<\/p>\n
Protection afforded by Western law and their position as
\ntraders placed the Chinese beyond the reach of the vitriolic
\nsentiment of Dutch official, which was said to be worse than the
\nanti-Chinese sentiment held by the other colonial powers of the
\nday, including Britain and France.<\/p>\n
It is often said that newly independent countries reflect
\ntheir recent colonial past, which may go some way toward
\nexplaining the anti-Chinese sentiment held by Indonesian
\nofficials today.<\/p>\n
Colonial anti-Chinese polices gave rise to the so called
\nChinese movement in Java, which aimed to emancipate the Chinese
\ncommunity by demanding that restrictions on the movement of
\nmembers of their community be abolished, full equality before the
\nlaw, and the establishment of Chinese schools.<\/p>\n
The movement was the first emancipation movement which the
\nDutch faced from their colonial subjects. The movement was not
\nanti-colonial in nature. It only sought rights for the Chinese
\npeople of the Indies and did not speak for natives or other
\nethnic groups. Political and social movements tended to retain
\nthe segregated character of the colonial society which spawned
\nthem and speak only for a single ethnic group.<\/p>\n
Around 1900, most of the Chinese demands were met and Dutch-
\nChinese Schools (HCS) were launched by the colonial government,
\neven before the Dutch Schools for Natives (HIS) came into
\nexistence.<\/p>\n
When the government lifted the ban restricting Chinese
\nmobility in 1905, Chinese business people moved out of the
\nghettos and came increasingly into competition with the Javanese
\nentrepreneurial classes.<\/p>\n
The Sarekat Dagang Islam (Association of Moslem Traders),
\nwhich later became the Sarekat Islam (1909), formed in response
\nto this development, and went on to become the first mass social
\nand political movement in the Indies.<\/p>\n
The first anti-Chinese riot occurred in 1918 in the town of
\nKudus, which had a strong Javanese and Moslem bourgeoisie. The
\ncatalyst was a Chinese temple procession which offended the
\nMoslem population, however the incident occurred against a
\nbackdrop of middle class rivalries.<\/p>\n
All other Indonesian political movements were equally
\nexclusive and admitted Indonesians only. Even the PNI
\n(Nationalist Party) formed by Sukarno in 1926 admitted Chinese
\nonly as observers. The exception to this exclusivity was the
\nIndies Association of Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo, Douwes Dekker and
\nKi Hajar Dewantara which accepted Chinese and other ethnic groups
\nas members.<\/p>\n
In response to being largely excluded from the jostling for
\npolitical power, Chinese professionals who advocated an
\nindependent Indonesia formed the Partai Tionghoa Indonesia
\n(Indonesian-Chinese party) in 1930.<\/p>\n
In the late 1930s, the left wing PARTINDO lead by Amir
\nSyarifudin decided to accept Chinese members, whereas the more
\nrightist PARINDRA would not.<\/p>\n
That was the situation when the Japanese invaded in 1942. Only
\nafter the invasion did mass anti-Chinese violence explode for the
\nfirst time. The worst hit areas were on the north coast of Java
\nand the targets were mainly the homes and shops of wealthy
\nChinese.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's history since the war has been violent in
\ncomparison to its immediate neighbors Singapore, Malaysia and
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
However during the revolution against the Dutch, not all
\nviolence was directed toward the Chinese. Eurasians, Moluccans
\nand the traditional elite were also targeted. The only notable
\nanti-Chinese incident during the revolution occurred in
\nTangerang, near Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The 1950s saw the introduction of policies which discriminated
\nagainst the Chinese, including the \"Benteng\" policy which
\nattempted to encourage the rise of an Indonesian business class,
\nand later bans on foreign Chinese trade and settlement in rural
\nareas.<\/p>\n
During the early 1960s, the country's economy deteriorated and
\nthe Chinese became a pawn in Cold War politics. Several serious
\nurban riots which targeted the Chinese occurred during the
\nunsettled period of 1965\/1966, although most violence was
\ndirected against suspected communists.<\/p>\n
Punch and counterpunch of pro- and anti-communist forces lead
\nto serious unrest in Indonesia, which many experts abroad
\nmistakenly interpreted as a massacre of the Chinese. This
\nmisunderstanding may have arisen as a result of the introduction
\nof a ban on many aspects of Chinese life and culture which the
\ngovernment introduced around the same time. Among aspects of
\nChinese culture declared illegal were plays (but not films),
\npublic festivities and Chinese characters. A drive to encourage
\nChinese to adopt local names was also launched to coincide with
\nthis suppression of Chinese culture.<\/p>\n
Under the New Order government, tensions between the Chinese
\nand native communities grew as a result of the widening gap
\nbetween rich and poor in the country, and the low pay given to
\nthe state bureaucracy, military and police. Furthermore, while
\nthe native population turned ever more toward Islam, the Chinese
\nsought spiritual comfort through the Christian faith.<\/p>\n
Violent incidents during the New Order government have been
\nracial and religious in nature. Violence can destabilize any
\ngovernment and is revolutionary in nature. It is a criminal act,
\nregardless of whom it is directed against or who is using it to
\nadvantage.<\/p>\n
Violence is no solution to the tensions that exist in society.
\nThe only way to achieve harmony is to change one's perceptions of
\nsociety and view it as a multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-
\ncultural entity. The Indonesian nation is political concept, and
\nto ensure future stability different ethnic groups must be
\ntreated in the same way and meet as equals under the same legal
\nprotection.<\/p>\n
Recent anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta happened as a result of
\njealousy and racist sentiment. The Chinese community has shown
\ncreativity and achieved economic success, despite their unpopular
\nposition in society. The feudal elite, as obsessed by power and
\nstatus as the Chinese are by money, felt threatened by this
\nsuccess and became jealous.<\/p>\n
Today, private enterprise is at a standstill, many buildings
\nstand in ruins and government and military authority are fast
\nwaning.<\/p>\n
Paku Buwono (Nail of the Universe) is the traditional title
\ngiven to the Javanese monarchy. If the Nail is removed the
\nUniverse will collapse. History in Indonesia is cyclical, but
\nnobody seems to learn from it.<\/p>\n
The writer is a historian.<\/p>\n
Window : As a result of the colonial anti-Chinese polices there
\narose the so called Chinese movement in Java aiming at
\nemancipating the Chinese by demanding the abolition of the
\nphysical restrictions on Chinese, equality before the law,
\nestablishment of Chinese schools and others.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/roots-of-anti-chinese-sentiment-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}