Ethnic statistics
Ethnic statistics
When Leo Suryadinata, an ethnic Chinese academic from National
University of Singapore, declared through The Jakarta Post last
month that the Chinese in Indonesia were not really a minority
but the third largest ethnic group in the country (after the
Javanese and Sundanese), I decided at first to ignore it. But
when this misleading opinion was repeated again in the Post (Nov.
7, 1998) I felt compelled to contradict it. I am afraid if this
blatantly false and probably tendentious statement was allowed to
be repeated again and again in the media, it could develop into
another myth similar to the one about the ethnic Chinese
allegedly controlling 70 percent of the Indonesian economy. This
latter myth was finally blasted recently after it was widely
believed and quoted for many years.
The figures shown below on the population of the various
ethnic groups in Indonesia are based basically on the results of
a 1930 census, the last official census undertaken by the Dutch
colonial government. I have also consulted several additional
sources of information including Atlas van tropisch Nederland by
S.J. Esser (1940) and Indonesian cultures and communities by
Hildred Geertz (1963).
Unfortunately, post independence censuses of 1961, 1970, 1980
and 1990 did not enumerate ethnic population possibly because
such statistics are believed to be politically sensitive. But the
1930 census as carried out by the Dutch authorities is considered
to be accurate and the data are, on the whole, still generally
applicable today because here we are concerned only with relative
percentages and not actual numbers.
I should mention that I have rounded off the census figures to
the nearest digit and also adjusted the original figure of 42
percent and 15 percent for the ethnic Javanese and Sundanese (out
of a total population of 63 million for Indonesia) to 39 percent
and 14 percent respectively. This was done because of the
significantly lower population growth in Java compared to the
outer islands in the past several decades. I have also increased
the Chinese figure from the original 2.3 percent in the census to
3 percent on my list to take into account some Chinese
immigration that took place between the census year of 1930 and
the start of the Pacific War in 1941. No significant Chinese
immigration is assumed to have taken place since 1941.
On the following list only the major and medium sized ethnic
groups are shown. The few dozens smaller groups account for less
than 2 percent of the total population mark. The figures are as
follows: (1) Javanese: 39 percent, (2) Sundanese: 14 percent, (3)
Malay: 7 percent (namely indigenous peoples of East Sumatra,
Riau, Jambi, south Sumatra and some coastal areas of Kalimantan),
(4) Madurese: 6 percent, (5) Bugis/Makassarese: 5 percent, (6)
Minangkabau: 5 percent, (7) Batak: 4 percent, and (8) Chinese: 3
percent.
In view of the above figures it would be erroneous for the
ethnic Chinese to continue claiming that their share of the
population varies between 3 percent and 4 percent, although the
error would be relatively small and tolerable. What is less
tolerable is Leo Suryadinata's tendentious claim that the Chinese
are not a minority but the third largest ethnic group in
Indonesia, instead of the eighth. I suggest that the professor
and others should cease from repeating such a preposterous claim
in the future.
However, I think the current speaker of the People's
Consultative Assembly and the House of Representatives, Harmoko,
is even worse than Leo Suryadinata. Harmoko confidently said
during a TVRI news broadcast on July 16, 1991, when he was the
minister of information, that ethnic Javanese constitute 70
percent of Indonesia's population, while in reality it is less
than 40 percent.
MASLI ARMAN
Jakarta