I’m always curious why Indonesian people (pribumi) hates Tionghoa (Chinese Indonesia) so much. That’s why, I decided to run a Google search on Chinese-Indonesians, and without even finishing the sentence, I got to find out what were the most popular searches regarding the keyword:
The result suggests that Chinese-Indonesians are synonymous with discrimination. Being one myself, I decided to look into this further to find rthe origins and reasons for this stereotype that Chindos (Chinese Indonesians) are supposedly richer than most pribumi (native) Indonesians.
The history of Chinese Immigrants
Chinese people have lived on the Indonesian archipelago since at least the 13th century. Many began as temporary residents, before eventually remaining in the region as migrants. The Chinese population in Indonesia grew quickly during the colonial period, when workers were contracted from their home provinces in the South of China.
Chinese Community in Indonesia
Chinese Indonesians aren’t a homogeneous group. They’re divided by culture, political orientations, economic background, and citizenship. Culturally, the Chinese were divided in the past into locally born, Indonesian speaking peranakan and foreign born Chinese speaking totok. But nowadays most refer to them as Tionghoa or Chindos (Chinese Indonesians). In terms of religion, some are either Buddhists, Confucians, or the followers of a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism; some are Christians, and others are Muslims. Economically, they are also divided into upper class, middle class, and the lower class, and it appears that the middle class forms the majority. In terms of citizenship, they are divided into Indonesian citizens and foreigners, with the majority holding Indonesian citizenship
Discrimination against Chinese Indonesians has been prominent since the beginning of the Dutch colonisation of the region. Dislike of the ethnic Chinese community grew in the 1950s as a result of their perceived economic and financial status, when many native or local merchants felt they could not compete against the Chinese migrants. Although government policies were implemented in 1998 in an attempt to redress this, anti-Chinese resentment can still be found in the region.
Due to political and economic reasons, the Chinese in Indonesia became the target of mob violence in May 1998, when anti-Chinese riots were rampant with looting, raping, and killing taking place. This May tragedy shocked the world. However, with the fall of Soeharto, the conditions of the Chinese in Indonesia have vastly improved, and many are of the view that they never enjoyed such a position in the Indonesian recent history.
Stereotypes of Local Residents against Tionghoa
Although it seemed like the Chindos or Tionghoa enjoyed most of the economic success, they didn’t get there without working hard. The fact of the matter is, there’re many anecdotes from Indonesian nationals that the reason many Chinese are successful is because of their thrifty nature. Most Chinese people follow a concept of Guan Xi, which means that one’s existence is defined by their connection to others, in this case business connections. From the beginning Chinese people were more economically minded.
Why Tionghoa are supposedly richer than most native Indonesians?
When I was I child, I once asked my granny this exact same question. She answered my question based on his anecdotal experience, which is probably not accurate, but could give some insight. His answer was: When I was just a little girl, Chinese-Indonesians were just as poor as the rest of us. They started as small businesses. But what made them able to expand their business more rapidly was because they invested heavily in their business. They gave their blood, sweat and tears developing their family business so that their family could one day live comfortably. If they earn Rp 1000, they will only use Rp 100 to indulge on their personal hobby or needs. They will then use the rest of the money to expand their business. They were more than happy to hold off buying fancy shirts and jewelry. In short, they were willing to give up personal possessions to expand the business.
Being a Chinese-Indonesian myself, I understand this concept more than anything. The concept of connections, success, being thrifty, always being conservative, etc. are all staples of a Chinese parent’s lecture when you get home from school.
What we must realize in the end is that many new Chindos are children of this land. I’ve seen many in public school or private school like international schools who choose not to leave the country because of their pride of Indonesia. The fact of the matter is most of us come from second or third generation Chindo families, just like there’re second or third generation Indian families that live here too. We were born here, grew up here and hold an Indonesian passport. We work just as hard as anyone else and if we receive success it isn’t because it was handed down to us.
Another fact that many choose to ignore is that there’re rich Indonesian natives too, that have worked their hardest to establish connections and grow their business. In the same line of thought there are many Chindos who struggle daily to make a living with their low-paying jobs.
Indonesia is a large, developing country that will invite many people into the country because of the investment and business opportunities that are present. The last thing we need to do is fight among ourselves about how certain ethnicity are supposedly “richer” than others. If we are truly a nationalistic country we will pull the reigns of our country together and not be dominated by foreign investment in the coming years.
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