8 - China and the Cultural Identity of the Chinese in Indonesia

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The ethnic Chinese in Indonesia have lived in a complex web of social, political and historical conditions of the country for generations. Most Chinese in Indonesia regard China as a “mythic homeland” (Ang 2001) that most have never visited. Scholars who have studied the Chinese in Indonesia document the experiences of the Chinese with respect to shifts and fluctuations in their cultural identity (e.g. Thung 1998), as well as their changing political relationship with China (e.g. Suryadinata 1992). However, no specific case study analysed the role of the media in the identity formation and maintenance among the Chinese in Indonesia, specifically those who grew up during the Soeharto era.

This chapter focuses on the cultural identity of the Chinese in Indonesia in the Soeharto era (1966–98) and current watershed events in the revival of Chinese culture post-1998. I have chosen the Soeharto era because it is the period in Indonesian history when the environment is most restrictive with respect to Chinese culture and language. The analysis of the cultural identity of the Chinese in Indonesia during the Soeharto era is based on a case study of how the Indonesian Chinese used imported media from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to inform their cultural identity formation and maintenance.

In sharp contrast to the restrictive cultural and linguistic environment that the Indonesian Chinese experienced during the Soeharto era, the Indonesian government has been more open to Chinese culture and language following the fall of Soeharto in May 1998. While much of the literature on this period, also called Reformasi, has centred on the changing role and identity of the Chinese in Indonesia, especially in the political arena and nation- building (e.g. Tan 2004 and Budiman 2005), no study has been conducted on how recent cultural events specifically demonstrate the link between China, Chinese culture and the identity of the Chinese in Indonesia.