Chapter 6 - Democracy and Ethnic Chinese Politics

Summary

The ethnic Chinese as an integral part of Indonesian society have also been affected by political development. This chapter examines Chinese political participation in the 1999 election. It compares their participation in the election of 1955 with that of 1999 to examine the continuity and change in their political behaviour. It also shows that there was a revival of ethnic politics but the majority of the Chinese continued to vote for multi-ethnic/national parties rather than “ethnic Chinese” parties. This approach is similar to that of the indigenous population, which focused on national rather than local/ethnic politics.

The Tempo Survey

The Chinese in Indonesia are a heterogeneous group. This heterogeneity was also reflected in the June 1999 general election. Prior to the election, Tempo, a leading Indonesian weekly news magazine, conducted a survey among the Chinese in five cities, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Pontianak, and Medan to gauge their voting preferences. These five cities were selected because they have large Chinese communities. There were 753 respondents, selected from various social and economic levels which represent ethnic Chinese. The number of students represented 24 per cent. There were about 20 per cent respondents from each city and the majority (75 per cent) was below 40 years old. The Christian Chinese were over-represented (57 per cent) while the Buddhists (29 per cent) and Confucianists (5 per cent) were under-represented.