Introduction

In spite of the joy ethnic Chinese in Indonesia have known in the last eight years, the size of their population remains debatable. Not surprisingly, it was difficult to find accurate statistics on Chinese Indonesians. It is not easy to produce the statistics because there is still no consensus on who Chinese Indonesians are, even among Chinese Indonesians themselves. Ethnic Chinese have been living in Indonesia for many generations and have experienced many different political attitudes towards them.

Furthermore, it was even a political taboo to produce statistics on the ethnic composition in Indonesia during the Soeharto period (1967–98) for the sake of nation building under the slogan of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, or unity in diversity. Everything related to Chineseness had also been seen with suspicion. Not surprisingly, the political system had resulted in an unwillingness and a lack of confidence among Chinese Indonesians to identify themselves publicly as Chinese during 1967–98. This attitude towards the Chinese and Chineseness aggravated the problem of producing statistics on Chinese Indonesians.

Soeharto's fall from power was a turning point for the Chinese in Indonesia. The country under President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) took a positive step by abolishing some of the discriminatory laws against Chinese Indonesians. The Chinese Lunar New Year, known locally as Imlek, had been freely celebrated until the abortive 1965 coup when it was banned for about three decades. It was later made an optional holiday under the presidency of Gus Dur. His successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, further made it an official national holiday in 2002 and it has been celebrated throughout Indonesia since then. Lion dances and red lanterns proliferate in many cities during Chinese New Year celebration. Mandarin courses, for example, have also been mushrooming and there have been many non-Chinese Indonesians taking the courses. More importantly, the new law on citizenship passed in 2006, seen as a revolutionary step in ending discrimination against certain groups of Indonesians, including Chinese Indonesians, has legally allowed Chinese Indonesians to hold several government posts, including the possibility to be the president of the Republic of Indonesia. The law removed the distinction between “indigenous” and “non-indigenous” Indonesians by redefining “indigenous Indonesian” to include all citizens who have never assumed foreign citizenship.