A recent study carried out by the Indonesian Psychocultural Consortium has revealed that almost all ethnic groups it interviewed recognized that their Indonesian identity is “final”, except for one group: Indonesians of Chinese descent. The study, conducted between 2018 and 2019, involved nearly 2,000 Indonesians of five ethnicities: the Batak, the Minang people, Javanese, Balinese and Chinese.

Chinese-Indonesians' feeling of not belonging, according to the study, which was presented at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta on Wednesday, could be caused by various factors, including traumatic incidents that occurred in the past — particularly during the 1998 riots when mobs targeted people of Chinese descent — as well as lingering discrimination and racist treatment against the group.   

Yessy Samalo, 26, a native of the West Sumatra city of Bukittinggi, said she was often scolded by strangers on the streets who told her that she was Chinese and that she should go back to her home country.

“That got me thinking: Am I Chinese? I don’t even speak Mandarin. I was born here. My parents and grandparents were born here,” said Yessy, who currently works in Jakarta as a marketing communication professional.

Her experience in Jakarta was a little better, she said, probably because the capital’s residents were accustomed to living in a “salad bowl”. In West Sumatra, a region dominated by the homogeneous Minang ethnic group, even little children have the impudence to berate her because of her distinct physical appearance.  

“[The bitter experiences] have forced me to understand that not every single person can accept differences and it turned out I was OK with it.”

Yessy further explained that many of her Chinese-Indonesian friends were afraid to mingle with the so-called pribumi (native Indonesians) because “they cannot afford to bear insults even though they are merely jokes”.

A writer and Chinese-Indonesian Jakartan, Viriya Singgih, recalled that growing up, he was frequently scorned and ridiculed with the words Cina (Chinese) or Ncek — a Hokkian word for uncle.

It eventually affected the way he saw non-Chinese people. “My circle narrowed as I felt reluctant to engage with those people. Even during high school, 95 percent of my friends were of Chinese descent,” Viriya said, adding that his wider family also participated in preserving the social barriers by warning their members to not have special relationships with pribumi.

“[I suffered an] identity crisis.” The 29-year-old finally reconciled with his anxiety and began befriending Indonesians of different ethnicities when he was studying in a culturally diverse university.

Dave Lumenta, an anthropologist at the University of Indonesia, said the segregation had been maintained by those in power for generations, and often, those of Chinese descent were scapegoated as outsiders who wanted to dominate the country’s economy.

The situation seemed to get better for the minority group during the leadership of late president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who in 2001 erased decades-long official discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians by lifting a ban on Chinese cultural and linguistic expression. In the following year, Gus Dur also declared Imlek, the Chinese New Year, a national holiday to further recognize Chinese-Indonesians as part of the country’s ethnic makeup.

However, Indonesia suffered a major setback in recent years, especially after a series of protests against former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama — a Christian of Chinese decent — who was found guilty of blaspheming Islam in the lead-up to his reelection campaign in 2017.

Some groups have even come up with regulations that discriminate against Indonesians of Chinese descent.

One of the latest cases was a circular from the head of community unit 03 at Bangkingan village in Surabaya, East Java, announcing that “those who want to build a house who are not a pribumi, must pay a contribution of Rp 500,000 [US$36] for the community unit and Rp 500,000 for the neighborhood unit”.

In Yogyakarta, Indonesians of Chinese descent are barred from owning land because the 2012 law on Yogyakarta’s special status only allows pribumi to own land in the province.

“Normatively speaking, the government must be present to mediate racial conflict. But rationally speaking, it’s kind of hard to realize because the government is actually the one who uses the narrative for political reasons,” Dave said.

— Wahyoe Boediwardhana contributed to the story from Surabaya

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