Culture of the Chinese Minority in Indonesia/Peranakan Chinese Politics in Java 1917-1942, The

Journal of Third World Studies, Spring 2008 by Biedzynski, James

Suryadinata, Leo. The Culture of the Chinese Minority in Indonesia. Singapore; Marshall Cavendish International, 2004. 258 pp.

Suryadinata, Leo. Peranakan Chinese Politics in Java 1917-1942. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International, 2006. 188 pp.

The Chinese have long maintained a presence in Indonesia. During the twentieth century, their status has fluctuated and as a community they have become better organized. The Dutch colonial authorities needed the Chinese but mistrusted them. The Chinese wanted to fit into Indonesian society but only received limited acceptance. Leo Suryadinata's two books on this subject survey their progress and problems. The two books are a bit different and yet could be parts of the same whole. I would like to see the author merge the two works together into a larger book on Indonesia's Chinese. To some extent, each book is a long article or paper.

The Indonesian Chinese have clearly desired to fit into Indonesian society while to some extent remaining Chinese. Balancing the two goals is very difficult. In certain respects the Chinese are as foreign as the Dutch and Japanese once were and yet Indonesia is their home. Intermarriage eased this problem to some extent but integration problems remain. Part of the problem is that China hovers over all of the Southeast Asia as a colossus of the north. In a way China is a potential threat to Indonesia. Memories of Sukarno's Jakarta-Beijing axis are still present.

The Indonesian Chinese may well have to make a painful choice at some point. They could shed their Chinese identity fully or leave Indonesia for friendlier shores. Indonesia has so many ethnic groups that one more might not make that much of a difference. China is near, however, and that remains a problem. If a group of Brazilians moved to Indonesian and remained there for generations, they might be more accepted than the Chinese are. Brazil is far away and no threat to Indonesia. Distance can make all the difference.

I hope Leo Suryadinata can weave these two works together into a larger and more comprehensive work on Indonesia's Chinese. That would be a useful addition to Indonesian scholarship. Perhaps if Indonesians learned more about their Chinese neighbors mey could accept them more easily.

James Biedzynski Middlesex County College