Chinese Indonesians' Quest for Identity: A Problem of an Ethnic Minority Integration

Abstract

The Chinese Indonesians had been a part of Indonesia since its independence in 1945 and had also been an integral part of the archipelago's society for centuries. But compared to their counterparts, other groups of Chinese origin in the neighboring Southeast Asian countries, the Chinese Indonesians have remained in a quandary about their identity and place in the nation they call home. This paper addresses two issues concerning the reason behind the Indonesian Chinese's lack of integration. The first is the relative resilience of Indonesian Chinese identity despite the challenges to maintain it, and the second is the ambiguity ofthis identity, and the fact that regardless of the absence of clear cut consistent factors to distinguish the Chinese Indonesians from the rest of Indonesia, they are singled out as a separate group and often become the black sheep when things go wrong in the country.