| This study examines how the Indonesian Chinese born after 1966 negotiate meanings about their culture and identity through their collective memory of growing up in a restrictive media environment that specifically curtailed Chinese language and culture. The restrictive media environment was the result of a series of policies administered during the Suharto era (1965--1998). According to the regulations, the Indonesian government closed all Chinese-language schools, prohibited the use of Chinese characters in public places, the import of Chinese-language publications, and all public forms and expressions of Chinese culture.; Through a series of focus group sessions conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia, the researcher found that despite the restrictions, the Indonesian Chinese she interviewed still found ways to seek and/or practice aspects of Chinese culture. She also learned that all of her respondents enjoyed watching Chinese films/series as they were growing up. These media provided her respondents with a common cultural reference that allowed them to connect to a 'mythic homeland' that they would never have experienced otherwise. By watching the Chinese films/series, they could escape to the 'imagined dreamland' where they were able to borrow fragments of identity from Chinese role models (such as the heroes and heroines from martial arts serials) that were suppressed and therefore absent from the Indonesian media landscape. In this way, the media provided them with the role models they needed as they searched to comprehend their identity as young Chinese individuals.; In listening to her respondents' stories, the researcher further discovered their "kalah dan salah" (always losing and being in the wrong) mentality whereby they consider themselves to be truly Indonesian, but are still discriminated against in times of political upheavals and on a daily basis. The imported media thus presented them with a form of 'imagined security' where China and other places such as Taiwan and Hong Kong become a 'desired other' where they would not have to fear for their safety. They also looked to these media with a longing to live in an environment where their safety may be assured and their Chinese identity is unquestioned. |
