Study For The Adjustments And Reasons Of The Policy For Chinese Indonesian In The Post-Suharto Era

Republic of Indonesia has about10million ethnic Chinese, which is the largest number around the world. In Indonesia, however, this number is accounted for5%of the total population, which makes ethnic Chinese typical of minorities. Indonesia has gone through Sukarno, Suharto, Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the sixth president since August17,1945, the day Indonesia established. Academia often defined the period from Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri to the present Susilo as "post-Suharto era."For the adjustment of policy for ethnic Chinese, Indonesian government has undergone a historical process from discrimination, exclusion and even persecution to that of tolerant and inclusive in post-Suharto era. In the reign of Sukarno and Suharto, the Indonesian government implemented exclusion, discrimination and forced assimilation policies of the Chinese. After the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis in Indonesia, a massacre to ethnic Chinese occurred, which shocked the whole world. The financial crisis led to the end of the Suharto regime and the arrival of a new era. This event has also become an opportunity for change in Chinese policy. After the end of the Suharto regime, Indonesia experienced four presidents in power, and each of them gave their different adjustments for Chinese policy, from politics to the economy and then to culture, involving all aspects of Chinese life.Compared with Singapore, Malaysia and other countries in Southeast Asia, which have moderate and tolerant policy for ethnic Chinese, the change of Indonesian Chinese policy,more of their typical, is simply a microcosm of the survival and development of overseas Chinese. A systematic research to the change of policy for ethnic Chinese can help us know the background of Chinese policy adjustment, motivation, content, features and effectiveness, and understand the current state and prospects of Chinese living in Indonesia’s political, economic and social life. It can also provide reference and thinking for us to deal with the relationship between China and Indonesia, and that between the multi-ethnic and develop a flexible and open diaspora policy.This paper focuses on the Systematic study of adjustment and motivation of Indonesian Chinese policy in the post-Suharto era. This paper is divided into four parts in addition to the introduction.The first part is an overview of the Overseas Chinese policy and its causes in Suharto era in Indonesia, which is the background of adjustments of Chinese policy in the post-Suharto era. This chapter discusses the specific performance of Indonesia’s Sukarno and Suharto in anti-Chinese policy and analyze the reasons for the development and implementation of such policies.The second part analyzes the Chinese policy of each regime in the post-Suharto era,focusing on the main Indonesian Chinese policy adjustments content and features.The third part, talks about the factors of the adjustment of Chinese policy, including domestic and international factors. The former refers to major changes on the social situation in Indonesia, the own factors of Indonesian Chinese and personal factors of presidents; International factors include the promotion of China factor, the impact of Chinese policies in other countries in Southeast Asia and the impact from entire international community.The fourth part gives us the evaluation and thought on Chinese policy in the post-Suharto era. By examining the current status of the Chinese in Indonesia’s political, economic, cultural, educational and social activities, this paper analyzes the future direction of Chinese policy in Indonesia with the affect of internal and external factors, and further reflects the enlightenment in the formulation on Chinese affairs policy and the processing of ethnic relations. This enlightenment comes from the adjustment of policy for ethnic Chinese in Indonesia.Finally, the concluding remarks.