Ethnic Chinese the Ethnic Differences

Ethnic Chinese

The ethnic differences matter got tensed in Indonesia in the late twentieth century as the ethnic Indonesians had begun to feel that people of other nationalities had been harming the country's economic system. One of the worst situations in terms of ethnicity was that of the Chinese, most probably because of their merchant qualities and presumed fortunes.

Chinese people have been living in Indonesia for hundreds of years and have contributed to building some of the country's values. Living in Indonesia ever since the Colonial era, the Chinese had been specialized in trading and in providing assistance to the Dutch that were then controlling Indonesia. As soon as the Dutch departed and Indonesia had become independent, the Indonesians have begun to express their hatred towards the Chinese minority.

With the coming of President Suharto at the leadership, Chinese people had been sure of losing all hope in an impartial system. Suharto only seemed to favor some of the Chinese, respectively those that were very rich. Thus, the best way for one that had a Chinese nationality in Indonesia to live without any restrictions had been to have friends within Indonesia's leaders. The conflict between the Chinese minority and the majority in Indinesia is also based on religious grounds, as most of the latter are Muslims while little of the former praise Islam. (BBC) Despite Suharto's belief that the favoring of wealthy Chinese would be profitable, most Indonesians have decided to turn against their leader. The reason for why the Indonesians did so is that Suharto's act had proved to be in opposition to all that his people believed in: a free country which would not be under Chinese control. In order to calm spirits, Suharto demanded that all Chinese people should hand over to the country 25% of their possessions. (BBC)

Before Suharto's fall, in the year of 1998, the Indonesians had started an action of major proportions meant to exterminate all Chinese the country. The atrocities during that period had been compared to the pogroms intended to murder Jews during Hitler's reign. Hundreds of Chinese people had been murdered and Chinese women had been raped and insulted in the streets in front of crowds of Indonesians. Some of the Chinese that escaped the massacre had taken refuge in the nearest countries.

The Indonesians have adopted an anti-Chinese nature in the recent decades and most Chinese are denied several human rights. On of the reasons for why Indonesians might hate Chinese people would be their wealth. In reality, the number of poor Chinese-Indonesians is far greater than that of the wealthy Chinese-Indonesians with most of them owning small businesses or having low-skilled jobs.

As a method of making Chinese leave the country, Indonesians have adopted a series of laws restricting Chinese people from following their customs and traditions in public display. Furthermore, names of Chinese origin had been forbidden, Chinese people being forced to choose Indonesian names.

According to Hoon Chang Yau, after the overthrow of former president Suharto's regime, things are beginning to brighten up in the case of Chinese-Indonesians. Chinese people presently live a better life in Indonesia with most of their values having been returned to them and the unjust laws having been abolished (Knowledge SMU).