Rethinking National Integration in Indonesia: Chinese Ethnicity, Cosmopolitan Culture, Economic Inequality, and Inclusive Policy Reform
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15294/jllr.v7i4.58330Keywords:
Chinese Indonesians, National Integration, Cosmopolitan Culture, Economic Inequality, Inclusive Policy ReformAbstract
National integration in Indonesia remains closely tied to the interplay among ethnic diversity, economic inequality, and state policies toward minority communities. The economic role of Chinese Indonesians has evolved across several historical periods, from the colonial era through the Old Order and New Order to the Reformasi era. Although their contributions to trade, entrepreneurship, and national economic development are significant, economic disparities and persistent ethnic stereotypes continue to complicate interethnic relations and perceptions of national belonging. This article examines how the historical development of Chinese Indonesians’ economic role and cosmopolitan culture intersects with economic inequality and national integration, and identifies policy directions for a more inclusive and cohesive society. The study uses a descriptive-analytical approach that combines historical research, case studies, and discourse analysis of relevant policy documents, regulations, and secondary sources. The analysis indicates that state policies have decisively shaped Chinese Indonesians’ economic opportunities, social position, and integration. Colonial social stratification and the different policy orientations of successive Indonesian governments produced changing patterns of economic participation, political inclusion, and interethnic relations. The Reformasi era has expanded equality of citizenship, cultural expression, and access to economic and professional opportunities; nevertheless, economic disparities, negative stereotypes, and the limited institutionalization of national integration efforts remain important challenges. The article argues that economic participation alone cannot guarantee social cohesion. National integration requires inclusive policies that promote distributive economic justice, equal citizenship, meaningful interethnic engagement, and a shared commitment to Indonesia’s constitutional and national values. Accordingly, policy reform should move beyond treating ethnic diversity primarily as a potential source of conflict and instead recognize it as a resource for national development and democratic integration.
References
Ahmadi, Ahmadi, Wawan Kurniawan, and Ezhra Bram Pamungkas. “Art, Identity, and Justice: The Role of Art in Shaping the Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Indonesia”. Indonesian Art and Justice Review 2, no. 3 (2025). https://doi.org/10.65815/cwcxg773
Ananta, Aris, Evi Nurvidya Arifin, Ari Purbowati, and Paul J. Carnegie. “Does Diversity Matter for Development? New Evidence of Ethnic Diversity’s Mediation between Internal Migration and Economic Growth across Indonesia’s Regions.” Journal of Population Research 40, no. 3 (2023), article 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-023-09304-z.
Aoki, Yoko. “The History of Ethnic Chinese Studies in Indonesia: Transition from the Soeharto Regime to the Reformasi Era.” Southeast Asian Studies 43, no. 4 (2006): 397–418. https://doi.org/10.20495/tak.43.4_397.
Archellie, Reynaldo de, et al. “Ethnic Chinese in the Post-Reform Indonesia: Re-assimilation of Chinese Community in Seven Cities to Counteract Prejudice.” Asian Ethnicity 27, no. 1 (2026): 188–210. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2025.2476149.
Ardiansyah, Indra, et al. “Taking Restitution Seriously?: Victim-Oriented Gaps in the Criminal Justice System.” Indonesian Journal of Criminal Law Studies 10, no. 1 (2025). https://doi.org/10.15294/ijcls.v10i1.19636.
Askar, Media Wahyudi, et al. Republik Oligarki: Ketimpangan Ekonomi Indonesia 2026. Jakarta: Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), 2026.
Bazzi, Samuel, Arya Gaduh, Alexander D. Rothenberg, and Maisy Wong. “Unity in Diversity? How Intergroup Contact Can Foster Nation Building.” American Economic Review 109, no. 11 (2019): 3978–4025. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20180174.
Bilven, Bryan, Boglárka Nyúl, and Anna Kende. “Exclusive Victimhood, Higher Ethnic and Lower National Identities Predict Less Support for Reconciliation among Native and Chinese Indonesians through Mutual Prejudice.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 91 (2022): 262–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2022.10.011.
Blussé, Leonard. A Colonial Tragedy: The Chinese Massacre at Batavia, 1740. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2023.
Bosma, Ulbe. “The Cultivation System (1830–1870) and Its Private Entrepreneurs on Colonial Java.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 38, no. 2 (2007): 275–91. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463407000045.
Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS). Indonesia’s Economic Inequality in 2026: The Oligarchic Republic. 2026.
Chong, Wu-Ling. “Rethinking the Position of Ethnic Chinese Indonesians.” SEJARAH: Journal of the Department of History 25, no. 2 (2016). https://doi.org/10.22452/sejarah.vol25no2.7.
Chong, Wu-Ling. Chinese Indonesians in Post-Suharto Indonesia: Democratisation and Ethnic Minorities. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2018.
Chua, Christian. “Defining Indonesian Chineseness under the New Order.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 34, no. 4 (2004): 465–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472330480000221.
Chua, Christian. “The Conglomerates in Crisis: Indonesia, 1997–1998.” Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 13, no. 1 (2008): 107–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13547860701733123.
Chua, Christian. Chinese Big Business in Indonesia: The State of Capital. London: Routledge, 2008.
Claver, Alexander. “Chinese Commercial Audacity: Trade Conditions, Boycotts, and Legal Strife in Late Colonial Indonesia.” Paramita: Historical Studies Journal 33, no. 1 (2023). https://doi.org/10.15294/paramita.v33i1.41643.
Claver, Alexander. Dutch Commerce and Chinese Merchants in Java: Colonial Relationships in Trade and Finance, 1800–1942. Leiden: Brill, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004263239.
Coppel, Charles A. “The Indonesian Chinese: ‘Foreign Orientals’, Netherlands Subjects, and Indonesian Citizens.” In Law and the Chinese in Southeast Asia, edited by M. Barry Hooker, 131–49. Singapore: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, 2002.
Coppel, Charles A. Indonesian Chinese in Crisis. Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Dartanto, Teguh, and Canyon Keanu Can. Menavigasi Jalan Indonesia Menuju 2045: Kesetaraan dan Mobilitas Ekonomi. Jakarta: Lembaga Penyelidikan Ekonomi dan Masyarakat, Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis, Universitas Indonesia, 2023.
Djalins, Upik. Subjects, Lawmaking and Land Rights: Agrarian Regime and State Formation in Late-Colonial Netherlands East Indies. PhD diss., Cornell University, 2012.
Djie, Liem Twan. Perdagangan Perantara Distribusi Orang-Orang Cina di Jawa: Sebuah Studi Ekonomi. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 1995.
Drake, Christine. National Integration in Indonesia: Patterns and Policies. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2019.
Erniwati. Hio Asap di Ranah Minang: Komunitas Tionghoa di Sumatera Barat. Yogyakarta: Ombak, 2007.
Gaol, Anna Margret Lumban. “Leadership, Identity and Performance: The Nature and Effect of ‘Prototypicality’ in Indonesia.” Politics and Governance 8, no. 4 (2020). https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3553.
Hadiwijaya, Muhammad Alamsyah, Harum Cahyaningrat, Fatimah Azzahro, Siti Aisyah Johari, and Mohammad Rafiq. “Social Justice or Social Exclusion? The Role of the Indonesian State in the Integration of Minorities”. Indonesian Minority Justice Review 1, no. 4 (2024). https://doi.org/10.65815/r9s1zd96
Hana, Muhamad Yusrul. “Dinamika Sosio-Ekonomi Pedagang Santri dalam Mengembangkan Industri Kretek di Kudus, 1912–1930.” JUSPI: Jurnal Sejarah Peradaban Islam 2, no. 1 (2018).
Himawan, E. M., W. Louis, and A. Pohlman. “Indonesian Civilians’ Attributions for Anti-Chinese Violence during the May 1998 Riots in Indonesia.” Journal of Social and Political Psychology 10, no. 2 (2022): 536–53. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.5489.
Hoon, Chang-Yau. “Assimilation, Multiculturalism, Hybridity: The Dilemmas of the Ethnic Chinese in Post-Suharto Indonesia.” Asian Ethnicity 7, no. 2 (2006): 149–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631360600734400.
Hoon, Chang-Yau. Chinese Indonesians: Remembering, Distorting, Forgetting. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008.
Horowitz, Donald L. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Knight, G. Roger. “From Plantation to Padi-field: The Origins of the Nineteenth Century Transformation of Java’s Sugar Industry.” Modern Asian Studies 14, no. 2 (1980): 177–204. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00007307.
Koning, Juliette. “Chineseness and Chinese Indonesian Business Practices: A Generational and Discursive Enquiry.” East Asia 24 (2007): 129–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-007-9011-2.
Kuntjara, Esther, and Chang-Yau Hoon. “Reassessing Chinese Indonesian Stereotypes: Two Decades after Reformasi.” South East Asia Research 28, no. 2 (2020): 199–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2020.1729664.
Laugerud, Solveig. “Document Analysis: How to Make Sense of Legal and Authoritative Texts.” Qualitative Research. Published online February 27, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941251398998.
Lindblad, J. Thomas. “The Economic Decolonisation of Indonesia: A Bird’s-eye View.” Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities 4 (2011).
Loh, Francis Kok Wah. “Ethnic Diversity and the Nation State: From Centralization in the Age of Nationalism to Decentralization amidst Globalization.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 18, no. 3 (2017): 414–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649373.2017.1346165.
Maheswara, Narendra, Putri Kania Tisnawati, Mohd Rayyan Fattah Abd Malik, and Omar Fawzi. “Educating Diversity: Policy Design, Cultural Recognition, and Educational Justice in Plural Societies”. Indonesian Education Policy and Justice Review 2, no. 4 (2025): 1-30. https://doi.org/10.65815/xgh4dz77
Mitchell, Matthew. “Analyzing the Law Qualitatively.” Qualitative Research Journal 23, no. 1 (2023): 102–13. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-04-2022-0061.
Morgenstern, Raphael A., Mira Siti Farhana, Ahmed Kamil Faris, and Shofia Diab Ahmed. “Affirmative Action and Its Impact on Minority Groups in Indonesia: A Legal Perspective”. Indonesian Minority Justice Review 1, no. 2 (2024). https://doi.org/10.65815/vcq2x797
Muhaimin, Yahya A. Bisnis dan Politik: Kebijaksanaan Ekonomi Indonesia, 1950–1980. Jakarta: LP3ES, 1991.
Nira, Stephanny. “Peran Siauw Giok Tjhan dalam Badan Permusyawaratan Kewarganegaraan Indonesia (BAPERKI), 1954–1966.” PERIODE: Jurnal Sejarah dan Pendidikan Sejarah. https://doi.org/10.21009/periode.022.3.
Nurhidayati, Maya Septiana, Ankita Kumari, and Sidharth Kapoor. “Economic Justice in Indonesia: Addressing Inequality and Promoting Social Mobility”. Indonesian Economic Justice Review 1, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.65815/sv875d93
Onghokham. Rakyat dan Negara. Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan, 1991.
Panggabean, Samsu Rizal, and Benjamin Smith. “Explaining Anti-Chinese Riots in Late 20th Century Indonesia.” World Development 39, no. 2 (2011): 231–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.036.
Pepinsky, Thomas B. “Colonial Migration and the Origins of Governance: Theory and Evidence from Java.” Comparative Political Studies 49, no. 9 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414015626442.
Post, Peter. “Profitable Partnerships: The Chinese Business Elite and Dutch Lawyers in the Making of Semarang.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 52, no. 2 (2021): 214–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463421000448.
Purcell, Victor. The Chinese in Southeast Asia. 2nd ed. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Putra, Idhamsyah Eka, et al. “‘We Support Unity in Diversity, but Politic Is a Privilege for My Group’: The Paradoxical Influence of National Identification × Religious Identification in Predicting Unity in Diversity and Political Orientations.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 87 (2022): 108–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2022.01.011.
Ramada, Diandra Preludio, and Indah Sri Utari. “Unveiling the Surge in Corruption: A Menacing Threat to Indonesia’s Stability in Anti-Corruption Law Reform.” Journal of Law and Legal Reform 5, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.15294/jllr.vol5i1.2092.
Redding, S. Gordon. “Overseas Chinese Networks: Understanding the Enigma.” Long Range Planning 28, no. 1 (1995): 61–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-6301(94)00071-C.
Republik Indonesia. Instruksi Presiden Nomor 26 Tahun 1998 tentang Menghentikan Penggunaan Istilah Pribumi dan Nonpribumi.
Republik Indonesia. Keputusan Presiden Nomor 19 Tahun 2002 tentang Hari Tahun Baru Imlek.
Republik Indonesia. Keputusan Presiden Nomor 6 Tahun 2000 tentang Pencabutan Instruksi Presiden Nomor 14 Tahun 1967 tentang Agama, Kepercayaan, dan Adat Istiadat Cina.
Republik Indonesia. Peraturan Presiden Nomor 10 Tahun 1959 tentang Larangan bagi Usaha Perdagangan Kecil dan Eceran yang Bersifat Asing di Luar Ibu Kota Daerah Swatantra Tingkat I dan II serta Karesidenan, 16 November 1959.
Republik Indonesia. Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2006 tentang Kewarganegaraan Republik Indonesia.
Republik Indonesia. Undang-Undang Nomor 40 Tahun 2008 tentang Penghapusan Diskriminasi Ras dan Etnis.
Ricklefs, M. C. A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Robison, Richard. “Authoritarian States, Capital-Owning Classes, and the Politics of Newly Industrializing Countries: The Case of Indonesia.” World Politics 41, no. 1 (1988): 52–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/2010479.
Robison, Richard. Indonesia: The Rise of Capital. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1986.
Rochim, Moh Abdul, and Ufi Saraswati. “Eksodus Etnis Tionghoa dari Kudus ke Semarang Akibat Konflik Antaretnis di Kudus 1918.” Jurnal Humanitas: Katalisator Perubahan dan Inovator Pendidikan 12, no. 2 (2025). https://doi.org/10.29408/jhm.v12i2.34235.
Sadayoshi, Yasushi. “The Authorization of Chinese-Assimilationism in Indonesia: Peranakan’s Orientations and the Politics.” Southeast Asia: History and Culture, no. 25 (1996): 3–27. https://doi.org/10.5512/sea.1996.3.
Salsabila, Fitria Ayu, Aria Gabrielle Williams, and Mairead Moana-Peterson. “The Dilemma of Ethnic Chinese Indonesians: Legal and Social Marginalization in Post-Reformation Indonesia”. Indonesian Minority Justice Review 2, no. 3 (2025). https://doi.org/10.65815/1d4hyz82
Sanalin, Livia, Karenina Melinda Putri, Rosdiana Septire Lestari, and Purwanto Putra. “Exploring the Historical Background of the Massacre of Ethnic Chinese in Batavia in 1740.” Journal of Indonesian History 12, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.15294/jih.v12i1.5981.
Schertzer, Robert. “Mapping Institutional Mechanisms of Ethno-National Representation: Towards a Better Measurement Approach.” Nations and Nationalism 24, no. 4 (2018): 1046–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12446.
Seng, Guo-Quan. Strangers in the Family: Gender, Patriliny, and the Chinese in Colonial Indonesia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2024.
Siburian, Matondang Elsa. “The Effect of Regional Income Inequality and Social Diversity on the Provision of Local Public Goods in Indonesia.” International Journal of Social Economics 47, no. 1 (2020): 111–26. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-12-2018-0661.
Sidauruk, Joan Martha, and Emillia Davis. “Wealth Distribution and the Role of Government in Achieving Economic Justice in Indonesia”. Indonesian Economic Justice Review 1, no. 2 (2024). https://doi.org/10.65815/s4vbzv93
Suryadinata, Leo. Chinese Indonesians: State Policy, Monoculture, and Multiculture. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2004.
Suryadinata, Leo. Negara dan Etnis Tionghoa: Kasus Indonesia. Jakarta: Pustaka LP3ES Indonesia, 2002.
Suryadinata, Leo. Peranakan Chinese Politics in Java, 1917–1942. Revised ed. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1981.
Suryadinata, Leo. Pribumi, Minoritas Tionghoa, dan China. Jakarta: Penerbit Buku Kompas, 2024.
Suryadinata, Leo. The Ethnic Chinese Issue and National Integration in Indonesia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2001.
Sutanto, Irzanti. “Ganti Nama di Kalangan Keturunan Tionghoa: Peraturan dan Kebebasan.” Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia 4, no. 2 (2002). https://doi.org/10.17510/wjhi.v4i2.332.
Tambunan, Dhelly Ramadhon. “Indonesia Rumah Terbesar Diaspora Tionghoa Global.” RRI, February 16, 2026.
Tan, Mély G. “The Role of Ethnic Chinese Minority in Development: The Indonesian Case.” Southeast Asian Studies 25, no. 3 (1987): 363–82.
The Effect of Regional Income Inequality and Social Diversity on the Provision of Local Public Goods in Indonesia. International Journal of Social Economics 47, no. 1 (2020): 111–26. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-12-2018-0661.
Thee, Kian Wie. “Indonesia’s First Affirmative Policy: The Benteng Programme in the 1950s.” In Indonesia’s Economy since Independence, edited by Aris Ananta. Singapore: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, 2013.
Thee, Kian Wie. “Indonesianization: Economic Aspects of Decolonization in the 1950s.” In Indonesia’s Economy since Independence, edited by Anne Booth, 3–23. Singapore: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, 2016.
Tjiook-Liem, Patricia. The Chinese from Indonesia: The History of a Minority. Translated by Linawati Sidarto. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024.
Utari, Indah Sri, Diandra Preludio Ramada, Salman Alfarisi, and Nizamuddin Alias. “A Criminological Perspective on Corruption as a Catalyst of Economic Breakdown: Socio-Legal Challenges in Indonesian Environmental Governance.” Jambe Law Journal 9, no. 1 (2026): 205–47. https://doi.org/10.22437/jmj4ac47.
Utari, Indah Sri, Ridwan Arifin, and Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Ahmad Sabri. “Why Did a Five-Year-Old Toddler Become a Victim of Murder? A Criminological and Legal Perspective.” Indonesian Journal of Criminal Law Studies 8, no. 2 (2023). https://doi.org/10.15294/ijcls.v8i2.48591.
Van Zanden, Jan Luiten. “Colonial State Formation and Patterns of Economic Development in Java, 1800–1913.” Economic History of Developing Regions 25, no. 2 (2010).
Wang, Gungwu. China and the Chinese Overseas. Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1991.
Widdersheim, Michael M. “Historical Case Study: A Research Strategy for Diachronic Analysis.” Library and Information Science Research 40, no. 2 (2018): 144–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2018.06.003.
Winarta, Frans H. “Racial Discrimination in the Indonesian Legal System: Ethnic Chinese and Nation-Building.” In Ethnic Relations and Nation-Building in Southeast Asia, edited by Leo Suryadinata, 66–81. Singapore: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, 2004.
Wright, Matthew. “Diversity and the Imagined Community: Immigrant Diversity and Conceptions of National Identity.” Political Psychology 32, no. 5 (2011): 837–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2011.00843.x.
Yotes, Tommy S., and Stephen M. Croucher. “An Integrated Threat Theory Analysis of Latent Tension between Native Indonesians and Chinese Indonesians.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication (2024): 427–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2024.2397395.
Downloads
Published
Article ID
58330Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 A. Hanief Saha Ghafur, Ninasapti Triaswati, Kosuke Mizuno (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
All writings published in this journal are personal views of the authors and do not represent the views of this journal and the author's affiliated institutions. Author(s) retain copyrights under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
