Reassessing Chinese Indonesian stereotypes: two decades afterReformasi

Historically, the Chinese community in Indonesia has been stereotyped as exclusive of the ‘indigenous’ social group; hardworking and industrious but frugal; and apolitical or lacking nationalistic spirit towards their ‘host country’, Indonesia. This paper aims to review, interrogate and re-examine the relevance of such stereotypes twenty years after the fall of President Suharto in 1998. Drawing on fresh qualitative interview data collected in 2016 and early 2017, we critically examine the stereotypes of Chinese Indonesians’ exclusiveness, their lack of nationalistic spirit and apolitical attitude, and we present a nuanced discussion of the complexity and evolution of the perceptions of non-Chinese towards the Chinese Indonesians in contemporary Indonesia. The study confirms the continuation of old stereotypes but also points out some changes in attitudes as a result of the post-1998 reform and liberalization of Chinese culture and identity.