Cultural Aspects of the Eurasian Community in Indonesian Colonial Society

The first Eurasians of Indonesia were the issue of European fathers and Asian mothers. Subsequently, they were b o m of European fathers and Eurasian mothers, Eurasian fathers and Asian mothers, and Eurasian parents. The European fathers were usually of Dutch, but sometimes of German, Belgian, or other (European) nationality. Asian mothers were usually Indonesian, although there were Chinese and other Asian nationalities as well. A Eurasian informant once lamented to the author that one of the causes of the "Eurasian inability to stick together" was the great variety of their ethnic background. Broadly speaking, the issue of Dutch-Indonesian unions tended to exhibit biological traits intermediate between "Nordic" (a subgroup of the Caucasoid division) and "Indo-Malay" (a sub group of the Mongoloid division). This intermediate position is clearest with respect to skin color, hair color, presence of the Mongoloid fold, shape of the nose, and nostrils. Maternal traits are dominant in eye color, cephalic index, and shape of the nose bridge. Probably a very distinctive characteristic is