From what I heard, there were a lot of Overseas Chinese who used to live in Indonesia in 1959 were banned from trading in rural area. They were required to opt for naturalizing to Indonesian citizenship or returning to China. Many opted to return to China because they were not willing to give up their culture and identity. Those who stayed in Indonesia would soon be depr[color=green]i[/color]ved of Chinese education. Education will all be conducted in Bahasa Indonesia eversince and as a result, a lot of Chinese dropped out from school because they couldn’t keep up with the changes. Imagine you are on 3rd grade in Chinese highschool and suddenly moved to 3rd grade primary school in Bahasa. My dad left school and started working as a shopkeeper for a textile retailer because of this. They all hated the fact that they were depraved of education.
Those who returned to China were hailed with a big red [color=red]BANNER[/color] reading “Brothers from Nanyang” at the port in Guangxi and were taken to restaurant to have their meals. They were later each given a thick warm Jacket as the winter cold crept in and soon ushered on to trucks. They were sent to the rural areas with nothing, but a 1.5 m2 room for each family. They were given mattock each and ordered to farm the land from then on. These were all business people who used to have good life as Taoke in Indonesia. As a result, many went suicidal and hanged themselves. Those who tried to fight were sent to jail. They can’t get out of that barracks. It’s really like darwin’s natural selection, only the fittest survived. I had a relatives who were camped here, later married to Chinese Indonesian in Shenzhen, and their kids made their way to Hongkong where freedom is guaranteed.
When they told stories like this, they laugh with tears in their eyes. So many stupid stories. Like the commies will come to taste their shit every week, just to make sure they didin’t add water to it. Shit were gathered and used as fertilizer. Some will wait all day for the cow to shit and use it as fertilizer to grow mushroom. And civilian were sent to jail because they bought a sculpt of Maozedong’s head and brought it home on a bycicle. Not knowing how to carry it, he put a rope on Mao’s head and hanged it to the steer. He was stopped by the Gong’An and soon decimated.
I heard from relatives, some of those Indonesian who returned to China makes quite a community in Shenzhen. The elders speak Indonesian or Javanese to eachother to isolate themselves from the majority mainlanders.
From what I’ve heard, the plight of the Chinese in Indonesia is a lot like the plight of the Jews. It seems like jealousy was the main motive for the Indonesian ultimatum to blend in or get out. The Chinese in SE Asia, like the Jews everywhere, are excellent networkers, thrifty spenders and savers, big on education, shrewd businesspeople, and organized into tight, cohesive communities that have rarely had problems with delinquency or substance abuse. Both Overseas Chinese and Jews are very proud of their roots and have a strong sense of what it means to be Chinese / Jewish. Both are well versed in [their version of] their people’s history, and the frequent hard times their people have had to endure. To this extent, some fall prey to feeling superior to the local majority around them, or at least not feeling bad about using the local people to their own advantage. This is an expolsive recipie for jealousy and resentment, and ultimately, fierce racism against them, if you ask me.
I don’t mean to belittle the many Overseas Chinese and Jews who are truly good people, and who have accomplished great things for humanity. They’re two ethnic communities I have a lot of respect for, as a matter of fact. They’re excellent survivors. They work hard and earn their way, rather then leeching off the local majority.
The Parsis in India are another community that show a lot of these same characteristics. Like Overseas Chinese and Jews, they are a closed community, richer and better educated than most of the majority around them. They have also survived lots of persecution. Any other examples of such peoples?
When I was in Indonesia I read an article about some of the Indonesian-Chinese who went to China. According to the story, many ended up working as peasants on Hainan Island.
Also, while there, I heard many arguments about the differences between Indonesian-Chinese and Chinese-Indonesians (peranakan?). Can you explain this?
Actually in regard of Pribumi, bumiputera, indigenous, or whatever and Peranakan, Cina, Chinese descent or whatever. I would not discuss the difference, but more I would like to talk about it similarities.
I think both are struggling hard in the bad economic crisis. Both went thru the same hardship. Both goes to the same school now educated in Bahasa Indonesia. Both speak the same language, Bahasa Indonesia. Both dressed and used the same products offered by local manufacturers. Both use the same facilities offer by the states.
However if we started talking about difference, the only way to go is conflict. And Chinese Indonesian are mostly avoiding conflict and do best to abide local law and order.
Well, far be it from me to pick your nits, ax, but since you axed … check your google link more carefully. You’ll find that your usage of “depraved of” is not what your links refer to. You typoed “depraved” for “deprived.”
You can be deprived of education but you cannot be depraved of education, even though your education could be the most depraved of all forms of pedagoguery (and I bet I spelled that wrong).
Sad story, though. Why are the Chinese hated so much by the Indonesians? Is it just because they’re seen as rich businessmen, non-Muslim, or what?
Thanks for straighten it with me. I didn’t mean to ax anway and I admit it was a typo. The usage of deprave and deprive does drive me at sixes and sevens. But after this typo, I hope I’ll be more careful and make it mandatory for my word to grammar check all post before I click the submit button.
You can’t blame anyone. Somebody has to hate somebody else anyway. It aint’ a peaceful world. There;s always conflicts.
… check your google link more carefully. You’ll find that your usage of “depraved of” is not what your links refer to. You typoed “depraved” for “deprived.”