Peranakan Chinese communities and their “hybrid” culture have fascinated many observers. This book, comprising fourteen chapters, was mainly based on papers written by the author in the last two decades. The chapters address Peranakan Chinese cultural, national and political identities in the Malay Archipelago, i.e., Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (IMS). This book is divided into two parts. Part I which is on the regional dimension, contains nine chapters that discuss the three countries and beyond. Part II consists of five chapters which focus on one country, i.e., Indonesia. This book not only discusses the past and the present, but also the future of the Peranakan Chinese.

This report is the latest of the studies of the Chinese minority in Indonesia to be published by the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. The Project has a long-term interest in this subject, and earlier studies which it has published include Giok-Lan Tan's The Chinese of Sukabumi and Donald E. Willmott's The National Status of the Chinese in Indonesia 1900-1958. In the present Interim Report Mary F. Somers undertakes to view the overseas Chinese question as part of the politics of Indonesia, concentrating on the persons of Chinese descent who are Indonesian citizens. She devotes particular attention to the peranakan Chinese organization, Baperkip and the role it has played, both in Indonesia's Chinese community and generally on the Indonesian political scene. She is also concerned with the reaction of the peranakan Chinese to the possibility of cultural assimilation into Indonesian society and the willingness of the Indonesians to accept them. After gaining her B.A. in History and Chinese Language at Trinity College in Washington, D.C., Miss Somers entered Cornell University in 1958 as a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Government and Southeast Asia Program. Following an initial period of research at Cornell and an intensive study of the Chinese (Mandarin) and Indonesian languages, she carried out research in Indonesia from December 1961 to May 1963 under a Foreign Area Training Fellowship. While there she interviewed prominent Chinese widely - both in Java and in Sumatra (Palembang, Medan, Padang), in Sulawesi (Makassar) and in Kalimantan (Bandjarmasin, Pontianak, Singkawang). Miss Somers wishes to emphasize that the conclusions she has reached in the report are tentative; and she hopes to develop them further in a forthcoming publication. She would, therefore, welcome any comments on or criticisms of her study. - George McT. Kahin, March 16, 1964

This volume honours, and reflects on, the life and work of the Australian Indonesianist, Charles A. Coppel. His interests -- reflected in this volume -- are broad, ranging from history, politics, legal issues, and violence against the Chinese, through to culture and religion. The chapters in the volume, contributed by scholars from Australia, Indonesia, Europe, and Singapore, also all reflect a theme, inspired by Charles Coppels expression, remembering, distorting, forgetting, by which he drew attention to misrepresentations of the Chinese, seeking to locate the realities behind the myths that form the basis for the racism and xenophobia the Chinese have often experienced in Indonesia.

The ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, numbering more than six millions, constitute the largest single group of ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia. They are economically strong, culturally diversified, and socially active. This book presents the profiles of leading figures in the Indonesian Chinese community in the twentieth century in the economic, political, religious, cultural, academic, and social fields. This is the first systematic and comprehensive book of its kind. It is useful for scholars interested in research on Indonesia or Chinese minorities in Southeast Asia generally. First published in 1971, it was revised and developed into the present format in 1978 and has since been revised several times. This is the third and most up-to-date version.

The Chinese in Indonesia have played an important role in Indonesian society before and after the fall of Soeharto. This book provides comprehensive and up-to-date information by examining them in detail during that era with special reference to the post-Soeharto period. The contributors to this volume consist of both older- and younger-generation scholars writing on Indonesian Chinese. They offer new information and fresh perspectives on the issues of government policies, legal position, ethnic politics, race relations, religion, education and prospects of the Chinese Indonesians.