By taking regime change as its main theme this book offers a new perspective on the multiple roles that Chinese Indonesians played in terms of shaping, moderating, and stimulating social change in Indonesia.

Of all the many problems confronting post-Suharto Indonesia, none is more critical than the future of the country's ethnic Chinese. Unless their capital and talents are fully utilized, the economy will remain in crisis, and fresh confidence will only come with a concerted effort to end discrimination. While there has been resentment of the disproportionate economic power enjoyed by some of the Chinese businessmen favoured by the Suharto regime, few in Indonesia wish to see a repeat of the events accompanying the regime change in 1998, when violent anti-Chinese protests broke out.

The book shows how the Chinese minority is much more diverse, and the picture much richer and more complicated, than previous studies have allowed. Subjects covered include the historical development of Chinese communities in peripheral areas of Indonesia, the religious practices of Chinese Indonesians, which are by no means confined to "Chinese" religions, and Chinese ethnic events, where a wide range of Indonesians, not just Chinese, participate.

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.

For decades, Chinese Indonesians have been in numerous harshspotlights in their own country. Starting from supposedly simple thingslike obtaining official documents to be legal citizens of Indonesia, theironly homeland now, where they can be harassed and cornered, whichnot seldom can extend to the extremes where they are made as victimsand scapegoat particularly when issues related to racism arise.Similar to other ethnic groups, they also live in different economicclasses. Some are very wealthy, some are rich, some live in the middleclasseconomy, some dwell in their simple lives, some are poor, andsome try to survive their abject poverty.In the urban areas, they are seen to live a good life; some arevery rich or even extremely prosperous. Most of these people arebusinessmen, ranging from a colossal size to a mere small business.However, reality also shows that many Chinese Indonesians in thesuburb areas live an uncertain day-to-day life and some are evenextremely poor. Fishermen in Tangerang, North Sumatra, Riau, Bangkaor pedicab drivers, unskilled labor, angkot (a small public minibus)drivers, domestic maids, office boys, and blue collar workers in WestKalimantan (Sambas and Singkawang) and Bangka are factual examplesof the grueling lives that they have to carry on striving.In spite of all the facts, people often forget or even intentionallyignore the facts that many Chinese Indonesians have also madepositive contributions to their country in many different aspects, suchas economy, sports, culture, science, or political sectors to name afew. These facts also need to be understood and enlightened to fellowcountrymen in order to portray a more balanced, objective view, andnon-discriminatory judgment which in turn can prevent hatred, dislike,and other unfavorable prejudice against Indonesian citizens of Chinesedescent due to the past inaccurate stereotype and labeling.This book tries to present an objective portrait of ChineseIndonesians and their roles within their own beloved country and state,with the very same goal of all proud Indonesian countrymen—to createa stronger unity and integrity of Indonesia, a country that highly valuespluralism and the unity-in-diversity principle through the distinguishedPancasila philosophy

For decades, Chinese Indonesians have been in numerous harsh spotlights in their own country. Starting from supposedly simple things like obtaining official documents to be legal citizens of Indonesia, their only homeland now, where they can be harassed and cornered, which not seldom can extend to the extremes where they are made as victims and scapegoat particularly when issues related to racism arise. Similar to other ethnic groups, they also live in different economic classes. Some are very wealthy, some are rich, some live in the middleclass economy, some dwell in their simple lives, some are poor, and some try to survive their abject poverty. In the urban areas, they are seen to live a good life; some are very rich or even extremely prosperous. Most of these people are businessmen, ranging from a colossal size to a mere small business. However, reality also shows that many Chinese Indonesians in the suburb areas live an uncertain day-to-day life and some are even extremely poor. Fishermen in Tangerang, North Sumatra, Riau, Bangka or pedicab drivers, unskilled labor, angkot (a small public minibus) drivers, domestic maids, office boys, and blue collar workers in West Kalimantan (Sambas and Singkawang) and Bangka are factual examples of the grueling lives that they have to carry on striving. In spite of all the facts, people often forget or even intentionally ignore the facts that many Chinese Indonesians have also made positive contributions to their country in many different aspects, such as economy, sports, culture, science, or political sectors to name a few. These facts also need to be understood and enlightened to fellow countrymen in order to portray a more balanced, objective view, and non-discriminatory judgment which in turn can prevent hatred, dislike, and other unfavorable prejudice against Indonesian citizens of Chinese descent due to the past inaccurate stereotype and labeling. This book tries to present an objective portrait of Chinese Indonesians and their roles within their own beloved country and state, with the very same goal of all proud Indonesian countrymen—to create a stronger unity and integrity of Indonesia, a country that highly values pluralism and the unity-in-diversity principle through the distinguished Pancasila philosophy