Editing Chinese Indonesians (section)

== History ==

{{see also|History of Indonesia}}

=== Early interactions ===
[[File:Jan Huyghen van Linschoten Ship of China and Java.jpg|thumb|200px|16th century depiction of a Chinese-Javanese vessel]]
The first recorded movement of people from China into [[Maritime Southeast Asia]] was the arrival of [[Mongol Empire|Mongol]] forces under [[Kublai Khan]] that culminated in the [[Mongol invasion of Java|invasion of Java]] in 1293. Their intervention hastened the decline of the classical kingdoms such as [[Singhasari]] and precipitated the rise of the [[Majapahit]] empire.{{sfn|Reid|2001|p=17}}

[[Hui people|Chinese Muslim]] traders from the eastern coast of China arrived at the coastal towns of Indonesia and [[Malaysia]] in the early 15th century. They were led by the mariner [[Zheng He]], who commanded [[Treasure voyages|several expeditions to Southeast Asia]] between 1405 and 1430. In the book ''[[Yingya Shenglan]],'' his translator [[Ma Huan]] documented the activities of the Chinese Muslims in the archipelago and the legacy left by Zheng He and his men.{{sfn|Ma|2005|p=115}} These traders settled along the northern coast of [[Java]], but there is no documentation of their settlements beyond the 16th century. The Chinese Muslims were likely to have been absorbed into the majority Muslim population.{{sfn|Tan|2005|p=796}} Between 1450 and 1520, the [[Ming dynasty]]'s interest in southeastern Asia reached a low point and trade, both legal and illegal, rarely reached the archipelago.{{sfn|Reid|1999|p=52}} The [[The Portuguese in Indonesia (1512–1850)|Portuguese]] made no mention of any resident Chinese minority population when they arrived in Indonesia in the early 16th century.{{sfn|Reid|2001|p=33}} Trade from the north was re-established when China legalized private trade in 1567 through licensing 50 [[Junk (ship)|junks]] a year. Several years later silver began flowing into the region, from Japan, Mexico, and Europe, and trade flourished once again. Distinct Chinese colonies emerged in hundreds of ports throughout southeastern Asia, including the pepper port of [[Banten]].{{sfn|Reid|1999|p=52}}

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De Chinese zeilschepen Yonken Sin Tong Heng (links) en Tek Hwa Seng bij Poeloe Samboe TMnr 10010680.jpg|thumb|alt=Black and white view of the ocean with an island visible on the horizon to the right. A sailing ship on the left (three sails visible) shows the full length of its hull while another on the right (two sails visible) shows its forward bow.|Chinese junks ''Sin Tong Heng'' and ''Tek Hwa Seng'' in the [[Sambu Island]], [[Singapore Strait]], {{circa}} 1936]]
Some Chinese traders avoided [[Portuguese Malacca]] after it fell to the Portuguese in the [[Capture of Malacca (1511)|1511 Capture of Malacca]].{{sfn|Guillot|Lombard|Ptak|1998|p=179}} Many Chinese, however, cooperated with the Portuguese for the sake of trade.{{sfn|Borschberg|2004|p=12}} Some Chinese in [[Java]] assisted in Muslim attempts to reconquer the city using ships. The Javanese–Chinese participation in retaking Malacca was recorded in "The Malay Annals of Semarang and Cerbon".{{sfn|Guillot|Lombard|Ptak|1998|p=179}}

Han Chinese in Indonesia forbid [[Parallel and cross cousins|parallel cousin]] marriage which Han culture bans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hidayah |first=Zulyani |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXDgDwAAQBAJ&dq=madurese+sister+married+chinese&pg=PA86 |title=A Guide to Tribes in Indonesia: Anthropological Insights from the Archipelago |date=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-9811518355 |location= |page=86 |quote=According to general Chinese tradition, a forbidden marriage is one between two people who share the same clan. Aside from that, a woman cannot marry before her elder sister is married. On the contrary, a younger sister may marry before .. |author-link=}}</ref> Hui Muslims marry parallel cousins.

=== Chinese in the archipelago under Dutch East India Company rule (1600–1799) ===
{{see also|Kongsi republic}}

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Optocht tijdens het Tjap Go Meh feest TMnr 3728-838.jpg|thumb|left|230px|[[Lantern Festival|Cap Go Meh]] festival painting in [[Java Island]] by Dutch painter, circa 1883 and 1889]]

By the time the Dutch arrived in the early 17th century, major Chinese settlements existed along the north coast of Java. Most were traders and merchants, but they also practiced agriculture in inland areas. The Dutch contracted many of these immigrants as skilled artisans in the [[History of Jakarta|construction of Batavia (Jakarta)]] on the northwestern coast of Java.{{sfn|Tan|2005|p=796}} A recently created harbor was selected as the new headquarters of the [[Dutch East India Company]] (''{{lang|nl|Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie}}'', VOC) in 1609 by [[Jan Pieterszoon Coen]]. It grew into a major hub for trade with China and India. Batavia became home to the largest Chinese community in the archipelago and remains so in the 21st century.{{sfn|Heidhues|1999|p=152}} Coen and other early [[governor-general of the Dutch East Indies|governors-general]] promoted the entry of Chinese immigrants to new settlements "for the benefit of those places and for the purpose of gathering spices like [[clove]]s, [[nutmeg]], and mace".{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=9}} The port's Chinese population of 300–400 in 1619 had grown to at least 10,000 by 1740.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=7}} The VOC ruled migrant ethnic groups in Batavia using 'officers' drawn from each community, usually with the title [[Kapitan Cina|''kapitan'']] or ''majoor''. These officers had a high degree of authority over their community and undertook negotiations between the community and VOC authorities.<ref>Leonard Blusse and Chen Menghong, "Introduction", in Leonard Blusse and Chen Menghong, ''The Archives of the Kong Koan of Batavia'' (Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 1-3.</ref> Dutch colonial rule saw the beginning of anti-Chinese policies, including killings and ghettoization.<ref>{{cite news |last=Glionna |first=John M. |date=4 July 2010 |title=In Indonesia, 1998 violence against ethnic Chinese remains unaddressed |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jul-04-la-fg-indonesia-chinese-20100704-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Jakarta, Indonesia}}</ref>

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Pas in Nederlands-Indië aangekomen Chinese arbeiders wachten op het terrein van de Deli Planters Vereniging (DPV) op het opmaken van de immigratiecontracten TMnr 60014328.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Several dozen men are in squatting positions in front of building. Inside, men dressed in white are sitting behind tables and standing by.|Chinese workers from [[Shantou|Swatow]], [[Guangdong|Canton]] province, [[China]], await the preparation of their contracts by immigration officials at Medan's labor inspectorate, [[Belawan]], [[North Sumatra]] {{circa}} 1920–1940]]

Most of those who settled in the archipelago had already severed their ties with the mainland and welcomed favorable treatment and protection under the Dutch.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=8}} Some became revenue farmers, middlemen within the corporate structure of the VOC, tasked with collecting [[tariff|export–import duties]] and managing the harvest of natural resources;{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=10}} although this was highly profitable, it earned the enmity of the ''pribumi'' population. Others worked as [[opium]] farmers.{{sfn|Reid|2007|pp=44–47}} Following the [[1740 Batavia massacre]] and [[Java War (1741—1743)|ensuing war]], in which the Chinese rebelled against the Dutch,{{sfn|Setiono|2003|pp=125–137}} the Dutch attempted to place a quota on the number of Chinese who could enter the Indies. [[Xiamen|Amoy]] was designated as the only immigration port to the archipelago, and ships were limited to a specified number of crew and passengers depending on size. This quota was adjusted at times to meet demand for overseas workers, such as in July 1802 when sugar mills near Batavia were in need of workers.{{sfn|Hellwig|Tagliacozzo|2009|p=168}}

Han Chinese ''peranakan'' rebels and Javanese Muslims both fought against the Dutch in the Java war in 1741 while Madurese Muslims allied with the Dutch. The Javanese Susuhunan Pakubuwana II joined the Chinese against the Dutch while the Dutch relieved the Madurese prince of his allegiance to the Susuhunan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Raffles |first=Thomas Stamford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOhCAAAAcAAJ&dq=madurese+sister+married+chinese&pg=PA219 |title=The History of Java, Volume 2 |date=1817 |publisher= |isbn= |location= |page=219 |quote=... and accepted by the Pangéran , who being married to a sister of the Susúnan , returned his wife back to her brother . No sooner had he declared himself the ally of the Dutch , than he ordered all the Chinese on the island of Madúra ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Remmelink |first=Willem G. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZVuAAAAMAAJ&q=madurese+sister+married+chinese |title=The Chinese War and the Collapse of the Javanese State, 1725-1743, Volume 163 |date=1994 |publisher=KITLV Press |isbn=906718067X |volume=162 of Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Leiden: Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde |location= |page=60 |issn=1572-1892 |quote=The present Pangeran Cakraningrat of Madura showed all signs of following the path of his forebears . ... Cakraningrat had married Raden Ayu Bengkring , Pakubuwana's only sister german , who was very close to her brother . |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Raffles |first=Thomas Stamford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49ZaDwAAQBAJ&dq=madurese+sister+married+chinese&pg=PA720 |title=The History of Java: Volume I, Volume 1 |date=2018 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3732673445 |location= |page=720 |quote=The Chinese, besides laying siege to Semárang, had also[Vol II Pg241] by this time taken and destroyed Rémbang. ... and accepted by the Pangéran, who being married to a sister of the Susúnan, returned his wife back to ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Remmelink |first=Willem Gerrit Jan |title=Emperor Pakubuwana II, Priyayi & Company and the Chinese War |date=1990 |publisher=W.G.J. Remmelink |isbn= |location= |page=260 |quote=Married to a daughter of the sister of the wife of Danureja . During the Sunan's flight ... chosen the side of the Company and chased out the Madurese . ... He was married to a sister of Wiratmaja the 260 Pakubuwana II and the Chinese War. |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Raffles |first=Sir Thomas Stamford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gJEC2q7DzpQC&dq=madurese+sister+married+chinese&pg=PA241 |title=The History of Java, Volume 2 |date=1830 |publisher=J. Murray |isbn= |edition=2 |location= |page=241 |quote=... and accepted by the Pangéran, who being married to a sister of the Susúnan, returned his wife back to her brother. No sooner had he declared himself the ally of the Dutch, than he ordered all the Chinese on the island of Madúra ... |author-link=}}</ref>

[[Han Siong Kong]] founded the [[Han family of Lasem]] at this time.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reeve |first=David |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MX_wBgAAQBAJ&dq=madurese+sister+married+chinese&pg=PA257 |title= The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia: Social and Geographical Perspectives|date=2009 |publisher=NUS Press |isbn=978-9971694791 |editor1-last=Walker |editor1-first=John H. |edition=illustrated |location= |page=257 |chapter=Chapter 13 "More Indonesian than the Indonesians": A Chinese-Indonesian Identity |quote=In the eighth generation of Han Siong Kong's descendants in Java, one Han Loen Nio married Tan Hie Sioe from a successful ... Ong's great-grandfather is thought to have been a schoolteacher in Madura, who later moved to East Java. |author-link= |editor2-last=Banks |editor2-first=Glenn |editor3-last=Sakai |editor3-first=Minako}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kumar |first=Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiRTAQAAQBAJ&dq=madurese+sister+married+chinese&pg=PA210 |title=Java and Modern Europe: Ambiguous Encounters |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136790850 |location= |page=210 |quote=Wiraguna's sister was Pangeran Patih's widow, who subsequently married the Panembahan of Madura, but then asked the ... a wild and sometimes impenetrable wilderness.35 Production of birds' nests was leased to a Chinese for 850 Spanish ... |author-link=}}</ref>

Chinese who married local Javanese women and converted to Islam created a distinct Chinese Muslim ''[[peranakan]]'' community in Java.<ref name="Ooi2004">{{cite book |author=Ooi |first=Keat Gin |author-link=Keat Gin Ooi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA1057 |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2 |pages=1057–}}</ref> Chinese rarely had to convert to Islam to marry Javanese ''[[abangan]]'' women but a significant amount of their offspring did, and Batavian Muslims absorbed the Chinese Muslim community which was descended from converts.<ref name="ReidAlilunas-Rodgers1996">{{cite book|author1=Anthony Reid|author2=Kristine Alilunas-Rodgers|title=Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast China and the Chinese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFIGVqZ9ZKsC&pg=PA75|year=1996|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2446-4|pages=75–}}</ref> Adoption of Islam back then was a marker of ''peranakan'' status which it no longer means. The Semaran Adipati and the Jayaningrat families were of Chinese origin.<ref name="Remmelink1990">{{cite book|author=Willem G. J. Remmelink|title=Emperor Pakubuwana II, Priyayi & Company and the Chinese War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6wuAQAAIAAJ&q=The+general+term+for+Javanized+Chinese+was+peranakan,+which+nowadays+simply+means+locally+born,+but+at+the+time+also|year=1990|publisher=W.G.J. Remmelink|page=136}}</ref><ref name="Remmelink1994">{{cite book|author=Willem G. J. Remmelink|title=The Chinese war and the collapse of the Javanese state, 1725-1743|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZVuAAAAMAAJ&q=The+general+term+for+Javanized+Chinese+was+peranakan,+which+nowadays+simply+means+locally+born,+but+at+the+time+also|year=1994|publisher=KITLV Press|isbn=978-90-6718-067-2|page=136}}</ref>

Dayak women were married by the first Chinese men to settle in Borneo and this was recorded in the Hailu by Xie Qinggao (1765–1822) who was a merchant. After growing their initial population through this they began marrying each other's daughters.<ref>{{cite book |last=Andaya |first=Barbara Watson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5cBEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22they+do+not+know+modesty+or+shame%22%22&pg=PA146 |title=The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia |date=2006 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0824864727 |edition=illustrated |series=UPCC book collections on Project MUSE |location= |page=146 |quote=They do not know modesty or shame." He was happy to be able to report that "when the population had grown," the Chinese began "to arrange marriages among ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://epdf.pub/the-flaming-womb-repositioning-women-in-early-modern-southeast-asia.html | title=The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia - PDF Free Download}}</ref>

Peranakan community formed from local women in Java, Batavia marrying Hokkien Chinese migrants and they followed Chinese folk religion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dobbin |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUEYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |title=Asian Entrepreneurial Minorities: Conjoint Communities in the Making of the World Economy, 1570-1940 |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136786938 |location= |page=57=}}</ref> Pure blood totok Chinese dominated Semarang after swamping out Peranakan Chinese when migrating in the late 18th century. However they intermarried with Peranakans from Batavia. Han Siong Kong of the [[Han family of Lasem]] moved to Lasem in east Java, from his home of Zhangzhou in Fujian and his wife was not Chinese. Four of his sons married Peranakan women and one son of his married a Javanese woman and converted to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dobbin |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUEYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |title=Asian Entrepreneurial Minorities: Conjoint Communities in the Making of the World Economy, 1570-1940 |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136786938 |location= |page=57}}</ref>

===Chinese in the archipelago under Dutch colonial rule to 1900===

[[File:Een Chinese familie 16. Midden Bali (titel op object), RP-F-2001-17-33.jpg|thumb|[[Balinese Chinese|Chinese family in Bali]] 1900s]]

When the VOC was nationalized on 31 December 1799, many freedoms the Chinese experienced under the corporation were eliminated by the Dutch government. Among them was the Chinese monopoly on the salt trade which had been granted by the VOC administration.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=11}} An 1816 regulation introduced a requirement for the indigenous population and Chinese traveling within the territory to obtain a travel permit. Those who did not carry a permit faced arrest by security officers. The governor-general also introduced a resolution in 1825 which forbade foreign Asians in Java, such as [[Ethnic Malays|Malays]], [[Bugis|Buginese]] and Chinese, from living within the same neighborhood as the native population.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=12}} Following the costly [[Java War]] (1825–1830) the Dutch introduced a new agrarian and cultivation system that required farmers to "yield up a portion of their fields and cultivate crops suitable for the European market". Compulsory cultivation restored the economy of the colony, but ended the system of revenue farms established under the VOC.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=13}}

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Onderwijs op Java TMnr 10000809.jpg|thumb|alt=An adult man speaks to several dozen children who are seated on school benches. Behind them on the wall are hanging posters containing various diagrams.|The first Dutch Chinese Schools were established in 1892 following a split in curriculum from the native population.]]

[[File:Een optocht tijdens traditioneel Chinees feest Cap Go Meh. Mannen, vrouwen en ki, Bestanddeelnr 491-6-5.jpg|thumb|left|[[Lantern Festival|Cap Go Meh]] celebration in [[Padang]], [[West Sumatra]], circa 1948]]

The Chinese were perceived as temporary residents and encountered difficulties in obtaining land rights. Europeans were prioritized in the choice of plantation areas, while colonial officials believed the remaining plots must be protected and preserved for the indigenous population. Short-term and renewable leases of varying lengths{{efn|According to {{harvtxt|Heidhues|2001|p=179}}, the length of the leases depended on the location. Bangka had 25-year leases, while several areas offered 50-year leases.}} were later introduced as a temporary measure, but many Chinese remained on these lands upon expiration of their contracts and became squatters.{{sfn|Heidhues|2001|p=179}} At the beginning of the 20th century, the colonial government began to implement the "[[Dutch Ethical Policy|Ethical Policy]]" to protect the indigenous population, casting the Chinese as the "foremost enemy of the natives". Under the new policy, the administration increased restrictions on Chinese economic activities, which they believed exploited the native population.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=14}}

Powerful Chinese families were described as the [[Cabang Atas|''cabang atas'']] (lit., upper branch) of colonial society, forming influential bureaucratic and business dynasties, such as the [[Kwee family of Ciledug]] and the [[Tan family of Cirebon]].

In western [[Borneo]], the Chinese established their first major mining settlement in 1760. Ousting Dutch settlers and the local Malay princes, they joined into a new republic known as [[Lanfang Republic|Lanfang]], led by ethnic Hakka, [[Luo Fangbo|Lo Fang Pak]]. By 1819, they came into conflict with the new Dutch government and were seen as incompatible with its objectives, yet indispensable for the development of the region.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|p=16}} The [[Bangka–Belitung Islands]] also became examples of major settlements in rural areas. In 1851, 28 Chinese were recorded on the islands and by 1915, the population had risen to nearly 40,000 and fishing and tobacco industries had developed. [[Coolie]]s brought into the region after the end of the 19th century were mostly hired from the [[Straits Settlements]] owing to recruiting obstacles that existed in China.{{sfn|Phoa|1992|pp=17–18}}

Lowland Chinese in 1904 sold Beaumont and Winchester rifles in Sumatra to Bataks who were attacking and fighting the Dutch.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tagliacozzo |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMhAb3XGmH4C&dq=%22Sumatra+local+chiefs+were+still+procuring%22&pg=PA276 |title=Secret Trades, Porous Borders: Smuggling and States Along a Southeast Asian Frontier, 1865-1915 |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300128123 |edition=illustrated |series=Yale Historical Publications Series |location= |page=276 |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/373549060/Document|title=Document &#124; PDF &#124; Smuggling &#124; Borneo|website=Scribd}}</ref>

=== Divided nationalism (1900–1949) ===

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De Tiong hoa hwe Kwan school in Soengailiat TMnr 60048700-edit.png|thumb|left|alt=Two men stand on the porch of a single story building behind an open gate lined with bushes|Chinese-language school owned by the Tiong Hoa Hwe Koan in [[Sungailiat]], Bangka]]
The Chinese revolutionary figure [[Sun Yat-sen]] visited southeast Asia in 1900,{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=5}} and, later that year, the socio-religious organization [[Tiong Hoa Hwe Koan]] ({{lang|zh-Hant|[[:wikt:中華|中華]][[:wikt:會館|會館]]}}), also known as the Chinese Association, was founded. Their goal was to urge ethnic Chinese in the Indies to support the revolutionary movement in China. In its effort to build Chinese-speaking schools the association argued that the teaching of the English and Chinese languages should be prioritized over Dutch, to provide themselves with the means of taking, in the words of [[Phoa Keng Hek]], "a two or three-day voyage (Java–[[Singapore]]) into a wider world where they can move freely" and overcome restrictions of their activities.{{sfn|Suryadinata|1997|pp=3, 10}} Several years later, the Dutch authorities abandoned its segregation policies, abolished travel permits for the ethnic Chinese, and allowed them to freely move throughout the colony. The 1911 [[Xinhai Revolution]] and the 1912 founding of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] coincided with a growing Chinese–nationalist movement within the Indies.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=5}}

Although there was no recognizable [[Nationalism|nationalist movement]] among the indigenous population until 1908, Dutch authorities feared that nationalist sentiments would spread with the growth of ethnically mixed associations, known as ''[[kongsi]]''. In 1911, some Javanese members of the Kong Sing association in [[Surakarta]] broke away and clashed with the ethnic Chinese. This incident led to the creation of [[Sarekat Islam]], the first organized popular nationalist movement in the Indies. Indigenous groups saw the Chinese nationalist sentiment as haughty, leading to mutual antagonism.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=6}} The anti-Chinese sentiment spread throughout Java in 1918 and led to violent attacks orchestrated by members of Sarekat Islam on the ethnic Chinese in [[1918 Kudus riot|Kudus]].{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=7}} Following this incident, the [[Left-wing nationalism|left-wing]] Chinese nationalist daily [[Sin Po (newspaper)|''Sin Po'']] called on both sides to work together to improve living conditions because it considered most ethnic Chinese, like most of the indigenous population, to be poor.{{sfn|Suryadinata|1997|pp=10–11}}

[[File:IndonesiaRaya-SinPo1928.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A document containing nine lines of musical scales with their accompanying lyrics. The words "Sin Po" and "Indonesia" are at the top of the document.|Early draft of the ''[[Indonesia Raya]]'', later adopted as a national anthem, in a 1928 weekly edition of the ''Sin Po'' newspaper{{sfn|Setiono|2003|pp=449–450}}]]
''Sin Po'' first went into print in 1910 and began gaining momentum as the leading advocate of Chinese political nationalism in 1917. The ethnic Chinese who followed its stream of thought refused any involvement with local institutions and would only participate in politics relating to mainland China.{{sfn|Suryadinata|1997|p=xv}} A second stream was later formed by wealthy ethnic Chinese who received an education at Dutch-run schools. This Dutch-oriented group wished for increased participation in local politics, Dutch education for the ethnic Chinese, and the furthering of ethnic Chinese economic standing within the colonial economy. Championed by the [[Volksraad (Dutch East Indies)|Volksraad]]'s Chinese representatives, such as [[Hok Hoei Kan]], [[Loa Sek Hie]] and [[Phoa Liong Gie]], this movement gained momentum and reached its peak with the Chung Hwa Congress of 1927 and the 1928 formation of the ''[[Chung Hwa Hui]]'' party, which elected Kan as its president. The editor-in-chief of the ''Madjallah Panorama'' news magazine criticized ''Sin Po'' for misguiding the ethnic Chinese by pressuring them into a Chinese-nationalist stance.{{sfn|Suryadinata|1997|p=33}}

[[File:Bevrijding van Bagan Siapi-api (Sumatra). De Chinese Politie Keamanan te Bagan, Bestanddeelnr 15074.jpg|thumb|left|[[Pao An Tui]] or "The Chinese Police" in [[Bagansiapiapi]], which played a major role in maintaining peace and order among Chinese community]]
In 1932, pro-Indonesian counterparts founded the ''{{lang|id|Partai Tionghoa Indonesia}}'' to support absorption of the ethnic Chinese into the Javanese population and support the call for [[Self-determination|self-government]] of Indonesia. Members of this group were primarily {{lang|id|peranakan}}.{{sfn|Suryadinata|1997|p=50}} This division resurfaced at the end of the period of [[Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies|Japanese occupation]] (1942–1945).{{sfn|Suryadinata|1997|p=70}} Under the occupation ethnic Chinese communities were attacked by Japanese forces, in part owing to suspicions that they contained sympathizers of the [[Kuomintang]] as a consequence of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]. When the Dutch returned, following the end of World War II, the chaos caused by advancing forces and retreating revolutionaries also saw radical Muslim groups attack ethnic Chinese communities.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=7}}

As the Dutch implemented a war of attrition and scorch earth, they forced Chinese on Java to flee inland and the Dutch destroyed all important assets including Chinese factories and property. Local Indonesians joined in on the Dutch violence against the Chinese looting Chinese property and trying to attack Chinese. However, when the Japanese troops landed and seized control of Java from the Dutch, to people's surprise, the Japanese forced the native Indonesians to stop looting and attacking Chinese and warned the Indonesians they would not tolerate anti-Chinese violence in Java. The Japanese viewed the Chinese in Java and their economic power specifically as important and vital to Japanese war effort so they did not physically harm the Chinese of Java with no execution or torture of Chinese taking place unlike in other places. There was no violent confrontation between Japanese and Chinese on Java, unlike in [[British Malaya]]. The Japanese also allowed Chinese of Java in the Federation of Overseas-Chinese Associations (''Hua Chiao Tsung Hui'') to form the Keibotai, their own armed Chinese defense corps for protection with Japanese military instructors training them how to shoot and use spears. The Chinese viewed this as important to defending themselves from local Indonesians. The majority of Chinese of Java did not die in the war. It was only after the war ended when Japanese control fell and then the native Indonesians again started attacks against the Chinese of Java when the Japanese were unable to protect them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Touwen-Bouwsma |first=Elly   |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZWqvMBu80kC&pg=PA57 |title=Southeast Asian Minorities in the Wartime Japanese Empire |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136125065 |editor-last=Kratoska |editor-first=Paul H. |pages=57–61 |chapter=Four : Japanese Policy towards the Chinese on Java, 1942-1945: A Preliminary Outline}}</ref>

The Japanese recruited help from local collaborator police of all ethnicities to recruit Javanese girls as [[comfort women]], with one account accusing Chinese recruiters of tricking a Javanese regent into sending good Javanese girls into prostitution for the Japanese in May 1942.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4t95DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA191 |title=The Encyclopedia of Indonesia in the Pacific War: In cooperation with the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation |date=2009 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9004190177 |editor-last=Post |editor-first=Peter   |volume=19 of Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 3 Southeast Asia |page=191 |author-link=}}</ref> In Bali, the Japanese sexually harassed Balinese women when they came and started forcing Balinese women into brothels for prostitution, with Balinese men and Chinese men used as recruiters for the Balinese women. All of the brothels in Bali were staffed by Balinese women.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4t95DwAAQBAJ&dq=chinese+men+and+a+couple+of+balinese+men&pg=PA192 |title=The Encyclopedia of Indonesia in the Pacific War: In cooperation with the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation |date=2009 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9004190177 |editor-last=Post |editor-first=Peter   |volume=19 of Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 3 Southeast Asia |page=193 |author-link=}}</ref> Eurasians, Indians, Chinese, Dutch, Menadonese, Bataks, Bugis, Dayaks, Javanese, Arabs and Malays were arrested and massacred in the [[Pontianak incidents|Mandor affair]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hului |first=Patricia |date=September 18, 2019 |title=The Mandor Affair, the massacres in West Kalimantan during WWII |url=https://kajomag.com/the-mandor-affair-the-massacres-in-west-kalimantan-during-wwii/ |magazine=Kajo Mag |location= }}</ref>

Although revolutionary leaders were sympathetic toward the ethnic Chinese, they were unable to stop the sporadic violence. Those who were affected fled from the rural areas to Dutch-controlled cities, a move many Indonesians saw as proof of pro-Dutch sentiments.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=8}} There was evidence, however, that Chinese Indonesians were represented and participated in independence efforts. Four members of the [[Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence]] (BPUPK) were Chinese: [[Liem Koen Hian]], [[Oey Tiang Tjoei]], [[Oey Tjong Hauw]] and [[Tan Eng Hoa]]. [[Yap Tjwan Bing]] was the sole Chinese member of the [[Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence]] (PPKI).{{sfn|Tan|2008|p=6}} [[Ong Eng Die]] became a government minister in the Indonesian Republic. Other examples include Kwee Thiam Hiong member of {{ill|Jong Sumatranen Bond|id}}, Abubakar Tjan Kok Tjiang and Thung Tjing Ek (Jakub Thung) exploits in [[Kaimana Regency|Kaimana]]<ref name="Meteray 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Meteray |first1=Bernada |date=2022-07-25 |title=Klaim Kerajaan Majapahit dan Penyemaian Nasionalisme Indonesia di Kaimana |url= https://journal.unpar.ac.id/index.php/JurnalIlmiahHubunganInternasiona/article/download/5969/3783|journal=Jurnal Ilmiah Hubungan Internasional (Unpar)|volume= |issue=Edisi Khusus Papua|pages=1–15 |doi=10.26593/jihi.v0i00.5969.1-15 |s2cid=251076287 |access-date=2022-11-17|doi-access=free}}</ref> and [[Yapen Islands Regency|Serui]] respectively,<ref name="Tan 2021">{{cite news | last=Tan | first=Ependi | title=Thung Tjing Ek Pahlawan Keturunan Tionghoa di Papua | work=InHua.Net | date=2021-12-16 | url=https://inhua.net/thung-tjing-ek-pahlawan-keturunan-tionghoa-di-papua/ | access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref> BPRT (''Barisan Pemberontak Rakjat Tionghoa'') which was founded in [[Surakarta]] on 4 January 1946, LTI (''Lasjkar Tionghoa Indonesia'') in [[Pemalang Regency|Pemalang]], and in [[Kudus Regency|Kudus]] Chinese descents became members of Muria Territorial Command called ''Matjan Poetih'' troops, a platoon size force under Mayor Kusmanto.<ref name="Jo 2018">{{cite web | last=Jo | first=Hendi | title=Pemuda Tionghoa Pun Berjuang | website=Historia | date=2018-02-19 | url=https://historia.id/politik/articles/pemuda-tionghoa-pun-berjuang-PyRRr | language=id | access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref><ref name="MURIANEWS 2022">{{cite news | title=Kesurupan Mbah Kamito jadi 'Sirine' Pasukan Macan Putih Muria | work=MURIANEWS | date=2022-08-06 | url=https://www.murianews.com/amp/2022/08/06/307009/kesurupan-mbah-kamito-jadi-sirine-pasukan-macan-putih-muria | access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref>

=== Loyalty in question (1950–1966) ===

[[File:Collectie NMvWereldculturen, TM-60042230, Foto- Winkelen in een Chinese wijk in een stad, Java, 1940-1950.jpg|thumb|right|230px|
Shopping street in the Chinese districts on Java island, circa 1940–1950]]

The Netherlands relinquished its territorial claims in the archipelago (with the exception of [[West Papua (region)|West Papua]]) following the [[Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference|1949 Round Table Conference]]. In the same year that the [[Kuomintang]] retreated to Taiwan, allowing the [[Chinese Communist Party]] to take control of mainland China. Most Chinese Indonesians considered a communist China less attractive than a newly independent Indonesia, but in the archipelago their loyalties were questioned. Ethnic Chinese born in the Dutch East Indies whose parents were [[Domicile (law)|domiciled]] under Dutch administration were regarded as citizens of the new state according to the principle of ''[[jus soli]]'' (lit., right of the soil).{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=8}} However, Chinese law considered a person as a Chinese citizen according to the principle of ''[[jus sanguinis]]'' (lit., right of blood). This meant that all Indonesian citizens of Chinese descent were also claimed as citizens by the People's Republic of China. After several attempts by both governments to resolve this issue, Indonesia and China signed a [[Sino-Indonesian Dual Nationality Treaty|Dual Nationality Treaty]] on the sidelines of the 1955 [[Asian–African Conference]] in [[Bandung]]. One of its provisions permitted Indonesians to renounce Chinese citizenship if they wished to hold Indonesian citizenship only.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=9}}

{{quote box
| quote  = They had thought they were unwanted in Southeast Asia because they were Chinese; then they were rejected in China because they were Indonesian.
| width  = 25%
| align  = left
| source =&nbsp;—[[Charles Coppel]]{{sfn|Coppel|2002|p=337}}
}}

As many as 390,000 ethnic Chinese, two-thirds of those with rightful claims to Indonesian citizenship, renounced their Chinese status when the treaty came into effect in 1962.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=9}} On the other hand, an estimated 60,000 ethnic Chinese students left for the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s.{{sfn|Coppel|2002|p=336}} The first wave of students were almost entirely educated in Chinese-language schools, but were not able to find opportunities for tertiary education in Indonesia. Seeking quality scientific professions, they entered China with high hopes for their future and that of the mainland.{{sfn|Coppel|2002|p=337}} Subsequent migrations occurred in 1960 as part of a repatriation program and in 1965–1966 following a series of [[Indonesian killings of 1965–1966|anti-communist violence]] that also drew anger toward the ethnic Chinese. As many as 80% of the original students who entered the mainland eventually became refugees in Hong Kong.{{sfn|Coppel|2002|p=336}} During China's [[Cultural Revolution]] (1966–1976), [[Red Guards]] questioned the loyalty of the returned overseas Chinese because of their foreign connections.{{sfn|Coppel|2002|p=357}} They were attacked as "imperialists", "capitalists", "spies", "half-breeds", and "foreign devils".{{sfn|Coppel|2002|p=337}}As most had grown up in an urban environment they were sent to the countryside, told to "rebel against their own class background", and eventually lost contact with their families.{{sfn|Coppel|2002|p=350}}

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Glodok wijk te Djakarta TMnr 10014951.jpg|thumb|alt=Crowd at a busy street intersection. There are horse-drawn carriages in the foreground while a three-story building (with the sign "Kam Leng") and a single story building (with the sign "Chunghua Bioscoop") stand in the background on adjacent corners of the intersection.|Busy activity in [[Glodok]] chinatown, [[Jakarta]], 1953. Restrictions on rural non-indigenous retail businesses in 1959 led to rapid urbanization of the ethnic Chinese community.{{sfn|Suryadinata|2008|p=11}}]]

In 1959, following the introduction of soft-[[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] rule through [[Guided Democracy in Indonesia|Guided Democracy]], the Indonesian government and military began placing restrictions on [[Alien (law)|alien]] residence and trade. These regulations culminated in the enactment of [[PP 10/1959|Presidential Regulation 10]] in November 1959, banning retail services by non-indigenous persons in rural areas. Ethnic Chinese, [[Arab Indonesians|Arab]], and Dutch businessmen were specifically targeted during its enforcement to provide a more favorable market for indigenous businesses.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=11}} This move was met with protests from the Chinese government and some circles of Indonesian society. Javanese writer [[Pramoedya Ananta Toer]] later criticized the policies in his 1961 book ''[[Hoakiau di Indonesia]]''. An [[Racial integration|integrationist]] movement, led by the Chinese-Indonesian organisation [[Baperki]] (''{{lang|id|Badan Permusjawaratan Kewarganegaraan Indonesia}}''), began to gather interest in 1963, including that of President [[Sukarno]]. However, a series of attacks on ethnic Chinese communities in [[West Java]] in May proved it to be short-lived, despite the government's condemnation of the violence.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=13}} When Baperki was branded a communist organization in 1965 the ethnic Chinese were implicated by association; this was exacerbated in the public mind by the People's Republic of China's communism. As many as 500,000 people, the majority of them Javanese [[Abangan]] Muslims and Balinese Indonesians but including a minority of several thousand ethnic Chinese, were killed in [[Indonesian killings of 1965–1966|the anti-communist purge]]{{efn|{{harvtxt|Purdey|2006|p=14}} writes that, as ethnic Chinese constituted two percent of Indonesia's population at the time, a similar number of Chinese Indonesians may have been killed in the purges. She qualifies this, however, by noting that most of the killings were in rural areas, while the Chinese were concentrated in the cities.}}  which followed the [[G30S|failed coup d'état]], suspected as being communist-led, on 30 September 1965.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=14}}

Dayaks were tricked by the Indonesian military into attacking Chinese. The land the Chinese fled from was not taken by Dayaks but by Madurese settlers, who were later massacred by the Dayaks.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hului |first=Patricia |date=12 October 2020 |title=Mangkok Merah 1967, the Dayak-Chinese conflict in Kalimantan |url=https://kajomag.com/mangkok-merah-1967-the-dayak-chinese-conflict-in-kalimantan/ |magazine=Kajo Mag |location= }}</ref> Dayaks and Malays killed and raped Madurese throughout 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2001.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hului |first=Patricia |date=19 September 2019 |title=The Dayak-Madurese conflicts in Kalimantan, and what led up to them |url=https://kajomag.com/the-dayak-madurese-conflicts-in-kalimantan-and-what-led-up-to-them/ |magazine=Kajo Mag |location= }}</ref>

=== Managing the "Chinese Problem" (1967–1998) ===
[[File:Old Indonesian Peng family.jpg|thumb|1967 photo of a Chinese-Indonesian family of Hubei ancestry]]
{{see also|Legislation on Chinese Indonesians}}
When the [[New Order (Indonesia)|New Order]] government of General [[Suharto]] came into power in 1966–1967, it introduced a political system based only on the [[Pancasila (politics)|Pancasila]] (five principles) ideology. To prevent the ideological battles that occurred during Sukarno's presidency from resurfacing, Suharto's Pancasila democracy sought a depoliticized system in which discussions of forming a cohesive ethnic Chinese identity were no longer allowed.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=15}} A government committee was formed in 1967 to examine various aspects of the "[[Chinese Problem]]" (''{{lang|id|Masalah Cina}}'') and agreed that forced emigration of whole communities was not a solution: "The challenge was to take advantage of their economic aptitude whilst eliminating their perceived economic dominance."{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=20}} The semi-governmental Institute for the Promotion of National Unity (''{{lang|id|Lembaga Pembina Kesatuan Bangsa}}'', LPKB) was formed to advise the government on facilitating assimilation of Chinese Indonesians. This process was done through highlighting the differences between the ethnic Chinese and the indigenous ''[[Native Indonesians|pribumi]]'', rather than seeking similarities. Expressions of Chinese culture through language, religion, and traditional festivals were banned and the ethnic Chinese were pressured to adopt [[Chinese Indonesian surname|Indonesian-sounding names]].{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=21}}{{sfn|Tan|2008|p=27}}

During the 1970s and 1980s, Suharto and his government brought in Chinese Indonesian businesses to participate in the economic development programs of the New Order while keeping them highly vulnerable to strengthen the central authority and restrict political freedoms. Patron–client relationships, mainly through the exchange of money for security, became an accepted norm among the ethnic Chinese as they maintained a social contract through which they could claim a sense of belonging in the country. A minority of the economic elite of Indonesian society, both those who were and were not ethnic Chinese, secured relationships with Suharto's family members and members of the military for protection, while small business owners relied on local law enforcement officials.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=21}} Stereotypes of the wealthy minority became accepted as generalized facts but failed to acknowledge that said businessmen were few in number compared to the small traders and shop owners. In a 1989 interview conducted by scholar Adam Schwarz for his book ''A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia's Search for Stability'', an interviewee stated that, "to most Indonesians, the word 'Chinese' is synonymous with corruption".{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=22}} The economic role of the ethnic Chinese was contradictory because it did not translate to acceptance of their status in the greater society. They were politically weak and often faced social harassment.{{sfn|Robison|1986|p=271}}

In 1973, native Indonesian anger against Japan was boiling over, over predatory Japanese investment and economic policy that was described as colonialism. Native Indonesians hated Japanese businessmen for discriminating against native Indonesians and treating them badly while the Japanese favored Chinese Indonesian business partners over native Indonesians due to their experience, contacts and skills. The Japanese used Southeast Asians like native Indonesians for cheap labour and natural resources to make money while the natives lived on subsistence.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schanberg   |first=Sydney H. |date=Dec 20, 1973 |title=Japanese Stir Anger in Indonesia |work=The New York Times |location=JAKARTA, Indonesia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/20/archives/japanese-stiranger-in-indonesia-complaints-are-numerous-businessmen.html}}</ref> Indonesians engaged in violent anti-Japanese protests in January 1974 when Japan's Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka came to Jakarta to visit Suharto.<ref>{{cite news |last=Halloran   |first=Richard   |date=Jan 15, 1974 |title=Japanese Premier, Ending Tour, Runs Into Indonesian Protesters |work=The New York Times   |location=JAKARTA, Indonesia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/15/archives/japanese-premier-ending-tour-runs-into-indonesian-protesters-proest.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Halloran |first= Richard |date=Jan 16, 1974 |title=Violent Crowds in Jakarta Protest the Visit by Tanaka |work=The New York Times |location=JAKARTA, Indonesia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/16/archives/violent-crowds-in-jakarta-protest-the-visit-by-tanaka-thousands.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Halloran   |first=Richard |date=Jan 21, 1974 |title=Tanaka's Explosive Trip |work=The New York Times |location=Tokyo |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/21/archives/tanakas-explosive-trip-roots-of-the-antijapanese-outbursts-in.html}}</ref>

[[File:Jakarta riot 14 May 1998.jpg|thumb|left|250px|alt=A man wearing a buttoned shirt, pants, and flip-flops throws an office chair into a burning pile of other chairs in the middle of a city street. Behind him, several dozen people gather in front of a building with broken windows.|Anti-Chinese sentiment reached its peak in May 1998, when [[May 1998 riots of Indonesia|major riots]] swept over Jakarta.<ref name="unofficial estimates"/>]]
Anti-Chinese sentiment gathered intensity through the 1990s. President Suharto gathered the most powerful businessmen—mostly Chinese Indonesians—in a nationally televised 1990 meeting at his private ranch, calling on them to contribute 25% of their shares to [[cooperative]]s. Commentators described the spectacle as "good theatre", as it only served to reinforce resentment and suspicion of the ethnic Chinese among the indigenous population. Major riots broke out in [[Situbondo]] (October 1996), [[Tasikmalaya]] (December 1996), and [[Rengasdengklok]] (January 1997).{{sfn|Purdey|2006|pp=23–24}}

When Suharto entered his seventh term as president, following an uncontested election on 10 March 1998, Indonesian students began a series of major demonstrations in protest of the New Order regime which continued for weeks and culminated in the [[Trisakti shootings|shootings of four students]] by security forces at [[Trisakti University]] in May.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|pp=106–107}} The incident sparked [[May 1998 riots of Indonesia|major violence]] in several cities during 12–15 May. Property and businesses owned by Chinese Indonesians were targeted by mobs, and over 100 women were [[Sexual assault|sexually assaulted]];<ref name="unofficial estimates"/> this aspect of the riots, though generally accepted as true,{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=108}} has been denied by several Indonesian groups.<ref name="hermawanjp"/> In the absence of security forces, large groups of men, women, and children looted and burned the numerous shopping malls in major cities. In Jakarta and [[Surakarta]] over 1,000 people—both Chinese and non-Chinese—died inside shopping malls.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=108}} Tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese fled the country following these events,<ref name="BBC 23 June 1998" /> and bankers estimated that US$20 billion of capital had left the country in 1997–1999 to overseas destinations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States.<ref name="Napier 9 November 1999" />

In the late 1990s and early 2000s during the fall of Suharto there was mass ethnic violence with Catholic [[Dayaks]] and Malays in west Borneo killing the state sponsored [[Madurese people|Madurese]] settlers. The Malays and Madurese were both Muslims but the Malays [[Takfir|declared the Madurese as apostates]] to justify the killings. The local Chinese in western Borneo supported the Dayaks and Malays in their anti-Madurese killings. One Dayak during the riot expressed his hatred of the Madurese while he had a Chinese married to his sister which he liked.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parry |first=Richard Lloyd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dsf6FxxS8dsC&dq=madurese+sister+married+chinese&pg=PT47 |title=In The Time Of Madness |date=2012 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1448130542 |edition=reprint |location= |page= |quote=He liked the Chinese, he told Budi. His sister was married to a Chinese. 'What about Madurese?' I asked. Budi chuckled anxiously as he translated the question, and there was more unconvincing giggling over the reply. |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pjp23eeKs6wC&q=madurese+sister+married+chinese |title=What Young Men Do |date=1998 |publisher=Granta USA |isbn=0140141545 |editor-last=Jack |editor-first=Ian |series=Granta (Viking) |location= |page=122 |quote=He liked the Chinese , he told Budi . His sister was married to a Chinese . ' What about Madurese ? ' I asked . Budi chuckled anxiously as he translated the question , and there was more unconvincing giggling over the reply . |author-link=}}</ref>

=== Social policy reforms (1999–present) ===
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Suharto resigned on 21 May 1998, one week after he returned from a [[Group of 15]] meeting in [[Cairo]], which took place during the riots.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=106}} The reform government formed by his successor [[B. J. Habibie|Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie]] began a campaign to rebuild the confidence of Chinese Indonesians who had fled the country, particularly businessmen. Along with one of his envoys [[James Riady]], son of financial magnate [[Mochtar Riady]], Habibie appealed to Chinese Indonesians seeking refuge throughout East Asia, Australia, and North America to return and promised security from various government ministries as well as other political figures, such as [[Abdurrahman Wahid]] and [[Amien Rais]]. Despite Habibie's efforts he was met with skepticism because of remarks he made, as vice president and as president, which suggested that the message was insincere.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=175}} One special envoy described Chinese Indonesians as the key to restoring badly needed capital and economic activity, prioritizing businessmen as the target of their pleas. Others, including economist [[Kwik Kian Gie]], saw the government's efforts as perpetuating the myth of Chinese economic domination rather than affirming the ethnic Chinese identity.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=176}}

Symbolic reforms to Chinese Indonesian rights under Habibie's administration were made through two presidential instructions. The first abolished the use of the terms ''[[Native Indonesians|pribumi]]'' and non-''pribumi'' in official government documents and business. The second abolished the ban on the study of [[Mandarin Chinese]]{{efn|Suharto's government had banned Mandarin-language schools in July 1966 {{harv|Tan|2008|p=10}}. Mandarin-language press and writings were severely limited that year. {{harv|Setiono|2003|p=1091}} According to {{harvtxt|Tan|2008|p=11}}, many families taught Mandarin to their children in secret.}} and reaffirmed a 1996 instruction that abolished the use of the SBKRI to identify citizens of Chinese descent. Habibie established a task force to investigate the May 1998 violence, although his government later dismissed its findings.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=179}} As an additional legal gesture Indonesia ratified the 1965 [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination]] on 25 May 1999.{{sfn|Purdey|2006|p=180}} In 2000 the newly elected President Wahid abolished the ban on public displays of Chinese culture and allowed Chinese traditions to be practised freely, without the need of a permit. Two years later President [[Megawati Sukarnoputri]] declared that the [[Chinese New Year]] (''{{lang|id|Imlek}}'') would be marked as a [[Public holidays in Indonesia|national holiday]] from 2003.{{sfn|Setiono|2003|p=1099}} Moreover, during President Wahid's presidency, the Indonesian Government initiated the first National Chinese New Year Celebration (''Perayaan Imlek Nasional''). Since then, the National Chinese New Year Celebration has been held annually, attended by the President of Indonesia and related officials. Currently, the [[Supreme Council for the Confucian Religion in Indonesia]] is the organizer of the event.<ref>[https://ditsmp.kemdikbud.go.id/sejarah-perayaan-imlek-yang-kini-menjadi-hari-libur-nasional/ Sejarah Perayaan Imlek yang Kini Menjadi Hari Libur Nasional] {{in lang|id}}</ref>

Furthermore, in addition to President Habibie's directive on the term ''pribumi'', the legislature passed a new citizenship law in 2006 defining the word ''[[wikt:asli#Indonesian|asli]]'' (lit., indigenous) in the [[Constitution of Indonesia|Constitution]] as a natural born person, allowing Chinese Indonesians to be eligible to run for president. The law further stipulates that children of foreigners born in Indonesia are eligible to apply for Indonesian citizenship.{{sfn|Suryadinata|2008|p=12}}

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The post-Suharto era saw the end of discriminatory policy against Chinese Indonesians. Since then, numbers of Chinese Indonesians began to take part in the nation's politics, government and administrative sector. The [[Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono]] presidency (2004–2014) saw the first female Chinese Indonesian minister [[Mari Elka Pangestu]] as Minister of Trade (2004–2011) and Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (2011–2014).<ref>{{cite web | title = Indonesia, US collaborate to develop creative industry | date = 5 May 2014 | work = Antara News | url = http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/93891/indonesia-us-collaborate-to-develop-creative-industry}}</ref> Another notable Chinese Indonesian in Indonesian politics is [[Basuki Tjahaja Purnama]], former [[East Belitung Regency|Regent of East Belitung]] (2005–2006) and first [[governor of Jakarta]] (2014–2017) of Chinese descent.

However, discrimination and prejudice against Chinese Indonesians continues in the 21st century. On 15 March 2016, Indonesian Army General Suryo Prabowo commented that the incumbent governor of Jakarta, [[Basuki Tjahaja Purnama]], should "know his place lest the Indonesian Chinese face the consequences of his action". This controversial comment was considered to hearken back to previous violence against the Indonesian Chinese.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sustaining anti-Chinese sentiment in Jakarta |date=18 March 2016 |url=http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2016/03/18/sustaining-anti-chinese-sentiment-in-jakarta/ |publisher=Australia National University |access-date=17 April 2016}}</ref> On 9 May 2017, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of committing a criminal act of [[blasphemy]], a move that was widely criticized by many as an attack on free speech.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/09/jakarta-governor-ahok-found-guilty-of-blasphemy-jailed-for-two-years|title=Jakarta governor Ahok found guilty of blasphemy, jailed for two years|work=The Guardian|date=9 May 2017}}</ref>