Who
are the Indonesians?
by Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
Since early childhood, Indonesians have been,
and continue to be, taught that their country is a huge
archipelago comprised of thousands of islands and hundreds
of ethnic groups. It is also common knowledge that the Javanese
are the largest ethnic group in the country and, not surprisingly,
that the island of Java is the most populated in the country.
The 2000 Population Census conducted by the
Central Statistics Bureau provided much insight into the
make up of the Indonesian population. The diversity of this
country was confirmed with the finding of about 1,000 ethnic
and sub-ethnic groups in the country. However most are very
small. In fact only 15 of the ethnic groups have a population
of over 1 million.
Omnipresent
There is no surprise that the Javanese continue
to be the predominant ethnic group. Combined with the Sundanese,
these two ethnicities make up over 57 percent of the Indonesian
population.
Even outside of the island of Java, Javanese
make up the largest single ethnic group in the provinces
of Bengkulu, Lampung and East Kalimantan. In many other
provinces they are usually only second or third to the local
indigenous population in terms of size.
The high concentration of Javanese in many
provinces supports the increased diversification of the
Indonesian population. It would be a simplification nowadays
to say that a particular province simply belongs to a certain
ethnic group. The facts simply do not support it.
In only six provinces did the perceived indigenous
population comprise more than three-quarters of the total
provincial population: West Sumatra (Minangkabau); South
Kalimantan (Banjarese); Yogyakarta along with Central and
East Java (Javanese); and Bali (Balinese).
In terms of religion the numbers have generally
remained consistent over the last three decades with the
Muslim population accounting for 87 to 88 percent of the
population followed by Christians with 8.9 percent, Hindus
1.8 percent and Buddhists with just under 1 percent.
Ethnic Chinese
Despite being so prevalent on the economic
stage, the ethnic Chinese constitute a tiny minority of
the population, in fact less than 1 percent. In Indonesia's
Population... by Leo Suryadinata et al, it is suggested
that because the survey was based on self-identification
by the respondents, many second and third generation ethnic
Chinese (peranakan) considered themselves to be part the
local indigenous population.
In the mid-1960s the government launched a
campaign to 'indigenize' the ethnic Chinese by encouraging
-- or forcing -- them to shed their Chinese names and adopt
more locally sounding ones. Under President Soeharto's three-decade
rule, Chinese cultural and ethnic symbols, including their
celebrations, were completely forbidden. It was not until
the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid could this rich cultural
heritage resurface.
Suryadinata in his study nevertheless suggests
that even if the number of ethnic Chinese would only range
between 1.45 to 2.04 percent of the population. Based on
data compiled from the statistics bureau, nearly half of
all ethnic Chinese are concentrated in two provinces: Jakarta
and West Kalimantan.
This statistical information helps show two
things:
First, it confirms the diversity of the nation
and illustrates the intensity of pluralism pervading all
corners of the archipelago.
Second, it also exposes the fallacy of accepted
'prejudices' when talking ethnicities. People, for example,
are wrong when they say that "the Chinese are everywhere"
when in fact the group as a whole comprises no more than
three percent of the population.
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