identity of other Indonesian ethnic groups. In other words, if a Chinese refused to identify himself or herself as Chinese, the person was recorded as a non-Chinese. The authors observed that the long process of acculturation and the change of identity of some ethnic Chinese who have assumed the identity of other ethnic Indonesian groups have contributed to the impossibility in estimating the exact number and percentage of the ethnic Chinese.

3. Suharto stayed in power from 1965 to 1998, when a revolution spurred by the Asian economic crisis and an increase in dissatisfaction in his ruling stripped him of his presidency. The period of Suharto’s rule is called the New Order.

4. Pribumi literally means “sons of the soil” in Bahasa Indonesia. It reflects the Indonesian nationalist spirit that instills pride in the indigenous population of their motherland. For instance, during the struggle for Indonesia’s independence in the 1940s, nationalists called upon their fellow pribumi to fight against the Dutch for their motherland’s freedom. In Suharto’s New Order, several economic policies favoring pribumi capitalists served to buttress the expansion of indigenous industries and corporations. For a more complete discussion on these policies, refer to Indonesia: The Rise of Capital (1988) by Robison.

5. See The New York Times article by Seth Mydans, “Indonesians Report Widespread Rapes of Chinese in Riots” (June 10, 1998).

6. In keeping with the policy of assimilation, these programs were dubbed in English and featured subtitles in Bahasa Indonesia. From 1988 onward, the kung fu serials were shown on Indonesia’s national television, but they were dubbed in Bahasa Indonesia. The only form of media featuring Chinese characters speaking in the Chinese language was Hong Kong films shown in movie theaters located mainly within and around the Chinatown. According to Philip Pus, a director of Cinekom, a company that specializes in importing Chinese-language video compact discs and films into Indonesia, these Chinese films were allowed to be shown in Chinese without dubbing because of an agreement made by theater owners and importers of Chinese films with the LSF (Lembaga