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Endnotes
1. In 1965 Suharto came into power following the failed attempted coup by the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI), or The Indonesian Communist Party. Following the coup, Suharto led a campaign against all traces of Communism, which Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, allegedly supported. Since Chinese Indonesians were suspected of maintaining close ties to Communist China, Suharto implemented an assimilationist policy that resulted in an erosion of Chinese language and culture. However, this policy may also be seen as a positive effort on the part of the government to emphasize ethnic and religious harmony and diminish prejudice against the Chinese population. For a more comprehensive discussion on the 1965 coup, see Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia (1966) by Kahin and Indonesian Chinese in Crisis (1983) by Coppel.
2. Up to this day, it is difficult to determine how many Chinese reside in Indonesia. In 1961 G. W. Skinner estimated the number of Chinese in Indonesia by assuming those having Chinese surnames to be of Chinese origin. There were 2.3 to 2.6 million people who met this standard. In Indonesia’s Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape, Leo Suryadinata, Evi Nurvidya Arifin, and Aris Ananta noted that the definition of ethnic Chinese is problematic. Before the name-changing regulation, those who had Chinese surnames, regardless of their culture, could be considered Chinese. After the name-changing regulation, it was no longer possible to identify the ethnic Chinese by their surnames. During the first census that included ethnic background in 2000, which is also the last census conducted in Indonesia, self-identification was used by all ethnic groups in Indonesia. According to this census, there were 2.92 million Chinese in Indonesia, where 1.06 million were born after 1966 (those aged 0 to 34). However, Suryadinata, Arifin, and Ananta cautioned that the numbers may not be accurate because some Chinese might not have identified themselves as “ethnic Chinese” anymore, as they had assumed the