Thread by @bobyandika

In this Election, the Unholy 3Cs (Communist, Chinese, Christian) were used against Jokowi by his opposition as a smear campaign tactic. It's still very evident in the recent protests where members of Brimob were accused of being 'imported'. Let's understand why.

A THREAD

First, on the Communist part.

Back in 1960s, PKI was gaining large popularity. Soekarno had leftist leanings and kept PKI in his inner circle. The potentiality of Indonesia being under a communist rule was unsettling for the US, and so they decided to do something about it.

The US Gov needed someone who can sympathize with their hatred on Communism and have them overthrow Soekarno. That person was Soeharto.
He orchestrated an inside job-- torturing and killing major military leaders, pretending to be targeted himself but somehow surviving.

He pinned the blame on PKI wanting to do a coup (which doesn't make sense given they're in power with Soekarno). The rest was history-- the entire country turned against any form of Communism and created a long-lasting association that Communism = atheistic sadistic killers.

Second, on the Chinese part.

During Dutch occupation, they created a semi-apartheid system where you are classified by race: White being highest, Orientals (East Asians) being second, Other Foreigners being third, and the native indigenous Indonesians (pribumi) the lowest.

There is much resentment from 'pribumi' Indonesians: those of Chinese-descent were favored more and gained privileges from the Dutch. Additionally, during 1965 Communist purge, people hunted for PKI members & sympathizers. One of their ways was to racially profile individuals.

They made the association that Chinese-descent/looking = supporting Communism (cos China is the largest Communist state). People who are of Chinese-descent are always questioned on their loyalty to the Indonesian motherland, because of their racial/cultural ties to China.

This was why Imlek (Lunar New Year) was banned during Soeharto's era. And those with Chinese sounding names had to 'Indonesianize' their names so that they "blend in". For instance, if your last name is Tan, it's made to Tanuwidjaja. Or Wong, turned into Wongsodirdjo.

During the 1998 crisis, many Chinese-Indonesians were targets of attacks and robberies. This was due to a rumor that spread like wildfire, claiming that Chinese-Indonesian merchants were stockpiling 'sembako' so prices go up due to scarcity and they can get more profit.

This also made the stereotype of 'Cina pelit' or 'Cina perhitungan' even worse. It's confirming the bias that those of Chinese-descent will put their personal interests above the collective good (which is a very Indonesian culture). That is why they are never to be trusted.

Third, on the Christian part.

When Dutch and Portugal came to colonize Indonesia, they proselytized 'pribumis' into Christians/Catholics cos of their 3G motto (Gold, Gospel, Glory). Islam had already came into Indonesia but through a peaceful method of trade with Arab merchants.

Christianity/Catholicism is always seen as the religion of the invaders, with malicious intent of converting everyone. This remains true to this day-- many Muslims reject the building of churches within their neighborhood because of this centuries-long paranoia and resentment.

This is why whenever a Christian holiday is coming up, heated debates about whether Muslims are allowed to greet them always happen. Or when issues of Israel-Palestine comes up, it's so divisive. You really don't see the level of animosity generated to other minority religion.

Conclusion? A lot of the hatred that is going around are based on ancient stigmas which the Indonesian Gov has never fully addressed, in the education system nor in the policy sector. I sincerely hope this new administration will finally tackle it head-on. One can only hope.

People have been asking me about the sources to my claims. I commend them, cos people definitely shouldn't be accepting information blindly-- especially in this era of fake news and conspiracy theories. Apologies for my oversight on this. Sharing the sources in the next tweets!

One last note: this thread was created after my reading of multiple articles and literature, cos it's my job as a parliamentary debate coach to know as much general knowledge before teaching my students. This thread is in no way an academic thesis, so don't treat it as such!

A. Role of US in the 1965 Communist Purge

(1) theatlantic.com/international/…

(2) indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/theres-now-cle…

B. Anti-Chinese sentiments throughout Indonesian history

(1) eurekastreet.com.au/article/explai…

(2) washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pac…

(3) scmp.com/week-asia/poli…

(4) insideindonesia.org/never-indonesi…

C. Stigma against Christianity/Catholicism in Indonesia

(1) susanne-schroeter.de/files/christia…

(2) internationalreportingproject.org/stories/view/p…

(3) academia.edu/4890274/Law_an…

Happy reading folks! I find these sources very enlightening, I hope you find them the same too. :)