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Indonesia is the country with the second largest Chinese population in the world, after China, with over 10 million Chinese residents.
Historical records show that Chinese people started entering the Indonesian archipelago in the 13th century. The Chinese population gradually increased over the centuries. During the Dutch East Indies colonial period in the 19th to mid-20th century, the Chinese population in Indonesia grew rapidly.
For hundreds of years, conflicts between the Chinese Indonesians and the indigenous population have mainly been economic and resolved within the economic sector without escalating to social and political levels. However, the ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party sowed the roots of recurring anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia over the past half-century.
In the 1950s and 60s, the Chinese Communist Party began exporting “revolution” to Southeast Asian countries, encouraging communist parties in these countries to launch coups. This resulted in a massive anti-communist wave in Indonesia, leading to the killing of 500,000 to 1 million people and the scapegoating of local Chinese Indonesians.
Let’s take a look at this bitter history that affected the Chinese Indonesians.
In 1949, the Dutch withdrew from Indonesia, and the independent Federal Republic of Indonesia was established, with Sukarno becoming the first president.
By then, the Chinese Indonesian population had grown to 20 million, with the majority having migrated from Fujian and Guangdong provinces in China after the late Qing dynasty.
Upon arriving in Indonesia, the Chinese faced extremely harsh living conditions. They initially worked in fishing and later transitioned into commerce, services, manufacturing, finance, and other industries. Through generations of hard work and struggle, the Chinese Indonesians established a significant presence in these industries in Indonesia.
After Indonesia gained independence, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Chinese Communist Party provided substantial economic aid and military equipment to Indonesia while also fostering the Indonesian Communist Party.
Sukarno had close ties with the Chinese Communist Party. He used communist forces to counterbalance religious and military influences to maintain his dictatorship, leading to the swift growth of communist influence in Indonesia.
By the 1960s, the Indonesian Communist Party had become the third largest communist organization in the world, with around 300,000 cadres and over 2 million members among non-communist countries.
Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country. The Indonesian Communist Party sought to promote land reform and reduce Islamic influence in politics, challenging the social status of Muslim clerics. Sukarno also encouraged government employees to adopt his “guided democracy” concept and Marxist theories.
In 1964, during Indonesia’s Independence Day speech, Sukarno declared support for revolutionary groups, regardless of whether they were nationalist, religious, or communist, stating, “I am a friend of the communists because they are the people of revolution.”
In October 1964, Sukarno visited China and met with Premier Zhou Enlai, deciding to purchase weapons from China and establish a militia organization called the Fifth Force, led by himself and composed of Indonesian Communist Party members, supplied and trained by the Chinese Communist Party.
The expansion of communist influence had a profound impact on traditional Indonesian society. Religious organizations and the military were highly discontent, leading to escalating tensions with the Indonesian Communist Party.
As written in “Mao Zedong: Unknown Stories” by Zhang Rong and Qiao Halide, in the 1960s, Mao Zedong urgently aimed to export communist revolution.
In August 1965, Mao Zedong told the Indonesian Communist Party that the time was ripe for a power grab. The Chinese side informed the Indonesian Communist Party leaders that a Chinese doctor treating President Sukarno diagnosed him with severe kidney issues, suggesting that his time was limited, and the opportunity must not be missed.
The Indonesian Communist Party devised a plan to seize power, initiating the arrest and execution of anti-communist military leaders, with Sukarno stepping in to take control, backed by communist members within the military to ensure compliance.
Why did the Chinese Communists help Sukarno take over the military? Because, despite being president, Sukarno did not command the military, and the Indonesian military leadership strongly opposed communism.
On September 30, President Sukarno’s security forces, led by Lieutenant Colonel Untung, arrested and executed the Indonesian Army Chief and five other top commanders, marking the “930 Incident.”
However, what Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party did not anticipate was that one of the conspirators secretly informed General Suharto about the operation.
Suharto was not on the list of those to be executed. Seizing the opportunity, he refrained from informing the Army Chief and other generals about the plan, preparing covertly and taking control of the military immediately after Untung and his associates killed the Army Chief and other commanders.
Suharto, a strong-willed leader, exploited the situation to eliminate nearly all the Indonesian Communist Party leaders, leading to their downfall.
Suharto labeled the killing of the six Army generals as part of a large-scale nationwide conspiracy. Millions associated with the Indonesian Communist Party, even illiterate peasants from remote villages, were portrayed as the perpetrators of the movement.
Numerous key Indonesian Communist Party members were arrested, with some facing execution. The party’s leaders were pursued, arrested, and many of them were executed.
Only one member of the Politburo managed to escape as he was in China at the time and stayed there ever since. He eventually revealed the inside story of the Chinese Communist Party’s instigation of the Indonesian Communist Party’s coup to Zhang Rong and Halide.
Following the failed coup, the Indonesian Communist Party leader Aidit fled but was captured by pro-Suharto forces in November 1965 and executed the next morning.
Aidit had close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and had visited China four times in 1957, 1959, 1961, and 1963.
Upon learning of the events in Indonesia and Aidit’s execution, Mao Zedong expressed sorrow and even composed a poem.
Subsequently, Sukarno was forced to step down, and Suharto established a military dictatorship that persecuted Chinese Indonesians and opposed communism and China, continuing until 1998, lasting 33 years.
It is estimated that during this purge and massacre, 500,000 to 1 million people were killed.
Additionally, an estimated 3 million people died within a year.
Due to the Indonesian authorities avoiding this topic over the years, the specific number of casualties remains unknown.
The close relationship between the Indonesian Communist Party and the Chinese Communist Party resulted in attacks on the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia. Embassy staff were assaulted in some instances.
According to incomplete statistics from the Chinese Communist Party, between 1965 and 1967, the Chinese representation in Indonesia was attacked 43 times, resulting in 68 personnel injured or shot. In late October 1967, China severed diplomatic ties with Indonesia.
Chinese Indonesians also became targets of attacks as they were viewed as sympathizers of the Chinese Communist Party. In some areas, Chinese Indonesians were killed, and their properties were looted and set on fire.
Chinese Indonesian historian Ita Fatia Nadia, a survivor, shared in an article in the 2023 Jakarta Post that her father, a member of the Indonesian Socialist Party, went missing in October 1965 when Indonesian soldiers came to their home for inspection. Witnessing bodies on her way to school, she realized that her missing family members and neighbors were killed. Her mother later advised her not to dwell on the matter.
The exact number of Chinese Indonesians killed during the massacre remains uncertain. Some estimates suggest that 500,000 Chinese were killed, while others mention 300,000.
However, these figures have been challenged in recent years as the killings primarily targeted Indonesian Communists and their supporters, with the Chinese Indonesian members in the Indonesian Communist Party being relatively few.
As documented by John Roosa in “Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto’s Coup in Indonesia,” in 1967, Dayak people expelled the Chinese from inland West Kalimantan province. In this ethnic cleansing of the Chinese, the military used the Dayak people to expel those they perceived to be communist-supporting Chinese. This purge led to the slaughter of around 2,000 to 5,000 Chinese, and even more perished due to harsh conditions in crowded refugee camps, including 1,500 Chinese children aged one to eight who died of starvation in the camps, prompting the permanent retreat of local Chinese to major cities.
Authoritarian regimes in Indonesia, Suharto staunchly opposed communism and implemented an assimilation policy targeting local Chinese, requiring them to prove their Indonesian identity to prevent “racial uniqueness.”
Under these policies, Chinese Indonesians were forbidden from speaking Chinese, establishing Chinese schools, using Chinese names, and entering the government system.
Only after Suharto’s regime fell did the situation for Chinese Indonesians begin to improve.
That concludes today’s program. Thank you for watching, and we will see you next time.
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Program production by “The Century’s Truth” team.