This work is to present a documented study of Indonesian Chinese in the twentieth century and beyond. The term “Indonesian Chinese” as used here refers to “ethnic Chinese” in Indonesia who have or had Chinese surnames, regardless of their citizenship. Many Indonesian citizens of Chinese descent have adopted Indonesian-sounding names since 1966 — in a few cases, the adoption of such names occurred even earlier than that date — and they prefer not to be identified as “Chinese”, but for academic purposes, they are still included in this study.

It should also be noted that some Indonesian-born Chinese who migrated elsewhere in their early age and became well-known only in their newly adopted land (for instance, Wang Gungwu and Choo Hoey) will be excluded from this book, but those who migrated after they had made significant contributions in Indonesia will be included in the category of Indonesian Chinese (for instance, Thung Tjeng Hiang and Yap Tjwan Bing).

In fact, the Chinese in Indonesia, numbering about 4 million, are a heterogeneous and complex community. Culturally, they can be divided into Indonesian-speaking peranakan and Chinese-speaking totok, but the Chinese- speaking group has rapidly declined during the Soeharto New Order period (1966–98); legally they can be classified as Indonesian citizens and aliens, cutting across the abovementioned cultural divisions; politically, they are split into pro-Jakarta, pro-Beijing, pro-Taipei groups, and others who are not sure of their orientation. The majority, however, remain politically passive. Economically, the Chinese are heavily engaged in, but not confined to, trading activities. As the present study shows, they are found in a wide range of professions.

The division between the peranakan and the totok has become less useful with the passage of time as most totok children by the third generation have become peranakan in the sense that they have lost their command of the Chinese language. This is especially true with the Chinese who were born or who grew up after Chinese schools in Indonesia were closed in 1966. However, for the older generation, some of the second generation, and some who have been educated in Chinese-speaking countries/areas, Chinese or Chinese dialect is still used at home as their medium of communication. In such cases, they can still be classified as totok in the cultural sense.