Indonesia's Ethnic Division

In the western islands of Indonesia, there are diverse ethnic populations that can be grouped into three broad categories which are the inland wet-rice societies, the coastal trading people, and the inland societies of shifting cultivators. Indonesia's eastern islands are a more complex ethnographic and linguistic area since they are populated by a myriad of distinct ethnic groups.

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The Oppression of Ethnic Chinese Indonesians

There is a very small population of former Dutch and Eurasian residents in Indonesia after its colonisation, but the population to focus on is the Chinese. The Chinese account for a small portion of the total population but play a significant role in the country's economy. Many pieces of Indonesia's legislation specifically target the Chinese ethnic minority to regulate various sectors such as religion, economy, education, custom, and culture. As a result, racial violence against Chinese descendants has become a common phenomenon. The May 1998 riots of Indonesia targeted Chinese individuals for assault, rape, looting, and murder. Within this issue, the military has been passively involved since they have failed to provide them with protection. Even after the mentioned blatant examples of racially charged crimes, there has never been serious prosecution or any protection scheme set up for witnesses and victims. But there have been what are known as "show-arrests" which serve as superficial symbolic reconciliation.

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Until the 21st century, the Indonesian population was administratively divided into two groups: the “indigenous” (pribumi) and the “non-indigenous” (non-pribumi) people. This terminology was used especially throughout Suharto's presidency to ethnically mark Chinese Indonesians and ultimately block them from the highest government, military, and academic positions.

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The oppression of Papuans on Java

One of the most rapid uprisings of racism so far is in the easternmost region of Papua, especially by the racist treatment towards Papuan students in Java by security personnel and nationality groups. Unfortunately, the racism that not only students but a number of Papuans have experienced is deeply rooted in its culture and history, either violently or subtly.

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On August 17, 2019, local police arrested 43 Papuan students in Surabaya and East Java for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration. Police operated continuous racist insults, violated students’ dorms and used teargas to force them out. 

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Racist treatments for Papuans have been held for long in Indonesia, but have been kept quiet within unity, harmony and forgiveness. The common perspective of Papuans among the government authorities was that they caused trouble and were all political activists secretly working for separatism (Free Papua Movement) and therefore needed monitoring surveillance, sudden inspections on dorms. Following that, Papuans were contrived to do hard labours for the neighbourhood officials with the need of submission to government authorities. Students were harassed by other students about whether they have worn a penis gourd and were blamed to be primitive by any kind of operation related to nature.