Indonesian Chinese Merchant Associations In Sino-Indonesian Relations

Overseas Chinese has a long history dated back to the "Tang Dynasty" and now-a-day,they have scattered over different parts of the world.Generally,it took roughly two generations for them to settle down in a foreign place and then be integrated with the main-stream society.Carried along with them were the Chinese practices,customs and other cultural things which later formed part of the multi-culture of the foreign community.They themselves also constructed the local ethnic diversity.After years of emigration,Overseas Chinese has spread over in many cities of the world forming the"Worldwide Overseas Chinese Community " and at the same time transforming the Chinese Culture into one of the Universal Cultures.Historical research on Overseas Chinese can be traced back to 100 years ago of the late Qing Dynasty.However,these researches were mostly general studies on Overseas Chinese in one country,or the history of a special field of education,media,economics,religion and association,or thematic projects about business entrepreneur,revolutionist and individual clan culture.There is a great variety of subjects could be written,and hence seldom a piece of work on odd subject of Overseas Chinese merchant associations.The academic study on the Overseas Chinese merchant associations has just been explored in recent years.In 1980's when China was opened up and the market economy once again introduced in China,researches on economic and social functions of Chinese merchants and their associations in late Qing and Republic of China were promoted.It was believed that the studies on merchants and their associations of 20 th Century in China has both academic value in the Modern Chinese History and the practical significance to help China find her way of national economic development.In the 1990s,a team of experts lead by Chancellor Zhang Kaiyuan made a large-scale of research work on the "China Merchant Associations in the 20 th Century",sparking a series of academic discussions by both domestic and foreign scholars on the subject.At the beginning of the 21st century,in response to the rapid globalization,China amended her external economic strategy of "Bringing in,Going out" to a more aggressive one of"Going out,Bringing in".It is forseen in the next decade,the global economic influence of China will further increase greatly.Meanwhile,the Chinese scholars have found out that a network of Overseas Chinese merchant associations has automatically developed throughout the world.Also in the archives of the China merchant associations,they dug out correspondences between the two groups of merchant associations.With the support of the China National Social Science Fund and serval important universities in China,Central China Normal University set up the Special Research Project on "Overseas Chinese Merchant Associations(Southeast Asia)".Southeast Asia has the first and the largest Overseas Chinese community,in which Indonesia is the most prominent one.Her estimated population is more than 10 million and most of the very rich Chinese merchants are among the richest in Indonesia.However,so far there has never been a research done on merchant associations of Indonesian Chinese.Most researches were on Indonesian Chinese education,economics,religion and other social issues.Obviously the significant contribution of the Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia in the Modern Chinese History had been ignored.The methodology employed by this dissertation paper is the "Total Approach" adopted by Central China Normal University.Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia refers to any merchant association set up by Indonesian Chinese in Indonesia,for the Indonesian Chinese,and with the Chinese style and culture.The "Total Approach" includes macro and micro analysis on the objects of study,comprehensive observations on environments of the sub-periods and lastly conclusive comments are made on the key objects and their inter-relations in the overall period based on results of the analysis and observations.In the "Total Approach",theories of other school of study such as Economics,International Relations and others are employed wherever they are appropriate.To be specific,this paper has put the Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia as the main object of study.From the angle of the Merchant Association,analysis is done on each of the inter-relations of the three key history players,namely China Government,Indonesia Government and the Indonesian Chinese in different sub-periods.And from the angle of these key history players,the role and function of the Merchant Association is defined.The Sino-Indonesian Relations of the past 115 years has been chosen as the historical environment,where the players performed.Chapters of the dissertation paper are also divided according to the important milestones in the History of Sino-Indonesian Relations.After five chapters of analysis,it clearly shows Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia has been playing important roles at different times of the History of Sino-Indonesian Relations.These roles,though are not identical,have shown the Merchant Association did have significant influences on the three political sectors,Chinese,Indonesian,Indonesian Chinese and their governments by performing her functions well.In the past 115 years,China and Indonesia were experiencing rapid political changes which brought out the ups and downs of Sino-Indonesian Relations.The Indonesian Chinese has certainly been an important element of the relations between two countries and especially in the years before the 20th century.After the end of the Qing Dynasty,China and Indonesia governments intervened and became the two dominant players of Sino-Indonesian Relations,while the Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia emerged as the representative of the Indonesian Chinese community,cultivating the relations between the three political sectors for the survivals of the Indonesian Chinese and the Merchant Association.This relations structure had almost last for 49 years until the establishment of the New China in 1949.As the New China was re-building her country under the Socialist Ideology,she did not put the Overseas Chinese Merchant Association in her proper position of performance in the Sino-Indonesian Relations.And even worse,in 1965,Indonesian President Suharto executed his policy of anti-Chinese and banned the vast majority of Chinese associations including Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia.From this point of time,the Overseas Chinese Merchant Association had disappeared in Indonesia for about 35 years.The situation changed significantly when Suharto stepped down in 1998 and three years later the Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia was restored.She was super active in the first 15 years of 21st century when Indonesia and China engaged in a friendly relations.The Indonesian Chinese Merchant Association once again played with her expertise in economic function,achieving high scores in promotion of Sino-Indonesian Trade and economic cooperation of the two governments.This economic ahievement helped Indonesia out from national economic crisis in the years of 1998 to 2003.At the same time,China was able to repair her relation with Indonesia by building a strong economic link between the two countries.It was also clear to China that her good relations with Indonesia was utmost important in the newly established Sino-ASEAN Relations.In conclusion,the Indonesian Chinese Merchant Association was able to perform well in different periods of Sino-Indonesian Relations,provided that she was given the proper position.It has also forecasted that under the two newly announced long-term economic strategies by China and Indonesia,the "One Belt,One Road" and "Ocean Power Economy",the contribution of the Indonesian Chinese Merchant Association will be growing fast.Another positive factor is the rise of the World Chinese Entrperneurs Convention since 1991,which links up the Chinese merchants worldwide forming a business relation network.Both China and Indonesia Governments have been greatly involved.The only obstacle in the Sino-Indonesian Relation is the issue of "Loyalty of the Indonesian Chinese" which is super sensitive in both countries.The three key players,China and Indonesia Governments and the powerful Chinese Indonesian Associations must work closely to resolve this issue while they are making economic developments.At the beginning of writing,I did not feel the features and benefits of using the "Total Approach"Research Method.After using it,I realized it was a great way for case study,particularly for the study of Overseas Chinese Merchant Association.In this case study,use of "Total Approach" helps quickly identify the characteristics and historical role of the object of study,understand the complicated inter-relations of the key players in the Sino-Indonesian Relations,and finally able to summarize the critical success factors of the Overseas Chinese Merchant Association of Indonesia in 115 years of the Sino-Indonesian Relations.I trust this paper is not only a good piece of research work of Overseas Chinese Merchant Association,but also a good reference in the study of Sino-Indonesian relations.