Publication Type

Book Chapter

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

10-2013

Abstract

The ethnic Chinese in Indonesia play a very significant role in the nation’s economy. Their dominance in the Indonesian economy is often seen as disproportionate to their numbers, as reflected in the popular assertion that “the Chinese constitute only 3.5 percent of the population but control 70 percent of Indonesia’s economy”. In the New York Times bestseller, World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, Amy Chua (2004) identified Chinese Indonesians as one of the “ market-dominant minorities” in the world. Her book highlights the double bind of free market democracy: it privileges certain ethnic minorities to dominate the market and accumulate wealth on the one hand, and also allows a frustrated indigenous majority to pit against the wealthy ethnic minority on the other. The book, which became phenomenally popular among the Chinese Indonesians in Indonesia, cited the May 1998 anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia as a prime example of its thesis. Although it does not offer any solution to their predicament, to many Chinese Indonesians, the book has provided a logical explanation to the vulnerable position of the Chinese minority in Indonesia.

Keywords

Chinese diaspora, Chinese businessmen, Indonesia

Discipline

Asian Studies | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Catalyst for Change: Chinese Business in Asia

Editor

Thomas Menkhoff, Evers Hans-Dieter, Chay Yue-Wah, and Hoon Chang-Yau

First Page

107

Last Page

127

ISBN

9789814452410

Publisher

World Scientific

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

Additional URL

https://worldcat.org/isbn/9789814452410

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