华裔印尼人的历史长达数个世纪,现今的华裔印尼人的祖先主要在荷兰殖民时期来到印尼群岛。在殖民地初期,印尼华人通常被殖民者置于“中间人”的位置,在包税制度制度下,不少华人大商人谋取了大量财富。19世纪下半叶,荷兰殖民者采取分而治之的种族隔离政策,这种社会被J S Furnivall(英语:J S Furnivall)称为多重社会(英语:Plural Society)[15]。此时,印尼的华人社会也分化为土生华人和新客华人。在20世纪初,印尼华人在民族主义浪潮中出现了亲中、亲荷、亲印尼三大派别,荷兰殖民当局因此采取不同的政策防止反殖民情绪和亲中情绪蔓延,达到巩固殖民统治的目的[16][17][18][19]。持不同政见的印尼华人在印尼的各个时期积极参与政治,成立了不少组织。
It may be stated as a general rule that if a given area of Indonesia was settled by Chinese in appreciable numbers prior to this [20th] century, Chinese society there is in some degree dichotomous today. In one sector of the society, adults as well as children are Indonesia-born, the orientation toward China is attenuated, and the influence of the individual culture is apparent. In the other sector of the society, the population consists of twentieth-century immigrants and their immediate descendants, who are less acculturated and more strongly oriented toward China. The significance and pervasiveness of the social line between the two sectors varies from one part of Indonesia to another.(一般地,如果印尼的某一特定地区在20世纪之前就有相当数量的华人定居,那么今天此地的华人社会在某种程度上是二元的。该社会的某一群体无论是老幼都是印尼本土出生的,其亲中倾向弱,个体的文化也明显本土化。在社会的另一部分,人口由二十世纪的中国移民及其直系后代组成,他们的同化程度较低,亲中倾向更加强烈。这两个群体之间的社会界限的重要性和普遍性因印尼的不同地区而异。)
——G. William Skinner,"The Chinese Minority", Indonesia pp. 103–104
1930年荷属东印度人口普查中的中国人被归类为异域东方人(荷兰语:Vreemde Oosterlingen),这导致了单独的登记[33]。印度尼西亚独立后,通过1946年的一项公民法案授予了公民身份,并在1949年和1958年重申了公民身份。但是,他们经常遇到有关其公民身份合法性的障碍。印尼华人在与政府官员开展业务时,要求出示印尼公民证(英语:Certificate of Citizenship (Indonesia))(印尼语:Surat Bukti Bukti Kewarganegaraan Republik Indonesia, SBKRI)[53]。没有SBKRI,他们将无法制作护照和居民身份证(英语:Indonesian identity card)(印尼语:Kartu Tanda Penduduk,KTP);注册出生,死亡和结婚证书;或注册营业执照[54]。许多选择中国国籍的印尼华侨在1950至1960年代的中华人民共和国撤侨后在中国大陆或香港生活,被认为是归国华侨[55] 。
用于识别社群的其他术语还有土生华人(印尼语:Peranakan)和新客华人(印尼语:Totok)。前者传统上用来描述那些在当地出生的人,源自印尼语单词anak(孩子),因此意味着“土地的孩子”。 后者源自爪哇语,意为新的或纯净的,用于描述外国出生的和新移民[56]。为了确定印尼华人的各个分支,Mely G. Tan(英语:Mely G. Tan)认为必须根据国籍,然后根据他们的文化取向和社会认同[57]。Aimee Dawis指出,自1990年代初以来,基于文化亲和力而不是原籍国的这种定义更有说服力[58]。
社会学家Mely G. Tan(英语:Mely G. Tan)认为,研究华裔移民的学者常将这个群体称为“整体实体”:海外华人[57]。这种处理方法在印尼也长期存在;大多数人称他们为Orang Cina或Orang Tionghoa(两者的意思都是中华人),或Hoakiau(华侨)[d]。他们以前在民族志文献中被描述为“印尼华人”,但现在的术语已经发生变化。旧的表述强调该团体的中国血统,而新的描述则强调印尼融合[59]。Aimee Dawis援引著名廖建裕的话说,这种转变“对于打破他们是一个排外群体的刻板印象来说非常重要”,并且还能在他们中间“促进民族主义意识”[60]。
许多印度尼西亚人,包括华裔印尼人,相信存在一种马来语方言,即“华人马来语” (印尼语:Melayu Tionghoa 或 Melayu Cina)。19 世纪下半叶土生华人文学的发展催生了这种马来语变体,通过从汉语原文翻译或直接用马来语创作的 席拉(武术)故事而流行。学者们认为它不同于爪哇语和马来语的混合口语,华人马来语被认为是“仅由华人使用”[e]。
[E]xcept for a few loan words from Chinese, nothing about 'Chinese Malay' is uniquely Chinese. The language was simply low, bazaar Malay, the common tongue of Java's streets and markets, especially of its cities, spoken by all ethnic groups in the urban and multi-ethnic environment. Because Chinese were a dominant element in the cities and markets, the language was associated with them, but government officials, Eurasians, migrant traders, or people from different language areas, all resorted to this form of Malay to communicate.(除了一些来自汉语的外来词外,“华人马来语”没有什么是华人独有的。语言是低变体,即巴刹马来语,是爪哇街市的通用语言,尤其是城市的通用语言,城市和多民族环境中的所有民族都使用这种语言。 由于华人在城市和市场中占主导地位,语言与他们联系在一起,但政府官员、欧亚裔、移民商人或来自不同语言区的人们都采用这种形式的马来语进行交流。)
——Mary Somers Heidhues,海外华人百科(The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas)[86]
Ellen Rafferty称,在爪哇,土生华人早在1800年以前就开始说巴刹马来语和一些爪哇语,和外地人交流则多用巴刹马来语。土生华人在1800年以来的一些书面沟通也用了一些爪哇语。这种口语的爪哇语被称为ngoko变体。在1800年之后,书面的爪哇语被巴刹马来语所取代。在1945年后,土生华人在家使用一种印尼语化的爪哇语,并在一些本土交流中夹杂一些ngoko爪哇语,在跨地区交流和书面交流使用印尼语[87]。
印尼90%人口为穆斯林,但华人穆斯林只占少数,根据2010年的人口普查显示,3.6%的印度尼西亚华人是穆斯林。[93]印尼中华伊斯兰教联合会(Persatuan Islam Tionghoa Indonesia,PITI)等组织协会于已经在19世纪末期已经存在。印度尼西亚华人穆斯林协会(PITI)在1963年重新成立为一个现代化的组织,但有一段时间的没运作。[95]
印尼孔教总会( Majelis Tinggi Agama Khonghucu Indonesia , MATAKIN)估计95%的孔教信徒是少数印度尼西亚华人,剩下5%孔教信徒为爪哇族。[96]虽然孔教在印尼又重新恢复法定宗教的地位,但印尼许多地方政府拒绝华人将孔教列为宗教信仰,[97]。
华人文化的影响可以在当地的华人马来语文学中看到,其历史可以追溯到19世纪末。关于这一主题最早、最全面的著作之一,苏尔梦(英语:Claudine Salmon)在1981 年出版的《印度尼西亚华人的马来语文学:临时注释书目》(Literature in Malay by the Chinese of Indonesia: A Provisional Annotated Bibliography)列出了 3,000 多部作品。这些文献的样本还出版在六卷本的文集中,题为“Kesastraan Melayu Tionghoa dan Kebangsaan Indonesia”(华裔马来语文学与印度尼西亚民族)[115]。
Suryadinata, Arifin & Ananta (2003,第77页) used the 31 published volumes of data on the 2000 census and reported 1,738,936 ethnic Chinese citizens, but this figure did not include their population in 19 provinces. Space restrictions in the census publication limited the ethnic groups listed for each province to the eight largest. Ananta, Arifin & Bakhtiar (2008,第23页) improved upon this figure by calculating directly from the raw census data.
The latter two terms are derived from the Hokkien Chinese. Sociologist Mely G. Tan argued that these terms "only apply to those who are alien, not of mixed ancestry, and who initially do not plan to stay in Indonesia permanently" (Kahin 1991,第119页). She also noted that the terms Cina (Tjina in older orthography) and Cino (Tjino) carry a derogatory meaning to earlier generations of immigrants, especially those living on the island of Java. Dawis (2009,第75页) noted this connotation appears to have faded in later generations.
Indonesian scholar Dede Oetomo believed "the term 'Chinese Malay' is really a misnomer. There may be a continuity between 'Chinese Malay' and modern Indonesian, especially because the former was also used in the written discourse of members of ethnic groups besides the Chinese in the colonial period and well into the postindependence era" (Kahin 1991,第54页).
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