The New Order regime cannot possibly want the Assimilation Programme that it co-sponsors to attain its declared aims. Achieving these aims must instead be forever deferred. To dissolve Chinese identities in an effective programme of “assimilation” means to give up the division of labour by race, upon which the status quo depends so much.
Heryanto, Ariel (1998) “Ethnic Identities and Erasure; Chinese Indonesians in Public Culture” in Southeast Asian Identities; Culture and the Politics of Representation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, Joel S. Kahn (ed.), Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 95-114.
keywords: Chinese, class, erasure, ethnicity, identity, Indonesian, othering, public culture
Ariel Heryanto 