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Contact Name
Regina Veronica Edijono
Contact Email
wacana@ui.ac.id
Phone
+6221 7863528
Journal Mail Official
wacana@ui.ac.id
Editorial Address
Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia Gd 2 , Lt 2 , Depok 16424, Indonesia
Location
Kota depok,
Jawa barat
INDONESIA
Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia
Published by Universitas Indonesia
ISSN : 14112272     EISSN : 24076899     DOI : https://doi.org/10.17510/wacana
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia. It invites original articles on various issues within humanities, which include but are not limited to philosophy, literature, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, history, cultural studies, philology, arts, library and information science focusing on Indonesian studies and research. Wacana seeks to publish a balanced mix of high-quality theoretical or empirical research articles, case studies, review papers, comparative studies, exploratory papers, and book reviews. All accepted manuscripts will be published both online and in printed forms. The journal publishes two thematic issues per year, in April and October. The first thematic issue consists of two numbers.
Articles 647 Documents
Chinese correspondence in Dutch East Indies (1865-1949) Siem, Tjong Han
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 2
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Abstract

This article is an attempt to describe some aspects of the social history of the Chinese minority in the Dutch East Indies using items of postal history as a guide. It is a very personal view, seen through the eyes of a philatelist. Using a postal history collection, aspects of political history can be illustrated and/or documented. This article is certainly not to be read as a solid, documented scientific exercise. It should be read in the spirit of educational entertainment.
Culture, power and identity; The case of Ang Hien Hoo, Malang Budianta, Melani
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 2
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This paper discusses the intricate relations between culture and identity in a web of larger power structures of politics and the market by looking at the ways in which the Indonesian Chinese attach themselves to a local performing arts tradition. The paper focuses on the history of the wayang orang amateur club called Ang Hien Hoo in Malang, East Java, which emerged from a Chinese diaspora burial association, to attract national limelight in the 1950s and 1960s. In this paper, I see this amateur club as a site, not only for cultural assimilation, but also as a meeting space for the diverse migrant Chinese population residing at a host country. The space is used to negotiate their position as citizens responsible to promote and to become patrons of local traditional performing arts. The paper examines how this amateur club was swept by the Cold War politics and national political turmoil of 1965, and how it fought to survive under the pressures of the global capitalist era. What emerges from the findings is the contradictory fact that the identification of the Chinese with the Javanese traditional performing arts is affirmed precisely as it is marked by Chineseness. Thus, despite the cultural blending, the Chinese Indonesian's patronage of local traditional art continuously reproduces the double bind of making home in the culture not seen as their own.
Chinese "taukeh", labourer, and state control; Case study of "panglong" in eastern region of Sumatra (1890-1930) Erman, Erwiza
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 2
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Recently the flow of labour from China to Indonesia has fuelled many discussions but is not a new phenomenon. It can be traced back to the eighteenth century and continued until the twentieth century. In colonial Indonesia, the Chinese labour force was recruited to work in the economic sectors of mining, plantations, fisheries and forestry. Unfortunately, previous studies about Chinese society in Indonesia more focused on economic and political elites rather than the social history of the Chinese contract coolies. This article attempts to look at the labour history of the Chinese coolie in the forest exploitation companies, known as panglong. By focusing on the ways in which they were treated in the recruitment process and workplace, this article shows that changes for the better did take place in the appalling working conditions of the labourers. Until the second decade of the twentieth century, recruitment, food, and health care were rife with manipulations, exacerbated by arduous working conditions and insecurity in the workplace, abuse of power by mandors and forms of non-economic coercion like the use of opium. All these factors were meant to ensure that the Chinese contract labourers could not break loose from their indentures, a modern form of slavery. Hampered by budgetary restrictions, lack of personnel, and marine transport facilities, the state colonial officials were hamstrung. But in the second decade of twentieth century, when the abysmal working conditions of the Chinese coolies were debated on a higher level by politicians and bureauracts state control was tightened. More effectual control by the state had a positive effect on improving of the working and living conditions.
An early story of Kho Ping Hoo Watson, C.W.
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 2
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Kho Ping Hoo (1926-1994) is the most well-known of all Indonesian writers of popular silat stories, largely set in China, which describe the adventures and romances of legendary heroes famed for their skill in martial arts. It is less well-known that he began his career writing critical stories about socio-economic conditions in the late 50s and early 60s. This paper discusses one of these stories. It places the story in the context of political developments of the time, in particular as they affected the Chinese Indonesian community. The paper argues that this story and one or two others like it come at the end of a tradition of Sino-Indonesian literature which had flourished from the end of the nineteenth century until the mid-1950s. After 1960, Chinese-Indonesian writers cease writing realist fiction of any kind and write either silat stories or romantic stories set in middle class urban environments.
Pecinan as an inspiration; The contribution of Chinese Indonesian architecture to an urban environment Tjiook, Wiwi
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 2
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Since the abrogation of Presidential Instruction Number 14/1967 which banned Chinese customs celebrations and religion in public, there has been a revival in Chinese festivals, language, art, media, culture and not in the least in the field of architecture and urban planning. With increasing interest in heritage and the support of the Indonesian government for heritage cities programmes, several promising initiatives involving Chinese architecture have been launched in cities both large and small. A brief glance of the history of Chinese Indonesian architecture is given, as well as some recent initiatives in selected cities plus a discussion of the importance of public space in accommodating Chinese festivals. Study of old maps and photographs prompts reflections on the characteristics and development of Pecinan during the colonial era and of their later history. The analysis in this article and examples of recent developments in the cities discussed can be used as an inspiration in the revitalization of Pecinan, thereby contributing in an attractive and livable urban environment.
Confucius Institute at Universitas Al Azhar, Jakarta; The unseen power of China Lan, Thung Ju
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 1
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China's soft power is a difficult concept to measure if the Confucius Institute is the only source relied on. Joseph Nye's concept of soft power puts a strong emphasis on "the power of attraction" as a tool to persuade or "to shape the preferences of others" in the worlds of business and politics. To understand how this soft power - or the Confucius Institute - works, we have to determine the "observable" power of the "intangible" attraction embedded in it. This observable but intangible attraction is assumed to be "embedded"in the language and culture offered by the Institute, namely so-called "shared values". However, without having attended its classes, it is difficult to see which values are being shared with the local students. Despite this handicap, it is very apparent that the image of China itself has acted as an attraction. An attraction to China was visible already, even before the Confucius Institute was established. For Indonesians, China is a big country which has exerted its power there for a long time through its diaspora and/or exports. Therefore, the Confucius Institute is just one of the many forms of Chinese-ness within their purview. Certainly, the Confucius Institute might have assisted in adjusting negative impressions and expelling some of the reservations the Indonesians have about China. Nevertheless, its influence extends to only a limited number of people who are closely engaged with the Institute.
Chinese Indonesians after May 1998 How they fit in the big picture Anggraeni, Dewi
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 1
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For Chinese Indonesians, May 1998 is a significant historical marker, twelfth and thirteenth being two concentrated days of riots and atrocities in Jakarta, followed by more, albeit on smaller scales, in Solo, Surabaya, and a number of other cities. Destruction of properties belonging to them, and rapes of their women, occurred. Then Indonesia witnessed the end of Suharto's rule when the president resigned on 21 May 1998. A gradual political turn-around followed; Chinese Indonesians found room to move. The subsequent governments revoked restrictive regulations put in place by the New Order government, and lifted the suppression on cultural expression by Chinese Indonesians. The situation has progressed in conjunction with China's rise in global economic dominance. Does China's increasing international profile and rising global economic dominance help Chinese Indonesians? This article seeks to find some answer to the question as it looks at the development in the big picture; how and to what extent the social perceptions of Chinese Indonesians have evolved among the mainstream population; how they perceive themselves and believe how others perceive them; and how these may influence their lives as Indonesian citizens.
Book review; Islamic Populism in Indonesia and the Middle East. Watson, C.W.
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 1
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Book review; Petualangan Unjung dan Mbui Kuvong; Sastra lisan dan kamus Punan Tuvu' dari Kalimantan. Sellato, Bernard
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 1
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The house of Kwee Sik Poo; An Indonesian-Chinese merchant from Pasuruan Sien, Kwee Hong
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia Vol. 18, No. 1
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The Kwee family is an old Indonesian-Chinese family from Pasuruan, in East Java, and one of a few merchant families of either Chinese or Arab ethnic origin which led successful lives in this small town in the nineteenth century. From their Chinese ancestral village, Liu Chuan in Fujian province, China, a Kwee ancestor travelled to Southeast Asia and settled in Pasuruan, probably in the eighteen century. As with many families who held important positions in the ethnic Chinese community, it also owned large homes, mostly in a mixed architectural style, called "eclecticism" and later in what was known as "the Indies-empire style". The early family history is still clouded in mystery, as not much concrete information has survived. Its descendants worked hard and prospered and dealt among economic undertakings such as sugar production, opium sales, buying and selling of property and land as well as running pawnshops.