Cultural Pride in the Era of Pluralism: A Closer Look to Chinese Indonesians’ Ethnic Identity under the Reign of Jokowi

Over the past two decades, Chinese Indonesians have entered a democratic upsurge, where the discriminatory regulations implemented during Suharto’s New Order with its forced assimilation policy had been revoked and Chinese Indonesians have gained accesses to Chinese culture and language. Since previous studies on Chinese Indonesians’ identity in post-Suharto authoritarian rule have concentrated on qualitative research, in which the construction of identity was complicated and the remaining negative stereotyping against Chinese Indonesians still occurred, this study used a quantitative approach, assessing a number of determinants that were supposed to affect the ethnic identity and self-esteem of third and fourth generations of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. This research utilized Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) that was applied using maximum likelihood method. Based on the result of examination, Chinese Media and cultural practice appear to be the most significant variables influencing cultural long-distance nationalism. In addition, ethnic pride, ethnic performance, and self-esteem were most significantly affected by cultural long-distance nationalism, compared to another variable; self-identification. In short, Chinese Indonesians today have a strong sense of belonging to Chinese identity, regardless of the sociocultural context and political situation which to some extent influence their identity formation.