Framing the ‘Others’: the portrayal of Chinese Indonesians in digital media

Abstract

Although Chinese migration to the Indonesian archipelago dates back several centuries, the position of Chinese Indonesians within society has varied across historical periods and regions. At times, they have been portrayed as ‘Others’ and subjected to exclusionary policies and discrimination; in other contexts, they have been accepted as integral members of Indonesian society. Despite this ambivalence, Chinese Indonesians have significantly contributed to the nation’s economic, social and cultural development. While scholarly attention to collaboration between Chinese Indonesians and other ethnic groups in Indonesia is growing, their portrayal as outsiders persists in public domains, including digital newspapers. We undertook a qualitative narrative analysis of news articles from four major online outlets: detik.com, kompas.com, sindo.com and cnbc.com. We found that Chinese Indonesians are typically represented as both insiders and outsiders in varying texts and contexts. While there is a tendency to portray them as outsiders, this characterization does reflect certain realities; nonetheless, we should recognize and value the portrayals that position them as insiders. Notably, some articles portray Chinese Indonesians in ambivalent positions. We discuss the implications of these findings for the study of Chinese Indonesians and cultural hybridity, and we offer recommendations for enhancing representational accuracy in Indonesian digital media.