The Failure of Indonesian Integration in the Reform Era: a Case of Semarang`s Chinese Community

Abstract

This article delves into the failure potentials of Indonesian integration in social and cultural interaction pattern of the Javanese-Chinese in Semarang’s Chinatown in Reform Era. This article is a pilot project to look into social and cultural interaction pattern toward Indonesia’s integration post New Order Era (or Reform era). It was long recorded that the Chinese communities have interacted with the locals for several generations so it has created a pattern of social and cultural mix between the Chinese-descent communities in Semarang with the local Javanese culture. This article uses both data gathered from the field and from library research. It utilizes ethnographic method approach putting the emphasis on diverse actions in their social and cultural interaction pattern. This paper is expected to be used as an example of national integration efforts failed in some of Indonesia's diverse communities and showed the tensions between minority and majority communities or between Islam and not Islam in other areas in Indonesia.