The Chinese of Sukabumi

A Study of Social and Cultural Accommodation

Study of the Chinese minority in Indonesia has formed a considerable part in the work of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project since its establishment in 1954. The results of the valuable research undertaken by Donald E. Willmott in this field have already seen publication. Miss Giok-Lan Tan’s study of the Chinese of Sukabumi (centering on the Peranakan section of the community) represents a significant addition to the published material on this subject and an important contribution to the continuing work of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project.

This study of the Chinese community in West Java complements that of Dr. Willmott on the Chinese of Semarang, Central Java, published three years ago, and the forthcoming M.I.T. sponsored study by Edward J. Ryan of the Modjokerto Chinese of East Java. Having this amount of published material available, we can begin to comprehend the range of variation, and the same time the underlying unity, of the Peranakan culture in Java. With the publication during the next few years of professor G. William Skinner’s research (sponsored by the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project in 1956–1958), the picture will undoubtedly become even fuller and clearer.

Miss Tan, a Peranakan who lived briefly in Sukabumi during the Second World War, undertook this study in 1956–1957 while a student at the Sinological Institute of the University of Indonesia in Jakarta. Her research war carried out under the direction of Professor Skinner, who was then in Indonesia. After completing her research in Indonesia, and following completion of her study at the Sinological Institute, Miss Tan came to Cornell University to do graduate work in anthropology. She was awarded her M.A. degree in 1961.

Following her return to Indonesia, Miss Tan has undertaken further field research among the Chinese. She has designed and directed a project which studied a number of desa in the Tangerang area (West Java) with special emphasis on the social interaction between Peranakan and indigenous farmers. Currently Miss Tan is an instructor in sociology at the Catholic University in Jakarta, and beginning in May 1963 was appointed research assistant in the National Economic and Social Research Institute of the Council for Sciences of Indonesia.

George McT. Kahin, Foreword.