A lot of Indonesian students in Singapore are Chinese descent. Before they came to Singapore, most of them expected an English speaking environment, which is true in academic world. But outside it, other languages are widespread, especially Mandarin Chinese. Many of Chinese Indonesian do not expect such a counter when some of the canteen aunties cannot speak English and only speak Chinese to them. Their Malaysian or Singaporean friends also mostly speaking Chinese among themselves. Chinese Indonesian feels alienated, although they are also considered as Chinese.
I remembered there was Malaysian girl asked me whether I could speak Chinese. I answered I only speak some basics, then she asked me whether my parents can speak Chinese, I said “yes, they can”. She asked me back, “Why don’t they teach you?”. That question made me think to myself. My father speaks Chinese not so fluent, at least not as fluent as my mother. And also my parent’s working environment is not in Chinese, not even Indonesian, but in Javanese. In fact, many of my Chinese friends in primary and secondary school, if not most of them, even their parents are not able to speak or only know a little Chinese.
One easy answer to Chinese Malaysian or Singaporean or Chinese mainlander is by stating that speaking Chinese is prohibited in Indonesia. But I encountered one China guy asked me if he comes to Indonesia, is it against law if he speaks in Chinese? Maybe he thought if someone speaks Chinese, there would be a fine or maybe even imprisonment. That question shocked me. In fact in the past, Chinese language was banned in formal situation. There was no radio, TV, or newspaper in Chinese language. Actually there was no law that if somebody speaks in Chinese then he/she will be jailed. It was just a kind of suggestion. Some officers/local people dislike it or make them difficult getting licenses or such if someone is caught up speaking Chinese. But it is not for the foreign tourist, just for local Chinese Indonesian.
Although having various nationality, Chinese overseas still consider themselves as Chinese. Do they have the same culture? Actually no! They have been living long enough in different countries to develop different custom and habit. In fact there are stereotypes about Singaporean, Malaysian, or Chinese Mainlander. There was one of my non-Chinese friend who told me that he surprised that many Chinese Indonesians dislike Mainland Chinese. He thought Mainland Chinese is ‘purer’ or ‘more genuine’, so Chinese Indonesian should accept them well or a kind of adore them. But the culture differences between them are big enough, make it wouldn’t happen. Another fact is that most of Chinese Indonesian or Chinese South-East Asian are from Southern provinces, mostly from 2 provinces: Guangdong and Fujian. Whereas most of Chinese mainlander are from other China provinces.
As far as I know, Chinese schools in South-East Asia are only available in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam; only in countries where Chinese population have quite a big percentage, 75 % in Singapore and about 50% in Penang, the rest of Malaysia and Brunei is lower than that. In the rest of South-East Asian countries, Chinese is just a small minority and government tends to assimilate Chinese people to local population through for example, changing Chinese name to local name, a practice that also happens in Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar; closing Chinese speaking school; banning Chinese newspaper, etc. With the resurgence of China economy recently, some Chinese schools re-established in the past decade. Malaysia government doesn’t encourage assimilation like in Indonesia, that’s why Chinese Malaysians still retain their Chinese name.
Another reason Chinese Indonesian cannot speak Mandarin is because many of them have been living in Indonesia for generations or centuries, make them lose Chinese speaking ability. It’s called peranakan/baba in Indonesia/Malaysia/Singapore. Many Chinese overseas who live in Thailand, Australia, USA for generations (not recent/second generation immigrants) also cannot speak Chinese. Because Chinese is minority in that area, many of them don’t have much chance to speak Chinese in daily life. That case also happens in Indonesia. Chinese have arrived in Indonesia since 1000 years ago. In the past, in area where many Chinese are no longer speak Chinese, the recent immigrants from China tend to assimilate and intermarry with them, therefore their children cannot speak Chinese.
Until 1966, there were Chinese language schools in Indonesia. After its closure, there was no more Chinese school or Chinese newspaper until around year 2000. Many people become less accustomed to Chinese language because of that. But some people who previously studied in Dutch/Indonesian school had been less accustomed to Chinese language long before 1966. And also even if their family still maintain their ancestor’s language, the language would not be Mandarin, but Cantonese, Teochiu, Hakka, Hokkian, etc. Mandarin school was just started in early 20th century. In fact in China itself, Mandarin Chinese (bai hua) started to appear in books and official documents after May forth movement in 1919. National language was established from Beijing dialect pronunciation, and the grammar is based on mostly northern Mandarin Chinese.
There are still some Chinese Indonesian who are educated in Chinese language who still preserve Chinese language, but they are minority. In some parts of Indonesia, such as North and East Sumatra, as well as West Kalimantan, most of the Chinese over there are able to speak Chinese ‘dialect’ such as Hokkian, Teochiu, or Hakka. For the rest part of Indonesia, most of young generations unable to converse in Chinese. Although I know there are some families in Java/Sulawesi/East Kalimantan who still maintain speaking Chinese within their family. Based on 2010 census, 24.07% of Chinese Indonesian speak Chinese at home. It’s not a high percentage. source
In foreign country, Chinese Indonesian tends to form their own community and usually does not mingle with other Chinese from different nationality. Even from their name, people can tell whether they are from Indonesia, except for some of them whose names are undistinguishable to other Chinese or Western name. Some of the names can be easily identified as Indonesian Chinese name.
People tend to be classified into the certain race in Singapore. It does not happen in Indonesia. Or if it happens, it’s not stated clearly. Singapore application form is frequently ask about race, name in Chinese character, and even dialect. I’m sure it make some Chinese Indonesians think about themselves, “Why I don’t know anything about this?”, “Am I really Chinese?”. If they stated that they are ‘Indonesian’ race, it would be frowned by other people, since they have a Chinese-looking face.
Here some other writings about Indonesian Chinese:
this
this
and this