Ambon, Batak, Dayak, Madura, Manado, Sunda…?

Who or what are they?

                     Komodo Reef-scape (Photo: Indonesian Consulate General)

My dear friends,

Many of my close American, Chinese, Dutch and other friends told me when they read my blog title “Daud the Indonesian Californian” they wonder about the names “Daud” and “Indonesian.” If somebody tells them “I am a Californian” they immediately know, I am somebody from California. But “Daud?” They guess: this should be a person’s name. And that's correct. 

How about "Indonesian?" Who is Indonesia? What is Indonesia? Where is Indonesia? 

And then it’s my turn to wonder that there are still people who come with those questions.

What if I add some other names like: Ambon, Batak, Dayak, Madura, Manado, Sunda. How about Bali, Java, Papua?

Yes! That’s Indonesia! 

Those are all names of Indonesian ethnics out of the more than 300 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups in Indonesia. They are considered as the native Indonesian ethnics, each with their own language and dialect.

Not only Indonesia's people are diverse, but also the land and regions. Following is a short video showing the diversity of Indonesia's land and seascape that I put together with photos courtesy of the Indonesian Consulate General in San Francisco.

Another video of other regions in Indonesia:

My dear friends,

Aside of the native Indonesian ethnics, there are also Indonesians immigrants. And I am one of them.

I am Chinese, belonging to the foreign ethnic groups whose forefathers emigrated to Indonesia and became Indonesians. Other foreign identified groups in Indonesia are Arabs, Asian Indian, and smaller groups of Japanese, Koreans and Philippines.

My name is Hanafi Daud. This is the name that I choose when the late Indonesian president Suharto encouraged Indonesian-Chinese to change their names to Indonesian names.

Hanafi (left) & Suharto     
                             

Indonesian-Chinese? Normally or usually and anywhere else, people who emigrated to another country will be called by their country of origin first, followed by their new country’s name such as African-American, Chinese-American, Indian-American, and so on.

So why Indonesian-Chinese? For a fully satisfied answer we need to go back into the social-political panorama of Indonesia during Suharto’s time. We don’t have to do that. Enough if we just look for a simple explanation: It is in line with the name change policy; to emphasize that you are Indonesian, coming from China.

I and my wife, Bertha Wulandari, now live in California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our photo below in our traditional Indonesian batik dress was taken when we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in 2009.

My dear friends,

Now that I live here, should I call myself Chinese-Indonesian-American? This will distinguish me, a Chinese from Indonesia, from Chinese immigrant, the Chinese-Americans.

Something interesting happened in history; let's call it a “two-steps immigration.” A few generations ago, Chinese emigrated from China to Indonesia. After World War II some of their descendants started migrating again from Indonesia to other countries, to continue their study at foreign universities or for other reasons. 

Around the middle of last century, in the years of 1950-1960, there was a big exodus of Chinese Indonesians. First choice was moving to Netherland. People felt comfortable to move to Netherland because they were most familiar with the culture and the Dutch language of the ex colonialist of Indonesia. Second choice seemed to be Australia-New Zealand, closest neighbors of Indonesia, then some other European countries like Germany or England, and later choices were Canada and USA.

As far as I know, what I call the two-steps immigration happened only to one other nation: the Asian Indians, who started emigrating from India to Fiji and New Zealand, and their descendants later moved to USA.

My dear friends, 

Am I Indonesian-American or Chinese-Indonesian-American? It doesn’t matter for me. Indonesian-American is OK, but for those who want more specific, I am Chinese-Indonesian-American. But for sure I am not just Chinese-American.

My blog “Daud the Indonesian Californian” is my auto-assignment to tell you, fellow Americans and the world, of my wonderful experience living in Indonesia and also to write about other happenings related with Indonesia, America, California. 

I am just one of the 237,556,363,260 Indonesians (2010 census) who happen to live here in California, USA. Three great countries influence my life today: Indonesia, United States of America and Netherland.

 

 

How about this: Chinese blood, born and raised in a mixed society in Indonesia, Dutch educated, coated American. Anyhow and whatever, like I said in my Komodo post two weeks ago, I am Son of Planet Earth, or similar as what my friend Lian said in her comment: I am Daughter of the World.

My dear friends,

This is my 17^th article, telling  a little bit of me and Bertha. And I like to hear from you. Please use the comment box below if you want to say anything about “two steps immigration,” “Indonesian-American” or “Chinese-Indonesian-American” or other suggestions. You can also email me at: shdaud2@gmail.com.

To my Indonesian friends here in USA, or in Indonesia, or wherever you are, if you like to say something, you can write in English, Indonesian or Dutch, whatever works for you.