Chinese-Indonesian Governor’s Struggles Worry Some in His Ethnic Group<br />The race for governor of Jakarta has consumed Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese, who are divided about whether<br />Mr. Basuki, known universally by his Hakka Chinese nickname, Ahok, is good or bad for them.<br />"He’s nationalist while also being Chinese." In previous campaigns, Mr. Basuki wore traditional Chinese dress<br />and even referred to ethnic Chinese as being "pork lard-faced" to make light of ethnic differences.<br />Christine Susanna Tjhin, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic<br />and International Studies, said the fake news might be intended to target Chinese-Indonesians even though a majority "are actually quite disconnected from mainland Chinese," in part because of decades of Suharto government assimilation policies.<br />Tobias Basuki, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, said one reason<br />that Jakarta’s governor was polarizing was that he freely expressed his Chinese cultural identity, whereas most other Chinese-Indonesian politicians were more discreet.<br />For three decades during the Suharto years, Chinese-Indonesians were accused of being in league with the Chinese government<br />and forbidden to study at Chinese-language schools or publicly celebrate Chinese holidays.<br />Chinese said that all need good relations with China for various projects in the region,<br />so they, I would assume, understand the importance of protecting their eth
