Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T15:03:32.129Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multicultural citizenship education in Indonesia: The case of a Chinese Christian school

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2013

Chang-Yau Hoon
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigates how multicultural citizenship education is taught in a Chinese Christian school in Jakarta, where multiculturalism is not a natural experience. Schoolyard ethnographic research was deployed to explore the reality of a ‘double minority’ — Chinese Christians — and how the citizenship of this marginal group is constructed and contested in national, school, and familial discourses. The article argues that it is necessary for schools to actively implement multicultural citizenship education in order to create a new generation of young adults who are empowered, tolerant, active, participatory citizens of Indonesia. As schools are a microcosm of the nation-state, successful multicultural citizenship education can have real societal implications for it has the potential to render the idealism enshrined in the national motto of ‘Unity in Diversity’ a lived reality.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , October 2013 , pp. 490 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Semiawan, Conny, ‘The challenge of a multicultural education in a pluralistic society: The Indonesian case’, in Multicultural education in Indonesia and Southeast Asia: Stepping into the unfamiliar, ed. Sunarto, Kamanto, Heng, Russell Hiang-Khng, Saifuddin, Achmad Fedyani (Depok: Jurnal Antropologi Indonesia, 2004), pp. 36–46Google Scholar.

2 Parker, Lyn, From subjects to citizens: Balinese villagers in the Indonesian nation-state (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2003), p. 256Google Scholar.

3 See Raihani, ‘Education reforms in Indonesia in the twenty-first century’, International Education Journal 8, 1 (2007): 172–83Google Scholar.

4 Soedijarto, ‘Some notes on the ideals and goals of Indonesia's national education system and the inconsistency of its implementation: A comparative analysis’, Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities 2 (2009): 1–11Google Scholar.

5 Fearnley-Sander, Mary and Yulaelawati, Ella, ‘Citizenship discourse in the context of decentralisation: The case of Indonesia’, in Citizenship curriculum in Asia and the Pacific, ed. Grossman, David L., Lee, Wing On and Kennedy, Kerry J. (Berlin: Springer, 2008), p. 113Google Scholar.

6 Modood, Tariq, Multiculturalism: A civic idea (Cambridge: Polity, 2007), p. 64Google Scholar.

7 Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 Tentang Sistem Pendidikan Nasional [Act of the Republic of Indonesia, No. 20, Year 2003 on the National Education System], ch. III, art. 4 (1).

8 See Tracey Yani Harjatanaya, ‘Chinese Indonesians post-1998: An exploratory study of educational policies and practices in promoting positive relations in Medan, Indonesia’, M.Sc. (Education) diss., Oxford University, 2011, pp. 42–4.

9 Weinstock, Daniel, ‘The problem of civic education in multicultural societies’, in The politics of belonging: Nationalism, liberalism, and pluralism, ed. Dieckhoff, Alain (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2004), p. 108Google Scholar.

10 Will Kymlicka, Politics in the vernacular, p. 304.

11 Kassimeris, Christos and Vryonides, Marios, ‘Politics and education’, in The politics of education: Challenging multiculturalism, ed. Kassimeris, Christos and Vryonides, Marios (New York and London: Routledge, 2012), pp. 5–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 See Parker, Lyn, ‘Religious tolerance and inter-faith education in Indonesia’, in Crises and Opportunities: Proceedings of the 18th Biennial Conference of the ASAA, 2010, Adelaide, Australia, ed. Morrell, E. and Barr, M.D. (Canberra: Asian Studies Association of Australia and University of Adelaide, 2010)Google Scholar; and Raihani, ‘Report on multicultural education in pesantren’, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 42, 4 (2012): 585–605CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 See Parker, Lyn, ‘Teaching religious tolerance’, Inside Indonesia 102, Oct.–Dec. (2010)Google Scholar, http://www.insideindonesia.org/feature-editions/teaching-religious-tolerance (last accessed on 4 July 2013); and Raihani, ‘Vision is not enough’, Inside Indonesia 102, Oct.–Dec. (2010), http://www.insideindonesia.org/feature-editions/vision-is-not-enough (last accessed on 4 July 2013).

14 Suryadinata, Leo, Nurvidya, Evi and Ananta, Aris, Indonesia's population: Ethnicity and religion in a changing political landscape (Singapore: ISEAS, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 Parker, ‘Religious tolerance and inter-faith education in Indonesia’.

16 Morfit, Michael, ‘Pancasila orthodoxy’, in Central government and local government in Indonesia, ed. MacAndrews, Colin (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 42Google Scholar.

17 Nishimura, Shigeo, ‘The development of Pancasila moral education in Indonesia’, Southeast Asian Studies 33, 3 (1995): 303–16Google Scholar.

18 Parker, Lyn, ‘The quality of schooling in a Balinese village’, Indonesia 54 (Oct. 1992): 95–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19 Hoon, Chang-Yau, ‘Assimilation, multiculturalism, hybridity: The dilemmas of ethnic Chinese in post-Suharto Indonesia’, Asian Ethnicity 7, 2 (2006): 149–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20 Rosaldo, Renato, Culture and truth: The remaking of social analysis (Boston: Beacon Press, 2003), p. 2Google Scholar.

21 Coppel, Charles, Indonesian Chinese in crisis (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 3Google Scholar.

22 Bowen, John, ‘Normative pluralism in Indonesia: Regions, religions and ethnicities’, in Multiculturalism in Asia, ed. Kymlicka, Will and He, Baogang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 154Google Scholar.

23 Hoon, Chang-Yau, Chinese identity in post-Suharto Indonesia: Culture, politics and media (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2008)Google Scholar.

24 However, there are two caveats related to this law: first, religion has been a basis for discrimination under the law; and second, the law may introduce cultural relativism as it states that universal principles of ‘equality’, ‘freedom’, ‘justice’ and ‘humanitarian values’ are to be implemented in accordance to religious, social, cultural and legal values in Indonesia. See Arifin, Syamsul, Attitudes to human rights and freedom of religion or belief in Indonesia (Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius, 2010)Google Scholar.

25 Modood, Tariq, ‘Multicultural citizenship and Muslim identity politics’, Interventions 12, 2 (2010): 157–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Modood, ‘Multicultural citizenship’, p. 161.

27 Ibid.; See also Tilaar, H.A.R., Multikulturalisme: Tantangan-tantangan global masa depan dalam transformasi pendidikan nasional [Multiculturalism: Future global challenges in the transformation of national education] (Jakarta: Grasindo, 2004)Google Scholar.

28 Hoon, Chang-Yau, ‘Mapping “Chinese” Christian schools in Indonesia’, Asia Pacific Education Review 12, 3 (2011): 403–11CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also, Chang-Yau Hoon, ‘Affirming difference’, Inside Indonesia 102, Oct.–Dec. (2010), http://www.insideindonesia.org/feature-editions/affirming-difference.

29 Willis, Paul, Learning to labour: How working class kids get working class jobs (Farnborough: Saxon House, 1977)Google Scholar; Bourdieu, Pierre and Passeron, Jean Claude, Reproduction in education, society and culture (London: Sage, 1977)Google Scholar.

30 See for example, Bjork, Christopher, ‘Reconstructing rituals: Expressions of autonomy and resistance in a Sino-Indonesian school’, Anthropology and Education Quarterly 33, 4 (2002): 465–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bjork, Christopher, Indonesian education: Teachers, schools, and central bureaucracy (New York: Routledge, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Raihani, ‘Report on multicultural education in pesantren’; and Parker, From subjects to citizens.

31 Several Chinese Christian schools in Jakarta are discussed in Hoon, ‘Mapping “Chinese” Christian schools in Indonesia’.

32 The direct involvement of the education foundation in OTCS can also be contrasted with other foundations of private schools, which only ‘play a limited, usually finance-only, role’. Parker, Lyn and Raihani, ‘Democratising Indonesia through education? Community participation in Islamic schooling’, Educational Management Administration and Leadership 39, 6 (2011): 712–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 For a discussion of the features of ‘Chinese familism’ in church and business management in Indonesia, see Wijaya, Yahya, Business, family and religion: Public theology in the context of the Chinese-Indonesian business community (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2002)Google Scholar.

34 Interview, OTCS school administrators, 23 July 2010.

35 Guppy, Neil and Lyon, Katherine, ‘Multiculturalism, education practices and colonial legacies: The case of Canada’, in The politics of education: Challenging multiculturalism, ed. Kassimeris, Christos and Vryonides, Marios (New York and London: Routledge, 2012), p. 129Google Scholar.

36 This view is not peculiar to Christian schools in Indonesia; Elizabeth Green's article shows the same perception of Christian schools in the United Kingdom. See Green, Elizabeth, ‘Discipline and school ethos: Exploring students' reflection upon values, rules and the Bible in a Christian City Technology College’, Ethnography and Education 4, 2 (2009): 197–209CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

37 Francis, Leslie J., ‘Independent Christian schools and pupil values: An empirical investigation among 13–15-year-old boys’, British Journal of Religious Education 27, 2 (2005): 127–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 Focus Group Discussion (FGD), OTCS I, 31 July 2010.

39 Interview, OTCS I, 20 July 2010.

40 FGD, School Administrators, 23 July 2010.

41 For an analysis of the content of multiculturalism in secondary sociology textbooks, see Harjatanaya, ‘Chinese Indonesians post-1998’, pp. 45–6.

42 Tilaar, Multikulturalisme.

43 Banks, James A., ‘The canon debate, knowledge construction, and multicultural education’, in Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action, ed. Banks, James A. (New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1996)Google Scholar.

44 Interview, 16 Sept. 2011.

45 Ibu Lisa, interview, 21 July 2010.

46 See Hoon, Chinese identity in post-Suharto Indonesia.

47 Student interview, 28 July 2010.

48 Student interview, 26 Aug. 2010.

49 FGD, OCTS school administrator, 23 July 2010.

50 Kamanto Sunarto recommended ways for implementing multicultural education in schools. See Sunarto, Kamanto, ‘Multicultural education in schools: Challenges in its implementation’, in Multicultural education in Indonesia and Southeast Asia: Stepping into the unfamiliar, ed. Sunarto, Kamanto et al. (Depok: Jurnal Antropologi Indonesia, 2004): 47–60Google Scholar.

51 Tilaar, Multikulturalisme, p. 229.

52 Raihani, ‘A whole-school approach: A proposal for education for tolerance in Indonesia’, Theory and Research in Education 9, 1 (2011): 23–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Raihani, ‘Report on multicultural education in pesantren’.

54 Bourdieu, Pierre, Outline of a theory of practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 Interview, 21 July 2010.

56 FGD 2, OTCS I, 30 July 2010.

57 FGD, OTCS I, 23 July 2010.

58 See Chang-Yau Hoon, Chinese identity in post-Suharto Indonesia.

59 Ibid.

60 Interview, 28 July 2010.

61 Interview, 29 July 2010.

62 FGD, 23 July 2010.

63 Chang-Yau Hoon, ‘Mapping “Chinese” Christian schools in Indonesia’.

64 Potter, John, Active citizenship in schools: A good practice guide to developing a whole-school policy (London: Kogan Page, 2002)Google Scholar. ‘Social capital’ is referred to by John Potter as ‘those stocks of social trust, norms and networks that people can draw upon to solve common problems’, p. 37.

65 Wendy A. Gaylord examines whether civic education has contributed to democratisation or produced democratic citizens in Indonesia in ‘Reformasi and teachers’ implementation of civic education in West Sumatra, Indonesia' (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 2008).

66 Fearnley-Sander, Mary, Muis, Isnarmi and Gistituati, Nurhizrah, ‘Muslim views of citizenship in Indonesia during democratisation’, in Citizenship education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and issues, ed. Lee, W.O., Grossman, D. L., Kennedy, K.J. and Fairbrother, G.P. (Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre and Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004), pp. 37–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

67 Interview, 22 July 2010.

68 Fearnley-Sander and Yulaelawati, ‘Citizenship discourse in the context of decentralisation: The case of Indonesia’, p. 116.

69 Han, Weilin, ‘Mendaratkan ideologi Pancasila dalam pengajaran di kelas’, CIVIS 2, 2 (2010)Google Scholar, http://www.leimena.org/id/page/v/196/mendaratkan-ideologi-pancasila-dalam-pengajaran-di-kelas.

70 Fearnley-Sander, Muis and Gistituati, ‘Muslim views of citizenship in Indonesia during democratisation’, p. 52.

71 FGD 2, OTCS I, 30 July 2010.

72 FGD 2, 30 Aug. 2010.

73 Interview, OTCS I, 29 July 2010.

74 FGD 2, OTCS II, 30 Aug. 2010.

75 FGD 2, OTCS I, 30 July 2010.

76 Field notes, 24 Aug. 2010.

77 Interview, OTCS I, 29 July 2010.

78 For details of SBM, see Raihani, ‘Education reforms in Indonesia in the twenty-first century’, International Education Journal 8, 1 (2007): 172–83Google Scholar; and Parker and Raihani, ‘Democratising Indonesia through education?’

79 Zulfikar, Teuku, ‘The making of Indonesian education: An overview on empowering Indonesian teachers’, Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities 2 (2009): 13–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

80 Interview, OTCS I, 22 July 2010.

81 Tilaar, Multikulturalisme, p. 235.

82 Interview, 21 July 2010.

83 Raihani, ‘Report on multicultural education in pesantren’.

84 Tracey Yani Harjatanaya, ‘Chinese Indonesians post-1998’.

85 Kymlicka, Politics in the vernacular, p. 293.