Representation of Political, Social, and Cultural Phenomena in

Biopics of Chinese Indonesian Figures using Historical Approach

Selvia

, Yohan Yusuf Arifin

and Septerianie Sutandi

Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Maranatha Christian University, Surya Sumantri no. 65, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Representation, Chinese Indonesians, Film.

Abstract: Films are often used to communicate phenomena that occur in society. The representation of Chinese

Indonesians in films portrays the political, social and cultural values of Indonesians. Problems that ensue

Chinese Indonesians were reconstructed through films, thus enabling public consumptions. Three films will

be the objects of the research: "Love and Faith", "A Man Called Ahok" and "Susi Susanti: Love All". This

research was conducted in order to find out what are political, social and cultural phenomena being conveyed

through these films, as well as how the matter is visually delivered. The methods used in this research is

interpretative qualitative descriptive; in which the films were analyzed with a historical approach. An in-depth

observation was applied for these three researched films as a form of data gathering technique. Through in-

depth observation towards the existing political, social and cultural phenomena, it is revealed that Chinese

Indonesian as an ethnic minority still received discriminative treatment despite their huge devotion to the

country. It is hoped that the product of this research could build up Indonesia to be a strong country capable

of taking on future obstacles in accordance with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enforced by the

Indonesian government.

1 INTRODUCTION

Film is one of mass communication media that is

capable to attract public attention, while also serves

as a unique message conveyor. Film is likened as a

mirror of life’s reality: representing and

reconstructing various social phenomena that occur in

the society to the audience, as well as inviting them

to experience the film as if they are inside the story.

Film can be used to depict reality the way it is, as well

as a medium for political aspiration (Sutandio, 2020).

Film, likewise, serves as a representation of a social

occurring that has certain meaning. A real-life

situation that happened at a certain period of time can

also be represented through film. Film is not just a

mere entertainment program. Behind the story there

are lessons and reflections that the filmmaker tries to

construct and deliver to the audience. During its

development, the Indonesian film industry has

presented several films that depict the life of Chinese

Indonesians as an ethnic minority who has

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experienced many upheavals. Chinese Indonesians

have a pretty long historical journey. Since the Dutch

colonial era, Chinese Indonesians have received

discrimination even violence. Up to post-

independence time, Chinese Indonesians remained a

minority group that has negative stigmas attached to

its ethnicity. In the era of power alteration,

Presidential Decree No. 12 of 2014 was made so that

Chinese Indonesians’ existence is acknowledged and

the discriminative behaviour towards them could be

stopped. The government tried to place Chinese

Indonesians on an equal ground with other ethnic

groups. However, even after that decree was issued,

the stigmas and stereotypes towards Chinese

Indonesians remain the same.

One of the social phenomena that occurs in the

midst of Indonesian society is the existence of the

Chinese Indonesian community as an ethnic minority

in Indonesia. This social phenomena in Indonesia is

often associated with political aspects. Based on data

from the Indonesian Center of Statistics (BPS), the

Selvia, ., Ariﬁn, Y. and Sutandi, S.

Representation of Political, Social, and Cultural Phenomena in Biopics of Chinese Indonesian Figures using Historical Approach.

DOI: 10.5220/0010755200003112

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences (ICE-HUMS 2021), pages 533-542

ISBN: 978-989-758-604-0

533

total population of Indonesia in 2010 was

237,641,326 (Statistik, n.d.). Based on a census

conducted in the same year by the institution (BPS),

Chinese occupies the 18th place among other ethnic

minorities in Indonesia, with a total population of

only 2,832,510 or 1.19% (Tan, 2016). The spread of

Chinese people in Indonesia was mostly in the Capital

City of Jakarta (632,372 souls), followed by West

Kalimantan, North Sumatra, West Java and East Java.

In 2015, 2018, and 2019 three films based on true

story of some influential Chinese Indonesian figures

were produced. The films are "Love and Faith", "A

Man Called Ahok" and "Susi Susanti: Love All".

"Love and Faith", a national film set in year 1940-

1960, was released in 2015, adapted from a true story

novel by one of the previous Indonesian SOEs

Ministers. This film tells a story of a Chinese

Indonesian banker named Kwee Tjie Hoei (Karmaka

Surjaudaja) who fought to keep Bank NISP, a bank

that was founded by his father-in-law in Bandung.

Now the bank has changed its name to Bank OCBC

NISP. "A Man Called Ahok" is another national film

framed in year 1970-2005 and was released in 2018.

This film is an adaptation of a biographical novel

titled "A Man Called Ahok: A Story of Struggle and

Sincerity" by Rudi Valinka. It tells the life journey of

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok), as one of

Indonesian's political figure who came from Chinese

Indonesian background. Likewise, "Susi Susanti:

Love All" is a national film in which the story tells

about a journey of Susi Susanti, an Indonesian female

badminton athlete who is a Chinese Indonesian. This

film was released in 2019 and received 13

nominations at Indonesian Film Festival in 2020.

These three films tell a similar story about how

Chinese Indonesians are treated. This minority group

is fighting for acknowledgement of their identity, as

well as the right of equal treatment by other

ethnicities in Indonesia – without social, political, or

cultural discriminations. Through their contribution

and role, Chinese Indonesians huge sense of

nationalism for their country was depicted in those

films. Looking back, there were quite a number of

Chinese Indonesians who have also contributed for

their beloved country. Nevertheless, the life of

Chinese Indonesian ethnicity as a minority in

Indonesia has never been separated from

discrimination of certain groups. Theodorson said

discrimination is an unequal treatment of individuals

or groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, or social

standing. The term is usually used to describe the

immoral and un-democratic relationship between a

dominant majority with a weak minority (Putri &

Syafiq, 2016). Constitution No. 40 of 2008 explained

that discrimination against one race and ethnicity is

any form of distinction, exclusion, limitation, or

segregation based on race and ethnicity, that resulted

in revocation or reduced recognition, acquisition of

human rights and basic freedom in civil, politic,

economy, social and culture equality. The

constitution also elaborates in details, behaviors that

can be considered as a form of discrimination against

a race and ethnicity, for example producing writing or

drawing that consist of hate speech, committing acts

of intimidation, persecution or deprivation of liberty

based on race and ethnicity. Life struggles of Chinese

Indonesians ethnicity are intriguing to study. Hence,

based on the previously explained rationale and with

the three films as the research objects, the researchers

want to analyze what kind of political, social, and

cultural phenomena those films want to deliver and

how the phenomena are visualized in those films.

Film media is expected to be one of the educational

or informative learning media for the public regarding

a peaceful multi-ethnicity society without violence

and discrimination.

Kracauer said philosophically, films and

historical phenomena should be able to help and

encourage people to find peace and friendship among

themselves through shared knowledge and

experiences with society and the world (Sutandio,

2020). Through the study of these three non-fictional

films that take up the struggles of Chinese Indonesian

figures, it is hoped that the negative stigma againts the

Chinese Indonesians ethnic could be straightened out,

and Indonesian in general could realize even though

the Chinese Indonesian ethnicity is a minority, they

have a huge devotion to the country. With that in

mind, hopefully, Indonesians could live side by side

in peace and work together to develop Indonesia. This

is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) agreement that has been agreed upon by the

world's leaders to promote changes that lean towards

sustainable development while paying attention to

human rights and equality in order to eradicate

poverty, reduce social gaps, and protect the

environment. The 17 goals and 169 targets in the

SDGs are expected to be achieved by 2030 (Goals,

n.d.). One of the SDGs objectives related to this

research are peace, justice, and strong institution,

namely strenghtening an inclusive and peaceful

society for sustainable development and providing

justice access for all (PPN/Bappenas, n.d.). In the

future, Indonesia as a country of law is expected to be

able to provide legitimate justice and identity, also to

guarantee equal access for all Indonesian citizens.

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2 METHODS

The research method that was used here is

interpretative qualitative descriptive. The descriptive

approach was used to observe behaviours as well as

both the spoken and written words from an event

(Rukajat, 2018). It will then be combined with an

interpretative approach that seeks to find the meaning

behind those behaviours and words. The aim is to

uncover the humans’ way to understand their

experiences (Littlejohn & Foss, 2007).

2.1 Historical Approach

In order to explain the discrimination, the researchers

will use a historical approach. Historical approach

was chosen to study all events that happened in the

past as a way of learning about a better change in the

future. Research method based on historical approach

is divided into four stages, namely:

a. Heuristic, gathering historical sources;

b. Verification, investigating whether the sources

are valid, both in forms and contents;

c. Interpretation, determining the meaning and

relevance of verified facts;

d. Historiography, presenting the synthesis results

obtained in a form of a historical story (Daliman,

2015).

2.2 Film Studies

Film studies as a scientific discipline could be carried

out through a historical approach that sees film as the

product of an era and culture. In the process of

studying a film, film studies with historical

approaches analyze values and cultures that are

contained and conveyed in a film, along with how it

is portrayed visually (Sutandio, 2020).

Film analysis is often done on various elements at

once, among which there are semiotic analysis,

narrative structure analysis, contextual analysis,

mise-en-scene analysis, gender approach analysis,

ethnicity approach analysis, political approach

analysis, and historical approach analysis (Sutandio,

2020).

Based on the objectives of this research, to obtain

a more comprehensive result, research towards these

three non-fictional films were conducted by

combining the following analyses:

1. Contextual Analysis: analyzing films as a part of

a bigger context, like cultural background,

location, and time period of that story.

Contextual analysis can analyze the culture that

a film wants to convey and which social or

political issues that the story is based on.

2. Ethnicity Approach Analysis: combining film

analysis with the concept of ethnicity by

analyzing ethnic representation portrayed in a

film. Analysis with ethnicity approach studies

how one ethnic is portrayed in a film whether it

is based on reality or stereotype, and why the film

portrays it as such.

3. Political Approach Analysis: analyzing certain

political condition, ideology, government, public

relation, and state government that are recorded

in a film.

4. Historical Approach Analysis: analyzing films

that contain historical contents, either explicitly

or implicitly. It analyzes how a film represents a

historical event, whether it is told in accordance

with reality or not. Besides, the analysis also

finds out what the focus in that film is, and what

the purpose of such historical event to be

represented in the film.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Political Phenomena

Discrimination against Chinese Indonesians has

occurred since a long time ago when the Dutch

colonial government came to Indonesia and

implemented the officer system (Kapitan China), the

settlement system (Wijkenstelsel) and the pass-road

system (Passenstelsel), which made it difficult for

Chinese Indonesians to get along with the local

community (Onghokham, 2017a). In the New Order

era, Soeharto, the President of Indonesia at that time,

issued various regulations that caused Chinese

Indonesians to lose their "Chinese" identity.

Afterwards, citizenship issue and Chinese

Indonesians "privilege" status in the economic field

with their cukong system resulted in economical gap

between Chinese Indonesians and the local

community. These policies ultimately triggered

massive discrimination and sentiment towards

Chinese Indonesians.

One of the discrimination forms in the films that

is used as a source for this research is the Chinese

Indonesian citizenship problem in "Love and Faith",

"Susi Susanti: Love All", and "A Man Called Ahok",

this problem is portrayed explicitly by the

actor/actress in those films.

Discrimination in "Love and Faith" was depicted

when Kwee Tjie Hoei did a visit to Bank Indonesia to

solve the problem of his father-in-law’s bank, Bank

Representation of Political, Social, and Cultural Phenomena in Biopics of Chinese Indonesian Figures using Historical Approach

535

NISP, but it turns out that his in-laws' nationality is

questionable. Therefore, he had a hard time getting

his in-laws' rights as Indonesian citizens. Meanwhile,

in "Susi Susanti: Love All", the film gives more

highlight regarding this citizenship problem, starting

from the recall of two Chinese Indonesian coaches

(Tong Sinfu and Liang Chiusia) by Indonesian

Badminton Association to train the Indonesian team.

They still had Chinese citizenship and faced with

many difficulties to become Indonesian citizens.

Similar case happened with the application of Susi

Susanti's citizenship status that was still unclear,

resulting in her having a trouble to process her

administration documents.

This citizenship problem could be said to be a

legacy of the Dutch colonial era. At that time, Chinese

Indonesians did not care about their citizenship, so

those who live in Indonesia did not think about it at

all. In Asia, the notion of citizenship, nationality, and

nationalism had not existed yet, the word nationality

and nationalism in a modern sense had not crossed

their mind (Onghokham, 2017b). The issue was

getting more complicated in 1910 when the Dutch

colonial government issued a citizenship law on the

principle of ius soli, that everyone born in Dutch East

Indies, Suriname, and Curacao was considered a

citizen of the Netherlands. While the Chinese

citizenship law is based on the principle of ius

sanguinus, that Chinese people who were born

outside or inside the country were recognized as

Chinese citizens, that was why in the end this

citizenship problem arises (Onghokham, 2017b).

After Indonesian and Chinese governments open a

diplomatic relationship, this citizenship issue became

an important matter that needed to be resolved. In

1953, there were two situations that prompted

Indonesia and China to finally solve this problem.

Indonesia was preparing their first election, while

China was preparing their first major congress. In the

event of Asian- African Conference in April 1955,

Zhou Enlai as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of

China negotiated with the Minister of Foreign Affairs

of Indonesia and signed up an agreement regarding

the Dual Citizenship Issue, where one of the

important points was the freedom for Chinese

Indonesians to choose their citizenship status (Liang,

2012). Then during the New Order era, on March 14th

1978, the Minister of Justice brought forth the

Regulation of the Minister of Justice No. JB. 3/4/12

concerning Republic of Indonesia Certificate of

Citizenship, abbreviated as SBKRI.

SBKRI is the product of the citizenship agreement

between Indonesia and the People's Republic of

China in 1955. SBKRI was first included in the

closing Provision of Law No. 62 in 1958 regarding

Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia, that stated

whoever needs to prove that he/she is a citizen of the

Republic of Indonesia and does not have a proof that

shows he/she has or obtains or participates in

obtaining that citizenship, he/she can request for it to

the District Court in the area where he/she lives to

determine whether he/she is an Indonesian citizen or

not under ordinary civil procedures. The SBKRI

brought its own consequences for the Chinese

Indonesians because this document is one of the

requirements that must be met when applying

administration documents such as identitiy cards,

birth certificates, marriage certificates, even passport

applications (Pratiwi & Salain, 2013). This SBKRI

enforcement could be said as a discrimination against

Chinese Indonesians because it contained an element

of discerning the rights of Chinese Indonesians by

needing an SBKRI to proof their identity as

Indonesian citizens.

Citizenship became quite a complex issue for

Chinese Indonesians during that period. That

happened because at first Chinese Indonesians did not

really pay attention to it and they disregarded their

citizenship status. However, when they realized the

importance of it and began to plan to take care of it,

they were faced with a lot of obstacles. In "Susi

Susanti: Love All" it was told how difficult it was to

take care of Chinese Indonesian citizenship status at

that time. A clear restlessness in the Indonesian

Badminton team's coaches (Tong Sinfu and Liang

Chiusia) regarding their citizenship status was also

portrayed. The coaches were called back to Indonesia

to coach the Indonesian team; however, they were

only given a KITAS (Limited Stay Permit Card) to

stay in Indonesia. They were given empty promises

about changing their citizenship status and it was

never actualized. Their anxiety was shown in several

scenes where they kept asking about their status but

ended up with rejection in their SBKRI application

process. In addition, this film also told us the process

of Susi Susanti's SBKRI application that kept

dragging on, resulting in her hardship in taking care

of her marriage administration with Alan

Budikusuma. Another negative side of SBKRI's

administration that was exposed is the convoluted

procedures, where they needed to pay people a certain

amount of money. As a result, corruption was thriving

in the beurocracy of the New Order era.

Another form of discrimination experienced by

Chinese Indonesians at that time was the acts of

violence. In "Susi Susanti: Love All" there were at

least two acts of violence that befell the Chinese

Indonesians, the riot of Tasikmalaya in 1996 due to

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false news about acts of violence by police officers

towards members of the santri (Mudzakkir, 2017) and

May 1998’s riot as a result of an economic crisis

hitting Indonesia. Chinese Indonesians in both events

received physical violence and intimidation,

confiscation of their property, and even lost of their

lives. These acts of violence have also caused many

Chinese Indonesians to question what the real

meaning of their citizenship was. If we look deeper,

in reality, those two events had nothing to do with

Chinese Indonesians, and only caused by a deep-

rooted sentiments, making them the target of those

riots.

The next case of discrimination is in terms with

political rights, Chinese Indonesians are prohibited to

involve themselves in politics, they are not allowed to

hold important political positions in Indonesia. In "A

Man Called Ahok" it was shown that when Ahok ran

for Regent of East Belitung, he received

discrimination from his political rivals with

incitement discrediting Chinese Indonesians,

pointing out that never in history was East Belitung

led by Chinese Indonesians. They then proceeded to

persuade the citizens not to vote for Ahok. The

various types of rejection even had caused Chinese

Indonesians experiencing identity crisis, having

doubts regarding their citizenship status, to the point

of saying "Are we even Indonesian?" in one of the

scenes in this film.

3.2 Social Phenomena

Furnivall said the social phenomena faced by Chinese

Indonesians have happened since the Dutch colonial

rule. They divided society into three levels of social

class. The highest social class is for the white race

(Dutch), the second class is for the yellow or eastern

foreign race (Chinese Indonesians, Arabic, and

Indian), while Indonesian natives are put in the third

class (Christian, 2017). Those social division

implemented by the Dutch colonial government had

placed Chinese Indonesians in a different identity and

social status compared to other ethnic groups in

Indonesia. Moreover, the Chinese Indonesians higher

status over natives caused social jealousy.

This condition continued until the New Order era,

which imposed a social stigma on Chinese

Indonesians, portraying them as exclusive, asocial

beings who had a better financial condition, and

leaned more to China. This caused discrimination

towards Chinese Indonesians in terms of their

existence, culture, beliefs, role in the economy, and

several other things. At that time, Chinese

Indonesians often became the victim whenever there

was social unrest (Susanto, 2017). The different

social status between Chinese Indonesians with the

indigenous that had been outlined in the past had

created social stigma that was unfavourable to the

Chinese Indonesians. It caused them to be rejected,

limited, and constrained in a lot of aspects.

Physical identity is one of the most prominent and

easily recognized characteristics from an individual.

The Chinese Indonesians’ physical identity in general

is slanted eyes and an oriental face (Kusuma &

Sholihah, 2018). This physical identity also becomes

one of the most used excuse to discriminate Chinese

Indonesians. In one of the scenes of "Susi Susanti:

Love All", discrimination was blatantly shown by a

street vendor towards Susi Susanti because of her

slanted eyes. When she refused to purchase his

snacks, the vendor then expressed his anger by

throwing one of his snacks to the bus window where

she was in, as well as shouting "Hey slanted!". This

scene represents the local's rejection as a majority

group towards the minority which is Chinese

Indonesians due to their physical differences (faces

and eyes).

Chinese Indonesians ‘rights to receive education

was also discriminated. Indonesian government

limited the quota for acceptance of Chinese

Indonesians in state universities to only 5-10%.

Siburian said Chinese Indonesians were having a hard

time to get a qualified higher education in Indonesia

at that time (Kusuma & Sholihah, 2018). It is

represented in "Love and Faith" and "A Man Called

Ahok" which showed the desire of these figures to get

the rare opportunity to study in one of Indonesian

state universities.

Not only do the films depict Chinese Indonesians

discrimination phenomena, but they also represent

some of Chinese Indonesians values for the audience.

Hidayat said one of Confusius's (孔子) teaching that

has become Chinese Indonesians’ fundamental is

one’s relationship with their family, nation, and

country (Cerba, 2018). Therefore, despite facing

discrimination, the three Chinese Indonesian figures

in the films still showed their deep love for their

homeland. In the early scene of "Love and Faith",

Kwee Tjie Kui (father of Kwee Tjie Hoei) was shown

to be very happy when receiving the news of

Indonesia’s independence in 1945. Then, still in the

same film, it was shown how happy and proud the

Kwee Tjie Kui family because his brother (Kwee Tjie

Ong) managed to become a doctor that could devote

himself to the country. In addition, in one of the

scenes, through a conversation between Kwee Tjie

Hoei and a general of the Indonesian National Army,

the audience could see that Kwee Tjie Hoei's father in

Representation of Political, Social, and Cultural Phenomena in Biopics of Chinese Indonesian Figures using Historical Approach

537

law (Lim Khe Tjie) was a Chinese Indonesian soldier

who fought for Indonesia. Next, "A Man Called

Ahok" also showed Ahok's desire to occupy a

political office in East Belitung because he wanted to

serve and do something for his country and

hometown as well as fight for the fate of many people.

"Susi Susanti: Love All" film also showed Susi

Susanti's determination to become the first

Indonesian badminton player who achieved a gold

medal in the Olympics. Her whole family was very

supportive of her dream to incise achievements for

Indonesia on international levels. She kept doing her

best in the international badminton stage even though

Chinese Indonesians still experienced hardship in

getting their SBKRI. This film even told us when

Chinese Indonesians became a victim of persecution

from rioters in the country, Susi Susanti and several

other Chinese Indonesian athletes continued to fight

for Indonesia in Barcelona 1992 Olympics.

Furthermore, after she won her gold medal, a CNN

reporter interviewed her and asked whether Susi

Susanti as a Chinese Indonesians had ever doubted

herself as Indonesian, Susi Susanti firmly and

confidently answered that she was Indonesian.

The desire and attitude of these three Chinese

Indonesian figures along with their family in the films

have depicted a massive devotion from the Chinese

Indonesians minority to their country. Although they

faced discrimination, facing a lot of rejection and

restriction, they kept fighting for Indonesia in their

respective fields. Kwee Tjie Hoei was willing to

sacrifice a lot of things, willing to face officials at that

time who did not make it easy for Chinese

Indonesians, kept fighting to maintain the continuity

of his bank in order to guarantee the money of

commoners in Indonesia. The same could be said for

Ahok, he started with rejection from many parties but

he was persistent with his desire to serve his region

and country until at last, he succeeded to be the

Regent of East Belitung. His achievements in East

Belitung brought Ahok to become the nation's capital

regional leader. Ahok succeeded to become Deputy

Governor and the Governor of DKI Jakarta, making a

lot of positive changes in the capital. Susi Susanti

who took active part in the sports field also did her

role, even though her citizenship status was still not

guaranteed. She kept fighting, training, and

competing on behalf of Indonesia until finally, she

became the first Indonesian athlete who won a gold

medal in the Olympics and became the pride of

Indonesia.

Another value that these three films intend to

express is the good relationship between those

Chinese Indonesian figures with the indigenous

people who are of different ethnicity. Chinese

Indonesians actually mingled easily with other

ethnicities, respecting differences and not making

themselves exclusive. The social stigma that Chinese

Indonesians are exclusive, asocial, and have better

finances that have caused social jealousy by the locals

is what these three films want to put right through

portrayals of the characters.

In "Love and Faith", Kwee Tjie Hoei is portrayed

as a Chinese Indonesian businessman who paid

attention and fought for Indonesian indigenous

employees. Although faced with the possibility of

bankruptcy and protest from the company's worker’s

union, Kwee Tjie Hoei remained on the employee’s

side, inviting all workers to unite with him, not letting

them being mistreated, and took it to himself the

responsibility to humanize those workers. While "A

Man Called Ahok" presented Kim Nam (Ahok's

father) as someone who liked to help others

regardless their ethnicities, even when his family was

having a financial problem, Kim Nam still willingly

provided help in his limitation. More in the film,

Ahok was portrayed to have a best friend named

Musyono who had different ethnicity than him. They

lived side by side, played together, and shared the

same dream. The good relationship between Chinese

Indonesians and other ethnicities was also clearly

delivered in "Susi Susanti: Love All". In the film, Susi

Susanti’s family was living side by side with the

community around her neighbourhood in

Tasikmalaya. They were also shown to participate in

performances and competitions along with the locals.

Then, after Susi Susanti showed her promising

abilities in badminton, the Indonesian government

and the people of various circles put high hopes for

her, a Chinese Indonesian, to bring victory for

Indonesia. Furthermore, in this film, there was an

advice from Susi Susanti's father who told her to

"radiate unity amidst differences, and put the

differences aside for the sake of unity". This showed

a spirit to be practised so the people of Indonesia

could live side by side. All of these portrayals done

by the directors of those three films can represent

Chinese Indonesians attitude who want to mingle

with other ethnicities, even willing to help and fight

together.

Other social phenomena that can be studied from

those three non-fiction films have to do with the

Chinese Indonesian professions. Many Chinese

Indonesians are successful in trading and even

dominate the economy in Indonesia. This condition is

represented quite clearly in "Love and Faith" and "A

Man Called Ahok". For example, in "Love and Faith",

there was a Chinese Indonesian businessman who

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owned a textile factory and Kwee Tjie Hoei's father

in law (Lim Khe Tjie) who was the owner and the

founder of a large bank in Bandung. Next, in "A Man

Called Ahok", Kim Nam (Ahok's father) was brought

up as a "tauke" (big boss) of a mining company in

Belitung.

The success of Chinese Indonesians in trading

caused a fit of social jealousy among the indigenous

people. Even though, the Chinese Indonesians’

success did not come easily. During the New Order

era, the rules made by the Indonesian government

were heavily limiting the space for Chinese

Indonesians to work (Susanto, 2017). More often,

SBKRI was required as one of the access for Chinese

Indonesians to obtain state services and facilities,

however, as previously mentioned, SBKRI was very

difficult to obtain. For that reason, most Chinese

Indonesian citizens at that time chose a trading

livelihood to survive. It was not uncommon for them

to do multiple jobs at the same time for the sake of

their family's finance. In these three non-fictional

films, since childhood Kwee Tjie Hoei, Ahok, and

Susi Susanti were taught to find a way to trade and

diligently fight for survival. The clearest example can

be seen in "Love and Faith", where Kwee Tjie Hoei’s

family worked multiple day and night jobs, including

working in a restaurant, making cake/food, polishing

shoes, becoming a Chinese teacher, repairing

electronics, and so on.

In reality, the negative stigma about Chinese

Indonesian exclusivity for their success in the

economy is not quite right. Not all Chinese

Indonesians have good finance and be successful in

their business. They have varied economical status,

lots of them are from middle to lower class society.

As mentioned before, all the jobs or works that were

done by little Kwee Tjie Hoei and his family in "Love

and Faith" were not jobs with a big income. In fact,

because of their financial problem and the need for

his younger siblings to go to college, Kwee Tjie Hoei

was willing to stop his education journey in high

school to work. Moving on to "Susi Susanti: Love

All", little Susi Susanti and her family survived by

making meat buns and selling them around. With

those representations, it is clear that Chinese

Indonesians and other ethnicities in Indonesia have

the same economy and social status. Suryawinata said

even now there are many Chinese Indonesians who

work as farmers, labourers, teachers, office workers,

doctors, etc. (Cerba, 2018). All of these are public

works that are also commonly occupied by other

ethnicities in Indonesia. Therefore, the economy and

profession exclusivity stigma surrounding Chinese

Indonesians are false.

3.3 Cultural Phenomena

Code switching as symptoms switching of language

use due to changes situation. Speech events is the

occurrence or taking place of an interaction linguistic

in one or more forms of speech involving two parties,

namely speakers and opponents said, with one main

utterance, inside certain time, place and situation

(Chaer & Agustina, 2004). Code-switching and

mixing were found inside the dialogues of the casts of

these three films. Code-switching is a change in the

use of a language or dialect into another one. Code-

switching is also a transition in language use by

taking account of the situation that occurs between

the languages and the variety of spoken language

(Aslinda & Syafyahya, 2007). Code-mixing refers to

the mixing of two or more languages or language

varieties in speech (Risdianto, 2013). Code-mixing

can be seen in spoken language.

Internal code-switching found in "A Man Called

Ahok" is Indonesian with Hakka dialect (East

Belitung), and the Hakka dialect with Malay. In

Indonesia, apart from speakers of the Bangka-

Belitung Islands, other regions like Singkawang,

Pontianak, and other cities also have communities

that still use Hakka dialect to communicate on daily

basis. The Chinese was one of the largest immigrants

that have settled in the archipelago. At the time,

marriage between the locals and the Chinese

happened and they produced descendants that are

now recognized as Chinese Indonesians. Chinese

Indonesians were widely spread in several islands

such as Java, Sumatera and Kalimantan. While in

"Love and Faith", external code-switching between

Indonesian and Mandarin appeared when the mother

of Lim Kwei Ing invited Kwee Tjie Hoei to eat in her

house, Lim Kwei Ing's mother said "lai, bu you keqi"

which means "come, do not hesitate". External code-

switching from Hakka dialect to Mandarin was also

found in "A Man Called Ahok", when the landlord

came to ask for a contract's signature to Ahok's

father's house. The landlord greeted "ni hao, ni hao"

to Ahok's father. Code-mixing that appeared in "Love

and Faith" is Indonesian and Sundanese. This film

inserted the local language element from West Java

which is Sundanese into a lot of the casts' dialogues.

The use of Sundanese was adapted with the

production's location of this film which is in Bandung.

"A Man Called Ahok" also used code-mixing in their

dialogues, even Koh Acun (one of the characters

acted by Ferry Salim) used Hakka dialect in all of his

dialogues. This condition is purposely highlighted by

the film director due to the location of the film, and to

show the environment surrounding Chinese

Representation of Political, Social, and Cultural Phenomena in Biopics of Chinese Indonesian Figures using Historical Approach

539

Indonesians in East Belitung who still maintain their

Hakka dialect even to this day. The film director

wanted to portray the strong social condition and

cultural background in East Belitung to the use of the

language spoken by the cast, starting from the elderly

to children. The indigenous ethnicity casts also

contributed by using the term such as "tauke" and

other terms that were usually used for Chinese

Indonesians like "ko" and "cik". Based on KBBI,

tauke means boss. In "A Man Called Ahok", Ahok's

family was respected in East Belitung, no wonder

they were called tauke by the locals. Other cultures

such as meat buns, cia po, abacus, and a temple also

appeared as a representation of Chinese Indonesian

life in general. In "Susi Susanti: Love All", Susi

Susanti's parents were selling meat buns. Since

childhood, Susi Susanti really likes cia po made by

her mother. Cia po or better known as "chicken steam

rice" is a type of traditional Chinese Indonesian dish

made from ayam kampong, boiled together with

various kinds of dried herbs. Cia po came from

Hokkian, which means "food that strengthens". Susi

Susanti's mother regularly provided cia po for her to

maintain her health and strength. Later on, Susi

Susanti had to separate with her parents for a while to

go to Jakarta to join the Badminton National Training,

and she missed cia po. Around that time, Alan

Budikusuma took her to eat cia po at one of the

Chinese Indonesian family restaurants.

The Chinese Indonesians as a minority in "A Man

Called Ahok" was described as having a generous

nature, they liked to help; therefore, a lot of

commoners who were in need and experiencing

material difficulties came, expecting help from them.

However, life was not always at the top, Ahok's

family had also experienced ups and downs to the

point that they had to sell some of their belongings.

During this time, the audience could see that Kim

Nam’s face (Ahok's father) was filled with sadness.

He even cried when he could no longer help others

who were in need. The Chinese Indonesians in this

film was depicted as having close ties with other

ethnicities and willing to mingle with local ethnic

groups in East Belitung. The miserly stereotype that

were often attached to the Chinese Indonesians were

not reflected in this film. Instead, the Chinese

Indonesians were described as a minority who cared

about the financial problems experienced by the local

community around them. In “Love and Faith”, Kwee

Tjie Hoei tried to help find the solution over the bank

issue that was detrimental to the lower-class society.

Kwee Tjie Hoei fought hard to be able to overthrow

his father-in-law's business partner who was greedy

for money, tormenting lower-class customers because

their money saved in the bank could not be withdrawn

by the customers. At that time, bank debt was piling

up and was on the verge of bankruptcy. After a long

fight, Kwee Tjie Hoei finally managed to pay off

bank loans to customers and slowly revived the

wheels of the company. Honesty, as one of the life

principle, instilled by Chinese Indonesian parents

since childhood was shown by Kwee Tjie Hoei and

Ahok as they grew up and worked. When Kwee Tjie

Hoei worked as a teacher, he taught his students one

of Lao Tzu’s (老子) sayings about water, which reads:

"nothing in the world is as soft as water, but nothing

excels it in penetrating the hardness of mountains.".

This Chinese proverb written by the philosopher Lao

Tzu in Tao Te Cing ( 道德经 ) chapter 8 teaches

humans to be like water. Water has a gentle nature

and provides many benefits to all without strings

attached. Humans are expected to live and imitate

water so that they can do their best, sincerely, and

genuinely, without asking anything in return (Pitoyo,

2006). Another emerging Chinese philosopher's

teaching was Sun Tzu’s (孙子兵法) war technique of

"attacking before being attacked, winning the battle

without fighting". In ancient Chinese warfare, war

was not always defined as a battle of blood and lives,

but rather a strategy of immobilizing an opponent

without slaughter. This war strategy book is widely

used and influential in Eastern and Western military

strategy. This strategy does not only function in the

military world but can also be applied in business.

The strict education of the Chinese Indonesian

family is found in the three films studied. The father

figure in the family plays an important role, being a

figure that is respected (sometimes without tolerance)

but is admired. Ahok's father, for example, said to his

wife that wealth was not taken to the grave, but the

inherited value and upbringing of parents would not

just disappear. Therefore, during his lifetime, Ahok's

father always instilled the values and life principles in

his children. They taught children to fight for

themselves since childhood just like what their

parents did when they were young, so they could live

well in the future. The persistent, hardworking and

resilient characters that were instilled by the parents

since childhood would be deeply rooted inside their

children. The figure of Kwee Tjie Hoei in "Love and

Faith" also had a high work ethic so that he was able

to manage a bank that was almost going bankrupt and

develop it into one of Indonesia's big banks, even the

existence of the bank is still standing firmly today.

Chinese Indonesian parents are also described as

people with such ambitions that their children can

achieve success, because according to them, with

high education, their children can become "valuable

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people". Parents always encourage and motivate their

children to be the pride of the country by devoting

themselves to the nation and state. Susi Susanti, for

example, was a child from a small town but had high

aspirations, namely as a reliable badminton player

who could make the nation proud. Tenacity,

persistence, and focus on goals enabled her to become

a national athlete. She was a daughter who was

touched by her victory and felt proud of herself for

realizing her father's dream of becoming the first

badminton athlete to donate an Olympic gold medal

for Indonesia even though she was a minority who

was in a dilemma about recognition of her identity.

Career and business experiences in the Chinese

Indonesian family have been passed down from

generation to generation, representing their success

and prosperity thanks to the extraordinary persistence

to achieve it.

Generous parents of Chinese Indonesian families

are also good at saving money for their children's

education. When the family's financial condition was

not good, Ahok's mother took the initiative to sell

gold deposits. Long story short, the family could

survive. As the eldest son, Ahok succeeded in taking

his master's degree in Jakarta and returned to his

homeland to devote himself to East Belitung, in

accordance with his father's dream. Likewise, Kwee

Tjie Hoei’s habit of saving that his parents taught him

from childhood was able to make him a successful

person. This breaks the general assumption of the

public that the Chinese Indonesians is an ethnic group

whose lives are rich in wealth due to the legacy of the

previous generations. Kwee Tjie Hoei's simple life

was far from being luxurious. He had to work hard to

earn a living, working day and night in restaurants,

making cakes/food to sell, polishing shoes, becoming

a Chinese schoolteacher, and repairing electronic

devices so that he could send his younger siblings to

school. The sacrifice of a brother for his younger

sibling and his family is a form of devotion towards

his parents. Within the Chinese Indonesian family,

the close relationship between siblings is heavily

emphasized. In “Susi Susanti: Love All”, Susi

Susanti’s father wanted his children to succeed in

achieving their dreams and be able to contribute to the

country.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The films "Love and Faith", "A Man Called Ahok",

and "Susi Susanti: Love All" represent the

relationship between Chinese Indonesians with locals

but those three films have not yet able to completely

change the view of the locals towards Chinese

Indonesians. The Chinese Indonesians still get the

stigma and negative stereotypes from the majority,

marked by the existence of various forms of

discrimination experienced by the Chinese

Indonesians, such as the mention of the term “slanted

eyes” referring to the shape of the Chinese

Indonesians' eyes, as well as the difficulty to gain

Indonesian citizenship. From a social point of view, it

can be concluded that the social status of the Chinese

Indonesians is the same as other ethnic communities

in Indonesia. The economic condition is also similar

to other ethnic communities, with varying financial

conditions, spreading them to the upper, middle, and

lower social classes. This can be seen from the types

of jobs occupied by the Chinese Indonesians.

Therefore, the exclusivity caused by economic

inequality is inappropriate. The Chinese Indonesian’s

culture that inherits the valuable life principles from

generation to generation is still maintained. The

moral concept of high fighting spirit, sacrifice for the

family that is deeply rooted in them is the basis for

success – as exemplified by one family member who

sacrificed for the success of other family members. A

family will always support every step its members

take. Then the fading of the use of Mandarin or local

language among Chinese Indonesians becomes a real

picture of the situation of Chinese Indonesians at that

time.

There is also no doubt about the love of Chinese

Indonesians for their homeland because the three

films clearly illustrate the efforts of Chinese

Indonesians to make Indonesia proud through their

achievements in respective fields. Indonesia has

recorded the participation and struggle of Chinese

Indonesians long since the Dutch colonial era until

now. The effort of the Chinese Indonesians to help the

people around them without seeing their differences

is proofs of what they feel that they are fully citizens

of Indonesia.

In the future, Indonesia with all its differences is

expected to provide justice and ensure equal access

for all Indonesians. Peaceful conditions among all

Indonesians can encourage sustainable development

in various aspects, to make Indonesia a strong country

in facing all obstacles in the future in accordance with

the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the

Indonesian government.

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