Situation of ethnic Chinese Christians, including treatment by Muslims and authorities as well as available protection [IDN35714.E]

For information on the situation of ethnic Chinese in general, please refer to Country Reports 1999 and Human Rights Watch Annual Report.

The only reference to the situation of ethnic Chinese Christians found in the sources consulted by the Research Directorate is in Country Reports 1999 which cites religious, socio-economic and political tension "between poor Muslims and relatively affluent ethnic Chinese Christians" for attacks on churches (2000, Section 2.d).

Without making reference to ethnic Chinese Christians an article in The Guardian reports that ethnic Chinese were allowed to openly celebrate the lunar new year for the first time since 1967 (5 Feb. 2000). The article states that under current president Abdurrahman Wahid "all the major political parties have reached out to the Chinese," including Wahid's appointment of an ethnic Chinese as senior economics minister and a "Chinese tycoon" as the chairman of a business development board (ibid.). No further information could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References


Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999. 2000. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/indonesi.html [Accessed 1 Dec. 2000]

The Guardian [London]. 5 February 2000. John Aglionby. "Indonesia's Chinese Hold a Cautious Party." http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,2763,190886,00.html [Accessed 1 Dec. 2000]

Human Rights Watch Annual Report 2000. 2000. http://www.hrw.org/wr2k/Asia-05.htm [Accessed 1 Dec. 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted


IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International

The Indonesian Daily News [Surabaya].

Indonesian Observer.

Inside Indonesia [Melbourne].

International Christian Concern (ICC).

Annual International Religious Freedom Report: 1999.

Jakarta Post.

Minority Rights Group

Minorities at Risk Center.

Search engines including:

Alltheweb

AltaVista

Dogpile

Google

Metacrawler