INTRODUCTION

The political, social and economic fabric of Indonesia has undergone rapid transformation since 1998. The transition to democracy under four presidents, a vociferous demand for more voice and freedom, rising expectations, an Islamic resurgence and the tumultuous economic adjustment have all affected people living in Indonesia in a variety of ways. The apparent social stability experienced until the onset of 1997 financial crisis had created expanding opportunities for many people in Indonesia. Indians living in Indonesia were no exception to the transformation experienced by all people in Indonesia.

Twenty-first century Indonesia is home to various groups of people from the Indian sub-continent. Indians are predominantly found in North Sumatra and Jakarta (Mani 1993a, 1993b). As their migration and settlement have been described earlier (Sandhu and Mani 1993), this chapter will discuss the contemporary position of Indians in Indonesia. The first section of the chapter comments on the population and settlement patterns observed among Indians in the last two decades. The second section highlights the processes among different communities of Indians in Indonesia. The third section examines the economic profile of the Indians. The section would also comment on the meteoric rise and fall of Marimuthu Senivasan, the most prominent Indian in the last two decades of twentieth century Indonesia. The subsequent section examines the social processes among the Indians and their struggle to retain their identities in a rapidly changing Indonesia. The concluding section highlights the trends among Indians in Indonesia.

POPULATION AND SETTLEMENT

The social profile of Indians in Indonesia has seen a sea change in the last two decades. Prior to the 1980s, Indians were largely to be found in two regions of Indonesia. There were the Tamils and Sikhs settled largely in North Sumatra Province, and the business community of Sindhis and Sikhs found in Jakarta and in a few other cities in Java. In present-day Indonesia, such categorization of Indians is too simplistic to account for the changes that have taken place in the composition and settlement of Indians. There are still the established businesses of Indians in Jakarta and the communities of Sikhs and Tamils in North Sumatra.