"What’s the matter with being Indonesian?” A Social Representation Approach to Unravel Indonesian National Identity
Having announced its independence in 1945, Indonesia is still “a state in search of a nation.” Consisted of more than 300 ethnic tribes and around 600 local languages and dialects, ruthless religious, ethnic, ideology, region conflicts, and civil war have even been intensified after the New Order regime collapsed in 1998. By using Social Representation theory, online survey research involving 114 Indonesians living in the United Kingdom is used to explore these points; how Indonesian negotiate their ethnic, religious, and national identity, the historical theme and important figures in Indonesia’s history, and the connection between ethnic, religious, and national identity and attitudes towards the New Order. Research findings suggest that national and ethnic identity, as well as ethnic and religious identity, is consensual, while the relation between religious and national identity is emancipated. Independence theme is dominant in Indonesia’s history as the Declaration of Independence and Soekarno–Hatta are the prominent event and figures. The experience being under the rule of Soeharto is positively correlated with religious identity, indicates that Soeharto’s anti-communism project is remarked as an important accomplishment from a religious community standpoint. The research also found that people are not completely happy with the regime’s achievements, but do not strongly have contempt for the regime’s policies at the same time.