Indonesia's ethnic Chinese set to watch election from sidelines

As Indonesia goes to the polls this week, its substantial Chinese population remains wary of a role in politics. Fabio Scarpello explains why.

In Malaysia, the sizeable ethnic- Chinese population is regarded as having a kingmaker role in politics. In Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, of Chinese descent, rose to the office of the prime minister.

But in Indonesia, where more than 170 million voters go to the polls this week, the ethnic Chinese are still reluctant to participate in politics - and are sceptical about there ever being a political role for them as a group, analysts say. Benny Setiono, chairman of the Chinese-Indonesian Association, said the community was still scarred by the discrimination suffered during the 32-year Suharto regime and the anti-Chinese violence that followed his downfall.

'These abuses are still vivid in their minds, so they tend not to talk about politics. I think that among all the candidates, there are no more than 100 of Chinese descent all over Indonesia,' he said.

To put that into perspective, in Thursday's elections there are almost 12,000 candidates for the national parliament, and roughly 79,000 competing for seats in local assemblies. Chinese-Indonesians account for about 4 per cent of the country's 240 million people.

Mr Setiono added that Chinese-Indonesians' chances of being elected had diminished because of changes in the election law, with victory going to the candidate who receives the most votes rather than the one who sits atop a party list.

'But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Before, Chinese-Indonesians were asked to pay money to be placed high on the list. This is no way to go to parliament,' he said.