“A Modern History of Chinese Indonesian: The Winding Road to National Integration”(Mokusei Press, 2016)

Yasushi Sadayoshi(Professor, Graduate School of Intercultural Studies,Kobe University )

It is my great honor to receive the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize for my book, A Modern History of Chinese Indonesian: In the Winding Road to National Integration. My heart is full when I remember that my teacher of Indonesian studies, late Prof. Dr. Kenji Tsuchiya, was one of the first awardees of this prize 33 years ago. 　My book depicts the winding process of national integration of Indonesia, focusing people of Chinese descendant as the typical minority of foreign origin, who occupy 2-3 % of the multi-ethnic country’s population. I traced interactions between the Chinese people in Indonesia, surrounding society, and policies by Dutch colonial, Japanese military, Indonesian national, and China’s successive governments. I took special notice to the intellectual leaders of Chinese community who have advocated that locally born and bred Chinese should consider Indonesia as their homeland and devote themselves to movements for independence and development of the country. 　As a whole, my book proved that not only national identities of most Chinese, but also the principle of Indonesian nationalism to decide its membership, have changed from blood-based one to soil-based one, taking almost a century since the late colonial period. 　In my book such words and concepts fashionable in recent academic circles as multiple identity, diaspora minority, or trans-nationalism, seldom appear. I tried to keep plain, steady, source-based stance so that my book would be reliable for long time. I hold deep respect for the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, the selection committee and staffs in this point. 　For last but not least, I express my heartfelt gratitude to all my teachers, colleagues, librarians, publishers, friends, family members, and thousands of Indonesian people who have given various forms of support and encouragement to me. Thank you. I will climb toward higher level.

Profile
B.A. from Faculty of Literature, Kyoto University (1986) Worked for Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. (1986-1989) Studied Indonesian History at Diponegoro University (1990-91) M.A. from Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto Univer- sity (1995) Lecturer of Faculty of Cross-cultural Studies, Kobe University (1999-2001) Associate Professor of the above mentioned Faculty (2001-07) Associate Professor of Graduate School of Inter-cultural Studies (2007-12) Professor of the above mentioned Graduate School (2012) Ph. D of Kobe University (2011).