Overseas Indonesians

Overseas Indonesians

Total population
(8 million (est)[1])
Regions with significant populations
Malaysia	est 2,500,000
Saudi Arabia	est 1,800,000[2]
Netherlands	est 350,000[3]
Singapore	est 200,000
Taiwan	161,000[4]
Hong Kong	102,100
United States	101,270
United Arab Emirates	100,000[5]
Suriname	90,000[6]
Australia	86,196[7]
Philippines	43,871
Qatar	39,000[8]
South Korea	33,195[9]
Japan	30,567[10][11]
Canada	14,300
United Kingdom	9,624 (2011)
New Caledonia	7,000
Macau	6,269[12]
Languages
Indonesian, Javanese, Minangkabau, Buginese, other Indonesia languages, English, Chinese
Religion
Majority Sunni Islam · Christianity · Hinduism · Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Native Indonesians, Chinese Indonesians

Overseas Indonesians people of Indonesian origin who live outside Indonesia. This term applies to people of Indonesian birth and descent who are citizens or residents of temporary status.

History

Many Indonesians go abroad as students, or labourers (known as TKI). Most of them settle in Malaysia, UAE, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Netherlands, United States, and Australia.

Indonesians Worldwide

Malaysia

An estimated 2,500,000 Indonesian citizens are in Malaysia at any given time, due to a constant migration since the age of antiquity from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Celebes, the number of Malaysians with some Indonesian ancestry may be up to millions more.

United Arab Emirates

Qatar

There are about 39,000 Indonesian citizens in the State of Qatar according to the Indonesian Embassy.^[8]

Singapore

According to the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore, as of 2010 there are 180.000 Indonesian citizens in Singapore. As much as 80.000 work as domestic helpers/TKI, 10.000 as sailors, and the rest are either students or professionals. But the number can be higher as registering one's residence is not compulsory for Indonesians, putting the number to around 200.000 people. Singaporean citizens of Indonesian descent make the bulk of the Malay population in Singapore.

Netherlands

Indonesia was the colony of the Netherlands. In the early 20th century, many Indonesian students studied in the Netherlands. Most of them lived in Leiden and were active in the Perhimpoenan Indonesia (Indonesian Association). During the Indonesian National Revolution, many Moluccans and Indo people, people of mixed Dutch and Indonesian ancestry migrated to the Netherlands. Most of them were ex-KNIL army. In this way around 12,500 persons were settled in the Netherlands. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Denny Landzaat, Roy Makaay, Mia Audina, and Daniel Sahuleka are notable people of Indonesian ancestry from the Netherlands.

United Kingdom

United States

In the United States, most Indonesians are students and professionals. Boston University and Harvard University are examples of favourite universities for Indonesians. In the Silicon Valley region of Northern California, there are many professional Indonesian-American engineers in the high-tech industry that are employed in companies such as Cisco Systems, KLA Tencor, Google, Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, and IBM. Sehat Sutardja, CEO of Marvell Technology Group, is one of the successful Indonesian professional in USA.^[13]

In April 2011 the Special English service of Voice of America reported on a push for American universities to get more Indonesians to study in America as part of reaching out fast-growing economies like Indonesia in order to compete with students' preferred universities in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.^[14]

Saudi Arabia

Most of Indonesians in Saudi Arabia are female domestic workers, with a minority of other types of labour migrants and students. Most of the santri extension studied in Saudi, as well as Islamic University in Madina.

Australia

Before Dutch and British sailors arrived in Australia, Indonesians from Southern Sulawesi have explored the Australia northern coast. Each year, the Bugis sailors would sail down on the northwestern monsoon in their wooden pinisi. They would stay in Australia for several months to trade and take tripang (or dried sea cucumber) before returning to Makassar on the dry season off shore winds. These trading voyages continued until 1907.

Suriname

The Indonesian people, mainly Javanese, make up 15% of the population of Suriname. In the 19th century, the Dutch sent the Javanese to Suriname as contract workers in plantations. The most famous person of Indonesian descent is Paul Somohardjo as the speaker of the National Assembly of Suriname.^[15]

Japan

In 2013 approximately 20,000 Indonesians living in Japan, including about 3,000 illegal Indonesians. These numbers dropped from the previous years because of various reasons, reasons include the high cost of living in Japan and the difficulties to find jobs in Japan. Most of them are in Japan for short term and deportation remains high for Indonesian residents.

Hong Kong

South Korea

Philippines

Taiwan

See also

• Cape Malays
• Cocos Malays
• Overseas Acehnese
• Overseas Minangkabau
• Indonesian migrant worker

References

1. "Memanfaatkan Diaspora Indonesia". Tempo.co. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
2. Prahadi, Yeffrie Yundiarto (10 June 2015). "Ada 1,8 Juta Diaspora Indonesia di Belanda". Swa.co.id. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
3. Simamora, Adianto P. (25 June 2011). "Saudi Arabia decision not emotional: SBY". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
4. "Indonesia, Taiwan sign agreement on migrant protections". The Jakarta Post. 30 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
5. Ruiz, Ramona (30 May 2012). "Indonesian envoy wants fewer maids sent to UAE". thenational.ae. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
6. "Javanese, Suriname". Joshua Project. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
7. "Browse Statistics". Abs.gov.au.
8. Snoj, Jure (18 December 2013). "Population of Qatar". Bqdoha.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013.
9. "Korea Immigration Service Statistics 2013" (PDF). immigration.go.kr. 2013. p. 378. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
10. Sakurai 2003: 33
11. Sakurai 2003: 41
12. "Macau Population Census". Census Bureau of Macau. May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
13. "Meet Marvell" (PDF). Forbes Magazine. 14 August 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2006.
14. Ember, Steve; Schonhardt, Sara (13 April 2011). "A Push to Get More Indonesians to Study in US". VoA. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
15. "English Not On Menu For Wednesday's Press Briefing". Malaysian National News Agency. 22 September 2005. Retrieved 24 June 2016.