Indonesian diaspora

Early history

Beginning between the 5th and 7th centuries, Austronesian seafarers from the Indonesian archipelago, particularly from Kalimantan and Sulawesi, embarked on a remarkable journey across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar. These early migrants established settlements, bringing with them advanced agricultural techniques, including the cultivation of rice and bananas, as well as their language and cultural practices. The influence of these early Indonesians is evident in the Malagasy language, which retains many Austronesian elements, and in the genetic makeup of the Malagasy people, who exhibit a blend of Southeast Asian and African ancestries.

During the era of the Srivijaya Empire (7th - 13th centuries), centered in Sumatra, Indonesian traders and settlers expanded their influence throughout Southeast Asia. The Srivijaya Empire was a powerful maritime kingdom that controlled key trade routes, facilitating the movement of people and goods. Indonesian traders established communities in the Malay Peninsula, Thailand, and the Philippines, spreading their cultural and religious practices, including Buddhism and Hinduism. This period of maritime dominance laid the groundwork for further cultural and economic exchanges in the region.

The subsequent Majapahit Empire (13th - 16th centuries), based in Java, continued to expand Indonesian influence through its extensive trade networks. The Majapahit Empire was known for its powerful navy and commercial prowess, which allowed it to control trade routes and exert influence over much of Southeast Asia. Indonesian traders and settlers played a crucial role in the exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies, further integrating the region and spreading Indonesian cultural and religious practices.

During the colonial era

The Dutch colonial period (16th - 20th centuries) marked a significant shift in Indonesian migration patterns. Under the control of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which wielded authority over vast swathes of the Indonesian archipelago, Indonesians were forcibly relocated as laborers to other parts of the Dutch Empire. This included destinations such as Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. Additionally, during the 18th century, political dissidents opposing Dutch colonization were deported from Indonesia to South Africa, where they formed a community known as the Cape Malays.^[44]

Merantau culture

The practice of going abroad has been motivated by the Merantau culture of the Indonesian people since ancient times. Merantau has been associated deeply with the Minangkabau people as a cultural way of life. A Minangkabau man at the time of young adulthood (20–30 years old) is often encouraged to go abroad as part of the Minangkabau culture; this serves as a sign of manhood to accrue wealth, knowledge, and life experience.^[45] This practice can be traced to the 7th century, when Minangkabau merchants played a major role in establishing of the Malay kingdom in Jambi, which was a strategic position for trade via the Silk Road.

Other Indonesian ethnic groups such as the Bugis, Banjar, Madura, Aceh, Batak, and Javanese have also been traveling overseas to gain opportunities, experience, knowledge, and versatility.

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.^{[citation needed]} Nowadays, many Indonesian residents of Australia are either foreign students or workers, with a large number being of Chinese Indonesian heritage. Furthermore, the Cocos Malays are descendants of native Indonesians brought by the Clunies-Ross family to work in the copra industry in the 19th century.

Cambodia

According to the Interior Ministry of Cambodia, more than 100,000 Indonesian citizens lived in Cambodia.^[46] Many of them work for illegal online casino companies, sparking concerns about human trafficking.^[47]

Hong Kong

Indonesians are the second largest foreigner group after Filipinos, mainly working as female domestic helpers from Java Island. There are also several Chinese Indonesian families and students that reside in Hong Kong. Central and Wan Chai are the main districts that most Indonesians live in.

Japan

In 2013, approximately 20,000 Indonesians lived in Japan, including about 3,000 illegal Indonesians. These numbers dropped from the previous years for various reasons, including the high cost of living in Japan and the difficulty of finding jobs in Japan. Most of them are in Japan for a short term and deportation remains high for Indonesian residents. In 2022, approximately 98,865 Indonesians lived in Japan.^[48]

Malaysia

Malaysia shares a land border with Indonesia and both countries share many aspects of their culture, including mutually intelligible national languages. Populations have long moved between the areas which make up the modern-day states. Since the distinction between the two regions emerged in the early 19th century, many people from Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, which are located in modern-day Indonesia, migrated and settled in the Malay Peninsula and in Malaysian Borneo. These earlier populations have mostly effectively or partially assimilated with the larger Malaysian-Malay community due to religious, social and cultural similarities. Currently, it is also estimated that there are around 2 million Indonesian citizens in Malaysia at any given time, ranging from all types of backgrounds including a significant majority of labour migrants alongside a considerable number of professionals and students.

Netherlands

Indonesia was a colony of the Netherlands from 1605 until 1949. During and after the Indonesian National Revolution, many Moluccans and Indo people, people of mixed Dutch and Indonesian ancestry migrated to the Netherlands. Most of them were former members of the KNIL army. In this way, around 360,000 Indo people and Totoks (white people) and 12,500 persons from Maluke ancestry 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. These 372,500 first generation people and their 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation offspring account for some 1.6 million Dutch passport-holders and form as much as 10% of the overall population of the Netherlands.

Tong Tong Fair is the largest cultural festival in the world for Indonesian diaspora. Established in 1959, it is one of the oldest festivals and the fourth largest grand fair in the Netherlands. It is also the annual event with the highest number of paying visitors of the Dutch city of The Hague, having consistently attracted more than 100,000 visitors since 1993.

The Netherlands is also one of the European countries with most Indonesian students. 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). There were 1,402 Indonesian nationals enrolled in Dutch universities in 2018/2019, which makes it the 13th largest student communities in the country.^[49]

Philippines

The official number of Indonesians in the Philippines range anywhere from 43,871 to 101,720.^[36] They reside mostly in the island of Mindanao, in the Muslim parts with a noticeable community in Davao City that has an international school for the overseas community. They tend to be protective of their separate ethnic identity. Most are Muslims, while many others are also Christian, coming from Minahasan-speaking ancestry.

Qatar

There are about 39,000 Indonesian citizens in the State of Qatar according to the Indonesian Embassy.^[50]

Saudi Arabia

Indonesian pilgrims have long lived in Hejaz, a region along the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Among them was Shaykh Ahmad Khatib Al-Minangkabawi who was from Minangkabau origin in Sumatra. He served as the Imam and taught at the Shafi'i school at the Grand Mosque in Mecca during the late 19th century.^[51]

Many Indonesians in Saudi Arabia are domestic workers, with a minority of other types of labour migrants and students. Most of the santris (Islamic boarding school pupils) from Indonesia also have continued to pursue their education in Saudi, such as in the Islamic University of Madinah and the Umm al-Qura University in Mecca. A number of Indonesian expatriates in Saudi Arabia work in diplomatic sectors and local private and foreign companies, such as in the Saudi Aramco, banking companies, Saudia Airlines, SABIC, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Indomie, etc. Most Indonesians in Saudi Arabia reside in Riyadh, Jeddah, and all around the Dammam area.

Singapore

The Malays in Singapore (Malay: Orang Melayu Singapura) make up about 14% of the country's population. Most of them came from what we know today as Indonesia and southern Malaysia. In the 19th century, Singapore was part of Johor-Riau Sultanate. Many Indonesian people, mainly Bugis and Minangkabau settled in Singapore. From 1886 till 1890, as many as 21,000 Javanese became bonded labourers with the Singapore Chinese Protectorate, an organisation formed by the British in 1877 to monitor the Chinese population. They performed manual labour in the rubber plantations. After their bond ended, they continued to open up the land and stayed on in Johore. Famous Singaporeans of Indonesian descent are the first president of Singapore Yusof bin Ishak, and Zubir Said who composed the national anthem of Singapore Majulah Singapura.

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.

South Africa

South Korea

Suriname

People of Indonesian descent, mainly Javanese, make up 15% of the population of Suriname. In the 19th century, the Dutch sent the Javanese to Suriname as indentured laborers in plantations. The most famous person of Indonesian descent is Paul Somohardjo as the speaker of the National Assembly of Suriname.^[53]

Taiwan

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

The United States is home to many Indonesian students and professionals. In the Silicon Valley region of Northern California, there are many professional Indonesian-American engineers in the technology industry who are employed in companies like Cisco Systems, KLA Tencor, Google, Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, and IBM. Sehat Sutardja, the CEO of Marvell Technology Group, is a prominent Indonesian professional in the USA.^[54]

In April 2011, the Special English service of Voice of America reported on a push for American universities to attract more Indonesians to study in America in order to compete with students' preferred universities in Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia.^[55]

2024

More information Province, Total valid votes ...

Province[56]								Total valid votes
		Anies Baswedan Independent		Prabowo Subianto Gerindra		Ganjar Pranowo PDI-P
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Overseas		125,110	18.64	427,871	63.73	118,385	17.63	671,366
Total		40,971,906	24.95	96,214,691	58.59	27,040,878	16.47	164,227,475

Close

2019

More information Province, Total valid votes ...

Province						Total valid votes
		Joko Widodo PDI-P		Prabowo Subianto Gerindra
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Overseas		570,534	73.31	207,746	26.69	778,280
Total		85,607,362	55.50	68,650,239	44.50	154,257,601
Source: Tempo[57]

Close

2014

More information Votes by countries, Total votes ...

Votes by countries[58]						Total votes
		Prabowo Subianto Gerindra		Joko Widodo PDI-P
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Afghanistan	Kabul	14	36.84	24	63.16	38
Algeria	Algiers	355	51.82	330	48.18	685
Argentina	Buenos Aires	44	23.53	143	76.47	187
Australia	Canberra, ACT	114	20.11	453	79.89	567
	Darwin, NT	108	25.41	317	74.59	425
	Melbourne, Vic	778	12.21	5,594	87.79	6,372
	Perth, WA	547	15.06	3,084	84.94	3,631
	Sydney, NSW	1,505	13.31	9,799	86.69	11,304
	At-large	2,652	12.11	19,247	87.89	21,899
Austria	Vienna	87	20.23	343	79.77	430
Azerbaijan	Baku	23	33.33	46	66.67	69
Bahrain	Manama	213	52.46	193	47.54	406
Bangladesh	Dhaka	85	45.21	103	54.79	188
Belgium	Brussels	156	19.50	644	80.50	800
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Sarajevo	9	34.62	17	65.38	26
Brazil	Brasília	30	43.48	39	56.52	69
Brunei	Bandar Seri Begawan	2,825	42.99	3,746	57.01	6,571
Bulgaria	Sofia	15	27.78	39	72.22	54
Cambodia	Phnom Penh	326	29.05	796	70.95	1,122
Canada	Ottawa	70	21.59	270	79.41	340
	Toronto	188	13.49	1,206	86.51	122
	Vancouver	171	12.46	1,201	87.54	1,372
	At-large	429	13.81	2,677	86.19	3,106
Chile	Santiago	13	11.93	96	88.07	109
China	Beijing	90	10.10	801	89.90	891
	Guangzhou	125	9.10	1,248	90.90	1,373
	Hong Kong SAR	10,728	25.74	30,956	74.26	41,684
	Shanghai	98	11.05	789	88.95	887
	At-large (Mainland China)	313	9.93	2,838	90.07	3,151
	At-large (Mainland China+SARs)	11,041	24.63	33,794	75.37	44,835
Colombia	Bogotá	6	8.45	65	91.55	71
Croatia	Zagreb	6	17.14	29	82.86	35
Cuba	Havana	10	35.71	18	64.29	28
Czech Republic	Prague	32	27.35	85	72.65	117
Denmark	Copenhagen	55	15.99	289	84.01	344
East Timor	Dili	1,108	25.96	3,160	74.04	4,268
Ecuador	Quito	6	18.75	26	81.25	32
Egypt	Cairo	1,809	71.81	710	28.19	2,519
Ethiopia	Addis Ababa	23	57.50	17	42.50	40
Finland	Helsinki	31	11.61	236	88.39	267
Fiji	Suva	75	44.91	92	55.09	167
France	Marseille	57	20.88	216	79.12	273
	Paris	252	19.92	1,013	80.08	1,265
	At-large	309	20.09	1,229	79.91	1,538
Germany	Berlin	372	29.50	889	70.50	1,261
	Frankfurt	709	17.94	3,242	82.06	3,951
	Hamburg	331	21.72	1,193	78.28	1,524
	At-large	1,412	20.96	5,324	79.04	6,736
Greece	Athens	145	28.94	356	71.06	501
Hungary	Budapest	18	18.00	82	82.00	100
India	Mumbai	210	95.02	11	4.98	221
	New Delhi	57	33.33	114	66.67	171
	At-large	267	68.11	125	31.89	392
Iran	Tehran	34	17.53	160	82.47	194
Iraq	Baghdad	167	51.54	157	48.46	324
Italy	Rome	153	20.82	582	79.18	735
Japan	Osaka	746	42.00	1,030	58.00	1,776
	Tokyo	2,103	39.32	3,245	60.68	5,348
	At-large	2,849	40.00	4,275	60.00	7,124
Jordan	Amman	215	70.03	92	29.97	307
Kazakhstan	Astana	17	30.36	39	69.64	56
Kenya	Nairobi	83	32.68	171	67.32	254
Kuwait	Kuwait City	837	55.95	659	44.05	1,496
Laos	Vientiane	72	40.22	107	59.78	179
Lebanon	Beirut	62	50.00	62	50.00	124
Libya	Tripoli	76	71.70	30	28.30	106
Madagascar	Antananarivo	13	29.55	31	70.45	44
Malaysia	Johor Bahru	42,248	61.29	26,681	38.71	68,929
	Kota Kinabalu	20,790	41.84	28,905	58.16	49,695
	Kuala Lumpur	111,794	84.26	20,891	15.74	132,685
	Kuching	33,633	45.62	40,091	54.38	73,724
	Penang	10,773	55.02	8,806	44.98	19,579
	Tawau	11,933	30.33	27,412	69.67	39,345
	At-large	231,171	60.21	152,786	39.79	383,957
Mexico	Mexico City	34	26.36	95	73.64	129
Morocco	Rabat	97	62.18	59	37.82	156
Mozambique	Maputo	35	32.41	73	67.59	108
Myanmar	Yangon	229	52.53	207	47.47	436
Namibia	Windhoek	46	28.22	117	71.78	163
Netherlands	The Hague	770	19.45	3,189	80.55	3,959
New Caledonia	Noumea	71	27.20	190	72.80	261
New Zealand	Wellington	260	14.61	1,519	85.39	1,779
Nigeria	Abuja	184	34.20	354	65.80	538
North Korea	Pyongyang	6	35.29	11	64.71	17
Norway	Oslo	84	17.54	395	82.46	479
Oman	Muscat	444	47.84	484	52.16	928
Pakistan	Islamabad	168	69.71	73	30.29	241
	Karachi	71	67.62	34	32.38	105
	At-large	239	69.08	107	30.92	346
Panama	Panama City	14	30.43	32	69.57	46
Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby	168	36.92	287	63.08	455
	Vanimo	176	30.24	406	69.76	582
	At-large	344	33.17	693	66.83	1,037
Peru	Lima	20	25.64	58	74.36	78
Philippines	Davao City	912	52.47	826	47.53	1,738
	Manila	162	12.67	1,117	87.33	1,279
	At-large	1,074	35.60	1,943	64.40	3,017
Poland	Warsaw	32	21.92	114	78.08	146
Portugal	Lisbon	22	26.51	61	73.49	83
Qatar	Doha	2,087	56.96	1,577	43.04	3,664
Romania	Bucharest	27	40.30	40	59.70	67
Russia	Moscow	70	26.42	195	73.58	265
Saudi Arabia	Jeddah	5,626	51.22	5,357	48.78	10,983
	Riyadh	4,184	49.71	4,233	50.29	8,417
	At-large	9,810	50.57	9,590	49.43	19,400
Senegal	Dakar	174	28.16	444	71.84	618
Serbia	Belgrade	12	17.91	55	82.09	67
Singapore		7,639	20.16	30,250	79.84	37,889
Slovakia	Bratislava	24	36.36	42	63.64	66
South Africa	Cape Town	11	15.49	60	84.51	71
	Pretoria	26	21.31	96	78.69	122
	At-large	37	18.75	156	81.25	192
South Korea	Seoul	3,018	33.77	5,920	66.23	8,938
Spain	Madrid	140	23.45	457	76.55	597
Sri Lanka	Colombo	37	18.88	159	81.12	196
Sudan	Khartoum	268	73.83	95	26.17	363
Suriname	Paramaribo	87	32.83	178	67.17	265
Sweden	Stockholm	92	20.35	360	79.65	452
Switzerland	Bern	87	15.21	485	84.79	572
Syria	Damascus	185	91.58	17	8.42	202
Taiwan	Taipei	17,525	26.87	47,692	73.13	65,217
Tanzania	Dar es Salaam	14	31.11	31	68.89	45
Thailand	Bangkok	389	35.40	710	64.60	1,099
	Songkhla	247	34.07	478	65.93	725
	At-large	636	34.87	1,188	65.13	1,824
Tunisia	Tunis	41	49.40	42	50.60	83
Turkey	Ankara	189	76.21	99	23.79	248
	Istanbul	135	53.36	118	46.64	253
	At-large	324	64.67	217	35.33	501
Ukraine	Kyiv	5	9.09	50	90.91	55
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	1,024	54.15	867	45.85	1,891
	Dubai	720	40.89	1,041	59.11	1,761
	At-large	1,744	47.75	1,908	52.25	3,652
United Kingdom	London	805	24.79	2,442	75.21	3,247
United States	Chicago, IL	123	15.36	678	84.64	801
	Houston, TX	313	13.93	1,934	86.07	2,247
	Los Angeles, CA	421	11.97	3,095	88.03	3,516
	New York City, NY	866	16.87	4,267	83.13	5,133
	San Francisco, CA	1,283	20.89	4,860	79.11	6,143
	Washington, D.C.	277	25.39	814	74.61	1,091
	At-large	3,283	17.34	15,647	82.66	18,930
Uzbekistan	Tashkent	19	33.93	37	66.07	56
Vatican City		67	7.74	799	92.26	866
Venezuela	Caracas	31	17.71	144	82.29	175
Vietnam	Hanoi	21	14.58	123	85.42	144
	Ho Chi Minh City	110	31.61	238	68.39	348
	At-large	131	26.68	360	73.32	491
Yemen	Sana'a	1,369	92.25	115	7.75	1,484
Zimbabwe	Harare	167	31.33	366	68.67	533
At-large		313,600	46.26	364,257	53.74	677,857

Close

2009

2004