Good governance and ethnic minorities in Indonesia: An administrative law study of the Chinese and Turkish communities with a comparison to the Netherlands

This research attempts to investigate the problems that affect ethnic minorities from an administrative law viewpoint, and more specifically, a good governance perspective. Generally speaking, ethnic minorities are often discriminated against.Ethnic minorities are a vulnerable group of people who often lack access to public services, and are often victims of maladministration and frequent human rights violations. From an administrative law perspective, the concept of good governance is concerned with the norms for the government and the legal protection for the people, including ethnic minorities. Sometimes, governments are challenged in their ability to faithfully act on principles, including: legal certainty, equality, proportionality, carefulness, and avoiding misuse of power and arbitrariness. If governments engage in maladministration, mismanagement, corruption, and misuse of power, the implementation of the norms for the government may be suspended. Furthermore, when a government engages in maladministration, mismanagement and so on, vulnerable groups — including ethnic minorities — are likely to be amongst the worst affected.
This research discusses the position of Chinese and Turkish communities in Indonesia. problems pertaining to maladministration and discrimination are analysed from the perspective of good governance. Specific examples and cases are addressed. In Indonesia, for example, Chinese-Indonesians struggle to access public services due to the requirement of proof of citizenship (SBKRI). Land and properties of certain Chinese organisations have been arbitrarily confiscated, and many Chinese-Indonesians were forced to assimilate through ‘changing-name’ during the New Order era (1967-1998). At the present time, Chinese-Indonesians still face many problems based on their ethnicity, including an inability to owning land in Yogyakarta.
Meanwhile, Turkish communities in Indonesia have experienced problems of maladministration. For example, the one case of arbitrary detention by Indonesian Immigration Affairs. However, the Indonesian legal systems have adequate regulations to protect Chinese and Turkish communities. The Indonesian legal system has also covered the concept of good governance, which may toughen the norms for government and legal protection of ethnic minorities. In addition, this research compares the legal system of Indonesia with that of the Netherlands. This research found differences and similarities in terms of the norms and legal protection concerning ethnic minorities in both respective countries. Furthermore, the findings of comparative law in this research may establish a new concept of good ethnic minority governance.