India(ns) in Indonesia

 

India(ns) in Indonesia

[“In a dim, distant, unrecorded age

We had met, thou and I, -

When my speech became entangled in thine

And my life in thy life”- Rabindranath Tagore, Java, 1927]

On 25 January 2025, at the banquet hosted for the Indonesian President by President Draupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan, President Prabowo in his speech observed that he had got his DNA tested and he had Indian DNA. This created quite a ripple in India and the story resonated widely, but for those familiar with India-Indonesia relations, it was not a surprising assertion. Similarly, when two Cabinet Ministers sang, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, at the banquet, it gladdened our hearts and the video went viral. The audience was least expecting and the media was unprepared to record it. I had the presence of mind to record it on my h.p. (hapay) or mobile phone and share it with the news agency ANI.  

These two real life incidents, on one night, in fact one event, highlight both the historic and contemporary nature of our relationship. There has been inter-mixing of races for millennia and inter-marriages are responsible for the amazing diversity of races, cultures and religions in Indonesia. This archipelago or Nusantara has been at the crossroads of trade and movement of ideas between India on one side and China on the other to begin with and later it got extended to Europe during the colonial era. 

A constant reminder of our long and enduring ties is evident in several manifestations including in the language (bahasa); names of places and people; national symbols and slogans; cultural practices; harvest festivals; music (dangdut); food habits; textiles, particularly tribal weaves; folklore (wayang) and legends. No wonder our currencies have the same name, Rupiah or Rupee.

William Dalrymple’s latest book, “The Golden Road”, nicely captures the historical interactions between India and South East Asia. It was the super-highway of trade and ideas and influences spread on both sides. Tim Hannigan records in the “Brief History of Indonesia”, that by the turn of the Common Era, goods gathered in or traded through the Indonesian archipelago were reaching Europe. No one traversed the entire length of the maritime route. There were a string of way-stations and individual journeys were short. They travelled in sail boats from Southeast China to Sumatra; from Sumatra to Bengal and then around the Indian peninsula up north to the Persian Gulf. It was in this context that the Srivijaya kingdom emerged as a network of tributary states. Later, even Singosari and Majapahit in Java can be considered to be so, with Majapahit extending its writ over a large area. 

Sanskrit written in the Pallava script was the first written script in the archipelago. The Tarumanegara Prasasti (inscription) dates back to the early 5th century CE. Taruma incidentally is the Tamil for Dharma. Sanjeev Sanyal in his book, “The Ocean of Churn“, mentions that once a ruling dynasty of South India ran out of male heirs, so they imported one from South East Asia, perhaps from Sumatra. Maura Jambi in Sumatra and Nalanda were easily the Oxford and Cambridge of their times with frequent exchanges of scholars and manuscripts. 

Nalanda and Maura Jambi

The noted Bengali Buddhist monk Atisha Dipankara Srijana (980-1054 CE), born in Vajrayogini village in the historic region of Vikrampur, present day Munshiganj District of Bangladesh, was a scholar at Nalanda. In the year 1012 travelled by sea to Maura Jambi to obtain knowledge from Master Selingpa, also known as Dharmakriti, the greatest living Buddhist scholar of that time. He wrote a fabulous account of the time he spent at Maura Jambi called, “The Journey to the Master”. After spending 13 years imbibing the precious teachings from the master of Suvarnadwipa, Atisha sailed back to India in 1025, where he became the Chief Tutor at Vikramshila University.  In 1041, the King of Tibet invited Atisha to unite all aspects of Buddha’s teachings –Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Although now 61, Atisha did not hesitate and undertook once again a perilous journey, this time over the icy Himalayas. He was instrumental in revitalising Buddhism in Tibet. He is even today revered in Tibet as their most important monk. Manuscripts from Jambi to this day can be found in Tibetan monasteries. 

Interestingly, Serlingpa, in his time had also travelled to India when he was 21 to seek his master Mahasriratna. Seven days after meeting him, the master disappeared. Serlingpa looked for him all over India for seven years and on the last day of the seventh year, the master came in Serlingpa’s dream and asked him to return to Suvarnadwipa by saying that all your island’s gold is now within you. 

An excellent documentation of the relationship between Suvarnadwipa and Nalanda are the copper plates found during archaeological excavation in Nalanda. The Devapaladeva plates are the most famous, dated to 860 CE, and is a request by Balaputra, the ruler of Suvarnadvipa (Sumatra), for a grant of five villages to fund a Buddhist monastery built at Nalanda. These plates can be seen at the National Museum in New Delhi. Replicas have been made and will soon be displayed at the National Museum in Jakarta. 

Tagore who came to Indonesia in 1927 observed that he saw India everywhere he went but could not recognise it. Indonesian genius has over the centuries transformed Indian ideas and concepts and made them uniquely Indonesian. The interaction was not one way. Each side embellished the other’s gifts. Today a common breakfast food in India is idli. Not many are aware that idli originated in Indonesia. Indonesian rajas may have travelled to India with their retinue of cooks and left behind the technology of making idlis.

The most remarkable of Indian ideas converted by Indonesian genius are the Borobudur and Prambanan Temples. The Prambanan Temple is notable as at the centre of the complex is the temple of Loro Jonggrang, which contains perhaps the earliest and maybe even the greatest ever Ramayana relief ever sculpted. They surpass even those surviving in India. According to Dalrymple, they pre-date any surviving Indian Ramayana sculptural cycles by centuries. For Bengalis and particularly as this is for the Durga Puja Sankalan, it is heartwarming to note that Durga as Mahishasuramardini occupies a place of pride in the chamber next to Shiva in the Prambanan temple. Even after more than 1200 years it maintains its pristine glory. During the visit of the Indonesian President to India in January 2025, both countries agreed to work on the restoration of the Prambanan Temple. This is a bilateral project which will contemporize historical connections.

We are all aware of Hindu-Buddhist influence in Indonesia followed by Islam, which also mostly came from India. In addition, the author was himself surprised to see Jain influence. At the House of Tugu in Batavia, I encountered two wooden sculptures of King Kertanegara of Singosari dressed as a Jain monk. Enquiries with scholars including Dalrymple reveal that it is perhaps a unique specimen in SE Asia. Nowhere else have we encountered Jainism in these parts, as the origin of Jainism pre-dates Buddhism and is not known to have left the shores of India. 

No one reason can be attributed to what some scholars such as Harrington describe as the ‘Indianisation’ of the archipelago. However, what is certain is that there was no active period of expansionism with proselytization. It was more by diffusion and acculturation, over a long period of time. The Indian idea of Kingship and the King being both the temporal and spiritual head may have appealed to the Chieftains and the concept of Raja gained ground in many parts of Indonesia.  

While the historical ties of India with Indonesia are mesmerizing, there were even close ties during colonial times. In fact, in the early 19th century, when control of Indonesia passed from the Dutch to the British, due to Napoleon’s invasion of the Netherlands, Thomas Raffles, who was Lt. Governor in Singapore, was dispatched to manage affairs in Java. Yes, the same Raffles, after which a Singaporean Hotel chain is named. He was equally responsible for ransacking the Yogyakarta Keraton as well as discovering several ancient temples including Borobudur and Singosari. The account of his ransacking the Yogya Sultanate in the book, “Destiny: The Life of Prince Diponegoro of Yogyakarta, 1785-1855” by Peter Carey, is truly heart wrenching. I recollect that in April 2024, I was truly disturbed when reading the book, as I happened to stay in transit accommodation at Raffles, Jakarta as India House was under renovation. I developed uneasiness about living there as it commemorates the ruthless vandaliser Raffles, that I have not yet been able to overcome. Raffles’ boss was Lord Minto, the Governor General based in Calcutta. In fact, from his loot, he dispatched two prasastis to Minto. Upon retirement Minto took one to England and is now displayed at his family estate. The second, known as the Calcutta Stone or the Pucangan Inscription, is an ancient Javanese inscription written in Sanskrit and Old Javanese, dated to 1041 CE during the reign of King Airlangga. It explains some events and the royal genealogy of the king. The Calcutta Stone is located at Indian Museum, Kolkata. 

During the independence struggles of both countries, our nationalist leaders were in close touch with each other. We are all aware of the heroics of Biju Patnaik. India played a crucial role in the then nascent UN by repeatedly bringing Indonesia’s independence on the agenda which led to the Dutch eventually leaving Indonesia only in December 1949 after President Sukarno had proclaimed Independence on 17 August 1945. Although there are apocryphal tales of Netaji Subhash Bose having come to Jakarta to recruit British Indian soldiers to the INA, I haven’t come across any evidence. What is known however is that he transferred from one Japanese submarine to another somewhere in Sumatra on his way from Germany to Japan. Another little known fact is that when the Dutch were about to run over the Republic Capital of Yogyakarta, Sukarno even contemplated an Indonesian government in exile based in India. Luckily, the changing geo-politics of Asia and Europe finally forced the Dutch to capitulate. T. D. Kundan, a Sindhi, originally from Hyderabad in Sindh, played a crucial role during that time as not only an English speaking go-between with the British in Surabaya but also also close aide of Sukarno he helped build ties between independent India and Indonesia. No wonder President Sukarno was the Chief Guest at India’s first Republic Day celebrations in 1950. 

Indian Diaspora

Since our independence, our ties have flourished and gone through troughs and crests. But one dominating feature has been the involvement, role and presence of Indians in Indonesia. As Ambassador to Indonesia my job entails close and regular interaction with the Indian community in Indonesia. When we talk of community, we mean Indians who live in Indonesia and at the same time are aware of their links with India and maintain some sort of connection, be it familial or cultural. The community is distinct from the diaspora, which is a broader concept. The word diaspora comes from the Greek, ‘diaspeirein’ or disperse, which in turn arises from ‘dia’ meaning across, and ‘speirein’ which means scatter. In general terms when we talk of diaspora, it describes a population in a foreign land which retains to some extent its distinct identity and may or may not maintain links with the mother country. 

The diaspora in Indonesia comprises Indian nationals as well Indonesians. While it is possible to trace direct connection between Indian nationals and India, it is not always possible to do so in the case of Indonesians of Indian origin. In many cases the migration may have happened many centuries back and the assimilation is almost total. For the sake of analysis, the Indian diaspora in Indonesia can be categorised into three: i) persons of Indian origin who are totally assimilated into the local culture and population and it is next to impossible to distinguish them, yet there is some characteristic by which they can be identified. Over generations these characteristics have dissipated and they are part and parcel of the local population.  There are several regions of Indonesia where we find such populations, most notably in Sumatra. In my travels across Indonesia, I have come across communities who are aware that they are from India but have over time lost the connection. I recollect a recent trip to Jambi, where Borjo Mauro, my guide, proudly claimed to be of Indian origin but was not able to trace his origins. Notice the shirt he is wearing. It says, “Seloko’, an apabhramsa of Sholoka. 

I have even come across people being referred to as having Indian origin on the basis of facial hair. A significant community which has assimilated in Indonesia yet are distinct are the Dawoodi Bohras. As they are indistinguishable from the local population, they cannot be considered as Overseas Citizens of India unless they have documentary proof of their origins. 

The second category is recent migrants into Indonesia, over the last 100-150 years, during the colonial period. They are mostly from Sindh Province of pre-partition India, Tamil Nadu and Punjabi Sikhs. The people from Sindh came to Indonesia in pursuit of business interests or driven by entrepreneurship in the early decades of the last century. Many first came to Surabaya and then moved to other parts of Indonesia. Presently, they are mostly concentrated in Jakarta. A large percentage of the Sindhi community members are involved in the textiles trade. In fact, Tanah Abang in Jakarta can be considered as  a focal point of their textiles trade. 

Punjabi Sikhs came to Medan during the Dutch colonial rule. I have heard that as they are stoutly built, the Dutch preferred to deploy them as security guards at their banks. Being enterprising, they soon entered into businesses, mostly in sporting goods. From Medan they moved to other parts of Indonesia. Many came to Jakarta. They were initially concentrated in the Pasar Baru area, but are now in other parts. A testimony to their presence is the Pasar Baru Gurudwara. Significantly, the Tanjung Priok Gurudwara commemorated its centenary of establishment in 2025. 

Tamils mostly came to Medan and the initial idea was to replicate the experiment in Malaysia of establishing rubber plantations. They were not so successful, but nevertheless it ensured a sizable Tamil presence in the North Sumatra region. In Medan, there is even a ‘Little India’. Further north in Aceh, also there used to be a significant community, but that has diminished considerably after the 2005 tsunami. In fact, the locals in Aceh are so aware of their links with India that they say that Aceh is an acronym of Arab China Europe and Hindustan. Now Jakarta has a sizable Tamil Indonesian presence. 

As the migration happened in relatively recent times, these communities, although they are Indonesian citizens, are able to trace their roots to present day India or pre-partition India. They have familial or marital links and when established, they are entitled to the OCI card. The above two categories are termed as Persons of Indian Origin.

The third category comprises the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). They are Indian citizens and travel on Indian passports. They are in Indonesian due to professional reasons and maintain strong links with their mother land. Mostly, they are first generation in Indonesia while their children may have been born here and have Indonesian citizenship. A small minority of them have acquired Indonesian citizenship and are closely integrated in this society. Others continue to be Indians and propose to return to India once their professional duties are over. This is the only category on which we have a fix of the numbers. According to the Director General of Immigration, there are about 15,000 kitas (or resident permit) holders from India in Indonesia. 

Diplomacy and Indian Community 

The Indian Community is vibrant and closely knit into several regional and cultural/religious organisations. Some congregate around temples and places of worship, while others gravitate towards each other during festivals or events. These community organisations, such as Jaba or Tamil Sangam, fulfil the creative and cultural needs of the community. As per information available with the Embassy, as of August 2025, there are 35 such organisations. 

Some organisations have an overarching mandate and are inclusive in their agenda. India Club in this context merits special mention as it is well organised and institutionalised. It is rare to find an India Community organisation with its own office premises and staff anywhere in the world. Indo-Indians, which commemorated its silver jubilee in 2025 also acts as an important bridge builder between Indians and Indonesians. Indonesia is also fortunate to have a bilateral chamber in terms of IndCham which foments business ties and economic engagement. 

The Indian Community in Indonesia has achieved a place of pride and eminence in this country. They are considered to be extremely entrepreneurial and professional. From among the Sindhi Community several are renowned for building the local cinema industry. The Punjabi family is almost synonymous with cinema in Indonesia. A prominent Sindhi led institution is the Gandhi Seva Loka which runs a chain of quality international schools in Indonesia. At one point of time, the Embassy would recruit and deploy Indian teachers in the Gandhi School. The Indonesian Tamil community has also played an important role in maintaining ties with India. The name of Texmaco readily comes to mind. These days the likes of Pak Manivannan and Dato Govindasamy are the torchbearers of the community’s entrepreneurial spirit. The glittering Murugan Temple in Jakarta, perhaps the largest modern Hindu temple in Southeast Asia is also a result of the efforts led by the Tamil community. 

Other Indians such as Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal fame and Sri Prakash Lohia of Indorama, incidentally both from Kolkata, started their entrepreneurial journeys in Indonesia and are today globally recognised. Several others established businesses here and are a part and parcel of the Indonesian economy. Our IT experts, Chartered Accountants, and other professionals are much in demand in both domestic and foreign companies operating here. More than 100 Indian headquartered companies operate in Indonesia and Indians have established a vibrant startup ecosystem as well. Surprisingly, a company from Kolkata, Balmer & Lawrie, is the only India SOE operating in Indonesia with a manufacturing facility. This is of course in addition to our two banks, SBI Indonesia and Bank of India Indonesia. The presence of Bukaka aerobridges at Indian airports serves not only as excellent reminder of Indonesian presence in high technology in India but serves as also a connecting bridge.

As a diplomat, we find the Community and the Community Organisations as a living bridge between India and Indonesia and also a force multiplier. The trajectory of our bilateral ties will largely depend on the extent to which we work together and build constituencies and stakeholders for India in Indonesia and for Indonesia in India. 

Note: All photos by author