Indonesia's Indian Community

Anjeli Kaur, 21, was born in the North Sumatran city of Medan in Indonesia and identifies as Tamil-Indonesian. Her grandmother was the first member of Anjeli’s family born in the country. As Anjeli explains, “I feel Indian even though I’ve never been there and I don’t have any family or friends living in India.”

There are thought to be between 40,000 and 75,000 Indian-Indonesians living in North Sumatra, although firm data is difficult to come by as census documents no longer list ethnicity in Indonesia. Most Indian-Indonesians are Tamil. According to Tamilnation, a website dedicated to providing information about the Tamil diaspora in Indonesia, “The Tamils were brought in by the Dutch in the early build-up of the plantation industry, probably in the 1830s.”

When the Dutch colonial period came to an end in the 1940s, “5,000-10,000 Tamils stayed on in North Sumatra, mainly in Medan, but also in Binjai and Lubuk Pakam (…) The Tamils have remained in North Sumatra except for a few hundred families in Jakarta and the Tamils that went to Sigli in Aceh.”

Due to relatively low numbers of Tamil residents in Indonesia compared to other groups, such as Chinese-Indonesians, who number around 2.8 million, this community often operates under the radar. Many Chinese-Indonesians have risen to national prominence in Indonesia such as the former governor of Jakarta, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, and flamboyant businessman Hary Tanoesoedibjo. In contrast, Indian-Indonesians have struggled to gain similar recognition in politics and business.

Anjeli works in Shakira Kaur, a sari shop in the “Little India” district of Medan. Known as Kampung Madras, the district is a small pocket of land in the city center filled with Indian shops and restaurants, and bordered by two Hindu temples. Shakira Kaur is a typical Tamil-inspired establishment in Kampung Madras, and is filled with mannequins dressed in elaborate saris, some of which sell for up to 4,000,000 rupiahs (roughly $290) as they are encrusted with real Swarovski crystals.