CHINESE-NATIVES RELATIONS IN CIREBON IN TRADITIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

  • Author: Nurhata 
  • From: STKIP Pangeran Dharma Kusuma Indramayu

Abstract:

This study aims to know how the relationship between the Chinese and the Natives in Cirebon from the 15th to the early of 20th century, based on the traditional historiography of the Negarakrtabhumi manuscript, Carita Purwaka Caruban Nagari, Babad Cirebon, Babad Darmayu and Sedjarah Koentjit. This research is diachronic by using analytical descriptive method. In the manuscript of Negarakrtabhumi, Carita Purwaka Caruban Nagari, and Babad Cirebon affirmed that the Chinese-Natives relations in the land of Cirebon in the 15th-16th century went harmoniously. The relationships between them are mutually beneficial, without any obstacles. Meanwhile, the manuscripts of Babad Darmayu and Sedjarah Koentjit tell the contrary, their relationship is split. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Chinese were considered by the Natives have extorted and tormented the people, so that they were often subjected to do rebellion and forced them out of Cirebon. In that area their existence was related to the policy of Preanger Stelsel (1686) as well as the events of the Geger Pecinan (1740-1743) in Batavia. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were anti-Chinese movements in Cirebon, Majalengka, and Indramayu. The natives demanded equality of material wealth over the Chinese, by cutting the pigtail. The anti-Chinese movement by the santri is a form of expression that the natives were in power over their own homeland. Thus, for about six centuries, Chinese-Natives relations in Cirebon as described above are strongly influenced by economic problems.

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