Social Identity Conflict & Inclusion in Indonesian Films: Portrayals

of Diverse Communities

Roosalina Wulandari

, Hari Kristopo

and Adilla Amelia

International Business Program, Management Program, BINUS Business School International Undergraduate Program,

Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

Fashion Design Program, Product Design Department, BINUS Northumbria School of Design, Bina Nusantara

University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

Film Department, School of Design, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

Keywords: Social Identity Theory, Content Analysis, Diverse Communities, Indonesian Films

Abstract: Identities are unique and universal. Individuals often associate and categorize themselves into groups that

they feel they share similarities with. Social Identity Theory believes that group belongingness promotes

individual and group discriminative behavior towards other groups and their members. While social identity

is developed by individuals to categorize themselves in certain groups they belong to, it also affects the

intergroup relations. Indonesia, with its diverse ethnicities and religious groups is a cultural collage. Despite

the richness of the differences, Indonesia is also highly potent with conflict rooted in the rising awareness of

segregated identity differences that promote discrimination of other group members. This study aims to

analyze how social identities are being adopted and how the dynamics are displayed when interacting with

members of different groups. A content analysis approach will be employed to capture a trend being

portrayed in Indonesian films. Selected films were identified as posing a strong message on how identities

are politicized and affect intergroup dynamics

1 INTRODUCTION

Indonesia, is rich and diverse as a nation and as a

cultural collage. Comprising more than 17,000

islands and a broad variety of ethnicities, Indonesia

serves as a melting pot strategically seated as the

largest population in Southeast Asia, and the fourth

largest in the world

Being the largest Muslim population in the

world, the group holds the majority position in

Indonesia, dominating more than 80% of the total

population. This number gives the Muslim

population of Indonesia the dominant power in

intergroup relations. Sidanius & Pratto (1999) stated

that according to the Social Dominance Theory,

most norms and social constructs applied in the

society are highly influenced by the majority power.

Social dominance often produces forms of

vigilantism that is aimed at the minority groups

whenever differences of norms and values displayed

are inconsistent with certain ideal standards that the

majority upholds. Hence, vigilantism is often seen as

a supreme aspiration of the majority in public

domain. Ahnaf and Salim (2017) also argue that

there is a significant relevance between vigilantism

and intolerance towards different standards of

ideologies and/or religious views.

In addition to that, Ahnaf and Salim (2017) also

see the conflict potential derived from a populism

development perspective, which focuses more on the

restructure of economic and political order that is

deemed as unfair and promotes injustice. These

perspectives have been well-nurtured the past few

years and significantly affect the younger

generation’s capacity to exercise tolerance in

diversity.

The latest research by CSIS (2017) tried to

portray the millennials’ social, economic and

political orientation. The result shows that 53.7% of

Millennial respondents did not accept (political)

leadership by persons with different religions. A

higher percentage (58.1%) was similarly shown by a

group of respondents that were older than the

Millennial respondent group. This result was

supported by another study by Lingkaran Survey

Indonesia/LSI in 2017 which targeted Muslim group

370

Wulandari, R., Kristopo, H. and Amelia, A.

Social Identity Conﬂict Inclusion in Indonesian Films: Portrayals of Diverse Communities.

DOI: 10.5220/0010008200002917

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social Sciences, Laws, Arts and Humanities (BINUS-JIC 2018), pages 370-374

ISBN: 978-989-758-515-9

respondents; they were surveyed about leadership

religious preferences and how they tolerate different

religions practices in their neighborhood.

The third study that also needs to be highlighted

focuses on the tolerance level of Gen-Z and a survey

was conducted by PPIM Universitas Islam Nasional

Jakarta (2017) in 34 provinces in Indonesia. Result

shows that access to social media and technology

enable Gen-Z to access websites and source of

information that promotes intolerance and

radicalism. Respondents with greater access to

internet shows higher percentage of exposure to

information that promotes intolerance and

radicalism.

Jessica Senehi (2002) stated that one of the most

effective ways to counter radicalism and promotes

tolerance was through storytelling. Constructive

storytelling was believed to be able to create positive

narratives that could alter or neutralize sources of

conflict. Storytelling was introduced as a tool to

educate and promote values in many cultures to the

younger generations.

Films as a storytelling media are deemed to be

one of the most important are very versatile and can

offer different perspectives and narratives. As a

storytelling medium, film can be understood by its

form and style. The combination of formal and

stylistic elements will create an ideological

standpoint (Boordwell & Thompson, 2013).

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Social Identity Theory

Tajfel and Turner (1979) introduced Social Identity

Theory to explain how individuals identified

themselves within a group or groups. The social

identity itself stemmed from personal identity that

developed into social identity through the process of

self-categorization, where they tried to find

similarities with certain groups then developed the

self-identification as group members before they

continued with the self-comparison towards those

outside their groups.

Social Identity Theory shows how individuals

relate their self-esteem and confidence to the groups

they belong to, and establish connections and

belongingness. In the development process of social

identity, individuals will adopt cohesion with other

group members and begin to see others outside the

group as different. This dynamic will then create

proneness to discriminating behavior towards those

outside the groups and the perception of the

outsiders as less-good. Through this stereotyping

process, Tajfel believed prejudice was created and

conflict rises.

2.2 Social Dominance Theory

Social conflicts are usually based on the struggle of

individuals or groups in society to attain bigger

power or dominance toward others. Differently from

other conflict theorists, who considered conflict as

dysfunctional in a society with highly developed

systems, Coser (1957) stated that conflict might

have functional consequences and believed that

conflict will not only generate new regulations,

rules, structures or norms, but in reality, it will shape

new realities in economic or technological changes.

We often question how conflict keeps appearing

in our modern society. In her theory, Pratto (2011)

stated that one way to explain this phenomenon is by

identifying how social groups in societies maintain

their dominance toward others. Pratto also delves

into the fact that conflict could arise from the clash

of one social group with bigger privilege and hold

disproportionate power toward other group with

little privilege or power. The classification of this

group would be based on race, sex, ages, religion,

education level or any kind of social attributes, or a

combination of these attributes. Societies portray the

privilege of the dominants and also view their way

of life as righteous, which is also viewed as the

characteristics of the society itself; meanwhile the

other groups which are categorized as the

subordinates receive smaller privilege, are

unrecognized or even stigmatized.

SDT not only focused on the structural aspect of

the societies that lead to group-based oppression, but

also at an individual level. Rather than focusing on

the form of the oppression or conflict, this theory

delved deeper into why humans keep creating group-

based hierarchies, which in the end lead to a

disproportionate share of power and privilege, and

finally create group-based oppression and conflict.

Sidanius (2016) framed the group-based hierarchies

as being of a trimorphic nature. The first nature is

‘age system’ which considered ‘adults’ as having

more privileges in terms of social, economic and

political power than ‘juveniles’. The second nature

is the ‘patriarchy’ type, which rules that ‘males’ has

greater privileges than ‘female’ groups, to various

degrees, based on culture and geographical location.

The third nature is ‘arbitrary-set’, which includes all

kind of social contributions that donate to power and

social status differences among groups, which vary

from culture to culture and could shift through the

history of human civilization.

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2.3 Social Paradigm Shift Through

Storytelling

Storytelling was a powerful medium used to

promote peace through creations of alternatives of

positive narratives amongst conflicted groups

(Senehi (2002), Luwisch (2001), Chongruksa, et al.

(2010), Milojevic & Izgarjan (2014). Luwisch

(2001) studied how the Arab and Jewish students in

Israel learned to coexist, Chongruksa, et al. (2010)

focused on the dynamics between a group of Thai-

Buddhist and Thai-Muslim students, while Milojevic

and Izgarjan (2014) explored how storytelling

evolved to promote peace in Serbia.

These studies, despite the different contexts and

conflicts, share the approval of storytelling as means

to reconstruct tolerance in the society. Perhaps one

of the reasons why storytelling is so versatile and

powerful is because it does not require literacy and

yet is still intellectually accessible (Senehi, 2002).

Furthermore, Senehi differentiated storytelling

into constructive storytelling and destructive

storytelling. The former fosters inclusivity, mutual

recognition and encourages openness, dialogue and

insights, while the latter focuses more on coercive

power and exclusionary practices (Senehi, 2002).

2.4 Narrative in Film

Film itself is a narrative, a compilation of moving

images that forms a story. These stories are a

component of the discursive practice. Previous study

state that Indonesia’s audio-visual media is shaped

by the national popular discourse and the realities of

the imagination of daily-life practices [16]. Bordwell

and Thompson [7], states that film creates

symptomatic meaning which bears traces from a

particular set of social values. This meaning comes

from a system of cultural beliefs about the world

such as religion, political opinion, social class, even

our own preferred live values. These beliefs become

references to the filmmaker, how they view the

world and how they want their audience to

understand it. Whether filmmakers intend to create

specific meaning or not, a film enacts ideological

meaning through its form.

3 DISCUSSION

3.1 Tanda Tanya

3.1.1 Synopsis of Tanda Tanya

‘Tanda Tanya’ meaning ‘question mark’, is a film

directed by Hanung Bramantyo which was released

in Indonesia at 2011. The storyline of the movie

follows the interaction between three families with

different backgrounds, that lives in Semarang during

early 2010. With a background theme of religious

pluralism, the conflict rose between these characters

and portrayed the reality of interfaith and intergroup

relations in Indonesia.

Menuk, one of the main characters, was a devout

Muslim that worked in a Chinese restaurant, named

Canton Chinese Food, managed by Tan Kat Sun, an

ethnic Chinese Indonesian who was portrayed as a

devout Buddhist practitioner with his wife. He was

running his restaurant with respect for his staff and

customers’ faith and also gave permission for his

staffs to do their religious rituals, although they have

different faiths and beliefs. Due to his health

condition, he is planning to hand down his business

to his son, Hendra, who was previously Menuk’s

love interest.

Menuk in this movie was portrayed as a faithful

wife to Soleh. Soleh was a character that had his

own complexity on how to be a good husband, be a

devout practitioner of Islam and a role model in

society. Despite his unemployed status, finally he

could get a position as Banser, that he felt to be an

ideal work status, for not only was he able to provide

for his family but also serve his God.

Another main character in this movie is Rika,

Menuk’s close friend, a Catholic converted widow

with Abi, her Muslim son. She is involved in a

relationship with Surya. Surya is a Muslim and he is

an actor with complications in its portfolio as an

actor. For the past 10 years living his life as an actor,

he never got a main role and usually only got a role

as minor antagonists. He is very conflicted when he

gets an offer to play a role as Jesus in an Easter and

Joseph in a Christmas celebration in the Church.

3.1.2 Points of Analysis

Social Identity Theory focuses on taking a snapshot

of how individuals with their social identities

compare themselves with individuals in the out-

groups. Among the movies analyzed in this paper,

Tanda Tanya represents the most complex conflict.

Some of the scenes also displayed delivery of hate

BINUS-JIC 2018 - BINUS Joint International Conference

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speeches towards different interacting groups of race,

ethnicity and religions, also discriminating behavior

and prejudices, and was not in any way subtle. The

characters in the movie were portrayed as possessing

strong religious identities but at the same time

hinting awareness of the intergroup relations and

social dynamics. The conflict portrayed was obvious

through prejudice and discriminating behavior

between individuals of different group members.

In the last segments of the movie, strong elements

of peace-building were introduced. Promotion of

tolerant activities was inserted in the form of scenes

where Surya was being entrusted to play Christian

character for the second time as Joseph, the Buddhist

restaurant contributed in providing catering for the

Christmas Eve celebration, the pastor who advised

his parish to be more understanding and tolerant

towards Surya, and the Banser troops guarding the

church outside to provide safety assistance.

3.2 Ngenest

3.1.1 Synopsis of Ngenest

The plot revolved around the life of Ernest, a young

ethnic Chinese Indonesian man, experiencing

bullying growing up due to his ethnicity and

struggling to understand his social identity. Being

bullied made him determined to prevent his children

from having similar experience. Therefore, he was

made his best efforts to find a spouse of non-Chinese

descent [pribumi or tiko] so that he can have not-so-

Chinese looking children to protect them from the

risk of being bullied.

When he finally dated a Sundanese mixed-

Javanese woman, he had to face a problem where his

girlfriend’s father applied a stereotype that all

Chinese-descendants are fraudsters and cannot be

trusted. But time seemed to solve the problem and

they finally got both parents approval to get married.

After a few years of being married and still not

conceiving babies due to Ernest’s maximum effort to

use birth control, this escalates into conflict. Ernest

had an internal conflict that he did not share with his

wife regarding the fear he had that his offspring

would turn out to look like very much like him.

3.1.2 Points of Analysis

The story highlighted internal conflict that Ernest

faced due to his identity as an Indonesian of Chinese

descent. His social identity development began when

he understood his ethnic-based identity was outside

of the majority group in his school. Growing up as a

member of the minority group, he also faced with

many stereotypes attached to his ethnicity that put

him in the vulnerable position of being discriminated

based on people’s prejudices. Realizing that his

ethnicity would continue to suffer from

discrimination and prejudices, Ernest was

calculative about having children to continue his

bloodline, knowing that the children will have to

face similar issues.

Based on Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory, the

main character in the movie (Ernest) developed his

social identity as a Chinese Indonesian through the

experience of being bullied due to his ethnicity. His

self-categorization began with the ideation of his

different physical appearance from most of his

classmates, which was being called out often by a

group of bullying classmates. He then identified

similarities with his friend Patrick, who was also of

Chinese Indonesian descent. Being minorities, they

associated with each other and protected each other

as an in-group, against the bullying of their

classmates (the out-group).

Patrick and Ernest have their differences in

perceiving the identification of their ethnicity.

Patrick was more confident being a minority while

Ernest struggled with acceptance. Therefore, Ernest,

who was dissatisfied with his social identity, tried to

have more shared similarities with the majority

group by making an effort to befriend the classmates

who bullied him and Patrick.

4 RESULT AND CONCLUSIONS

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CONFLICT MAPPING MOVIE TITLE

Tanda

Tanya

Ngenest

Identity based conflic

 Race & Ethnicity

 Gende

X -

 Religion

X -

 Social Status

Personal bias toward other groups X

Prerequisite Conflic

Internal Identity Conflic

Dominance-

ased Violence X -

Conflict Resolution X

Peacebuilding Effor

Generation of New Norms

Toward Inclusivity X

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● Existing and trending social identity conflict

Based on the mapping of the conflicts found in the

three films, the trend shows similarities of the

fundamentals. The common trend shared among the

films show that a prerequisite conflict must exist in

order for a conflict to escalate. The prerequisite

conflict enhanced by the personal bias towards

members of different groups based on an

individual’s social identity conflict stemmed

significantly as the basis of the conflict escalation.

Each of the films tried to provide the audience with

sufficient complexity of the context and the

dynamics of the interacting group members.

● Film as a constructive storytelling medium

Being a medium of storytelling and claiming the

power to be able to offer alternative perspective

towards issues and contexts, film highlight gestures

of conflict resolution through peacebuilding

initiatives that promote tolerance and inclusivity.

This purpose of film as a storytelling medium was

represented well in all three movies and reflected the

idealism of the filmmaker as a storyteller to

introduce an alternative of a constructive perception

to the current existing social frames.

● Sustainability

Promotion of tolerance and inclusivity does not

occur instantly. It demands a long-term of collective

efforts to ensure sustainability. Exploration of ways

to create an alternative perception and positive

narrative is essential and should be encouraged

through different learning mediums. Embedding

educational curriculum and integrate the concept in

academic context will help expose more people to be

exposed to the idea of preserving positive narratives

to establish peace and tolerance. And as storytelling

is recognize as a powerful educational tool in many

cultures, inserting storytelling in mediums will help

putting context into relevance.

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