Indonesian British

Indonesian British people are citizens or full time residents of the United Kingdom whose ethnic origins lie fully or partially in the South Asian nation of Indonesia.

History and Settlement
The first Indonesians came as businesspeople, students and most of all, refugees during the mid 1960s. This conincided with then ruler Sukarno moving Indonesia from democracy towards authoritarianism, maintaining his power base by balancing the opposing forces of the Military, and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). An attempted coup on 30 September 1965 was countered by the army, who led a violent anti-communist purge, during which the PKI was blamed for the coup and effectively destroyed. As a result, between 500,000 and one million people were killed and many fled the country to safe havens in Europe, Australia and most of all, the UK.

Population and Distribution
According to the 2001 UK Census, 20,000 Indonesian born people were reciding in the UK, however ancestral numbers are unknown, as people of Indonesian descent born in the UK were not recorded. The main cities in Britain with a significant Indonesian population are London, South East England, the South Coast, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

See Also
*East Asian people in Britain

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