The Indonesian word cina, literally meaning Chinese, has a very strong negative racial connotation. The use of officially approved words and terms with very strong negative racial connotations to describe Indonesians of Chinese descent, has the effect of building a thick dividing wall between ethnic Chinese citizens and all other ethnic groups. This stigmatization of the Chinese ethnic group is also further supportedby the assimilation policy adopted by the government, which implies that being Chinese is something which should be hidden, condemned and as much as possible minimized in order to blend in with the rest of society. This in turn detrimentally affects ethnic Chinese Indonesians both psychologically and physically. Religious affairs have been a highly regulated aspect of Indonesian society.
Segregation based on religion is obvious from the restraint placed on interreligious marriages.
Further, many religions are seen as undeserving of official recognition. The Chinese belief of Confucianism, for instance, is one such religion. Again here discrimination targeted at the ethnic Chinese comes into play. Not surprisingly, this is also a basis on which many riots and atrocities have occurred in Indonesia, most markedly during 1999 when racial and ethnic issues triggered much mass violence. Discrimination at its most extreme manifestation took the form of warfare between religious groups, mass killings of civilians of a certain religion, destruction and burning of places of worship.