The Discrimination of the Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia and Perceptions of Nationality

Since the established literature is mostly political, economic, and social histories of modern Indonesia, my thesis will establish motivations behind the context of the discrimination of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia with particular attention on how it affects the perception of ethnic Chinese Indonesian’s nationality. Most of the times in the established literature, the history, motivations, and consequences behind the discrimination of the ethnic Chinese are briefly summarized or put in as an afterthought. Most of the present day established literature is focused on how the now-allowed Chinese imports are starting to influence Indonesian culture and how post-Suharto regimes have taken steps to at least tolerate the ethnic Chinese population. Since Indonesia is such a new nation, it is important to establish why a key player in its initial start up economy was targeted for racism for so long. My thesis will use the thread of Dutch colonialism and the impact of Western ideologies of democracy and nationalism to explain the reasons behind ethnic Chinese discrimination in Indonesia. Thus, my thesis question will ask what are the reasons behind the discrimination of the ethnic Chinese and how it affected perception of ethnic Chinese Indonesian nationality. Furthermore, my thesis question will address all the sub-questions that come ! 4 with it such as do the roots stem from Dutch colonization or does it go back further than that? How can the ethnic Chinese be discriminated against socially when most of them are in the upper economic strata of the country? Do the native Indonesians consider the ethnic Chinese Indonesian to be proper citizens of Indonesia? Do the ethnic Chinese consider themselves as citizens of Indonesia or China? And how did different ruling regimes affect the perceptions of Chinese Indonesian nationality

Biochemical composition of Hevea brasiliensis latex: A focus on the protein, lipid, carbohydrate and mineral contents

International audienceThe latex collected from the Hevea brasiliensis tree is today the only commercial source of natural rubber (NR), the cis-1,4-polyisoprene polymer, a strategic raw material. The Hevea latex is a very complex material both in its structure and composition. In terms of structure, it is a colloidal dispersion where various micrometric objects, mainly rubber particles and lutoids, are dispersed in the cytoplasmic serum (C-serum). The rubber fraction is the most abundant, followed by the C-serum and the lutoids. In terms of composition, the fresh latex contains about 60% of water, 35% of cis-1,4-polyisoprene and 5% of non-isoprene molecules. These non-isoprenes are biochemical compounds mostly including proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and minerals, and their distribution in the fractions of latex is not homogeneous. Although the non-isoprenes represent a minor part of the latex, some of them are retained in NR after latex processing and recognized to play a crucial role on the NR properties. Actually, the non-isoprene molecules are likely behind the better mechanical properties of NR over its synthetic counterpart, but they are also responsible for the high variability of NR quality. This variability of NR quality is a major drawback in NR industry and is directly linked to the latex composition, which is influenced by various physical and physiological parameters. The biochemical composition of latex matters, and this chapter is thus an overview of the protein, lipid, carbohydrate and mineral contents in latex, as well as their distribution in the three main fractions of latex