Published July 3, 2026

We Remain: Stories of Indonesian American Experiences

A new book illustrates what it's like to be Indonesian in New Hampshire.

This is an excerpt of We Remain: A Comics Collection of Indonesian Americans in New Hampshire. Download the full anthology here.

This vignette represents an important slice of New Hampshire’s recent history. It is excerpted from We Remain: A Comics Collection of Indonesian Americans in New Hampshire, edited by Monica Chiu (University of New Hampshire), and the product of many voices, volunteers, and drawing hands. It is an ethno-graphic work using the practice and pleasure of cartooning to unite difficult stories about emigration and racial living among Indonesian religious asylees in Somersworth and Dover, New Hampshire.

Chiu is a scholar invested in the complex experiences of Asian/Americans in New England. The Indonesian Americans of We Remain are Christian religious asylees. According to M.C. Ricklefs in A History of Modern Indonesia, the rise of a violent and stringent form of Islam in the 1960s encouraged a turn to Christianity (333). By the 1990s, the religiously divided nation experienced riots that persuaded Christians to seek homes beyond their nation. Some came to New Hampshire.

By 2017, many such asylees had been raising families and working in the state since the late 1990s and early 2000s, but on expired tourist visas. They feared discrimination, torture, and other retribution at “home,” as nearly 90% of the Indonesian population in that nation practices Islam, not Christianity (Eveline Yang n.p.).

We Remain highlights the fears of asylum constraints that haunted many of New Hampshire’s Indonesian residents during Trump’s 2017 executive attempts to suspend decisions regarding asylum. These anxieties returned exponentially on 2024 re-election. Hence, the collected vignettes—not all about possible deportation—are a timely introduction to local Indonesian American neighbors who contribute to the economy, raise families, practice their religion, attend college, and embrace the Granite State of New Hampshire. Such stories provide context behind who helps to build our communities.

Works Cited

Fernandez, Megan. “Celebrating Indonesian Independence Day: Dover, Somersworth Raise Indonesian Flags.” Foster’s Daily Democrat 18 August 2021. https://www.fosters.com/story/news/2021/08/18/dover-somersworth-nh-celebrate-indonesia-independence-day/8162548002/. Accessed 7 June 2024.

Ricklefs, M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1200. 4th ed. Stanford UP, 2008.

Shea, Lois R. “This Benefits the Whole Community.” New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. https://www.nhcf.org/what-were-up-to/this-benefits-the-whole-community/. Accessed 22 March 2024.

Yang, Eveline. “Indonesian Americans.” Countries and Their Cultures. https://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Indonesian-Americans.html. Accessed 22 March 2023.