Chinese cemeteries in Indonesian colonial and post-colonial urban areas: Resistance, urban expansion, nationalistic aspiration, and post-colonial governmentality

Abstract

Chinese quarters played a significant role in numerous Southeast Asian port cities, with Chinese trading communities thriving for hundreds of years. The proof of the importance of these communities is evident in the presence of Chinatowns and Chinese cemeteries, serving as places for both living and death, in several coastal cities in Southeast Asia. This study investigates Chinese cemeteries in Semarang’s spatial city structure during the colonial period and the gradual transformation of these cemeteries in post-colonial Indonesia amidst turbulent urban development and political conditions. In post-colonial Southeast Asia, city development serves as a platform for nationalistic aspirations. This article explores the roles of Chinese cemeteries as an act of subversion against colonial laws and their gradual disappearance due to city expansion in post-colonial Indonesia. The exploration through the colonial policies concerning land and the placement of the Chinese community, followed by post-colonial policies and urban governmentality on city development and real urban growth practices, provides an opportunity to discuss the roles of Chinese cemeteries for the Indonesian Chinese community in Semarang and their fate in post-colonial urban areas of Indonesia.