<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Concurrent with the inception of the nation states of Indonesia and Malaysia in the middle of the twentieth century, ethnic policies were put into practice to destroy the Chinese cultural heritage that had hitherto been regarded as a vital part of the region’s heterogeneous cultural landscapes. Chinese language, organisations, and religious practices were banned, and architecture and artefacts with Chinese symbols or insignia either looted or destroyed. To what extent have these discriminatory agendas further influenced and shaped contemporary Chinese cultural heritage discourse? To answer this question this article starts with an introduction to the anti-Chinese agenda from Independence onwards, which is followed by two case studies from the field of cultural heritage: the organisation Boen Hian Tong in Semarang on Java in Indonesia, and the NGO Penang Heritage Trust in Malaysia. The research is based on fieldwork carried out in Indonesia and Malaysia in 2014–2015.</p>
</abstract>

Concurrent with the inception of the nation states of Indonesia and Malaysia in the middle of the twentieth century, ethnic policies were put into practice to destroy the Chinese cultural heritage that had hitherto been regarded as a vital part of the region’s heterogeneous cultural landscapes. Chinese language, organisations, and religious practices were banned, and architecture and artefacts with Chinese symbols or insignia either looted or destroyed. To what extent have these discriminatory agendas further influenced and shaped contemporary Chinese cultural heritage discourse? To answer this question this article starts with an introduction to the anti-Chinese agenda from Independence onwards, which is followed by two case studies from the field of cultural heritage: the organisation Boen Hian Tong in Semarang on Java in Indonesia, and the NGO Penang Heritage Trust in Malaysia. The research is based on fieldwork carried out in Indonesia and Malaysia in 2014–2015.

In the Tortuous Shadows of Ethnic Policies: Two Case Studies of Chinese Cultural Heritage in Indonesia and Malaysia

Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Concurrent with the inception of the nation states of Indonesia and Malaysia in the middle of the twentieth century, ethnic policies were put into practice to...

In the Tortuous Shadows of Ethnic Policies: Two Case Studies of Chinese Cultural Heritage in Indonesia and Malaysia

Published Online: Aug 13, 2021

Page range: 141 - 176

Received: Dec 21, 2020

Accepted: Jan 25, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/vjeas-2021-0005

Keywords
Chinese descendants in South East Asia, ethnic policies, cultural heritage, qualitative research, Indonesia, Malaysia

© 2021 Gabriella Voss, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In the Tortuous Shadows of Ethnic Policies: Two Case Studies of Chinese Cultural Heritage in Indonesia and Malaysia

Published Online: Aug 13, 2021

Page range: 141 - 176

Received: Dec 21, 2020

Accepted: Jan 25, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/vjeas-2021-0005

KeywordsChinese descendants in South East Asia, ethnic policies, cultural heritage, qualitative research, Indonesia, Malaysia

© 2021 Gabriella Voss, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Chinese descendants in South East Asia, ethnic policies, cultural heritage, qualitative research, Indonesia, Malaysia