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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Chinese cemeteries in Semarang

Chinese cemeteries in Semarang, this study seeks to answer To better understand the dynamics of Chinese
the following questions: cemeteries in colonial and post-colonial Semarang, we
(i) How did the Chinese-Indonesians secure places for overlaid the map of Chinese cemeteries onto the maps of the
their cemeteries despite the strict urban management city planning plan and actual city expansion. Furthermore,
policies during colonial times? an analysis was conducted to observe changes in the city
(ii) How did the Chinese cemeteries vanish under post- planning plans over time. This article will expound on how
colonial urban management in Indonesia? the city planning plans and actual city expansion affected
each other and contributed to the transformation of
2. Methods Chinese cemeteries in the city into urban kampungs. This
This study employed fieldwork, literature review, and analysis investigated Foucault’s theory of governmentality,
policy analysis as its research techniques. The fieldwork as highlighted by post-colonial scholars, in which relations
was carried out in 2019 in collaboration with the local of rule are resisted or negotiated (Li, 1999).
Chinese community in Semarang. The primary goal was 3. Colonial and post-colonial governmentality
to discover and document all of the city’s Chinese graves.
Documenting and creating a catalog were challenging since According to Foucault, governmentality involves managing
very few graves remained in the former Chinese cemeteries. a population’s conduct by applying techniques that can be
Along with the Chinese community records, the author either visible or invisible, drawing on knowledge of the
(Kezia Dewi) used the results of the documentation activity population to arrange things in a certain way to conduct
to determine the dates of the cemeteries. The locations them properly (Foucault, 2007). While, the main objective
identified during the fieldwork were mapped onto a colonial of the government is to secure the health and well-being
map from Nederlandsch-Indische Levensverzekering- en of the population (Foucault, 2000a). However, this was not
Lijfrente-Maatschappij (NILLMIJ). always the case in colonial territories, where the colonial
government’s primary goal was to enrich the colonizer.
Reconstructing the presence and transformations of
Chinese cemeteries in the city necessitated a review of Although Foucault never explicitly wrote about space,
the literature, particularly within the historical context, he did consider spatial rationalities and the link between
including policies from the colonial to post-colonial space and power. He argued that space is fundamental
periods. The main sources for the chronology of the in any form of communal life and in any exercise of
Chinese community in Semarang are Liem Thian Djoe’s power (Foucault, 2000b). Power structures are frequently
book (Liem, 2004) and Pratiwo’s thesis (Pratiwo, 1996). inscribed in space, making space a central object of rule
Aside from the work of Salmon (2016a; 2016b; 2021), (Onwuzuruigbo, 2014).
there is little scientific literature on this topic, and most Post-colonial scholars highlighted that governmentality,
existing literature is outdated. In general, the literature as the management of “conduct of conduct,” is associated
about the Chinese community in Indonesia primarily with the notion of freedom. This is because government, in
comes from the field of anthropology, or, if it pertains to this sense, entails human beings who can act and choose
architecture and urbanism, it focuses on the preservation to do something different from the initial objective of the
of Chinatown and its buildings. As a result, literature on regulation (Dean, 2010). Government rationalities were
Chinese cemeteries of other Southeast Asian cities was also contested by active subjects (and subjecting) populations,
gathered as references. who always “retained the capacity to act otherwise” (Li,
2007, p. 17).
Claudine Salmon wrote several articles about Chinese
cemeteries, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. Her 4. Semarang: From Dutch colonial
research covers many aspects of Chinese cemeteries from trading port to the capital city of central
the VOC era to the 21 century. She mentioned that the
st
government of the Republic of Indonesia was involved Java province
in the disappearance of Chinese cemeteries. However, Semarang, a colonial port city, was established in
this research indicates that the government legalized the the lowlands, which were still part of the sea in the
transformation of Chinese cemeteries rather than planning 15 century. Before the VOC took control of Semarang in
th
it. The situation was somewhat different from Akpedonu’s the 17 century, Chinese traders visited the place in the
th
research on Manila’s Chinese cemeteries, even though 15 century as part of Zheng He’s Southeast Asia mission
th
these cemeteries were also overrun by informal settlers. and settled on the Semarang coast, near a Javanese fishing
This article will describes the relationship between Chinese kampungs (Pratiwo, 1996). At that time, the coastal line
cemeteries and colonial agrarian laws. was 5 km south of the current coastline. Later, Semarang

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 3 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3254