Page 139 - JCAU-6-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Chinese cemeteries in Semarang

assets. In addition, people did not traditionally require a
government permit to reside in an urban kampung. The
letter from Semarang’s municipal authority ordering the
relocation of Chinese graves in an attempt to legalize
informal settlements can be seen in Figure 13.

Some Chinese cemeteries were located outside the
old colonial city, others on the outskirts of the city’s
administrative border after independence, and one
in the new territory of Semarang after 1976. Between
independence and 1976, all Chinese cemeteries within
the administrative border were transformed into dense
kampungs. Although the takeover of the Chinese cemeteries
was initiated by the people themselves, subsequent
municipal development plans eventually legalized the
process. The Republic of Indonesia produced its first city
planning document in 1975, which changed the land use
of neighborhoods containing Chinese cemeteries to serve
settlement purposes (Nugroho, 2016).
A closer examination of the city planning documents
from 1975 to 2000 revealed that the city’s growth was
segmented into three areas: The ex-colonial town served
as the city center, the surrounding area was designated
for urban settlements, and the new territory was allocated
for production (industry and agriculture). The border
area between the old city boundaries from before 1976
and the new territory was zoned as a greenbelt (Nugroho,
2016). At that time, the greenbelt contained three Chinese
cemeteries, while other Chinese cemeteries were engulfed
by the urban expansion pushed further south and east by
the city’s expansion.
The greenbelt was adjusted by the municipal government
for settlement objectives in the city planning documents
from 1995 to 2005 (Nugroho, 2016). After 2000, rapid
urban growth persisted. In response, the city planning
document for the period of 2000 – 2010 stated that the city
center encompassed the entire region within the previous
administrative boundary, and the government recognized
all new settlements in the new territory. The survival of
the last Chinese cemetery in Kedung Mundu became
threatened. However, the Chinese community was able
to sustain it since this Chinese cemetery was interwoven
with indigenous and Christian cemeteries, as well as
the Chinese cemeteries at Bergota Hill. The cemetery’s
survival could also be attributed to the political shift that
occurred after 1998 when the New Order regimen fell. The
illustrative map of Semarang in 2011, which combines the
actual growth of the city and the city planning plan, can be Figure 13. Letter from municipal government for relocating Chinese
seen in Figure 14. graves. Source: Semarang’s Chinese community archives; photograph
included with permission
In short, the history of Chinese cemeteries in Indonesia
is as follows: originally, Chinese cemeteries were allowed negotiation or mediation, such as by issuing permits. The
by the Dutch, and their placement was determined through Dutch took beneficial advantage, and the Chinese used

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 11 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3254