‘This is Not a Trivialization of the Past’

Abstract

This article examines the revitalization of Jakarta’s colonial district, Kota Tua, as tourist site and lieux de mémoire. After long neglect due to postcolonial silencing of colonial history, Kota Tua’s metamorphosis into a place of leisure represents a burgeoning tempo doeloe trend in post-New Order Indonesia. Yet Kota Tua is also a locus of clashing modalities of memory. While government tourism promotions produce a consumable spectacle of colonial aesthetics, a new generation of history enthusiasts intervenes with alternative, playful memory practices, in which the suppressed memories of the colonial past become a resource for critical awareness.