Universal, colonial, or Indonesian heritage? A multi-scalar approach to the historical representations and management of colonial heritage in the Old Town of Jakarta (Kota Tua) during its bid for World Heritage nomination in 2015–2018

ABSTRACT

Between 2015 and 2018 the Indonesian government unsuccessfully applied for World Heritage status for the old Dutch colonial neighborhood of Kota Tua in Jakarta. As this article aims to show, analyzing the process of writing a nomination dossier, especially in the case of a failed nomination, can be revealing in unraveling the inner workings of heritage conservation efforts and the many actors that are involved on different ‘scales’ and levels surrounding the heritage. As the project of writing the nomination dossier was delegated to a consortium of private actors from the elite circles of Jakarta, this article will finally address both the difficulties and advantages of involving the private sector in such nomination processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Colonial heritage
• Jakarta
• Indonesia
• Kota Tua
• colonial history

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In order to avoid finger-pointing, I will not single out individuals working within JOTRC, but rather treat the JOTRC team as a whole, representing the interests of the private investors and their perspective on the past and future of Kota Tua.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bastiaan Nugteren

Bastiaan Nugteren is a PhD-researcher at the Department for History and Civilization at the European University Institute (EUI). His current research project deals with Chinese migration and colonial immigration policies in the British Straits Settlements and the Netherlands East Indies in the period 1870–1930. Trained as a colonial historian focusing on the history of Indonesia, his wider research interests are in the fields of imperial history, migration history, and global history. In 2015–2016 he did a research internship at the Cultural Affairs Department of the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta and worked at the Jakarta Old Town Revitalization Corporation (JOTRC) where he was involved in the nomination dossier writing process for inscription of the Old Town of Jakarta on the World Heritage List.