Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

In 1997–8 many of the cities and towns of Indonesia were rocked by riots and demonstrations. The political dynamics of these riots lay in the maneuverings of armed forces, “pro-democracy,” and “Islamic” forces, but they were marked also by the burning and sacking of symbols of capitalism and foreign influence, first the churches and then the shopping plazas, particularly those associated with the Chinese. One of the characteristics of these sackings was that people brought out store merchandise and burnt it together with motor vehicles on the streets. Siegel (1986: 232–54) in describing a similar phenomenon that occurred in Solo, Indonesia, in 1980 suggested that the Chinese were seen as a sign of money and money was seen as being their “natural” language. Yet they were charged with not deserving their wealth, and with holding it inappropriately. For Javanese people pamrich, “personal indulgence,” as in personal acquisitiveness, sexual indulgence, or political ambition, is disavowed. The burning of Chinese goods was thus a disavowal of such a materialist focus, an admission by the rioting Solo youth that they had been taken in by Chinese-generated consumerism.This chapter looks at the imaginings of the Southeast Asian city espoused by indigenous citizens and reflected in the urban literature, where “imagining” refers to images and metaphors of the city that provide a locus for diverse ... log in or subscribe to read full text