cities of Java started in the mid of the 17
th
century.
Moreover, we know that the formation of the
Chinese settlements could not be separated from the
intervention done by the Dutch that arranged the
settlements segregation according to the ethnic
group and other restrictions to control the mobility
of the Chinese community.
In addition to the rich heritages of the Dutch
colonials, Bandung also has many precious Chinese
community settlements which have been developed
since the early 18th century. During that particular
period, the Dutch issued three policies that gave
impact to Bandung that was the construction of a
road along the island of Java, the construction of a
railway and the development of a Chinese camp
according to the decree dated on 9
th
June 1810. The
development of the Chinese camp was to utilize
empty lands for improving the welfare of the people
(Kustedja: 2012, 114). At the beginning, the policy
of the Dutch to improve the development of
Bandung was an effort to fulfill the needs of
residential facilities which later developed into the
central government and economy in 1810.
Therefore, Bandung was inaugurated as the capital
of the district on the 25
th
September 1810.
At the turn of the 20
th
century, as Bandung
gained more economic and political significance, the
Chinese population grew as being involved in trade
and manufacturing industries and in various white-
collared jobs in service industries (Tunas, 2009: 31).
Furthermore, the growth of Bandung that involved
the Chinese communities inherits some cultural
heritages, both tangible and intangible, that can still
be found in certain areas. The most significant
Chinese heritages in Bandung are architectural
artifacts such as residential, hotels, schools, sacred
temples, shop houses and commercial buildings
owned by the Chinese descendants. Some of them
are in good condition and others are not. These
heritages evolved along with the needs of the
owners; some are well preserved, others are
converted into another function and some others are
not even identified due to lack of information.
Discussing about Chinese cultures in Indonesia,
we cannot deny the sociological problems that
started decades ago. It is obvious that during the
Dutch occupation, peoples in Indonesia were
segregated by ethnic groups to avoid gaining power
through unity that might cause problems to the
Dutch. The Chinese for many years had become a
social buffer to separate the Dutch with the local
citizens. In some cases, even the Chinese were
accused of being accomplices of the Dutch, although
there were some Chinese who fought and rebelled
against the Dutch during the occupation.
1.2 Chinese Indonesian Dwelling after
the Indonesian Proclamation
After the Indonesian proclamation of the
independence, the Chinese descendants had become
part of the society, but still with the foreigner status.
Twenty years later, for about three decades (1965 –
1998), Chinese cultures were unexpectedly not able
to grow in Indonesia due to some political issues.
Ethnic discrimination emerged and Chinese
descendants were forced to leave their nationality
and even their Chinese names. Chinese Culture,
Chinese language and even characters were not
allowed to be shown in public. The acting
government at that time nurtured the anti-Chinese
spirit among the nation. Therefore Chinese cultures
were sublimed yet live within the heart of the
Chinese descendants. Chinese Indonesian release
Chineseness ornament in houses, and increasingly
turned towards local and Western style architecture.
Three decades was sufficient to disrupt the
process of inheritance of the culture to the younger
generations. Younger generations, both Chinese and
locals have lack of knowledge about the Chinese
cultures and heritages in Bandung and cause a latent
threat to the sustainability of the Chinese Heritage.
People of Bandung hardly can understand the
significance of the Chinese cultural heritages, so
those heritages are in a serious thread of
mistreatment, misunderstood and even possibly
facing destruction.
Fortunately, at the end of the second millennium,
supported by the reformation spirit of the nation, a
new paradigm of nationalism emerged; values of
humanity and plurality were considered in a new
way. K.H. Abdurrachman Wahid, as the President of
the Republic of Indonesia at that time, opened the
gates of ethnic discriminations that had been closed
for decades and widened the way of multiculturalism
and plurality in the nationhood of Indonesia,
especially for the Chinese descendants.
Nowadays there are many Chinese organizations
in Indonesia. The spirit of reformation seemed to
have touched the roots of political awareness of the
Chinese descendants. Now they are actively
involved in both social and political daily life of the
nationhood of Indonesia. Chinese descendants’
cultures rose as part of the nation’s culture. They
live as Indonesian culture and are greatly diverse.
This situation opens opportunities to rethink and