City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227

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City, Culture and Society

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ccs

Urbanism, place and culture in the Malay world: The politics

of domain from pre-colonial to post colonial era
Bagoes Wiryomartono
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai Campus, Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study is to explore and examine the sense of place in the Malay world. The purpose is to unfold and
Received 15 March 2012 unveil the aspects and characteristics of what and why place is. This study is expected as a contribution to
Received in revised form date 23 April 2013 theory of landscape design and the built environment. In what extent is the place able to carry out and
Accepted 17 May 2013
sustain its function and meaning for urbanism? Scrutinizing and examining concepts related to the phe-
Available online 1 July 2013
nomena of building and dwelling will be the focus of this essay. The aim is to recognize the sense of place
for local people observed from planning and design perspective on what they call it as home. The study is
Keywords:
carried out from the author eldwork in the region from 2010 to 2013. The data were collected with par-
Urbanism
Society
ticipant observation as the authors life and work experience, supported by literary sources.
Culture 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Malay world
Place
History

The Malay world
Pre history of habitation in the Malay Peninsula was a
long story of empty land except small populations, which
were probably descendants of Hoabinhian hunter-gather-
ers known as orang asli (see also Andaya & Andaya, 1982,
p. 9; Bulbeck, 1996, p. 52). However, most ancient popula-
tions in Southeast Asia shared similar linguistic and anthro-
pological traces (pp. 2140); they lived on the house on
stilts, grew rice and millet, domesticated animals, betel
chewing, sailed with outrigger vessels, did tattooing for
their adult skin with ink, weaved their clothes, moulded
and burnt their pottery. The Malay world today is the socio-
cultural and historical habitation system of the multiethnic
populations in today Malaysia that geopolitically takes
place in the areas of former British colony, from the South-
east Asian Peninsula to Sabah and Serawak regions in the
Island of Borneo/Kalimantan.
Historically, the Malay Peninsula was the land of immi-
grants; most of them came from the regions of Southeast
Asia archipelago, India, and China. Ethnically speaking,
the Malay world has been plural and the concept of identity
has been always challenging because of this historical fact.
E-mail address: bagoes.wiryomartono@gmail.com
The root of the sense of place in this country is likely the
necessity for dealing with differences with geographically
shared domains, instead of trying intentionally to integrate
all in a common space.
Since the British colonial era, each racial group has been
running their own school based on their values and beliefs
system. How people from different backgrounds interact
and communicate? The Malay language has been working
well as their platform because of its simple grammatical or-
der. Since the 15th century, the Malay language has been
functioning well for traders and merchants in the region
(Ammon, 2006, p. 2014). It is not surprisingly, people in
the region, regardless their origin and background,
understand and know the Malay language as bahasa orang
pasar the language of people in the market place. From
this fact, the sharing of meanings for places and domains
is made possible by all ethnic groups.
Even though the geographical realms of those who
speak, read, write, and understand the Malay language does
not restrict the Malay world, most ethnic populations in the
Malay Peninsula as well as in the archipelago have prac-
ticed the bahasa melayu since the pre-colonial times either
for daily interaction or for international trade (see also
Grime, 1996, pp. 71920). However, the Malay world in
this study is limited only for the phenomenon of habitation
in the country of today Malaysia.

1877-9166/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2013.05.004
218 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
Indeed, the variety of customs and tradition does exist in
the Malay Peninsula in terms of arts, designs, and culinary.
However, on cultural values they hold to similar principles
in the context of nilai-nilai murni or original virtues (Subr-
amaniam, 2008; Baba, 2009, p. 180). Most of the virtues are
well conserved in the form of poems, idioms, and proverbs.
In this case, the Malay language is the house of intrinsic
meanings and messages.
The existence of the Malay world takes place in various
built environments that consists of house, village, urban
areas and places. Each place has its unique uses and designs
that build, establish, maintain, and sustain habitation. The
Malay speaking populations used to live in various places
of the Southeast Asian archipelago. Traditionally, their set-
tlements are organized with a village polity called kampung
(Ghazali in Blunnel, Parthasarathy, & Thompson, 2013, p.
122). Houses for the Malay speaking populations are archi-
tecturally simple single detached house with gable roof
form. Bamboo and timber are common material they use
for the house construction. In the Malay Peninsula, all hab-
itations take place on the land of kampung as a common
property. The village assembly and the village head have
the right to assign the spot of the house for village house-
holds. Commonly, the head of the village has a privilege
to occupy a strategic place for his home so that he can over-
see and control the territory visually. The traditional Malay
world is the world without domination of land by any pro-
prietor. The origin of land claim as property or wealth had
never happened until the British colonial empire controlled
the different areas of the Malay world.
As a phenomenon of habitation, place in the Malay
world is a historical and sociocultural realm that develops
and sustains unique customs and traditions. Contextuality
in this respect is more than just a network of relations
but it includes local values and potentials that work and
t well in its environment and society. The relationship be-
tween place and people in the Malay tradition is under-
stood under the notion of adat istiadat, literally meaning
customary laws. Each place has its own adat istiadat, be-
cause place is always associated with the built environ-
ment or man-made domain with sociocultural habitation.
In the Malay speaking world, the words for space and place
have different meaning. The Malay concept for space is ang-
kasa; it is not to signify a domain or room. Space in this
sense is indenite entity, without boundary, and open. On
the contrary to space is room; the Malay word for room
is ruang meaning connement, domain, and space in be-
tween. Ruang is potentially occupied area with specic
use and design, which is usually for people or things.
Since the British colonial era, the use of the land has
been being regulated and administered by the state. Unlike
the Portuguese empire in Malacca, the British colonial rule
regulated and administered the land by using and main-
taining relationship with the indigenous rulers. The colo-
nial practice of the British Empire since the period of Sir
Stamford Rafes was unique, which was based on the con-
cept of defeating the local rulers, then bringing them for
treaty agreement, and controlling the commercial interest
in their regions. The British colonial power had achieved
the full control over the Malay world in 1874; the Malay
sultans signed the Pangkor Treaty authorizing the British
to govern the land and its resources under the British com-
mon laws system. This treaty is considerably the turning
point of formal relationship between the British and the
Malay States (Andaya & Andaya, 1982, p. 157). Neverthe-
less, the Pangkor Treaty conrms that the British colonial
ofcers are the primary economic and administrative
advisors of the Royal Malay households (Gullick, 1969, p.
53).
The relationship between the British colonial adminis-
tration and the Malay sultanates was actually quite formal
in a strictly business relationship. The British was subtly
acting as the protector and trustee. The Malay rulers were
not able to manage the territorial economy without any ad-
vice and direction from the British ofcers. Moreover, the
practice of colonialism by the British was based on the
principle of divide and rule (Rappa & Wee, 2006, p. 32).
In doing so, the British rule left various ethnic groups be-
yond the Malay populations, such as Chinese and Tamil
people, in their own worlds. As formulated with such a
treaty, the British colonialism held the divide and rule
government business (Khan, 2006, p. 140) and stayed away
from adat and religious affairs. In this case, the British is in
charge for government matters while the Sultanates take
care for religious and sociocultural affairs. With such a
treaty, the British had actually taken over the political con-
trol of the Malay sultanates over their land and resources.
What was left for the Malay sultanates was likely nothing
but their symbolic authority on indigenous culture, cus-
toms, and traditions.
Since 1895, economically and politically, the land was
not under the control of the Malay states, but under the
British centrally bureaucratic authority in Kuala Lumpur.
However, the use of the areas beyond the already occupied
lands by the indigenous or Malay people remained as it
was. The British had more interest in opening opportunities
of the uncultivated land for plantations. In its practice, the
British colonialism in the Malay world can be divided into
three categories (Lange, 2006, pp. 1845). The rst was a
direct trade control over the three city-colonies: Penang,
Malacca, and Singapore. The second was the direct political
control over the nine Federated Malay States: Selangor,
Perak, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Perlis, Kedah,
Terengganu, and Pahang in 1895. The third was indirect
political control over the Non-federated Malay States, such
as Serawak and Sabah, between 1909 and 1914.
Even though the Dutch had controlled Malacca and
other parts of the Malay world since the mid of 17th cen-
tury, the Dutch VOC did not intervene into the local affairs
of the Malay states. Indeed, the Dutch and the British were
in competition for the commercial control of the Straits of
Malacca since early the 17th century. The Dutch VOC in
Malacca did not penetrate into agricultural business, but
more focused on commercial trade control at the coastal
areas of the archipelago (De Witt, 2007, p. XVIII). Indeed,
the expansion of Dutch and British colonialism into the
agricultural business took place in the midst of the 19th
century, when coffee, tea, rubber, and tobacco became
worldwide commodities in European market.
Tempat
General concept for place in the Malay speaking world
is tempat meaning literally location, site, container or
 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
something to ll in. The design of tempat has to comply
with the content. As container, tempat is not only for hu-
man beings and things, but it includes also the invisible,
the inaudible, and the inexhaustible (Tim Pengembang
Ilmu Pendidikan FIP UPI, 2007, pp. 3901). Tempat is inclu-
sive for the known and the unknown as well as for the
material and spiritual world. The Malay beliefs system
acknowledges that every being has spirit, semangat; the be-
liefs roots in the ancient animism of the Austronesians (see
also Reid in Bellwood, Fox, & Tyron, 1995, p. 341). The no-
tion of tempat has been always intentional and functional.
There is no tempat for nothing and without peace; it has
something to do with life and the world.
As a container and location as well, tempat is not empty
but it is believed to contain a spirit or power; this beliefs
dated back to Animism (Frisk, 2009, p. 102). Regarding its
unique function and relationship with specic site, the con-
cept of tempat is elaborated as tempatan in its use for
depicting locality and contextuality. Human settlement is
commonly understood with the concept of tempat tinggal
meaning literally place to stay. In traditional way, the
Malay tradition calls the place to stay as tempat duduk or
the place of seat. Home for Malay tradition is identical with
the place of seat. The smallest unit of habitation is the place
of family seat called rumah.
Rumah
Rumah is house, home, and place to stay. The idea of ru-
mah in the Malay culture is deeply rooted in the existence
of household and family. The basic condition of design for a
rumah is the necessity for having a hearth, dapur, veranda,
beranda, and living area, rumah ibu. Traditional Malay
house is built on stilts. The Malay house is architecturally
adaptive to tropical climate with high humidity and heavy
rainfall or monsoon between September and March season
(see also Asiapac Editorial, 2003, p. 81; Lim, 2011). The
main part of the house is called rumah ibu, which is literally
meaning the mothers home. House in Malay tradition is
also associated with mother and women in terms of orang
rumah meaning literally somebody taking care the house
and home.
The living area, rumah ibu, occupies the most part of the
house plan. The use of the room is actually multipurpose.
Fig. 1. Malay Traditional House of the 18th century redrawn by author, courtesy of
the Malacca Museum.
219
During the day, female house members occupy the room.
In many cases, parents build their bedroom inside rumah
ibu domain. The hearth of the house is constructed at the
rear part whilst the front side is for reception hall called
beranda. Unlike the rear part, the front area is an open
structure dened with perimeter railing structure (Fig. 1).
The modern house in Malaysia is mostly not built in tra-
ditional way, either in terms of design, construction and
building material. Unlike the traditional home, the modern
house is developed and constructed with rational and prag-
matic approach. The evolution and transformation of house
form and design is in the line of the best practice for afford-
ability and technicality. Industrially fabricated components
are commonly used in the building system of modern hous-
ing development. The modern plan is architecturally drawn
from the appropriateness of owners budget, rational form,
practical construction, and appropriateness with municipal
regulatory requirements. In contrast, to traditional houses,
modern houses have to comply with building codes for
safety, security, and health.
Even though the architecture of the traditional and mod-
ern houses is barely similar, they seemingly share the same
value in honouring the guests in the house. In Malay tradi-
tion, guests are necessarily treated with honour and dig-
nity. In traditional houses, guests are welcomed in
beranda, a veranda with open views and outdoor environ-
ment. Most modern houses do not have veranda for safety
reason; they provide the guest room inside with special de-
sign treatment. Urban houses are built and situated within
an architecturally planned system of neighbourhood. The
relation of the house to others in Malaysian urban areas
is, of course, not like in traditional way. Most houses today
belong to a neighbourhood system or a residential com-
plex. The common types of house in Malaysia are terrace
houses, live-works, apartments, and condominiums. The
terrace houses vary in their form from bungalow, duplex,
triplex, quadplex, and row arrangement. Terrace in Malay
word is laman meaning literally a yard, eld, or open space.
Terrace house is rumah with laman where family can use it
as play ground, ower garden or multipurpose uses.
Today, modern houses in urban areas have various
types: single-detached, semi-detached, row houses, multi-
family mid-rise, and high-rise residential. The transforma-
tion of design has been taking place since the colonial
times until nowadays. The most crucial part of the transfor-
mation happens in the elaboration of living area of the
house, which is traditionally known as rumah ibu meaning
literally home of mother. This particular part has been
being developed and elaborated to accommodate new
needs for home entertainments, new appliances, and furni-
ture. Unlike the traditional houses, modern Malay homes
are subject to be integrated with a planned community in
terms of mukim or taman.
Kampung, Mukim, and Taman
Traditionally kampung in Malaysia is an ethnically
homogenous community and village settlement with a so-
cio-political institution. Based on its history and political
organization, the origin of kampung as a community and
settlement was originated from the Austronesian wanua
(Simanjuntak, 2006, p. 228). The traditional organization
220 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
is an egalitarian body with customary laws, adat that be-
comes a system of ethics and aesthetics for the whole vil-
lagers. The elders sit together in a village assembly to
maintain, and sustain their customary laws. Customs and
traditions demonstrate how adat works in the village
(Abu Bakar, 2002, pp. 1179). Sanctions against adat are so-
cial and economic punishment in terms of ne or inclusion
from village activities.
The chief of traditional village, penghulu, is usually an el-
der of customary laws with hereditary successors (Osman,
1985, p. 60). The assembly of elders guards the moral or-
ders and ethical conducts and manners in the village social
life. The authority of the village chief needs the conrma-
tion and consensus of the assembly that includes the right
to stay and work in the village. Even though the land is a
common property, the traditional right to build a house
in a traditional village is the married status of the couple
according to adat. The sense of place in traditional sense
is impossible without the conrmation of customary laws,
adat.
Today, village heads in rural areas are less powerful than
during the Pre Colonial times; they are today the represen-
tatives and ofcers of the state. The British colonial rule
changed the political status of kampung from an indepen-
dent village republic to be part of the state administrative
structure. Consequently, villagers in rural areas and urban
citizens are now not to elect their leaders for their penghulu.
The state will take care for the ofcers who will supervise
them within the framework of Jawatan Kuasa Kampung, of-
ce for political affair of kampung. Every neighbourhood
should have a penghulu for socio-political and cultural af-
fairs, and an amil or ustadz for Islamic religious affairs; they
represent the state for this community.
The land of traditional kampung is a communal property.
Group of people originally developed the land by opening
the forest. They worked together on voluntarily basis from
the site clearing to house construction. The boundary of the
land was never a wall-like structure, but a natural area
where they are able to plant fruits and vegetables, or to
domesticate animals for their livestock. In many cases, ur-
ban populations were originally migrants from other places
in the archipelago and other places in China and India.
The evolution of kampung from its mode of production
took place in the Malay world with various histories. The
ancient kampung was characterized with the mode of pro-
duction based on hunting and gathering as well as forest
slash and burn for their paddy. The populations of ancient
villages in Malaysia are well known as orang asli or the
aborigines who mostly live and work in the hinterland for-
est of the Malay Peninsula. The other kind of kampung is an
agriculture based community who cultivate wet-rice pro-
duction; most populations are migrants from various
places in the archipelago and Southeast Asian mainland.
In contrast to the kampung orang asli, the agricultural based
kampung is a dynamic community with various occupa-
tions and division of labour. Most urban settlements in
the Malay world were the outcome of such kampungs with
various adjustments from agricultural production to ser-
vices and commercial activities.
In rural regions, the area of land within the community
of kampung is a communally conned territory; no one
owns the land, but they may use and share the land on
mutually understanding basis. In many cases, the extension
of house or building a new construction is subject to the
approval of the village assembly. The meeting of elders will
determine and choose the location and schedule of volun-
tarily work for the construction. The Colonial rule has chan-
ged the status of the land of kampung. Their land is claimed
to the property of the state, and they have to pay the prop-
erty tax to the government.
The concept of neighbourhood has evolved from kam-
pung to mukim. This evolution took place after the transfor-
mation of state/governance system from Hindu negara to
Islamic sultanate. The transformations took place in almost
parts of the Malay world between the 16th and 17th cen-
tury. This was the period when intensive commercial inter-
actions between the indigenous populations and the Arab
and Persian traders and scholars took place in most coastal
settlements along the Straits of Malacca.
The Arab and Persian traders introduced the concept of
mukim as a settlement unit consisting of a community cen-
tre, houses, and educational institution. The heart of the
mukim is the mosque. The other facilities in the community
centre area are the commercial place for grocery and con-
venient goods, runcit, and schools, madrasah. The common
population of a mukim is 5005000 populations or 100
1000 households. During the adoption of Islam by the
states, mukim, became the administrative institution of
kampung in urban areas. The inclusion of kampung into a
state administrative status was signied with the institu-
tionalization of mukim as a settlement unit of town, kota,
or city, bandar.
The concept of mukim as an urban neighbourhood unit
had been established and developed in Islamic state of
Samudra Pasai Aceh since the early 14th century. Acehnese
concept of mukim is still in existence until today in various
towns and cities. The most important thing of mukim lies in
its socio-political structure that incorporates Islamic princi-
ples for civil society based on social justice and equality. To
certain extent, Islamic teaching puts the feudalistic and
bureaucratic state in question (Weiss in Hasan and Weiss
(Eds.), 2012, p. 140). However, by the inclusion of mukim
into state administrative system, the other necessity of
communitys life, such as safety, protection, and welfare,
has deemed, and diminished such question.
The head of mukim in Aceh and in the Malay world was a
state ofcer; he and the religious clerics, ustadz worked to-
gether to lead the populations of mukim for being loyal and
supportive to the state; the highest authority of religious
and sociocultural affairs is the Sultan of the respective
state. The mukim in the British colonial times did not
change its dependent status on the state. However, the
British restricted the authority of the Malay states over
their mukims, which was only for sociocultural and reli-
gious matters. Political and economic matters of the mu-
kims were under control of the British colonial authority.
Today, taman is a common notion for a neighbourhood
or subdivision in Malaysia nowadays (Fig. 2). In Johor
Bahru, the structure and layout of the neighbourhood
consisting of pair of terrace row houses with a back lane;
the row usually comprises 812 houses, depending on the
house type and income category. The basic principle for
the neighbourhood planning is the applicable density
for residential use in the area. Commonly, the density of
 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
Fig. 2. Taman Mutiara Rini Bird Eyes view courtesy of rinihills.blogspot.com.
neighbourhood is 2436 residential units per hectare
including roads, back lane, open spaces, local shops, play-
grounds, mosque, and schools. A standard taman neigh-
bourhood or subdivision comprises 16002000 residential
units in various housing types covering the area of 60
120 ha.
The most problematic issue of the neighbourhood is
building a strong community based on multiethnic compo-
nents. Taman is an experiment of modern planning and de-
sign. Blocks in the neighbourhood try to accommodate
houses for various ethnic groups with certain proportion.
In doing so, Chinese, Indian, and Malay populations are able
to live side by side in the same block. In Johor Bahru sub-
urban areas such experiment has been implemented since
1990s without a serious case of violence and conict. In-
deed, building a social capital at the neighbourhood level
is still far from the reality of various urban areas in this
country (Gong, 2001, p. 146). In this point, the sense of
place in the context of neighbourhood is the work in pro-
gress because at this level, sociocultural cohesiveness of
interethnic populations has not yet found a common plat-
form but informal interactions in public places and certain
higher educations. Even though sports, modern arts and
performances have the chance to be the platform of such
interactions, these activities do not take place in average
and ordinary neighbourhoods.
Bandar and Kota
The Pre Colonial town in the Malay world was known as
kota, meaning literally settlement with surrounding wall;
the main support of ancient settlements was the agricul-
tural communities with wet rice cultivation (Wheatley,
1983). The introduction to the concept of state was proba-
bly from Indic civilization of the third or fth century; the
heritage of Indic Hindu Buddhist inuence was found
in Langkasuka and Gangga Negara (Maguin, 2000; Jacq-
Hergoualch, 2002). Even though the exact locations of both
kingdoms have not yet found conclusively, Chinese records,
and several artefacts in the Bujang valley areas between
Thailand and Malaysia conrmed the existence of both
negaras.
221
Today the notion of kota is still in existence, though the
meaning has been transformed. Pre-colonial kota is usually
to address an urban settlement with agricultural support.
However, nowadays the concepts of kota and bandar are
interchangeably without specic meaning. Nevertheless,
the most important institutions of kota were two: istana
and pekan. Istana is the seat of the ruler whilst pekan is a
ve-day period or permanent market. The establishment
of istana is to conrm the existence of a political authority
of state form. The Malay capital state has always istana.
Architecturally, the location of istana usually takes place
on the hill or high terrain with splendour views to various
compass direction. As the seat of the ruler, istana is a com-
plex consisting of houses, halls, open places, and other sup-
porting buildings. The main hall of istana called dewan raya
is the place where the sultan and his ministries meet for
state deliberations and receptions of state visitors.
After having embraced Islam in ca. 15th century, each
capital city of state has provided its urban architecture with
a great mosque, masjid raya or masjid negara. Even though
the location of this building is necessarily accessible for
public, its preferably position is close to istana. The topo-
graphical site determines the best location of the mosque
that needs open area for outdoor large congregation. Such
an open eld, medan is also important for state ceremonies,
rituals, and annual celebrations for Raya Ied, and Raya
Adha.
Nevertheless, a town or city is an economic centre for
exchanges of commodities, goods, and livestock. Kota is
never in existence without pekan. The location of pekan is
usually close to several kampungs or mukims. In traditional
way, pekan is the centre of urban settlement; in many
cases, its position lies in the intersections of the arterial
roads. The number of pekan in a town or a city shows its
populations; a small town with six thousand populations
has probably only one market. After the adoption of Islam
as state religion, the concept of pekan has evolved from a
ve-day period of market day to everyday market called
pasar. The concept of pasar is originally from the Persian
word bazaar, a place for gatherings and exchanges.
The pre-colonial intensive contacts and trades with
international merchants were between the 12th and 15th
century. During those periods, Melaka at the East as well
as Kuala Brang in Terengganu at the West became the
meeting points between ArabicPersianIndian traders
and Chinese counterparts. It was probably the formative
times for the urban characteristics of the Malay Peninsular
bandars. Multicultural populations grew signicantly dur-
ing the periods mentioned above.
Economic collaboration among Malay, Chinese, and In-
dian populations works at the neighbourhood, municipal,
and national level. The most popular notion is Ali-Baba
business (Keat, 2009, pp. 167). The notion means a part-
nership between Malay natives (bumiputera) and Chinese
persons; this business collaboration was actually in re-
sponse to the Malaysian New Economic Policy (1971
1990). The states gave most contracts to the Malay natives.
With such a partnership was in the expectation that the
Malay business people were able to learn the skills and
expertises from the Chinese and Indian populations; both
ethnic groups have been familiar with hardworking and
competitive enterprise since colonial times. Indeed, giving
222 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
privilege to certain populations in the country is likely un-
healthy for the long-run business because such a practice
will weaken the competitiveness of Malay natives, locally
and globally. However, under current administration such
a practice is still in effect (BBC News 11/07/2011).1
Today, the concept of kota has been replaced by bandar.
The idea of bandar is originally from the Persian word ban-
dar, which means crowd, port, exchange, and gathering.
Bandar represents more about the concept of open urban
settlement for international interactions. Indeed, history
of bandar is the evolution and amalgamation of multicul-
tural interactions and communications at the coastal vicin-
ities. The phenomenon of bandar reveals and unveils the
acculturation of various culture, traditions, and customs
with the exchange of communities as its core activity.
Prior to the arrival of the Indian, Arab and Persian trad-
ers and merchants, coastal areas and settlements in the
Straits of Malacca had been crowded by Chinese traders
and workers who emigrated from the mainland China to
various coastal areas in Southeast Asia. They came to the
Malay world in different periods. Gradually, the Chinese
populated most coastal settlements and contributed to
the liveable socioeconomic activities with Chinese gastron-
omies, design, medicine, manners, fashions, styles, cus-
toms, and traditions. Chinese populations in the Straits of
Malacca regions came from various classes and back-
grounds. This diverse milieu and backdrop prepared and
developed the settlement of bandar to be economically
and culturally open for all nations.
Malacca in the period between the 15th and 16th cen-
tury was probably the most highly populated city in the
Malay world with Chinese populations who spoke Hokkien
and Chaozhou. Even though the interactions with the indig-
enous Malay populations were less intensive, the presence
of Chinese community brought about the city liveable
in terms of street life and commercial exchanges. Some
Chinese populations adopted Islam as their beliefs system;
some remained with their own Confucian tradition and
way of life.
The history of Chinese presence in the Malay world was
unique for the formation of urbanism because it marked
out the beginning of global encounter and interaction
based on fair and peaceful relationship. The Chinese contri-
bution to the urban form in Malacca, Penang, and other
places in the Malay world was obviously known from the
establishment of shophouses that dened the street space
and urban block structure. The historical Chinese settle-
ment in various bandars demonstrated an architecturally
adaptive design in dealing with high density living. Chinese
shophouses exemplied the design solution and treatment
for a compact and highly concentrated urban settlement. In
the art of living, the Chinese culture enhanced and elabo-
rated the local Malay tradition to live with furniture and
the use of porcelains in the household habitation.
The presence of Chinese populations in the Malay urban
life has enriched and enhanced the urban experience in
the Malay world with unique architecture, pottery, culi-
nary, street life, festivals, and celebrations. The blend and
1
http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/41919-malay-
sias-ali-baba-system-causes-ethnic-tension (BBC News 11/07/2011), retrieved on
February 24, 2012.
acculturation between Chinese and Malay culture and tra-
dition in various urban settlements in the Malay world
have brought about new things and events, such as baba-
nyonya phenomenon in Malacca (Wan Teh, 2011, p. 32).
Foods, clothes, architecture, and language are the vivid
examples and evidences of this phenomenon. Moreover,
Chinese and Malay culture shares similar values for man-
ners and respect to elderly persons and ancestors; of
course, they have the differences as well, but they can live
with it based on mutual respect and tolerance.
In similar ways, the intensive contacts and interactions
with Muslim traders and scholars since the 15th century
have led the Malay and Chinese populations to be more
open for differences. The contribution of the Arabs and Per-
sians to urban life in the Malay world included poetry,
Arabic literacy, culinary, medicine, and Islamic culture.
Arabic musical instruments and melody contributed to
the formation and development of the Malay gambus and
gajal musics. Architecturally speaking, the Arab and Persian
presence did not impose their building tradition for mos-
que or surau in the Malay world. The strong inuence of
Arabic culture on Malay populations includes madrasah,
calligraphy, Al Quran recital, and fashion. Calligraphic arts
decorate most interior walls of surau and mosques, while
madrasah becomes the centre of Islamic education for the
Malay children.
Prior to the 19th century, mosques were not built with
dome structure. Earlier mosques from the 17th century
such as in Kampung Laut, Kampung Halu, and Tangkera
were constructed with local architecture (Fig. 3). Islamic
teaching did not dictate local populations to build their sur-
au and mosque with Arabic or Persian or Gujarati architec-
ture. The architecture of surau and mosque was a local and
practical matter that was in the hand of local community.
Since Islam is not a clerically organized religion, each kam-
pung had a freedom to express and articulate the design
and construction of surau and mosque according to local
conditions and context.
Prior to British Colonial administration, surau and mos-
que are independent from state; the local community of
kampung took care and upheld the socio-religious activities
with their own. Some rich merchants, orang kaya, in the
Fig. 3. Mosque of Kampung Keling in Malacca, photograph by author.
 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
kampung donated and supported the function of surau and
mosque. Kampung was usually provided with an assembly
of leaders called majlis, which was responsible for socio-
religious matters. Pre Colonial states did not take control
over kampung activities. What was important for the state
was that kampungs and other settlements paid annual trib-
ute of land production, hasil, other tolls and taxes of com-
mercial transactions,cukai, to the state treasury, bendahara.
Of course, paying tribute to the state was a sign of loy-
alty. In return, the state protected and guarded the popula-
tions for their safety and social order. The highest authority
for state police was tumenggung who stood with bendaha-
ra,state treasury, as the highest rank state ofcers of the
Malay sultanate. In many maritime states such as Malacca
(14051511), there were at least four highest-ranking of-
cers at the Sultanate bureaucracy: tumenggung, bendahara,
laksamana, Navy commander, and Syahbandar, Port author-
ity. Traditionally, most syahbandars were Chinese persons.
Prior to 1511, the city of Malacca had at least four syahban-
dars authorizing certain ethnic areas and commodities.
Prior to the 16th century, the Chinese traders dominated
the commercial activities in the Malay world for agricul-
tural products, tin mining and plantations; they usually
occupied the strategic area at the downstream and devel-
oped their settlement there. At the downstream, the
Chinese bosses cultivated white pepper, nutmeg, onion,
and garlic; all these were important commodities for inter-
national trades. Indeed, the Chinese interest in business
with Southeast Asia was more than just spices; bird nest,
rattan, dammar, rubber blood, and coconut belonged to
the demanded commodities in China. In return, the Chinese
merchants delivered silk, gold, and porcelains.
The presence of Chinese populations was mostly part of
the peace agreement between the Chinese Ming emperors
and the local rulers for trades; the Chinese navy protected
the straits of Malacca for safe and fair trades in the Malay
ports. In return, the Malay state of Malacca allowed Chinese
migrants living and working in the city free of taxes. Occa-
sionally, exchanges of tributes and presents, cindramata,
took place between the Chinese Emperor and the Malay
Sultanate. Since early of the 16th century, the situation
was changed, the Chinese Emperor withdrew their military
presence signicantly in Straits of Malacca and South China
Sea due to the inner crises in the top rule.
The success of the Portuguese sea power was mostly
supported by the absence of Chinese sea power on the
Straits of Malacca after the decline of the Ming dynasties
with its peak in 1587 (Huang, 1982). The fall of Malacca
was important evidence on the dependency of the Malay
State on the protection of Chinese emperor. After the Portu-
guese took control over Malacca in 1511, the military
authority burnt down all the heritage of the Malay Sultan-
ate on the Malacca hill. They began to erect and establish
the fortication known as A Fomosa on the former site of
the Malacca Sultanate palace area. The Portuguese dug a
canal connecting between the river of Malacca and the
straits of Malacca, separating the A Fomosa from the main-
land of Malacca.
The intervention of Portuguese power in urbanism was
to destroy the Malay state which was inseparable from
the establishment of their trade post in Southeast Asia as
well as the Catholic missionary founding. Like the Chinese
223
presence, the Portuguese deployed their sailors, traders,
merchants, and Catholic missionaries in the city of Malacca,
mingling with the indigenous populations.
Socioeconomic interactions began to be more intensive
when Portuguese population from other parts of the route
to Europe, such as from Goa, Mozambique, Cape Town
came to Malacca to set up their business and established
their Catholic churches. Portuguese military post in
Malacca controlled the port for custom duties and repre-
sented the Portuguese authority in Southeast Asia during
the period between 1511 and 1645. Unlike the Spanish
Empire, which established a municipal government, ciud-
ades and villa de espanoles, at their colonialized territory,
the Portuguese did little for this matter (Newitt, 1986, p.
54). Since 1511, more and more local and Chinese mer-
chants avoided to do business in Malacca. They moved
to other places and kept distance from the Portuguese
control.
The other European presence in the Malay urban settle-
ments was the Dutch. The contribution of the Dutch in ur-
ban development was obvious in the city of Malacca after
they took over from the Portuguese in 1641. The Dutch
overlaid or did inll the given site with their facilities and
urban institutions, and they did not destroy or demolished
the previous Portuguese buildings, but readjusted, modi-
ed, and reused with similar function. In the context of
urbanism, the Dutch valued a compact settlement, and con-
centrated their effort around their fortied garrison. The
Dutch established a colonial town authority and built their
city hall, called Stadthuys at the inner city of Malacca. The
Dutch settlement was developed at the west side or the riv-
er of Malacca. A bridge was rebuilt to connect the Sta-
dthuys and the Dutch settlement. Shophouses and row
houses established a new urban block system with stone
paved streets and drainages. The street and building struc-
ture remains the same until today with signicant
improvement in the quality of its building construction.
The Dutch introduced to the Malay world an urban row
housing system that supported the city with a compact
form.
The inux of Dutch populations to Malacca from various
places of the East Indies and other colonies took place be-
tween the 18th and 19th century. During the period, the
Dutch did not include the Portuguese descendant village,
Chinese and indigenous settlements within the jurisdiction
of Dutch law system. Instead of integrating such settle-
ments into their municipal system, the Dutch kept and
authorized such settlements having their own customs
and traditions; however, the Dutch rule controlled the
political and economic activities of such settlements. The
primary concern of the Dutch at the mid of the 18th and
early of the 19th century was to control the opium
business.
After 1895, the British took over the control of the econ-
omy in the Malay world. The European colonialism was ex-
tended with the separation between state affairs and
religious and cultural matters. More importantly for the
economy was the abolishment of slavery in many regions
under the British control. The slaves in the Malay world
were mostly the landless working class and worked for
their chief or ruler because of debt bondage. In many ways,
the abolishment of slavery was disadvantageous for local
224 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
ruling classs economy, especially in coconuts, and rubber
plantations.
Since early of the 19th century, the establishment of the
British Colonial rule was concentrated for the enterprise of
plantations and mines for European market. The urban
development under the British Colonial rule was not only
to build the infrastructure for mining and plantation busi-
ness, but also to provide residential areas for their colonial
ofcers and workers. British Colonial ofcers mostly lived
in an architecturally planned area with a bungalow type
of houses. Their construction is adjusted to tropical climate
and monsoon (Fig. 4). After the British ofcers left the town
in 1957, the Malaysian Federated administration took over
the mining and plantation businesses. The activities in
some towns,- such as Kuala Kubu Bharu, Taiping, Kampar,
Gopeng, Batu Gajah, and Ipoh, were gradually declining
and most of people went out of the town for seeking new
jobs. However, some mining towns have been growing as
a big city such as Kuala Lumpur and Seremban.
The presence of the British colonial rule in the Malay
world brought about the regional development with mod-
ern infrastructure. Cities, towns, villages, and important
places in the Malay Peninsula were connected within a
transportation network of railways or roads system. The
British Colonial introduced to the Malay world the impor-
tant of roads and railways system for the economy of the
region. For the centre of the British colonial administration,
the geographical location of Kuala Lumpur was politically
and economically not strategic without the support of
roads and railway system.
The British began to build and develop railway network
in 1885 (Puffert, 2009, p. 235). Long distance tracks were
constructed in 1901 that connected several towns in the
Federated Malay States. Unsurprisingly, most of main rail-
ways station is the zero referential point of towns and cit-
ies; the centre is marked out with the railway station
building. The architecture of railway station buildings is
remarkable which is potential and unique as urban land-
mark. The Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh Railway Stations built
in 1917 for example are the exemplary heritage of Indian
Mughal architecture (Fig. 5) in the Malay world. The archi-
tect of both buildings is the English man Arthur Bennison
Hubback. His other remarkable buildings in Kuala Lumpur
Fig. 4. British colonial house in Johor Bahru, photograph by author
city centre are Old City City Hall in 1896, Masjid Jameek
in 1906, and High Court in 1912. The British colonial archi-
tecture in the period between 1900s and 1930s shows an
attempt to establish stylistic and artistic bond between In-
dia and the Malay world. Hubback is a notable British colo-
nial architect with his creative elaboration of brick wall
architecture. His design is apparently adaptive to tropical
climate, with strong sense of rhythmic interplay between
void and solid that creates attractive arch shades.
The other British architect is AC Norman, whose design
for the Old Post Ofce building is remarkable in making a
signicant contribution to a landmark in the inner city of
Kuala Lumpur. All remarkable public buildings with Mugh-
al architecture characterize the inner city of Kuala Lumpur.
At the centre of the city is the square where the British
colonial gentry gathered for playing polo and spent their
leisure in their Gentlemen Club House.
There are several towns and cities in the Malay Penin-
sula demonstrating and maintaining the traces of the
British colonial heritage. Kuala Kubu Bharu was probably
the rst architecturally planned community in the Malay
world. Being inspired by Sir Ebenezer Howards Garden
City movement in England, the town was planned and
designed by Charles Compton Reade in the end of
1920s, who had ever worked for Government Town Plan-
ning ofce in South Australia, and left for working for the
Federated Malay States (Hall, 2002, p. 128). Indeed,
Compton Reade was member of Garden City Movement
who came to Australia for a design competition of the
Australia national capital of Canberra in 191112. His
planning and design work for Kuala Kubu Bharu intro-
duced to the Malay world the importance of compact
community settlement for an industrial town (Fig. 6).
His legacy includes the plan and design of residential
block consisting of a pair of row houses with a back lane
for utilities.
The community of Kuala Kubu Bahru was to establish an
administrative centre of tin mining business in Selangor re-
gion. The town was designed at the foot of Frasers hill
(Matsom, 1995). Chinese migrants came to the area in the
end of the 19th century working for tin mining. During
the period between 1930s and 1942, mining activities have
been gradually taken over by plantation business.
The town of Kuala Kubu Bharu was famous for its colo-
nial heritage that comprises shophouses, row houses and
public buildings in a compact cluster. The economy of the
town and its region was in decline after the end of the Pa-
cic war. The communist party of Malaysia concentrated
their activities against the British colonialism in this town;
the British called the era between 1948 and 1952 as the
Period of Emergency that brought about the decline of Kua-
la Kubu Bahru as an administrative town with its economic
backbone relying on tin mining business. Communist up-
heaval in Kuala Kubu Bahru was not an isolated case. Ethnic
tensions, class struggle, and social justice were ostensible
since early times of the British colonialism (Drakakish-
Smith, 1987, pp. 824). The quality of life in this town
did not make any signicant development after British
colonialism handed over their power to the Federated Ma-
lay States in 1957. The economy of the town has been
slowly improving as the historic colonial asset belongs to
a touristic industry of Malaysia.
 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
Fig. 5. Ipoh Railways Station photograph by author.
Fig. 6. Map of Kuala Kubu Bahru drawn by author.
At the beginning of the 1960s Post Colonial bandar in the
Malay world has been the business as usual as it was under
the British Colonial rule. The municipalities, which were
established by the British, had been already installed with
the planning division for coordinating and supervising
physical infrastructure, especially for ood control, sanita-
tion, and clean drink water system. Kuala Lumpur was
the rst municipality in the Federated Malay States having
special section for spatial development plan in 1921. How-
ever, the Planning Act for Town and Country was in effect
for the rst time in 1926. Accordingly, the development
and construction of public utilities and infrastructure was
subject to municipal approval and supervision. However,
the planning section has not yet taken action for develop-
ment policy and spatial planning in their respective juris-
diction. Physical and spatial planning came into the
attention and subject matter of different level of policy
makers, from Federal, State, to municipal business, after
the enactment of Town and Country Planning Act in 1967.
Today, physical development inside the urban areas is
necessarily to follow and to t with policies and plans in
a hierarchical bureaucratic system from country, state, re-
gion, and vicinity. In principle, planning in post-colonial
Malaysia is a Top-Down process and production system.
However, strategic and future oriented plans in terms of
225
long-term comprehensive ofcial plans are still far from
the main routine business of municipalities. Seemingly,
municipalities and state planning divisions have not yet
had the urgency for enacting strong zoning or urban design
regulations and controls. The ad hoc development controls
are likely common practice in dealing with various cases of
urban development.
Instead of dealing with the existing urban heritage, revi-
talization, and redevelopment, physical planning in this
country is politically preferable to deal with new develop-
ments in the relatively vacant land. New town develop-
ments took place in various Malay states in past decades.
Since 1980s important developments include the establish-
ment of Putra Jaya, Shah Alam, Cyber Jaya, Petaling Jaya in
Selangor, and Iskandar Malaysia in Johor. What are the
ideas and forces behind these new developments? Are
these facts showing a consistent tradition of urbanism in
Southeast Asia, which did not lead to an independent
bourgeois cities but was closely related to state formation
and systems of domination (Evers & Korff, 2000, p. 27)?
Putra Jaya is the government centre of the Federated
Malay States in Putra Jaya in the State of Selangor. The
new development incorporates the vision of architecturally
intelligent capital city of Malaysia. The move towards this
vision does not show a historical consistency with the ori-
ginal concept of bandar; the institution of urban settle-
ments in the Malay Peninsula has been always part of its
integration into an economic network rather than the
establishment of territorial states. To certain extent, the vi-
sion of Putra Jaya is likely in the line with the British colo-
nial rules way they has chosen Kuala Lumpur as their
colonial administrative centre. As an administrative centre,
Putra Jaya needs a representative environment free from
hectic commercials and trafc congestions.
As garden city, Putra Jaya needs ample green space for
variety of tropical ora and water body so that government
could perform their job well in an architecturally outstand-
ing environment with a monumental juxtaposition and
colossal composition. The location of Putra Jaya seems have
no specic economic and geographical advantage either for
trading network or for public service. However, Putra Jaya
is perfect for the power display or showcase of Malaysias
vision on urban planning and design in the Age of Informa-
tion Technology.
To what extent are the new developments mentioned
above supportive to the sense of place and nation build-
ing in Malaysia? Since its very conception Malaysia, the
226 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
country was faced with a dilemma of modernizing the con-
cept of nation without compromising the delicate ethnic
balance of multicultural society (Gomez, 2007, p. 46). The
question is crucial in Malaysia because all issues on iden-
tity are inescapable from the fact that ethnically segregated
reality demands a new paradigm for a new beginning that
will put in question all privileges and advantages only for
the certain ethnic group (Milne & Mauzy, 1999, p. 167;
Daniels, 2005, p. 110). To this question, the Malaysian gov-
ernment under the leadership of Mahathir Muhammad to
Najib has not yet been ready to lift the Malay benets
and advantage.
Urban habitation and life style
Dining out in outdoor and in public domains is the most
favourable activity in leisure time for most populations in
the Malay towns and cities; they do together with the
whole family member in mild and clear evening. Various
restaurants offer local foods and drinks with their own spe-
cial menu. Interestingly, foods and drinks for the Malay
populations have to be stately certied halal and free from
pork and lard. With such certication, the Malay could go
into Indian and Chinese restaurants or cafes. To certain ex-
tent, religious barriers and cultural differences do not make
interracial interactions among them easier. Even though
grouping of informal gathering in public domains is based
on racial identity, they share something in common for
peace and tolerance. The Chinese, Indian, and Malay popu-
lations share the values of mutual respect and tolerance on
their traditional basis. The Chinese understand the values
as in the context of Confucianism, while the Malays
hold them as hormat and tenggang rasa according to adat,
and the Indians value them as in
terms of Dharma. The Malaysian foods are the best evi-
dence for the practice of mutual respect and tolerance in
daily life.
Nevertheless, the reality of ethnic relations and multi-
cultural society in Malacca is likely not without chal-
lenges and incidences. The Eurasian Portuguese in many
parts of Malacca area have to face the crisis of status
and identity after the establishment of the Federation of
Malaysia. Even though their existence as a community
in the Malay world has been since the Dutch colonial rule,
the integration of their ethnic status and identity into the
Malay political party and society is still the work in
progress.
Even today, the Christian community of kampung serani
remains only the site that carries its name; the residents
of the Eurasian village were not around in the area any-
more. The relationship between ethnic identity and its
cultural heritage in today Malaysia is crucial that is neces-
sarily to be put in the context of power relation with the
predominant Islamic populations. The politics of race in
Malaysia has not yet come to end until today, but the peo-
ple on the street interact and communicate peacefully
with each other in Malay language regardless their colour
and origin.
The Malay populations mostly occupy public sectors,
while Chinese and Indians mostly run businesses and other
private sectors. Migrant workers ll the gap of occupations,
especially for labour in manufactures, utilities, commercial
services, and domestic jobs. In urban development and con-
struction, foreign workers ll most laborious positions;
employment agencies arrange and manage rent ats and
accommodations for such workers. As a whole, the image
of the Malay towns and cities is multicultural and vibrant
during the daily bright leisure evening.
Beside its diverse ethnicity, Islamic gender relation
comes into play in public domains. Women and men sup-
pose not do handshake when they meet. Malay, Indian,
and Chinese populations share their value for not hugging
each other when they encounter each other in public
places. Interpersonal interactions in public areas are strictly
polite and quite formal. The common language for inter-
racial communication is mostly Malay language. However,
they know and speak English language to each other as
well.
Concerning their existence as a nation, the three major
ethnic groups have been trying their best to live and grow
together, given that their schools are racially segregated
from early childhood on. One important platform for mul-
tiethnic interaction for nation building is at the higher edu-
cation level such as internationally rank universities, state
institutions, and public sectors. The other important public
domain where all ethnic groups mingle together is the
town market, pasar awam. Naturally and informally, people
interact with each other with exchange of words and
smiles. Unlike malls, not all family members visit market.
Most visitors are from under middle and working class.
Nevertheless, the real and potential place and process of
nation building is probably the market; seemingly, com-
mon and daily economy speaks volume than ideological
differences.
Indeed, urbanity is not perfect without taking manners
and courtesies of its urban citizens in public domains. The
way people drive give us the sense of urbanity in this coun-
try is. Tailgating and noncompliance against trafc light are
common phenomena on some urban areas. Respect to
pedestrians and bikers still needs miles to go with their
sustainable development scheme.
Signicant efforts and developments for pedestrian
friendly environment have been made in several towns
and cities such as Melakas Hang Tuah Mall and Kuala
Lumpurs Bukit Bintang strip and Central Market passage.
However, the integration of mass-rapid-transit and pedes-
trian path network is still the work in progress. Surpris-
ingly, such integration seems not apparent for the
governments new towns development such as in Putra-
jaya, Syah Alam, and Iskandar. Private car-oriented life-
style dominates mostly public spaces and commercial
areas.
As anywhere on the globe, malls are the generators of
trafc ow. Unlike in North America, malls in Malaysia
are not only built in suburban areas, but also become an
integrated part of urban centre, such as Petronas Twin
Tower & KLCC in Kuala Lumpur, City Square in Johor Bahru,
and Grand Market in Kota Bahru of Kelantan. Culturally,
malls are also the stage of daily-life spectacle of Malaysian
societies that represent and signify the colourful ethnicity
with their unique symbols and attributes. To certain extent,
the monstrous consumerism of capitalistic machinery
seems to be concealed by the multicultural vibrancy of mall
customers.
 B. Wiryomartono / City, Culture and Society 4 (2013) 217227
Concluding remarks
The sense of place in the Malay world is a socio-cultur-
ally constructed habitation that builds, establishes, main-
tains, and sustains the relationship between people
and built environment based on customs, traditions, and
acculturations. The Malay world has been changing since
pre-colonial times with architectural adjustments and trans-
formation in terms of design, function, and technology.
Despite changes and transformations, the basic idea of
house, neighbourhood, and urban settlement remains the
same within the traditional sense of social cohesiveness.
Even though various ethnic groups try their best to live to-
gether in a location, sharing domains is the most favourable
and peaceful solutions for their sense of place. Indeed,
adjustment and tolerance for conform, perpaduan, and con-
sensus, mufakat (Shumaker, 2010, p. 140) come forward in
the planning and design solution of places instead of indi-
vidually proling presence.
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