Tracing the Ruins of a Royal Ground: Kampong Glam's Untold Stories of Decay

by Evy SUTJAHJO

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This research attempts to explore Kampong Glam beyond its master narrative and instead seeks to give significance to the voices of the user via inclusion of anecdotes in space. In achieving this, stories are gathered from attending walking tours, conducting interviews, reading biographies, online forums, blogs, old newspaper articles and compiling recollections shared by various people of Kampong Glam. These stories are then used as navigation tools within the sites of study, namely the Malay Heritage Centre (MHC), Gedung Kuning (Yellow Mansion), Sultan Mosque and the Old Malay Cemetery.

With the use of anecdotes, it is also hoped that a different understanding of Kampong Glam could be revealed.

Together, the four sites are presented as royal grounds. The utilisation of these spaces in the construction of a master narrative is explored; and through analysing notable events that construct these sites, it is concluded that the four spaces are but fragments of a lost royal compound, that is to say, they are spaces of ruin.

As spaces of ruin, this dissertation argues that the narratives and meaning of the four sites are manifold. Through theories of the ruin, this paper critiques the conversion of these four sites as over-simplified touristic spaces. Instead, an alternate understanding of the four sites through the use of anecdotes is proposed.

Finally, it is suggested that the use of anecdotes will offer an option to explore the layered narratives of this royal ruin.

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