Many people would associate Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, as a melting pot of different native ethnicities from across Indonesia. However, Jakarta is also a melting pot of various immigrant group that originated from outside Indonesia as we know today. Tamil Indian, Chinese from Taiwan’s Kinmen Island, and culturally-Portuguese Indians had left their marks in Jakarta as shown here.
Source: Freepik
Shiva Mandhir: Tamil Hindu temple in Jakarta. A cultural relic of ethnic Tamil descendants whose ancestors came from India as colonial-era labourers.
Source: Personal documentation
Golden Gate Foundation: A social foundation for Chinese-Indonesians whose ancestors came from Kinmen Island 金門 (currently part of Taiwan). “Golden Gate” is the literal translation of Kinmen 金門.
Source: Personal documentation
Sion Church: 17th Century church built by slaves bought from Portuguese colonies in India and Indonesia’s Molucca Islands. These “Black Portuguese” created their Portuguese-based Creole identity known as “Mardijker”
Source: Personal documentation
