I am mainly looking at the workings of the municipalities which arose in Java in the early twentieth century, with a specific focus on the city of Bandung. The rise of municipalities represented an increasing but limited participative urban culture. Municipal governments were ‘multicultural’ places in which various diasporic communities congregate and engage with one another and with the local elite. Dutch, other Europeans and Chinese engaged with one another but more importantly, diasporic communities of Indonesian were also actively participating; creating networks of identity based communities of Ambonese, Manadonese, Javanese and others. 

The research is based on the assumption that, like 21st century cities, early 20th century colonial cities exhibited traits of what Richard Florida has called creative cities. Creative cities are places which fosters a creative class that supports creative economies, i.e. economies of the future. Florida argues that cities that succeed in creating an urban space and culture that is multicultural, open and artistic, as places of congregation that allow people to participate. Although colonial cities are restrictive by definition, I argue that the rise of modern cities in colonial Indonesia is an essential element in supporting the rise of the modern Indonesian man, thus the rise of Indonesian nationalism is a multicultural, even liberal, process. 

I will study the municipality and municipal council of Bandung, a particularly modern and ‘western’ city in West Java. Aside from being considered by many as the most modern city in the Indies and nicknamed the Paris of Java, Bandung represented the embodiment of the rise of a ‘creative’ society, built on a selective participatory and multicultural environment. I will do this by reading up on the selected years of municipal minutes and magazines and determine the networks of individuals that make up the municipal councils. I will also look into various magazines of Bandung based organizations. These municipal networks branches out to the wider Bandung and Indies society, with prominent urban organizations (for instance Bandung Vooruit), businesses and communities that make up the city. By tracing these networks, we can get a picture as to the extent of community participation (which communities and are they diasporic?) and which organizations effected council decision the most. The expansion of participation in a multicultural setting should allow for rising talents to access decision making on the behalf of their community/organizations.

Understanding the historical background of the Indonesian municipalities is worthwhile for they shed light on the institutional workings of the city. It is my assumption that the liberal nature of urban participation in early twentieth century Indonesia produced urban institutions that clashed with the ‘nationalistic’ nature of post-colonial Indonesian society. Understanding the selective multicultural and liberal roots of the present day Indonesian municipalities should provide guidance for creating better cities in Indonesia today and in the future.