New Order Traces in the Regional Cultural Thoughts (PPKD) of Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi Municipalities

Abstract

The research discusses the ‘dominant theme’ culture in PPKD documents of Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi Municipalities, which is constructed as an municipality identity. This contradicts their statuses as satellite cities packed by migrants increasing yearly. The migrants’ presence shifts the cities into multicultural cities comprising various ethnicities with diverse cultural roots. Applying municipality-level PPKD to the satellite cities causes problems because the data collection for the Objects for Advancement of Culture (OPK) in the PPKD does not include the migrants’ culture. The research applies a qualitative method to discover the meaning behind the cultural construction of the ‘dominant theme’, suspected as the continuation of the New Order government’s aspiration fantasized in the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. The construction of cultural identity is analyzed using Stuart Hall’s framework, while the continuation of the New Order government’s aspiration is analyzed using a conceptual framework called episteme. The conclusion drawn from the analyses is that the ‘dominant theme’ culture in the PPKD documents of Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi municipalities which is constructed as an city identity is the continuation of the desire of Soeharto’s government in the New Order Era, but with different pattern and strategy.