the mall in indonesia

many writings about indonesia begin with attesting to its diversity but then proceed to treat that diversity as a homogeneous whole or worse, present indonesia as dominated by particular conservative norms. part of this diversity entails kinds of heterogenisation, where parts of indonesia do not mix with other parts. a modern example that i want to suggest here takes the form of the shopping mall, a space of shopping and consumption but also a space in which elements of the diversity of indonesian society are manifest. this brief essay will outline the spatial abilities that the mall provides to particular sections of the population to not only physically separate themselves from the rest of society, but to give them space in which they can enact their own particular brand of culture.

the mall is an increasingly common structure in cities across asia and across the world as the nature of modern cities evolve to sediment the prevailing social and economic structures of the time. the mall is a product of capitalism, in which shopping and consumption are key activities, and the mall is an all-in-one place in which this can occur. this essay is based on observations in senayan city, jakarta. a new mall build next to plaza senayan another well known mall in downtown jakarta. it houses the usual range of branded clothing and homewares, food court and cinema. more than just a physial structure that encloses an area of consumption, it is also a space in which aspects of culture are enacted.

one of the interesting features of the mall is that it’s enclosed, andinside, oblivious to the outside world. this is a common feature of postmodern sites where replication is predominant, found in the case of McDonald’s, 5 Star Hotels and airports. in so far as the mall ois the town square of the 21st century, is it marketable different from the former by the fact that it is enclosed, privitised and entry is regulated. windows are very rare in malls, except in this case, forming part of the view from the male urinals. indeed i allows the mall to be air conditioned, and hermetically separated from the heat, noise and dirt of the city around it. the mall becomes an escape or sanctuary from the city whose streets are increasingly uninhabitable. of course, the point of the mall is not to provide continuation with the outside world, but rather to create an internal environment, in which its own logic and scenery predominate. any reference to the outside world is only seen in the idyllic photos of shop display windows and the films screened upstairs.

these are general characteristics of the mall, that are repeated throughout cities across the world. rarely recognized in our class shy discourse is the fact that a mall is a space for the consumption patterns of a particular class in indonesian society. although entry is technically free, participation in consumption is not, window shopping merely becomes a parade in the unattainable. this is provided that someone poor can get past the security at the door, if they even even the desire to enter what is an alien space to them. with its brands the mall encapsulates a particular formation of consumption, that of symbolic value.

as the mall is not a space for the poor, it is a space for the middle and upper classes. it provides them with a social space separate from the threat that the outside world poses to them. they are able to socialize with their own kind , participating in activities common to themselves as a class – shopping, drinking brewed coffee, drinking and so on. the mall is very safe as an environment, in which a middle class morality prevails. middle class mores of sexual display and appearance, of maintained anonymity and distance between people. for indonesian women, it is also a space for them to enact a different display of dress and femininity, not possible in broader indonesian society. codes of dress could be regarded as more ‘liberal’ in the mall, with more skin revealed. the mall’s prevailing norm of live-and-let-live towards what other people wear is part of the encoded civility towards others. it is possible because people can travel house-car-mall without ever leaving spaces the comfort.

on the day the mall was visited, the ground floor had two displays. the first, about global warming. presenting ironically within the air conditioned space of the mall, conforming to all the middle class characteristics of political and social action. that is, largely to the satisfaction of the individual rather than to the cause itself. this position is also cynical, but the point is poignant.

more telling, the photography display further down the hall. it displayed the poor and unfortunate of indonesia: children and adults, struggling to feed themselves. the poor in the display have been photographed and turned into objects of display, for admiration or horror of the viewers. some photos had been sold, with prices more than the subjects would ever see in their short lives. the poverty, found within 100 metres of the mall itself, has been sanitized for the consumption of the mall’s inhabitants.
what senayan city presented that day was a structure indicative of broader social and economic changes within the city of jakarta, and extractable in a general sense beyond. the mall provides an insulated space for the middle and upper classes to not only enact their consumption oriented lifestyles, but also to experience sanctity from the decaying world of the metropolis outside. it attests to the growing isolation of elements of the city from others, and the enactment of a bourgeois culture, complete with its worldview of the world it itself is trying to distinguish itself from.