ABSTRACT
As Khan (2008: 52) has pointed out, ‘the mosque is Islam's most emblematic building, as well as, an expression of collective identity’. Through Chinese-style mosques, Chinese Muslim leaders in Indonesia declare that there can be a Chinese way of being Muslim and that converting to Islam does not mean giving up Chinese cultural traditions. After the collapse of Suharto's New Order regime (1965–98), at least five Chinese-style mosques have been built across Indonesia, reflecting the return of Chinese cultural symbols into public spaces, as well as the reassertion of tolerance of Indonesian Islam. Such mosques always adopt the architecture of mosques common in mainland China, yet these are also reconfigured within Indonesia's local contexts. This choice can be seen as a manifestation of ongoing negotiations between transnational imagination and local configuration aimed at creating a distinctive ‘Indonesian Chinese Muslim’ cultural expression.
