Decolonising the Aceh museum: Objects, histories and their narratives

The Aceh Museum, one of the oldest museums in Indonesia, was established during Dutch colonial rule. In this article the discussion of three objects of the colonial collections at the Aceh Museum (an ancient metal bell, colonial photographs and an old wooden weaving tool) illustrate the complexities of decolonising museums in a previously colonised country. As this practice varies, depending on whether the country was colonised or was a coloniser, this case study shows that in the Indonesian context, decolonising museums means featuring narratives from the local perspective, challenging colonial legacies (such as social segregation) and deconstruction of Indonesian postcolonial postcolonial official nationalist history.