The Kebaya Revisited: Museum Responds to Accusations of Cultural Erasure

via Channel NewsAsia, 22 September 2023: The Peranakan Museum in Singapore defends its revised text for a kebaya exhibition, emphasizing that the changes aim to reflect the garment’s multicultural heritage and not to downplay its Malay-Indonesian roots.

The exhibition, titled Her Kebaya, drew attention online after a Facebook user noticed that its write-up had changed when he visited a second time on Sep 15, compared with his first viewing on Jul 1.

A clause describing the kebaya as “rooted in the traditional fashion of the Malay-Indonesian world” was changed to “embraced as a form of fashion and dress with a long history”.

The next line was also amended, from calling the kebaya an “integral part of Singapore’s Malay and port city heritage” to “an integral part of Singapore’s port city heritage”.

In response to CNA’s queries, the Peranakan Museum confirmed that amendments were made on Sep 15, and only to the introductory panel – which “should be viewed together with the accompanying captions for the display, which acknowledges the influences from the Malay-Indonesian world on the kebaya”.

Source: Singapore museum says kebaya exhibition text edited ‘to reflect its multicultural heritage’