Living Heritage:

Architectural Expressions of Jawi Peranakan Values in Public Buildings

Abstract

The Jawi Peranakan community, descended from intermarriages between Malays and South Asian Muslims—primarily from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Gujarat, and in some cases from Yemen or other parts of the Arab world—represents a unique cultural hybrid whose heritage is vividly expressed through its architecture and communal spaces. Despite their significant role in shaping Malaysia’s urban and architectural history, scholarly inquiry into the integration of Jawi Peranakan intangible values within the built environment remains scarce. Existing heritage conservation frameworks tend to prioritise the preservation of physical structures, often overlooking the socio-cultural systems and values that sustain these spaces as living heritage. This oversight risks eroding the cultural meanings embedded in architectural forms, particularly under the pressures of rapid urban development and socio-economic change. This study addresses this gap by examining how Jawi Peranakan values are materialised in the built environment, framing their architecture as a dynamic form of living heritage. Adopting a qualitative descriptive approach within the interpretive anthropology paradigm and employing semiotic and hermeneutic methods, the research explores the symbolic meanings embedded within key communal structures, such as mosques and houses, which are historically associated with the community. The findings reveal that their architectural expressions integrate Malay vernacular typologies with Indo-Islamic decorative motifs, while spatial configurations embody core communal values: kinship, religious devotion, reciprocity, and economic solidarity. Multi-functional halls, open courtyards, and transitional spaces in mosques and houses that facilitate both ritual and social interaction, reinforcing extended family networks and collective identity. By interpreting these architectural features as physical embodiments of intangible cultural values, the paper underscores the resilience of Jawi Peranakan heritage amidst modernisation. The study contributes to a wider discourse on multicultural heritage preservation, identity construction, and sustainable urbanism in Southeast Asia, advocating for design frameworks on cultural values that embrace both tangible and intangible dimensions of Jawi Peranakan architecture heritage.