Salina Christmas

A war ritual in Borneo up to the 1960s, and once upon a time, widespread throughout Southeast Asia, in which the enemies’ heads were cut off as tokens. They were used in spiritual ceremonies, displayed during harvest festivals and treated like supernatural protectors of those who keep them. During harvest festivals, the skulls are taken…

Soldiers recruited from the Indian subcontinent, in particular Nepal and the Himalayan regions. Famed for their bravery and fierceness in battle. The Gurkhas have been serving the British military for two centuries.

An intergovernmental organisation founded by Sir Fabian Ware in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. It’s responsible for commemorating all Commonwealth war dead ‘regardless of rank, race or creed’. In 1917, it was formally established via the Royal Charter. It’s supported by six member states: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and…

The German federal parliament in Berlin.

A wall that divided Berlin into West Germany and East Germany from 1961 to 1989. The wall was massively breached following the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1989. Following the German reunification, it was demolished between 1990 and 1994.

A short-neck lute that originates from Yemen, south of Arabia. Brought by the Yemeni and Central Asian diaspora to Southeast Asia, it led to the birth of the Malay-specific musical genres such as the zapin and ghazal in which songs are played in Middle Eastern notes but sung in the local language.

Also known as Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or the VOC. Established in 1602, the company monopolised the spice trade from its Javanese base, Jayakarta – today’s Jakarta – since 1609. Corruption and bad labour practices caused it to be taken over by the Dutch Batavian Republic. The company’s territories were then known as the Dutch East…

A mandatory enlistment of people in a military service. In Japan, conscription reportedly began in 1873. The middle and upper classes could be exempted but not the working class. Conscription intensified in 1938, with younger men enlisted. Shortage of manpower meant that Japanese boys as young as 15 were conscripted in 1944. Koreans were conscripted…

A northern city on the west coast of Java in Indonesia. “Cirebon” means “mixed”, a reference to the city’s rich amalgamation of Sundanese, Javanese, Arab and Chinese influences.

The battle, between 8 to 15 February 1942, ended the Malayan campaign with victory on the Imperial Japanese side.