CHSP Alumni Spotlight: Moh Masruhan
Indonesia, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, MA Global History and International Studies
Through the Cultural Heritage Scholarship Programme (CHSP), Moh Masruhan (Ruhan) had the opportunity to pursue a Master's in Global History and International Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His thesis, Presenting the Colony: Early Non-fiction Films about Volcanoes in Colonial Indonesia, 1912–1938, reflects the lens through which he approaches his broader work: tracing how the past is documented, represented, and remembered. He is currently involved in a research project on the spice heritage of the Maluku Islands, organised by Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and funded by BRIN as part of the RIIM (Riset dan Inovasi untuk Indonesia Maju) programme. The project seeks to document the rich culture and legacy of spices in the Maluku region.
For Ruhan, the CHSP programme was a significant step toward his goal of becoming an academic specialising in history. Before graduating from VU Amsterdam, his contributions to research projects were largely limited to data collection, documentation, and presentation. After the programme, that changed and he began to be involved as a researcher in historical writing projects in his own right, a shift he credits directly to the experience of studying at master's level in the Netherlands.
Living and studying in the Netherlands, a country whose past is deeply intertwined with Indonesia's, also fundamentally expanded how Ruhan thinks about heritage. One reflection that stayed with him was the contrast between how heritage is treated in the Netherlands compared to Indonesia. In the Netherlands, he observed, heritage feels alive and integrated into everyday life: centuries-old buildings preserved and repurposed for contemporary use. That observation took on new meaning earlier this year during field research in the Banda Islands, where historically significant sites, forts and houses tied to the nutmeg trade, are poorly maintained and subject to vandalism.
His time at VU Amsterdam also reshaped how Ruhan thinks about the relationship between local and global history. Through the lens of global history, he came to understand that many events or historical remains that appear purely local are in fact connected to national and even global developments; a perspective that now informs how he approaches heritage research in Indonesia.
Perhaps most importantly, the programme pushed Ruhan to reckon with the legacy of colonialism on how Indonesians relate to their own heritage. Colonial-era cultural remains are often neglected or erased, an understandable response, he acknowledges, to the painful memories associated with them. But he argues that this approach disrupts the continuity of national memory. Heritage, in his view, needs to be redefined by each generation; not as a recurring problem to be avoided, but as a meaningful part of a shared collective history.
Cultural Heritage Scholarship Programme
The Cultural Heritage Scholarship Programme (CHSP) is a Nuffic initiative funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, designed to empower young professionals from Indonesia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Suriname, and South Africa to pursue a specialised master's programme in cultural heritage management in the Netherlands. The programme aims to foster international collaboration and knowledge exchange, enabling alumni to bring new expertise and perspectives back to their home communities.