Abstract
The plague that struck Malang in the early 20th century was a significant milestone in the history of tropical medicine in the Dutch East Indies. This article analyzes the role of visual forms—such as cartographic maps, statistical graphs, clinical photographs, and architectural diagrams— in medical reports from the period 1910–1916. These visuals served not only as documentation but also as scientific evidence supporting the “rat-flea-human” hypothesis. Through these various visual representations, Dutch authorities succeeded in imposing Western hygiene standards and transforming the physical landscape of Java. By modifying the structure of traditional houses, they symbolically and practically carried out a “colonization of the way of life” of the local population in the name of colonial public health. Overall, the visuals in the epidemiological reports on the plague in Malang served as instruments that transformed a health crisis into an architectural modernization project underpinned by claims of scientific truth.