Since the implementation of decentralization policies following the fall of Suharto in 1998, Indonesia’s provinces have far greater autonomy, which they have leveraged to enhance aspects of their cultural identity. In the context of Riau Islands Province, a new province created in 2004, the pivot away from a centralized national focus has prompted policies that prioritize the revival of Malay culture in various spheres of life including education, the arts, and the built environment. This paper examines the cultural politics of recent state architectural projects created in the past fifteen years in and around the provincial capital of Tanjung Pinang, all of which are intended to evoke a sense of Malay cultural and religious identity. Recent state architecture seeks to channel and project an “authentic” past, often through a selective amalgamation of various recognizable historical references. In the context of current local political, racial, and religious dynamics, we analyze how versions of Malay identity are appropriated by the state in a variety of ways and manifested in recent state architecture in Riau Islands Province, and examine how this contributes to a variety of social exclusions.