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span class="inline inline-none">A view from outside the old mining office built in 1916 that still serves as the headquarters for coal mining company PT Bukit Asan - Ombilin mining unit.

Kiplik guides us into an underground tunnel, down cement steps, until we are 16 meters below the surface.

The tunnel is known as Mbah Soero tunnel, a coal mining site that has become a popular tourist sites in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra.

In the past, it was a place known for its “chained people”, prisoners from Java, Sulawesi and Bali, who were forced to work with their feet tightly chained during the Dutch colonial time.

Located in the heart of the city, the tunnel was officially opened to the public on April 23, 2008 after its restoration.

Inside, the tunnel is similar to the Japanese tunnel found in Bukittinggi, a popular tourist town in the province.

The main difference is that water seeps through Mbah Soero’s tunnel walls and drips through the roofing.

The Mbah Soero tunnel was a former coal mining site, after “black gold” deposits estimated to be around 200 million tons were found in Sawahlunto by Dutch geologist W.H. Van Greve back in 1868.

However, it was not the first mining site as the Dutch cleared land for coal mines in the town in 1886. The first was at the Sungai Durian site, some 7 kilometers away, and Mbah Soero Tunnel, which was also known as the Lembang Soegar site, opened in 1898.

But Mbak Soero tunnel was the first site located in the heart of the city.

The tunnel got its name after being supervised by a Javanese man, who was named Soerono. It was closed in 1932 while the Dutch were still in power, yet there is no historical record which explains the reason for the closing, however is thought to be due to a water leak in the tunnel.

“Myth says the place ‘demanded’ human sacrifice, seven black (locals) and seven white (Dutch) people. The Dutch rejected and preferred to close it down,” Kiplik says.

The gate of Mbah Soero tunnelIt’s unknown how big the tunnel is.

According to Kiplik, whose real name is Sudarsono, the tunnel’s map was never found and it is likely to be hidden to keep the coal deposits inside a secret.

Sawahlunto city administration has cleared about 80 meters of the tunnel, with blackened walls made out of good quality coal. At end of the tunnel, there is a pool of water, resembling a lake.

Back in its heyday, the tunnel had no stairs, only a path to allow a pushcart to pass through. The cement stairs were made for the ease of visiting tourists.  

The tunnel is not just one; rather it resembles an interconnecting network. Two have been cleared and there is another nearby which has no exit. There are two intersecting paths, which meet up after 30 meters.

Several tunnels were intentionally closed after finding skeleton bones. The skeletons, believed to be “chained workers”, were later buried in a special cemetery on a hill in Sawahlunto.

“A paranormal specialist, who took part in the restoration, recommended that the place where the skeletons were found be closed so as to not pose a problem for visitors,” Kiplik said.

We were later taken to a horizontal tunnel stretching 186 meters, enjoying the flow of oxygen coming from pipes from above. Without the oxygen flowing in, the tunnel would only have an oxygen level of about 15 percent.

inside Mbah Soero tunnel“Back then, the tunnel went straight to the steam power plant and the workers could directly obtain coal from there,” Kiplik says, adding that there is another story saying that former freedom fighters in the town were using the tunnel to assemble grenades to fight Japanese soldiers in the 1940s.

If the stories are true, it’s extraordinary. The distance from the place where we stand is around 160 meters long and is located alongside Batang Lunto River which splits the town in two. The steam power plant was built in 1894 on higher ground near the train station but closed in 1924 after a new generator was built in Salak, some 5 kilometers away.

Saringan area, built in 1990, is the place to proccess coals before being transported to Teluk Bayur port.The Nurul Islam Grand Mosque has stood above the former steam power plant since 1952.

“There’s plan to continue digging up the Mbah Soero tunnel,” Kiplik said.

Outside the tunnel’s exit, a statue of a Dutch watchman who is watching two mining workers push a cart full of “black gold” is shining brightly under the sun.

Before leaving the tunnel, a staff handed me a certificate, which identified me as the tunnel’s 11,972 visitor.

Some 190 meters from the tunnel, one can find Goedang Ransoem Museum, located at the former site of a kitchen built by the Dutch in 1918 to supply food to the hundreds of mine workers, including the “chained workers”.

Giant pots and pans as well as big coal-fired stoves, which carry the brand “Rohrendampfkesselfabrik” (1894), are evidence that the kitchen had been using modern cooking utensils at the time.

At the museum, visitors can also watch a 15-minute documentary on Sawahlunto’s mining tourism in the audio-visual hall. Three titles are on the offer.

Half a kilometer from the museum, one can visit the Kereta Api Museum, a train museum located at the Sawahlunto station.

The museum, which boasts the glorious days of train services in West Sumatra at the end on 19th century, is
the second train museum in the country after the one in Ambarawa, Central Java.

At the museum, visitors can see different rail equipment, which originate from colonial time, or hop into the train for a tour on board West Sumatra’s well-known “Mak Itam”, which literally means black uncle train.

The steam-powered train was the main means of transportation to carry the coal on the 156-kilometer trip from Sawahlunto to Emma Haven port, which is now known as Teluk Bayur port, in Padang.

Today, Mak Itam has been brought back to life, with two train cars taking tourists to the Silungkang weaving center every Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the cost of Rp 15,000 (US$1.605) per person roundtrip.  

If you prefer to enjoy the trip with a group, you can rent Mak Itam anytime at the cost of around Rp 4 million.

Apart from past mining sites, the town is also home to other tourist sites, including a zoo, which was built on a former mining site in Kandi area, some 11 kilometers away from the city center. The place is also known for its butterfly park, horse race arena or you can enjoy the view while taking a boat ride across the lake.

In another location, at Muara Kalaban, families can also enjoy West Sumatra’s first water boom recreational park.

The town is also the place where Muhammad Yamin, the initiator of the 1928 Youth Pledge, was buried in Talawi, about 16 kilometers from the city center.

Sawahlunto mayor Amran Nur is determined to make the city a mining tourism site, one of the best ways to exploit its past glory as a coal town.

And the plan seems to be going as planned. Apart from three tourist sites, which were only in the planning phase back in 2005, tens of historical buildings which came from the Dutch colonial time had been restored.

A meeting hall called Gluck Auf, built in 1910 and was the place where Dutch officials sang and danced, has became the Sawahlunto Cultural Building, with a café offering local specialties by its side.

Every December, the building holds an international festival and last year, it hosted the Sawahlunto International Music Festival, which saw participating musicians coming from seven countries, including Australia, Belgian, Cameron, Mexico and South Korea.

The Sawahlunto administration is currently working toward listing the city as a UNESCO World Heritage City as a historical mining town.

With the tourism sites polished up, Sawahlunto — which will host the opening of the 2012 Tour de Singkarak, held from June 4-10 — may soon take over Bukittinggi’s popularity as West Sumatra’s tourist city.