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Jakarta Post

Minang supremacy: A declining triumphalism

Minang landmark: An aerial picture of a neighborhood in Muara Labuah, South Solok regency, West Sumatra

The Jakarta Post
Mon, February 10, 2020

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Minang supremacy: A declining triumphalism

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inang landmark: An aerial picture of a neighborhood in Muara Labuah, South Solok regency, West Sumatra. The area is undergoing revitalization to preserve its rumah gadang (traditional Minangkabau houses). (Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)

The history of the Indonesian nation saw the supremacy of figures originating from West Sumatra in the country’s political affairs in the preindependence and early post-1945 independence period. Yet their political eminency seems to be on a decline as can be seen from the limited number of Minangkabau, or Minang, politicians currently in control of top political stages. The Jakarta Post’s Imanuddin Razak takes a close look at the issue.

Name any political figures in preindependence and postindependence Indonesia and you can find a significant number hailing from West Sumatra. One key figure was Tan Malaka, whose writings were used by then-founding president Sukarno as inspiration for his speeches in the 1920s in Hindia Belanda — the name for Indonesia prior to its independence in 1945. His article, titled “Naar de Republik” (Road Map to a Republic), was even a reference for Sukarno in welding national unity in the then-still colonialized nation.

Another was Mohammad Yamin, the conceiver of the text of Youth Pledge on Oct. 28, 1928, a landmark in Indonesian history as it was for the first time that calls for unity of the nation’s youths — an action that later on triggered the widespread independence movement — were formally introduced.

Other prominent Minang figures who had been active since the preindependence era and became the driving forces in the early postindependence era as the country’s top-echelon leaders were Mohammad Hatta, the country’s first vice president and duumvirate, along with then-president Sukarno in the declaration of Indonesian Independence on Aug. 17, 1945, and four of the 11 prime ministers during the presidency of Sukarno, namely Sutan Sjahrir, Mohammad Natsir, Abdul Halim and Assaat.

However, years before the Youth Pledge event, a brilliant Minang figure was key in the then-colonialized Hindia Belanda’s early movement for unity and independence. It was Abdoel Rivai, a medical doctor and pioneer in Hindia Belanda’s journalism who wrote a number of manuscripts persuading the nation’s youths to “advance” themselves intellectually — a euphemism for asking the youths to go to school.

One of Rivai’s articles had likely inspired the establishment of Budi Utomo, a pioneer youth organization in Hindia Belanda established by a number of School for Training of Inland Doctors (STOVIA) — the origin of the School of Medicine of the University of Indonesia (UI) — students Soetomo, Wahidin Sudirohusodo, Goenawan Mangoenkoesoemo and Soeradji on May 20, 1908.

“I once read an article by Dr. Rivai in Insulinde magazine, when I was in Leiden University [the Netherlands], which called for the educated people of Hindia Belanda to get united in an organization. The article apparently contributed to the establishment of Budi Utomo,” senior historian Taufik Abdullah told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview, referring to the Padang-based monthly magazine published in the early 1900s.

The Minang politicians’ dominant involvement in preindependence Hindia Belanda and early postindependence Indonesia, however, was not an instant product achieved overnight as it was the result of the prolonged sociocultural transformation of Minang people in response to the presence of Dutch colonials in Hindia Belanda, particularly in the region now known as West Sumatra.

Elizabeth E. Graves in The Minangkabau Response to Dutch Colonial Rule in the 19th Century concludes that the origin of the Minangkabau people’s capacity in managing the newly independent nation and their significant number among the then-still limited number of the educated Indonesians lies on how they responded to the presence of Dutch colonial power in West Sumatra since the middle of the 19th century.

“The Dutch needed local [Minangkabau] people with basic skills — reading, writing and adequate computing competence — to fill in posts within the colonial administration structure […] Those posts were filled in by people of the educated ‘common’ families,” Graves wrote in her book, apparently referring to the Minang middle class, the social group between the upper and working classes that gave birth to the Minang figures who had made names in the country’s political arena.

State leadership duet: Founding president Sukarno (right) and vice president Mohammad Hatta discuss the Kaliurang agreement, which established a ceasefire and the settlement of disputes between Indonesia and the Netherlands. (kepustakaan-presiden.pnri.go.id)
State leadership duet: Founding president Sukarno (right) and vice president Mohammad Hatta discuss the Kaliurang agreement, which established a ceasefire and the settlement of disputes between Indonesia and the Netherlands. (kepustakaan-presiden.pnri.go.id)

It was these figures of the middle-class families, who were aware of the importance of education and then took higher education abroad particularly in the Netherlands, that were among the pioneers of the awakening nationalism and key figures in the national movement for unity and eventually the nation’s independence.

Senior Muslim ulema and Minangkabau cultural observer Buya Mas’oed Abidin on the other hand sees the Minang figures’ comprehensive capacity as the main reason for their eminent role in the country’s political affairs.

“Take a look at Mohammad Yamin and Mohammad Natsir for example […] Yamin was a politician, prolific writer, legal and cultural expert, but also held a significant position within the rank and file of Minangkabau familial structure. Meanwhile, Natsir was a politician, who also held significant position in Minangkabau familial structure and was a prominent Muslim ulema,” Padang-based Buya Mas’oed told the Post in a recent interview in Jakarta.

Buya Mas’oed also sees Minang people’s long tradition of merantau (leaving one’s place of origin to a faraway place for certain purposes and a relatively long period of time, be it for studying, working or simply to find a better life) as another factor that contributes to the Minang figures’ success in politics.

He cited that those prominent Minang politicians’ decision to merantau to Jakarta, the business and governance center in the preindependence Hindia Belanda and postindependence Indonesia, had made themselves exposed to the general public along with their activities and achievement.

But Minang politicians’ supremacy has started to decline along with the increased and largely equal quality of education and literacy — both language and technology — across the archipelagic nation.

“Minang peoples’ supremacy in the country’s political affairs only lasted until the 1950s. They do not dominate the country’s political arena anymore as mostly Indonesians are already educated now,” said Taufik Abdullah.

He added that unlike in the early independence era when there were less than 10 universities in existence, nearly all provinces in Indonesia currently have universities, both state and privately run. Data from 2017 revealed that there were 4,498 universities and colleges throughout the country.

Gusti Asnan, professor of history at the Padang-based Andalas University, said the declining role of Minang figures in the country’s political affairs could be seen from their decreasing number and their level or participation in politics.

“In the preindependence era, either in the Netherlands or in Indonesia [particularly in Java], three to four out of 10 nationalist movement figures were Minang people,” he told the Post in a written interview.

“Since the 1998 Reform Era, Minang figures’ involvement in national politics has drastically declined,” he added.

Of the main reasons for the declining eminence of Minang politicians in the country’s political arena, declining Minang identity is apparently the main one.

“Minang people are in an ethnicity crisis. There might still be an abundance of Minang politicians out there, but it is hard to identify them by their names. Unlike in the past, when people could easily differentiate whether a politician is of Minang descent or not,” Taufik concluded.

Gusti Asnan also sees similar reasons behind the decline of Minang politicians’ supremacy.

“The main reason is that Indonesians of other ethnicities have been able to match the quality and capacity of Minang people in various sectors, including politics. It’s not the Minang people’s domination anymore,” he said.

Gusti Asnan, however, also sees Minang people’s largely transformation to businesses as the contributing factor to their declining dominance in the country’s political arena.

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