Why should you be proud of being a Padangnese? What makes it so special that you have to state "I am proud of being Minangkabau person"? Well, this writing is made to remind you about the history we have; about the contribution of Minang persons towards this nation. There are lots of things which make us proud of our identity, as descendant of Minangkabau.
Minangkabau is one of the ethnics in Indonesia. It is a term of tribe for people of West Sumatera. Minangkabau people are known to hold on their custom strongly. Therefore, massive modernization which comes from western countries get difficult to give influences to the genuineness of Minangkabau traditions. It is not as easy as abc to remove Minangkabau culture. Minang people have succeeded in doing such resistance towards some oppressions and effort to fight against Minang culture until now.
Beside that, Minangkabau persons are famous with their firm belief of their religion (Islam). It is so different from other ethnics which tend to be easy to change their faith (in some cases I found). That is why the effort of some people to make Padangnese become a christian, always results nothing. It is totally useless effort. In Pariaman, there are no churchs building at all. The outsiders, especially Chinese have no power. They cannot do anything in Padang as what they do in other provinces. They have to follow the rules and the tradition in West Sumatera.
It is not a weird thing when you visit my hometown (Padang), you will find that many Chinese can speak Padang language. Because most people of Padang tend to use their native language to communicate. However, they also use Indonesian in school or when it is really needed to speak Bahasa. It is one of the instances that Minang people always try to maintain their ancestor's tradition until this time.
For Minang people it is such a shame if they do not perform the obligation of religion well. For that reason, it is not an astonishment that most Minang are clever at it. A place called "surau" (a place to do any kinds of religion activities beside mosque), is always full of people. Children must learn to read Alquran since the early age. Therefore most Padangnese are clever at reading the holy Quran. And for the boys, when they already become adults, they are obliged to stay the night in surau or mosque to learn more about religion. Besides they also learn "pencak silat" there.
Last time, before Aceh became "Daerah Istimewa Aceh" and applied Islam law, Padang has applied it first long time ago until now. It can be seen from the philosophy of life of Minangkabau which says "Adat basandi syarek, syarek basandi kitabullah". This philosophy was from Tuanku Imam Bonjol. He is one of the bravest and the most active national hero in fighting colonialism for the freedom of Indonesia. He is also one of the person of revolutionary movement of Islam. "Adat basandi syarek, syarek basandi kitabullah" means that everything in Minangkabau's life must based on Islam values.
The cuisine of Padang is also so delicious and it is very famous even in the world. Take as an example "Rendang" (food made of beef or goat's meat). One of the uniqueness of Padang is its line of descent; matriarch (the biggest in the world). It means that every born child will become the relatives of the mother. That is the characteristic which distinguish Minangkabau from other ethnics. Minang people are also known as educated tribe and have produced great persons in Indonesia and in the world.
Through this writing I will show you some important persons (Padangnese) with their achievements and contributions for this country.
1. Ahmad Khatib Al Minangkabawi
He is an Indonesian islamic teacher and the first non Arabic who becomes the great head (imam) in mosque of Mecca (Masjidil Al Haram). Later I will describe about him in my next writing.
2. Tan Malaka
Through his works in Minang or melayu language, he develops modern Indonesian which known as "Bahasa Indonesia", when other people were proud of using dutch.
3. KH. Agus Salim
He is the person who tries to make all countries all over the world to acknowledge the independence of Indonesia. Because of his ability in speaking Arabic and his broaden knowledge about Arab, he has succeeded to get the support from Arab countries. And they are the first countries that acknowledge the independence of Indonesia.
4. Mohammad Hatta (Bung Hatta)
He is the first vice presiden of Indonesia. He is also known as "Bapak Koperasi dan ekonomi Indonesia".
5. Buya Hamka
He is one of great teacher of Islam. He has the ability to translate the Quran well. His works are still famous and become phenomenal even in some foreign countries.
Those people are only some from lots of people that I cannot describe here. Although some people had been eliminated from the history record on behalf of something, but we are as Minangkabau people will always remember them.
So...how can I not be prouud of my own identity as Minangkabau? There are too many great things which make West Sumatera becomes one of the most influence regions for Indonesia. Hopefully this writing can give some benefits relates to our history and identity as Minangkabau
The last I just want to tell you all that West Sumatera has a lot of beautiful sceneries. There are many interesting and amazing places to visit. And Padang also has a beautiful and amazing road which known as "kelok sembilan". It is really awesome to drive along this street.
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Bandar Lampung, 22 Februari 2017
Keren
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