This study deals with the political history of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra and the Minangkabau people from the late colonial period up to the present, focussing on the course and degree of their integration into the contemporary Indonesian state. The book provides a local perspective on the growth and development of the nationalist movement in Indonesia, the struggle for independence, and the trauma involved for West Sumatra in adapting to an Indonesian state based on very different concepts of government than those that animated the anticolonial struggle in the region. It also helps understand the backgrounds of the recent violent insurgence in several parts of the Indonesian archipelago against the rule of the Javanese-controlled central government.
Buku yang cukup menarik sebagai literatur sejarah tambahan bagi penggemar sejarah,khususnya sejarah politik Sumbar. Paparan Audrey Kahin ini berasal dari disertasinya, jadi cukup komprehensif dan detil. Apalagi yang bersangkutan menyempatkan datang sendiri ke Sumbar untuk melakukan sejumlah interview dan pelacakan sejarah. Sayangnya si penulis tidak membeberkan peristiwa PDRI dalam sebuah bab tersendiri, hanya selintas saja. Padahal peristiwa tersebut cukup signifikan untuk dibahas secara tersendiri. Namun secara keseluruhan, buku ini patut diacungkan jempol.
Buku "Dari Pemberontakan Ke Integrasi Sumatra Barat dan Politik Indonesia 1926-1998" karya Audrey Kahin membawa Anda menjelajahi perjalanan sejarah politik yang menarik di Sumatra Barat. Buku ini merupakan sebuah studi mendalam tentang bagaimana orang Minangkabau berintegrasi ke dalam negara Indonesia yang modern, dari masa penjajahan hingga masa kini. Anda akan menemukan perspektif lokal yang jarang dieksplorasi mengenai gerakan nasionalis, perjuangan kemerdekaan, dan tantangan yang dihadapi oleh rakyat Minangkabau dalam menyesuaikan diri dengan pemerintahan Indonesia. Buku ini memberikan wawasan mendalam tentang perjalanan sejarah politik yang kompleks di Sumatra Barat, dengan gambaran yang kaya dan detail tentang proses integrasi dan adaptasi yang terjadi selama puluhan tahun. Dapatkan salinan buku ini dan nikmati perjalanan mengesankan melalui halaman-halamannya.
Published in 1999, Kahin's “Rebellion to Integration West Sumatra and the Indonesian Polity”, remains as relevant in its time as it is now as a reference for understanding an important ethnic group within the culturally diverse Indonesia that had been largely dominated by narratives centered on the Javanese. The Minangkabau, who originate from West Sumatra, had also arguably played a no less important role in the formation of Indonesia as we know it today.
The book traces a historical narrative of the Minangkabau and the significant role they played from 1926 up to 1998. In the 12 chapters, Kahin divided it evenly among 4 sections which starts off with the late colonial rule period and touches on the key themes of how the 1927 rebellion in West Sumatra was in her words “one of the most important rebellions against the Dutch” and how it subsequently shaped the initial political thought in West Sumatra among the Minangkabau up till before World War 2. The second section covers the war years and the period where Indonesia fought for independence from the Dutch, highlighting the important role in which West Sumatra occupied during this important phase of revolution, which had also heavily influenced their perception as to how the new Republic ought to have turned out. The disillusionment flows into the third section, which covers the period of the 1950s, of which the hallmark was that of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (Pemerintah Revolusioner Republic Indonesia/PRRI), the factors and events which drove it into formation, the actual “revolt”, and how it was ultimately crushed by the central government and its after effects. The final section of the book looks at the final years of Sukarno’s Old Order and the entire span of Suharto’s New Order right up to after his resignation and the dawn of reformasi in Indonesia.
To understand the history behind how the Indonesian polity came to be, I believe the Minangkabau had more often than not, been overlooked, with the exception of a few high-profile figures, such as Mohammad Hatta, Indonesia’s first Vice President, and Chatib Sulaiman, teacher-turned-revolutionary during the struggle for independence from the Dutch. As Kahin points out early in the book, despite the small geographical size of the West Sumatra region and the Minangkabau population, they had a significant role in national politics, second only to that of the Javanese discounting the disproportionate numbers involved.
As evidenced from the fairly extensive bibliography, Kahin had researched deeply and also used many archival sources to weave together a historical narrative that coherently touches on not only the important events, but also describes the various figures however small a role they might have played, such that the reader would not be dislocated while following the narrative. Kahin had also taken the liberty to contextualise many of the events to enable the reader to better appreciate its historical significance. She had also not stopped short of just narrating the events, but also explaining the underlying forces which would not have been apparent had she not done so. For example, the chapters that had discussed the PRRI had emphatically shown that there were several forces at play, and it was not as simple as Ahmad Husein having been the rebel leader, but rather he was forced by circumstances into adopting a hardline stance.
The book describes fundamentally the tension that had existed between West Sumatra and Jakarta since pre-Independence days, of how conceptually the country should not be a unitary state with decentralised power, but a federal state with distributed power. This view had clearly perpetuated itself through time as the narrative shows. The events recounted also appeared to be permutations of the same theme, it was a vicious cycle of violent repression and retribution, that had ultimately been about power.
Rebellion to Integration is a history of West Sumatra from the late colonial period down to the fall of Suharto. Its focus is on politics, and in particular on the balance between regional and national interests and forces, but it touches on economics and social history where relevant — education and traditional Minangkabau government, trade routes during the fight against the Dutch, changing economics under the New Order, and so forth.
Kahin begins with the geographical centres of opposition to the Dutch in West Sumatra, the 1927 rebellion, the growth of political movements, and the Dutch crackdown in 1933. She surveys the varied independence movements and their connection with religion, socialism, schools and entrepreneurs, covering local leaders as well as those with a national profile such as Mohammad Hatta and Tan Malaka. West Sumatra tended to have links to Arabia and Malaysia rather than to Java, and to Islamic education rather than Western.
"Events in West Sumatra during the two decades leading up to World War II do much to belie — at least in this part of Indonesia — the frequent contention that the Indonesian nationalist movement was restricted to a narrow, educated urban elite in Java."
With a sympathetic governor, The Japanese occupation saw the encouragement of local organisations and creation of an indigenous People's Army, but also the discrediting of the traditional leaders who had been part of the Dutch administration. In the struggle for independence, West Sumatra was a nationalist stronghold, where the returning Dutch were largely restricted to Padang until the "police action" of December 1948; it hosted the headquarters of the nascent Republic after the loss of Yogyakarta.
"Throughout the revolution [the Mingangkabau:] had demonstrated their loyalty to the Indonesian Republic and they trusted the national leadership with its large Minangkabau component to act in their region's best interests."
Disillusionment with the national government soon spread, however, with minimal regional autonomy and the rejection of federalism; and attacks on West Sumatran institutions around 1950 alienated both military and civilians. Connected with military revolts elsewhere, the West Sumatra rebellion took its own course: the Banteng Council in late 1956, effective independence in 1957, open defiance with the declaration of an independent PRRI state in 1958, and disastrous defeat culminating in a final surrender in 1961. The region was effectively occupied by the left-leaning Diponegoro Division from Central Java.
"[T:]he consciousness that they had suffered a humiliating defeat led to 'a kind of mental breakdown' among the Minangkabau, which would last through much of the 1960s."
In the 1965 upheaval West Sumatra saw far fewer killings than other regions — the mass murder in North Sumatra provides a contrast — but communists and those who had joined them for survival were purged from public life. Integration into Suharto's New Order saw the suppression or co-option of political parties, the near-elimination of Islam from politics, and the decline of the nagari, the traditional large village units of Minangkabau rural society. The extent and effects of the post-Suharto shift towards decentralisation are yet to be seen.
NB: Mudah2an nanti muncul tokoh2 baru di Sumbar yang bisa mengembalikan kejayaan Ranah Minang... di Pentas Nasional Indonesia, Asia Tenggara, Asia, and the World... Salam
Islam, Federalisme dan Egalitarianisme agaknya menjadi kunci memahami Sumatera Barat dalam lintasan waktu. Prinsip ini menjawab mengapa masyarakat Sumatera Barat hingga saat ini memiliki kekuatan signifikan dalam politik Indonesia. Karena mereka memang memiliki sejarah pergerakan yang panjang dan memiliki basis sosial kultural yang berbeda dengan masyarakat Indonesia yang lain.