Mandailing Identity
Classified as Bataks in Indonesia and as Malays in Malaysia,
the Mandailings are however a distinct ethnic and cultural group
from the Bataks and the Malays.
In 19th century Malaya, the Mandailings were called "foreign
Malays" by British administrators. In the 19th century Dutch
Indies, the Mandailings were labeled as "Batak-Mandailing".
Colonial administrator-scholars used these categories in their
pseudo-scientific ethnological writings, and attempted to manipulate
ethnic categories for their own political agenda. Colonial census
perpetuated these categories for "administrative convenience" and
denied Mandailings a choice of their distinct identity.
Until today, the Mandailings have been misrepresented in official
publications and academic journals alike, inspite of their enormous
contributions to society, literature and politics both in Indonesia
and Malaysia. Any study of the Mandailings as an appendix of
the Bataks or Malays can only be superficial to say the very
least. In this way, the Mandailings have been academically marginalised.
Subsequently, in the name of Malay nationalism (kebangsaan Melayu),
a movement forged through the print media and reinforced by national
education, the Mandailings in Malaysia have all but lost their
cultural and ethnic identity. This is precisely what Mangaradja
Ihoetan had warned later generations Mandailing not to do, that
is, "carelessly forsaking nationhood and obliterating it
by entering into the fold of another ethnic group that does not
elevate their status."
In British Malaya, the Malayan-born Mandailings were assimilated
into mainstream Malay society through a process of Melayu-ization
without any opposition.
In constrast, the Mandailings in Indonesia, in particular the
Mandailing who had moved to the East Coast of Sumatra and settled
there, found a way out of this identity crisis with the outbreak
of the Social Revolution in the 1940s. The Social Revolution
in East Sumatra was revolt against the Malay rajas and aristocracy
that broke out after the Japanese Occupation.
The Mandailings took this opportunity to reassert and revert
to their original cultural and ethnic identity. Arif Lubis, the
editor of Soeloeh Merdeka and Mimbar Umum during the Social Revolution
pointed out that those who have "masuk Melayu" can
also "keluar Melayu".
In Indonesia today, the Mandailings are often grouped together
with the Angkola, as "Angkola-Mandailing". Since the
Angkolas largely identify themselves as Bataks, this coupling
only reinforces the notion that the Mandailing fall under the
Batak label. Statist agendas to classify or "unify" people
under a racial stock or "rumpun" such as "rumpun
Melayu" or the Batak grouping only serve to reduce human
diversity and the possibilities of self-determination.
>>> back to 'The
Mandailings in Indonesia'
