Mandailing :: English

The Mandailings in Peninsular Malaysia

"Pai Kolang"

The most important occurrence of Mandailing migration to 19th century Peninsula Malaysia was during and after the Padri Wars (1816-1833). The economic, social, political, religious and ecological disruptions caused by the war resulted in the movements of people within, as well as out of Mandailing.

According to Asal-Oesoelnja Bangsa Mandailing (The Origin of the Mandailing People), the Mandailing have sojourned (merantau) to Klang and Melaka even before they moved to Tanah Deli in East Sumatra. Klang and other places in the Peninsula were described as well-known destinations for Mandailing migration even before the 19th century. Pahang was famed throughout Sumatra for its gold and attracted Minang miners since the 16th century. The Mandailing and the Minangs have been known to "Pai Kolang" (literally, Go Klang) since centuries ago for centuries.

An important historical source about Mandailing migration is the Tarikh Raja Asal dan Keluarganya (The History of Raja Asal and His Family), a family chronicle written in the 1934 by Raja H.M. Ya'cob, the grand-nephew of Raja Asal, about the migration of Raja Asal, Raja Bilah (Raja Ya'cob's father, and Raja Asal's nephew) and Mandailing noteables to the Peninsula.

The Tarikh attributes Raja Asal's "kesumat" (differences, rivalry) towards the Dutch as a cause of his migration. Family oral tradition also account for family differences as a cause; this points to political rivalry for rajaship under Dutch rule.

At the point of Raja Asal's departure to the Peninsula, the Dutch were introducing corvee coffee cultivation in Mandailing while the Peninsula was experiencing a "period of great discoveries of rich and extensive tin deposits" south of Kedah and north of Melaka.

It was the prospect of mining gold that brought Raja Asal and his clansmen to sojourn to Pahang around the 1840s. The Tarikh named the Mandailing, the Minangs (these are usually Talu or Tolu as the Mandailing calls them), the Rawa and other Sumatrans as those who went to Raub in Hulu Pahang in search of gold. According to the Riwayat Hidup Tuan Abu Bakar (The Memoir of Tuan Abu Bakar), a memoir of a Mandailing migrant written in the 1930s, the Mandailing, Rawa, Minang and Talus were engaged in gold mining in Raub. (These ethnic groups were still to be found in Raub up to 1931). This gold, according to the Riwayat, was sold in Melaka. The Riwayat was written by Abu Bakar, a follower of Raja Bilah and whose father, Raja Pinayungan Lubis Saba Dolok, was a follower of Raja Asal.

Traditionally, a member of the raja (ruling) family would lead a band of his followers comprising a few interrelated clans, on an exodus from a large settlement or village to the frontier to establish control over a new settlement. "Merantau whole clans at the same time, under united command" was the classic pattern of migration, practiced within Mandailing and also outside Mandailing.

The Mandailings followed the well-trodden path treaded by the Minangs from the west coast of Sumatra to the east coast of the island, and from there to Melaka or Penang. The route taken by Raja Asal from Mandailing led him to Rao, Pendalian, Tandun, Kesipakan, Patapahan, Pantai Cermin, Pekan Baharu and Bengkalis before he landed in Melaka, and from there to Sungai Ujong before going to Pahang. Raja Pinayungan, the father of Tuan Abu Bakar proceeded from Mandailing to Rao before going to Indragiri (Rokan) and then Melaka in the 19th century. By the early 20th century, the Mandailings found a shorter route to the peninsula via Penang.

From Melaka or Sungai Ujong, Raja Asal and the Mandailing made their way to Pahang, and in all probability took the Penarikan route, the trans-Peninsula crossing up the Muar or Bera river to the Pahang basin. In the 18th century most overland travel to Pahang took the old Melaka-Pahang route. Penarikan means drag-way or portage, where boats and merchandise or both were transported overland from one river to another.

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