The Overseas Minangkabau is a demographic group of Minangkabau people of Minangkabau Highlands origin in Central Sumatra, Indonesia who have settled in other parts of the world.Christine Dobbin, Islamic Revivalism in a Changing Peasant Economy: Central Sumatra, 1784- 1847; Curzon Press, 1983 Over half of the Minangkabau people can be considered overseas Minangkabaus. They make up the majority of the population of Negeri Sembilan (in Malaysia) and Pekanbaru (in Indonesia). They also form a significant minority in the populations of Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Batam, Surabaya and Palembang in Indonesia as well as Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in the rest of the Malay world. Minangkabaus have also emigrated as skilled professionals and merchants to the Netherlands, United States, Saudi Arabia and Australia.http://www.padeknews.com Warga Minang Melbourne Australia Dilepas Naik Haji The matrilineal culture and economic conditions in West Sumatra have made the Minangkabau people one of the most mobile ethnic group in Maritime Southeast Asia.
The young people usually have to go outside the region after their teens to become traders or students. For most of the Minangkabau people, wandering is an ideal way to reach maturity and success. By moving, wealth and scientific knowledge are gained and the prestige and honor individuals in the midst of indigenous environment.
The immigrants usually send part of the wealth home to be invested in family businesses, such as by expanding the ownership of paddy fields, control of land management, or pick up the rice fields of the spout. Money from the diaspora is also used to improve village facilities, such as mosques, roads, or the rice fields.
Waves of migration +Overseas Minangkabau in Major Cities City Percentage* Badan Pusat Statistik, Sensus 2000 Amount (2010) Badan Pusat Statistik. Tabel Hasil Sensus Penduduk 2010 Provinsi DKI JAKARTA , diakses pada 11 Maret 2012 Pekanbaru 37.96% 343,121 Jakarta 3.18% 305,538 Seremban 50.9% 282,971 Medan 8.6% 181,403 Batam 14.93% 169,887 Singapore 2.29%Census 1990. Sunday Times, 28 June 1992 114,151 Palembang 4.1% 60,188 Jambi 11.07% 58,484 Bandar Lampung 3.36% 29,629 Bandung 0.92% 22,033 Tanjung Pinang 9.5% 17,830 Banda Aceh 7.8% 13,606 * Notes: Percentage to Population in the City
The Minangkabau people have a long history of migrating overseas. They would leave their homes and travel in search of knowledge and to seek their fortunes. The first migration in the 7th century when the Minangkabau Merchants sold the gold in Jambi and involved in the formation of the Malayu Kingdom. In the 13th century, the Minangkabau people started colonies along the west coast of Sumatra island from Meulaboh to Bengkulu when they were spice traders. In Aceh, they were known as Aneuk Jamee and Pesisir (Ughang Pasisia) in west coast of North Sumatra.
Some scholars noted that the arrival of the Minangkabau to the Malay Peninsula occurred in the 12th century.Newbold, J.T. (1835). Sketch of the Four Minangkabowe States in the Interior of Malayan Peninsula, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 14 (January to December): p. 241-252 This ethnic group moved in to peninsula at the height of the Sultanate of Malacca, and maintains the Adat Perpatih of matrilineal kinships system in Negeri Sembilan and north Malacca.Gullick, J. (2003). A History of Negri Sembilan. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of Royal Asiatic Society In the early 18th century, many Minang merchants as cross-strait traders. These traders transport various commodities that came from the interior of Sumatra to be sold to foreign ships in the Straits Settlements. The three brothers were Nakhoda Bayan, Nakhoda Intan, and Nakhoda Kecil opened up a settlement at Penang island. Minangkabau migration to the Malay peninsula increased dramatically in the early 1850s, as a result of Padri War in West Sumatra. Most of them work as miners, merchants, and craftsmen. Utsman bin Abdullah and Haji Mohamed Taib were influential tycoons in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding area.Nelmawarni Bungo, Nordin Hussin; Merantau ke Kuala Lumpur: Tradisi merantau dan berdagang masyarakat Minang, 2011 Haji Taib, one of the wealthiest Minangkabau merchant at that time, was an important person in the early development city centre of Kuala Lumpur.https://www.thestar.com Life is colourful on infamous road
After Portuguese captured of Malacca in 1511, many Minangkabau family moved to South Sulawesi. Datuk Makotta and his wife Tuan Sitti were pioneer of Minangkabau family in South Sulawesi. They supported Sultanate of Gowa as military leaders, administrators and ulamas.Raja Ali Haji Beside as preacher, the Minangkabau were the major traders in Makassar before the Makassar War.Timothy P. Barnard, Texts, Raja Ismail and Violence: Siak and the Transformation of Malay Identity in the Eighteenth Century, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Oct. 2001), pp. 331–342. After the Makassar War, almost of Minangkabau descendants had identified themselves as being Makassar people or Bugis. And they belong to the "Bugis-Makassar community" who migrated to the Malay Peninsula, West Borneo, eastern Sumatra and Java in the late 17th century.
In the mid-19th century many of Minangkabau people migrate to Java to continue their education and expand of business. Minang merchants are found in traditional markets of Jakarta, mainly in Tanah Abang and Senen. In 1961, the number of Minang migrants in Jakarta increased 18.7 times compared to the city's population growth rate of only 3.7 times, and in 1971 Minangkabau people was estimated to have amounted to around 10% of Jakarta's population at that time. Even though many Minang migrants were well established 'uptown', many of them later moved and settled in Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. Despite Greater Jakarta is their major concentrations, they are also often found in many cities and towns, such as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Malang, Surakarta and Tasikmalaya, where they have quite solid associations.
Intellectual migration The increasing wealth of the interior of Minangkabau people has encouraged them to send their children to school in the Middle East, Europe and Java. Haji Sumanik, Haji Miskin, and Haji Piobang were Mecca alumni who carried out Islamic reforms in the early 19th century in Minangkabau. Their teachings, known as the Padri movement, then spread to Riau and the southern Tapanuli.Azyumardi Azra, Transformasi Politik Islam: Radikalisme, Khilafatisme, dan Demokrasi, PPIM UIN Jakarta, 2016
After the Padri War, most of the Muslim reformists went to Mecca and Cairo. Among them were Ahmad Khatib, Tahir Jalaluddin, Abdul Karim Amrullah, and Muhammad Jamil Jambek. In Mecca, Ahmad Khatib served as the Imam of the Shafi'i school of law at the mosque known as Masjidil Haram. While Djanan Thaib founded Jamaah al-Chairiyah in 1923 and led Seruan al-Azhar magazine with Ilyas Yakoub and Mahmud Junus at Cairo.Zuhairi Misrawi, Al-Azhar: Menara Ilmu, Reformasi, dan Kiblat Keulamaan, Kompas, 2010
In Java, most of them attended STOVIA and Rechtsschool in Batavia, as well as Technische Hoogeschool in Bandung. In the period 1900 – 1914 around 18% of STOVIA graduates were Minang students. This explains why from pre-Indonesian independence until nowadays, many doctors in Jakarta have come from Minangkabau migrants. Several Minang of STOVIA graduates who later became personages in the Indonesian government were Adnan Kapau Gani and Bahder Djohan.
In the early 20th century, many young Minangkabaus migrated to Europe. Most of them studied in the Netherlands and Germany. Abdoel Rivai, Mohammad Hatta, Roestam Effendi, Nazir Pamuntjak, and Sutan Sjahrir were overseas Minangkabaus who studied in Europe and later became activists in the movement for Indonesian independence. Another activist was Tan Malaka who lived in eight different countries including the Netherlands, China, and the Philippines. He was a member of the Indonesian Communist Party and was also a candidate for the Netherlands' member of parliament.
Causes Cultural factors There are two explanations of this phenomenon. One: Because Minang culture dictates that boys need to learn to be an optimal effective man, they need to learn from the outside world, to gain knowledge and experience so that they can hopefully gain enough wisdom to take care of the women (sisters, nieces, mother, aunts, grandmother, etc.), and to gain sufficient skills to be productive men who can provide for their women. Two: The nomads who returned to their hometown, usually are considered to be more desirable by the girls and respected by the potential in-laws.
Nowadays, the modern Minangkabau women also aspire to wander out of their hometown because they want to earn their living by trade, have a career, or further their education.
According to Rudolf Mrázek, a Czech Michigan-based Indonesianist, two typologies of Minang culture, the dynamism and anti-parochialism gave birth to the spirit of independence, cosmopolitan, egalitarian, and liberal-minded, causing the embedded migration culture of Minangkabau people.http://www.antara-sumbar.com Prof. Dr. H. Ahmad Syafii Ma'arif, Satu Nomor Contoh Produk Tradisi Merantau The spirit to change the fate of the pursuit of knowledge and wealth, and Minang proverb which says Ka ratau madang di hulu, babuah babungo balun, marantau bujang dahulu, di rumah paguno balun (better go wander, because in kampong not useful) result in Minang youth to migrate since youth.
Economic factors Another explanation is that because many Minangkabau people have proven to be successful merchants and the family whose men are overseas usually are wealthier at home, it drives the other men who are still at home to want to wander outside their homeland and test their economic skills as well.