An introduction to the Minangkabau

The Minangkabau or the Minangs of Sumatra, Indonesia are known as the world’s largest matriarchal society. They are probably the most stable and the most influential of such societies. In Indonesia, they are famous for their restaurant chains serving spicy food known as Rumah Makan Padang or Restoran Padang, their role in the founding of the Republic of Indonesia, and their literary flair.

Being matrilineal, the Minangs trace descent through their mother’s side. Consequently, each person belongs to their mother’s kaum or suku (en. clan). Jambak, Koto, Piliang, Sikumbang, Malayu, Chaniago, Gucci and Tanjuang are some well-known Minangkabau clans’ names.

Minangkabau is not the only name attributed to them. They are also known under many different names. For the majority of Indonesians, they are known as orang Padang (en. the Padangs). The name Padang itself comes from the capital city of the province of West Sumatra and it has been used for the names of Minang restaurants outside the Minangkabau land.  Despite the existence of many accounts on the origins of the names, the Westerners and Western scholars seem to prefer the name Minangkabau, probably because one version of the accounts involves a story about “the invasion of the Minangs by some external power” and “a war threat”,  hence  the beloved topics  in the Western world.  The account itself originates from one region in the Minangkabau land, and therefore it can not be said that it represents the true origin of the name Minangkabau. It was through the work of some Western scholars on them that they adopted the terms “Minangkabau” and “matriarchy” (from Dutch: matriarchaat).

The Minangs call themselves urang awak (lit. our people). They call someone or other Minang people from other clans with the name of their clan, such as urang Jambak (en. someone or people of the Jambak clan) or urang Koto (en. someone or people of the Koto clan). Likewise, they also call someone with the name of their clan such as Vara nan urang Jambak (lit. Vara from the Jambak clan).

Ranah Bundo is the name they give  to their homeland. It literally means the land of the mother(s) or motherland. Ranah Bundo Kanduang is another name for their land which literally means the land of the womb mother, the land of the beloved mother or the land of the loving mother. The word kanduang means both love and womb. And since there is almost no distinction between adjective and nouns in Minang language, it can also mean beloved and loving (the adjectives relating to love).

The Minangs exert a significant influence in many areas including culture, sociopolitics, economy, literature, language, gastronomy, science, technology and journalism, not only in Indonesia but also in the whole Malay world. What is known as the Malay World includes, among others, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, East Timor, the southern region of Thailand and South Philippines. They also played an important role in the struggle for independence against the Dutch colonials in Indonesia, and against the British colonials in the British Malaya (what has now become Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam). Tan Malaka, the founder of the Republic of Indonesia, played a key role in linking the communist movement of Europe to colonial Asia.

Their stories are not those of kings and kingdoms and wars and killings and invasions and rapes but of mothers and grand mothers, of the children of the mothers, of the struggle against the oppression, of going merantau (going to rantau area or going outside the motherland), of the will to freedom and of the will and the power to build the society wherein they live. For this reason, they have often been omitted from Indonesian and Western accounts alike.