Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
- Original Message - From: Firdaus Kadir To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau Kalau iyo baa kaba kini? Lai sempat basuo jo Pak Agustiar balakangan ko? Pak Agustiar lah di Padang baliak, sajak bulan puaso. mS
Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
Waaliakum salam Wr Wb Pak Mes, lai molah duduak di Palanta. Kok lai baminaik Pak Mes menterjemahkan buku nantun, kok basobok ambo jo Katua Gebu Minang nan baru Pak Fasli Jalal nak ambo sampaikan ka baliau. Karano Gebu Minang lai adoh komitemen untuak manabikan buku tantang Minangkabau bagai. Bahkan nan tadanga dek ambo Gebu Minang juo baminaik manabikan buku-buku karya dosen-dosen asa Minangkabau khusus nan badomisili di Padang. Sayangkan banyak dotor jo profesor, tapi karya dan bahapanilitian hanyo sabagai hiasan di ruang kerja masiang-masiang. Baa agak hati lai satuju kito. salam Katik Batuah - Original Message - From: Mestika Zed To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 1:20 AM Subject: Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau Terima kasih atas informasi yang diberikan oleh Pak "Maifil Eka Putra" tantang Karajaan Minangkabau karangan Jane Drakard Hardback berjudul A Kingdom of Words. Saya sendiri sudah lama memiliki buku tersebut. Yang berminat bisa pesan copynya. Sebaiknya buku tersebut diterjemahkan, tapi siapa bisa bantu cari sponsor. Mestika Zed,Pdg. Ruling despotically by the letter An academic treatise titled `A Kingdom of Words' bends over backward to accomodate a trend By Bradley Winterton What the author of this strange book describes and struggles to understand is a kingdom on the island of Sumatra (in modern Indonesia) during the 17th and 18th centuries. It left no written records of a chronological kind, and the evidence has had to be pieced together from fanciful, myth-based texts, plus the accounts of the Dutch colonizers. Minangkabau was an important state, situated midway down the west coast of the island. The kings, living in a mountainous interior far away from the coastal settlements, reigned over their people without armies to enforce their will. They were perceived as sacred beings, and ruled largely by sending out elaborate letters. These letters, rhetorically worded and lavishly illustrated, form the main object of the author's study. Economic historians, and others trained in the materialist Western tradition, have always seen court rituals and the like as mere symbols, cover for a more ruthlessly physical exercise of power. Leaders dazzled the ignorant populace with processions, but what they were really doing was taking the people's wealth in taxes, collected by force if necessary. But here is a kingdom, Drakard argues, where claims of magical power were the beginning and end of all authority. This is not an easy book to read. It is awash with words like "semiotic," "syntagmatic"and "paradigmatic" (all three occurring in a single sentence). But what it describes is curious indeed. The author's attitude to her material, however, is even more intriguing. A typical Minangkabau royal letter would begin by establishing the king's lineage, would then list his possessions, and end by issuing a brief instruction, such as that the bearer be given safe passage. The lineage invariably claimed by the kings was one of direct descent from Iskandar Zulkarnain, whose three sons were considered to have fathered the dynasties of China, the Ottoman Empire, and Minangkabau respectively. Among the magical objects the Minangkabau kings claimed to possess were a crown that had belonged to Adam, a loom that moved of its own accord, once every year, and wove a fabric that had existed since the beginning of time, a sword that bore marks from a fight with a devil, a dagger that resisted being sheathed, and a drum made from the skins of lice. The Dutch unsurprisingly looked on such things with a skeptical eye. Though they were undoubtedly eager to lay their hands on the gold for which Minangkabau was famous, they were also heirs to a national tradition of tough-minded practicality that held all myths, and most religions, as fanciful fabrications. But Jane Drakard leans over backward not to mock any of her material, and to resist the obvious conclusion that such claims were put about to deceive the gullible and ensure taxes, payable in gold, were handed over to their sovereign. Emperors and kings worldwide have sought to impress their subjects using very similar methods. So, there's really nothing unusual about these royal Sumatrans. The populace may have been so extensively fooled by their claims that little force was needed to maintain their hold on power, but that's the only way they differ from the norm. For Jane Drakard to claim otherwise suggests that she has been subjected t
Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
Pak Mes, insyaallah if you have any problems in translating, I can help you (hope, I am able to) when I am back to the UNP campus. Wass, Desmawati Radjab At 07:36 28/02/01 +0700, you wrote: Waaliakum salam Wr Wb Pak Mes, lai molah duduak di Palanta. Kok laibaminaik Pak Mes menterjemahkan buku nantun, kok basobok ambo jo Katua GebuMinang nan baru Pak Fasli Jalal nak ambo sampaikan ka baliau. Karano GebuMinang lai adoh komitemen untuak manabikan buku tantang Minangkabau bagai.Bahkan nan tadanga dek ambo Gebu Minang juo baminaik manabikan buku-buku karyadosen-dosen asa Minangkabau khusus nan badomisili di Padang. Sayangkan banyakdotor jo profesor, tapi karya dan bahapanilitian hanyo sabagai hiasan di ruangkerja masiang-masiang. Baa agak hati lai satuju kito. salam Katik Batuah - Original Message -From:MestikaZedTo: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 1:20AM Subject: Re: [RantauNet] Tantang KarajaanMinangkabau Terima kasih atas informasi yang diberikan oleh Pak "Maifil Eka Putra"tantang Karajaan Minangkabau karangan Jane Drakard Hardback berjudul A Kingdomof Words. Saya sendiri sudah lama memiliki buku tersebut. Yang berminat bisapesan copynya. Sebaiknya buku tersebut diterjemahkan, tapi siapa bisa bantucari sponsor.Pdg. RantauNet http://www.rantaunet.com = Mendaftar atau berhenti menerima RantauNet Mailing List di http://www.rantaunet.com/subscribe.php3 ATAU Kirimkan email Ke / To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isi email / Messages, ketik pada baris/kolom pertama: - mendaftar: subscribe rantau-net [email_anda] - berhenti: unsubscribe rantau-net [email_anda] Ket: [email_anda] = isikan alamat email anda tanpa tanda kurung = WebPage RantauNet dan Mailing List RantauNet adalah servis dari EEBNET http://eebnet.com, Airland Groups, USA =
Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
Dear, Buk Desmawati Radjab Thank you for your response on my E-mail. Moga-moga capek baliak pulang kampung dan boleh ngumpul lagi di kampus UNP agar bisa kami dibantu mencarikan sponsor penterjemahan buku tt Minangkabau nan kadikarajokan tu. Sabagian jo topik nan lain malah sudah diansua, tapi soalnyo lagi-lagi kito di kampung ndak ado salero soal urusan dengan buku dan publikasi. Ujuang-ujungnya soal 'capital flow' Makonyo sulit maarokkan sponsor. Terakhir terjemahan kami di Obor Jakarta masih ndaktantu nasibnyo. Padahal lah sajak bulan puaso masuak ka sinan. Jadi ambo basaba sambia mangarojokan nan lain. Mestinya berkat teknologi waktuawak bisa nambah labih 24 jam. Bu Des jan lamo-lamo na di rantau. Jangan-jangan kampuang wak ndak ado lai, bubar. Tolong lah ambo. Atau bisa dipasan dari jauh sajo ka Pak Fasli tu. Terima kasih. Mestika Zed. WebPage RantauNet dan Mailing List RantauNet adalah servis dari EEBNET http://eebnet.com, Airland Groups, USA = Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. RantauNet http://www.rantaunet.com = Mendaftar atau berhenti menerima RantauNet Mailing List di http://www.rantaunet.com/subscribe.php3 ATAU Kirimkan email Ke / To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isi email / Messages, ketik pada baris/kolom pertama: - mendaftar: subscribe rantau-net [email_anda] - berhenti: unsubscribe rantau-net [email_anda] Ket: [email_anda] = isikan alamat email anda tanpa tanda kurung = WebPage RantauNet dan Mailing List RantauNet adalah servis dari EEBNET http://eebnet.com, Airland Groups, USA =
Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
From: "Mestika Zed" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2001 02:09:21 +0700 Assalamua'laikum wr wb., Pak Mestika yth., Maaf, kalau ambo salah, apo iko Pak Mestika nan pernah singgah di Washington, DC 2-3 tahun nan lalu? Kalau iyo baa kaba kini? Lai sempat basuo jo Pak Agustiar balakangan ko? Salam, Firdaus kadirGet your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Dear, Buk Desmawati Radjab Thank you for your response on my E-mail. Moga-moga capek baliak pulang kampung dan boleh ngumpul lagi di kampus UNP agar bisa kami dibantu mencarikan sponsor penterjemahan buku tt Minangkabau nan kadikarajokan tu. Sabagian jo topik nan lain malah sudah diansua, tapi soalnyo lagi-lagi kito di kampung ndak ado salero soal urusan dengan buku dan publikasi. Ujuang-ujungnya soal 'capital flow' Makonyo sulit maarokkan sponsor. Terakhir terjemahan kami di Obor Jakarta masih ndaktantu nasibnyo. Padahal lah sajak bulan puaso masuak ka sinan. Jadi ambo basaba sambia mangarojokan nan lain. Mestinya berkat teknologi waktuawak bisa nambah labih 24 jam. Bu Des jan lamo-lamo na di rantau. Jangan-jangan kampuang wak ndak ado lai, bubar. Tolong lah ambo. Atau bisa dipasan dari jauh sajo ka Pak Fasli tu. Terima kasih. Mestika Zed. WebPage RantauNet dan Mailing List RantauNet adalah servis dari EEBNET http://eebnet.com, Airland Groups, USA = Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. RantauNet http://www.rantaunet.com = Mendaftar atau berhenti menerima RantauNet Mailing List di http://www.rantaunet.com/subscribe.php3 ATAU Kirimkan email Ke / To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isi email / Messages, ketik pada baris/kolom pertama: - mendaftar: subscribe rantau-net [email_anda] - berhenti: unsubscribe rantau-net [email_anda] Ket: [email_anda] = isikan alamat email anda tanpa tanda kurung = WebPage RantauNet dan Mailing List RantauNet adalah servis dari EEBNET http://eebnet.com, Airland Groups, USA =
Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
Sanak Mestika Zed. Salamaik datang, Salamaik bagabuang. Walaupun alun dibaco saluruhno, ambo mampunyoi buku karangan sanak ; "Somewhere in the Jungle, Pemerintahan Darurat Republik Indonesia". Jadi ambo lah mangatahui saketek biodata sanak. Mungkin sanak nan lain nan dibalerongko, ado nan alun tau jo sanak Mestika Zed. Dengan talabiah dulu mohon ma'af ka sanak MZ -kok tadorong ambo-, ambo parkanalkan saketek sanak MZ kapado sanak nan alun tau. Dari buku "Somewhere in the Jungle, Pemerintahan Darurat Republik Indonesia". Mestika Zed adolah seorang Doktor dibidang sejarah (Vrije Univ. Amsterdam), Ketua Jurusan Sejarah Unand ( '92 - '95), dosen di Universitas Padang (??). Apokoh juo anggota DPRD Salabiahno kapado sanak MZ, kok lai buliah ditarangkan bak ari manganai manganai badan diri sanak di balerongko. Dengan adonyo sanak MZ akan mambuek diskusi manganai Minang / Sumbar di Rantaunet akan samakin "angek" dan labiah barbobot. Ambo mangoleksi buku-buku manganai Minang / Sumbar. Kok lai bisa tolong dicopy dan kirimkan ke Bogor buku "Karajaan Minangkabau" karangan Jane Drakard Hardback berjudul A Kingdom of Words, detailno akan mbo sampaikan ke japri. Talabiah dulu tarimokasi. note : Maifil Eka Putra adolah mantan wartawan Singgalang, kini baliau di Jkt, umuano alun tigo puluah. Wass A Bandaro ( 50thn), Banuampu-Agam, tingga di Bogor. ~ Mestika Zed wrote: Terima kasih atas informasi yang diberikan oleh Pak "Maifil Eka Putra" tantang Karajaan Minangkabau karangan Jane Drakard Hardback berjudul A Kingdom of Words. Saya sendiri sudah lama memiliki buku tersebut. Yang berminat bisa pesan copynya. Sebaiknya buku tersebut diterjemahkan, tapi siapa bisa bantu cari sponsor. Mestika Zed, Pdg. RantauNet http://www.rantaunet.com = Mendaftar atau berhenti menerima RantauNet Mailing List di http://www.rantaunet.com/subscribe.php3 ATAU Kirimkan email Ke / To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isi email / Messages, ketik pada baris/kolom pertama: - mendaftar: subscribe rantau-net [email_anda] - berhenti: unsubscribe rantau-net [email_anda] Ket: [email_anda] = isikan alamat email anda tanpa tanda kurung = WebPage RantauNet dan Mailing List RantauNet adalah servis dari EEBNET http://eebnet.com, Airland Groups, USA =
Re: [RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
Terima kasih atas informasi yang diberikan oleh Pak "Maifil Eka Putra" tantang Karajaan Minangkabau karangan Jane Drakard Hardback berjudul A Kingdom of Words. Saya sendiri sudah lama memiliki buku tersebut. Yang berminat bisa pesan copynya. Sebaiknya buku tersebut diterjemahkan, tapi siapa bisa bantu cari sponsor. Mestika Zed,Pdg. Ruling despotically by the letter An academic treatise titled `A Kingdom of Words' bends over backward to accomodate a trend By Bradley Winterton What the author of this strange book describes and struggles to understand is a kingdom on the island of Sumatra (in modern Indonesia) during the 17th and 18th centuries. It left no written records of a chronological kind, and the evidence has had to be pieced together from fanciful, myth-based texts, plus the accounts of the Dutch colonizers. Minangkabau was an important state, situated midway down the west coast of the island. The kings, living in a mountainous interior far away from the coastal settlements, reigned over their people without armies to enforce their will. They were perceived as sacred beings, and ruled largely by sending out elaborate letters. These letters, rhetorically worded and lavishly illustrated, form the main object of the author's study. Economic historians, and others trained in the materialist Western tradition, have always seen court rituals and the like as mere symbols, cover for a more ruthlessly physical exercise of power. Leaders dazzled the ignorant populace with processions, but what they were really doing was taking the people's wealth in taxes, collected by force if necessary. But here is a kingdom, Drakard argues, where claims of magical power were the beginning and end of all authority. This is not an easy book to read. It is awash with words like "semiotic," "syntagmatic"and "paradigmatic" (all three occurring in a single sentence). But what it describes is curious indeed. The author's attitude to her material, however, is even more intriguing. A typical Minangkabau royal letter would begin by establishing the king's lineage, would then list his possessions, and end by issuing a brief instruction, such as that the bearer be given safe passage. The lineage invariably claimed by the kings was one of direct descent from Iskandar Zulkarnain, whose three sons were considered to have fathered the dynasties of China, the Ottoman Empire, and Minangkabau respectively. Among the magical objects the Minangkabau kings claimed to possess were a crown that had belonged to Adam, a loom that moved of its own accord, once every year, and wove a fabric that had existed since the beginning of time, a sword that bore marks from a fight with a devil, a dagger that resisted being sheathed, and a drum made from the skins of lice. The Dutch unsurprisingly looked on such things with a skeptical eye. Though they were undoubtedly eager to lay their hands on the gold for which Minangkabau was famous, they were also heirs to a national tradition of tough-minded practicality that held all myths, and most religions, as fanciful fabrications. But Jane Drakard leans over backward not to mock any of her material, and to resist the obvious conclusion that such claims were put about to deceive the gullible and ensure taxes, payable in gold, were handed over to their sovereign. Emperors and kings worldwide have sought to impress their subjects using very similar methods. So, there's really nothing unusual about these royal Sumatrans. The populace may have been so extensively fooled by their claims that little force was needed to maintain their hold on power, but that's the only way they differ from the norm. For Jane Drakard to claim otherwise suggests that she has been subjected to some very odd ideological pressures. It is not, unfortunately, hard to see what these pressures might have been. The particular preconceptions that apply in this case are that the perceptions of colonizing powers were always wrong, that all cultural assumptions have equal claims to truth, and that it's necessary to listen to the voices of formerly oppressed peoples whose plight has hitherto been overlooked. These aims and ambitions are eminently worthy, except when they fly in the face of the facts. And the facts here are unmistakable -- that the claims of these kings of old were as ridiculous as the Dutch considered them to be. Moreover, it's doubtful if the modern descendants of the people described in this book would be very grateful for such present-day endorsements of the trickery of their former rulers. One other feature of the book is more than a little surprising. Historians and modern travelers invariably point to the Minangkabau people's matrilineal social structure. Bill Dalton, in his Indonesia Handbook, credits them with being perhaps the world's largest matrilineal society. Oddly, Jane Drakard makes no mention of this issue.
[RantauNet] Tantang Karajaan Minangkabau
Iko adoh referensi tentang kerajaan Minangkabau. Silakan dibaco-baco salam Katik Batuah "A Kingdom of Words"By Jane Drakard Hardback322 PagesOxford University Press ReviewRuling despotically by the letterAn academic treatise titled `A Kingdom of Words' bends over backward toaccomodate a trendBy Bradley WintertonWhat the author of this strange book describes and struggles to understandis a kingdom on the island of Sumatra (in modern Indonesia) during the 17thand 18th centuries. It left no written records of a chronological kind, andthe evidence has had to be pieced together from fanciful, myth-based texts,plus the accounts of the Dutch colonizers.Minangkabau was an important state, situated midway down the west coast ofthe island. The kings, living in a mountainous interior far away from thecoastal settlements, reigned over their people without armies to enforcetheir will. They were perceived as sacred beings, and ruled largely bysending out elaborate letters. These letters, rhetorically worded andlavishly illustrated, form the main object of the author's study.Economic historians, and others trained in the materialist Westerntradition, have always seen court rituals and the like as mere symbols,cover for a more ruthlessly physical exercise of power. Leaders dazzled theignorant populace with processions, but what they were really doing wastaking the people's wealth in taxes, collected by force if necessary. Buthere is a kingdom, Drakard argues, where claims of magical power were thebeginning and end of all authority.This is not an easy book to read. It is awash with words like "semiotic,""syntagmatic"and "paradigmatic" (all three occurring in a single sentence).But what it describes is curious indeed. The author's attitude to hermaterial, however, is even more intriguing.A typical Minangkabau royal letter would begin by establishing the king'slineage, would then list his possessions, and end by issuing a briefinstruction, such as that the bearer be given safe passage.The lineage invariably claimed by the kings was one of direct descent fromIskandar Zulkarnain, whose three sons were considered to have fathered thedynasties of China, the Ottoman Empire, and Minangkabau respectively.Among the magical objects the Minangkabau kings claimed to possess were acrown that had belonged to Adam, a loom that moved of its own accord, onceevery year, and wove a fabric that had existed since the beginning of time,a sword that bore marks from a fight with a devil, a dagger that resistedbeing sheathed, and a drum made from the skins of lice.The Dutch unsurprisingly looked on such things with a skeptical eye. Thoughthey were undoubtedly eager to lay their hands on the gold for whichMinangkabau was famous, they were also heirs to a national tradition oftough-minded practicality that held all myths, and most religions, asfanciful fabrications.But Jane Drakard leans over backward not to mock any of her material, and toresist the obvious conclusion that such claims were put about to deceive thegullible and ensure taxes, payable in gold, were handed over to theirsovereign.Emperors and kings worldwide have sought to impress their subjects usingvery similar methods. So, there's really nothing unusual about these royalSumatrans. The populace may have been so extensively fooled by their claimsthat little force was needed to maintain their hold on power, but that's theonly way they differ from the norm. For Jane Drakard to claim otherwisesuggests that she has been subjected to some very odd ideological pressures.It is not, unfortunately, hard to see what these pressures might have been.The particular preconceptions that apply in this case are that theperceptions of colonizing powers were always wrong, that all culturalassumptions have equal claims to truth, and that it's necessary to listen tothe voices of formerly oppressed peoples whose plight has hitherto beenoverlooked.These aims and ambitions are eminently worthy, except when they fly in theface of the facts. And the facts here are unmistakable -- that the claims ofthese kings of old were as ridiculous as the Dutch considered them to be.Moreover, it's doubtful if the modern descendants of the people described inthis book would be very grateful for such present-day endorsements of thetrickery of their former rulers.One other feature of the book is more than a little surprising. Historiansand modern travelers invariably point to the Minangkabau people'smatrilineal social structure. Bill Dalton, in his Indonesia Handbook,credits them with being perhaps the world's largest matrilineal society.Oddly, Jane Drakard makes no mention of this issue.Nevertheless, what remains of interest in this book is the light it throwson the way words can be used, not only to educate and enlighten, but tobaffle and confuse. In societies where most people can't read, books andelaborately penned letters can be objects of
