Medan Trip - Day 5 - Part 1
There was an old kingdom here in Medan, called the Melayu Deli Kingdom. But because of their pro-Dutch attitude, they were being 'neglected' by the Indonesian government for a rather long time. Only recently, more than half a century after independence, the government started to pump in some money to restore the old palace and other memorial sites.
In historical books, it is often said that Indonesian was under oppression by Dutch for 350 years. That is true only for the people living in Java, but not true for the Sumatran people, who said that the Dutch only took control for 25-50 years in the land of Sumatra. Moreover, it is quite unclear to say whether Dutch colonialism was indeed bad for Indonesia such that it qualifies for the term 'oppressor'. In reality, many people can testify that under Dutch government, the people was enjoying their life better, than the time when they were really oppressed by the kingdom or landlords.
Enough of the history part, below are some of the pictures taken from the palace and grand mosque.
The signboard stated that this is the Masjid Raya Al-Mashun
The renovated mosque, with a water fountain
The three 'wise' men (and woman) who came from afar...
Blue sky, watch tower, water fountain beside the grand mosque
An artist illustration of the grand mosque. The lake was the imagination of the artist.
The Palace
The Garden directly in front of the Palace
In front of the throne for the King
This is not the end of day 5. The second part will be posted tomorrow on the visit to the Crocodile 'sanctuary' nearby.
In historical books, it is often said that Indonesian was under oppression by Dutch for 350 years. That is true only for the people living in Java, but not true for the Sumatran people, who said that the Dutch only took control for 25-50 years in the land of Sumatra. Moreover, it is quite unclear to say whether Dutch colonialism was indeed bad for Indonesia such that it qualifies for the term 'oppressor'. In reality, many people can testify that under Dutch government, the people was enjoying their life better, than the time when they were really oppressed by the kingdom or landlords.
Enough of the history part, below are some of the pictures taken from the palace and grand mosque.
The signboard stated that this is the Masjid Raya Al-Mashun
The renovated mosque, with a water fountain
The three 'wise' men (and woman) who came from afar...
Blue sky, watch tower, water fountain beside the grand mosque
An artist illustration of the grand mosque. The lake was the imagination of the artist.
The Palace
The Garden directly in front of the Palace
In front of the throne for the King
This is not the end of day 5. The second part will be posted tomorrow on the visit to the Crocodile 'sanctuary' nearby.
Labels: Medan Trip December 2007
posted by Suhandy Yao Wei Xuan @ 11:50 pm
1 Comments:
At 11:22 am ,
the_rabin said...
ah ! everytime, something like this reminds me of ang-moh concept of human-rights, freedom, equality, etc etc ... which are inconsistent (at worst) ..or vague (at best) in practice.
before dutch came to indonesia, there was no concept of indonesia yet. the spead of islands we call indonesia today, consisted of tens (maybe even hundreds) of small kingdoms ..or simply warlords.
indonesian government sovereignity claim over these entire islands were based on continuity (sucession rule) from dutch colonial government.
think about it !!
Aceh was a separate kindom of its own when dutch came to indonesia. when dutch left, shouldn't the sovereignity be returned to acehnese? why didnt acehnese have right to govern their ownself as separate entity from jakarta's government ??
look at papua. how could jakarta government (in 1963) claim papua as part of indonesia ..when the people there are not even from the same race ?
how to align between the basic human-right of freedom, people's right of self-determination ..with the concept of sovereignity ?
on the side note, ..the issue of self-determintation and sovereignity happen in international arena too. look at taiwan or tibet.
it's very funny when angmoh supports Papua as integral part of indonesia, but Taiwan has right to independence.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home