Chapter 1 - It seemed so obvious

Chapter 1 - It seemed so obvious

Every Monday was the market day in Salo, Kampar. It was February 1905. On such days all traders from the various neighbouring localities in Kampar gathered there in Salo, to trade. The stretch of the dirt road by the banks of river Kampar in Salo suddenly became busy with all sorts of activities and all kinds of trades. The familiar sound of hustling and bargaining filled the air.

This rotation system had been the norm for hundreds of years, so the traders knew their routine well. Monday in Salo, Tuesday in Kuok, Wednesday and Sunday in Bangkinang, Thursday in Rumbio and Saturday in Air Tiris. Friday, due to the Friday Prayers, made it too short to be in the market, and everyone took a break on Fridays. And Bangkinang being more populated got two days instead of one.

Taib had a makeshift stall to sell "Kueh Peniaram" and "Tapai Ubi," prepared by his mother at all these markets. The old bicycle the family had allowed him to arrive early to market his offerings.

These activities help him make some money for the family. If by closing time, usually before the Zohor prayer, if there were still extras, he would perform barter trade among the traders and take back things of his choice for the family to consume.

This tradition was a tradition of the old, and no one knew when it began. But everyone knew that was the most convenient way to be self-sufficient with one’s daily needs.

Events had been disturbing and frustrating in Kampar and the surrounding areas.

In Pagaruyung, Minangkabau, the palace elders had sold their independence and sovereignty to the Dutch, and it was painful for Taib and his youth friends to see the fabric of his society dismantled because of the constant internal conflict between his people. All these events had only strengthened the Colonial Dutch power grasps of the region.

Since 1830, and with the start of Padre war, the Middle Sumatera was never at peace and was never the same again. 

Dutch Cultuurstelsel was introduced in 1830 by Johannes van den Bosch, then governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. This revenue system in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) that forced farmers and peasants to pay revenue to the treasury of the Netherlands in the form of export crops or compulsory labour. It now had reached Kampar, and the hinterland and their choice were either to accept the Dutch control or find somewhere where the Dutch had little influence.

The active and able males were being forced to be forced labour the plantations of pepper and other crops owed by the Dutchmen. Villagers had to provide land, to the Dutch Colonial government by setting aside one-fifth of their rice field for the cultivation of export crops like sugar, coffee, and indigo or by working in a government field for one-fifth of a year (66 days) if one had no land in his possession.

He had then decided not bow and be subservient to the Dutch, instead upkeep the tradition and culture of "merantau". To him heading for Pahang seemed to be his manifest destiny.

“Why Pahang?, Because over there, there were already many settlements of Kampar people, and many went back to and fro from Kampar and Pahang. In fact, the link goes much further to the days after the fall of the Malacca sultanate or even before. Many had gone there and made their wealth. Pahang, is the land of Gold” said Taib.

Slowly and painfully, he gained enough courage in telling his mother that he had to follow his instinct to Pahang. The departing was brief and solemn. He knew that the departure could be his last time holding the hands of his mother. He  But going is already his true destiny.

It was Wednesday, and he took the opportunity to say goodbye to his trader friends in Bangkinang. Some gave him food, while others gave him the few coins they collected in the morning as reserves for Taib in his journey. Have Keris will travel.

Originally published at: https://www.uptrennd.com/post-detail/chapter-1-it-seemed-so-obvious~NzQ4NTI3