My Vague Memory of Padang

It was way back in 1977 when I was with the Ministry of Education in charge of higher education that I went to Indonesia for the first time in my life. The Secretary-General then was Dato' Kadir Talib ( Tan Sri Kadir Talib who later became the Chairman of the Election Commission) and he was leading the big delegation on the invitation of his counterpart the Sekjen of P & K ( Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan) of the Indonesian Republic.

On our return journey back to Kuala Lumpur, we went to Padang and Medan, after visiting Jakarta, Bandung, Jogjakarta and Den Pasar. I could vaguely recall how the place which is famous for its Nasi Padang looks like, but all I could remember was an incident which left an imprint in my mind till today. One day I was going out alone to find a shop that sells souvenirs and its name if I am not mistaken is " SiLungkang". It has no relationship with " Longkang" whatsoever and as I had no inkling on its location. I asked a man who dressed like a " Supir " or driver for directions. Politely he described to me how to get there and after a few clarifications I more or less was confident that I could find it. He said either I could go and take a horse carriage or "Babendi" or just walk. I asked him how much if I were to go by Babendi and he said it would be around " Lima Puluh Perak" which is equivalent to fifty cents in Malaysian currency. As I was about to leave, I offered him a tip but he politely declined and said, " Ini bukan Jakarta, ini Padang kota Aman" which means Padang is different from Jakarta and one does not take money for helping to show directions to visitors.

So I went on my way to find the shop and sure enough the directions given by this supir was accurate. But the shopkeeper being a businessman was like the same everywhere, he was just interested in raking in profits. And he told me that Dato' Samad Idris ( Allahyarham Tan Sri Samad Idris, a former UMNO veteran from Negeri Sembilan) used to visit his shop whenever he made his trip to his "kampong" in the Minangkabau region of which Padang is the entry point. I had no choice but paid the price of the goods that I chose, without even a small discount. Then I realised how shrewd the Minangkabau people were in doing business, and I always like to relate a story of how the wily Minangkabau man was taken for a ride by a Rembau family by taking a bride full of scabies.

I could not remember the name of the hotel we stayed, but it was small and cosy and was managed as a family business and the owner an elegant lady took pride in running it. I could not go along with the group to visit Bukit Tinggi because I had to recover from food poisoning and as such I stayed back. I could recall having a chat with a middle-aged American couple while I had to stay back due to my tummy ache, and he was on leave from the oil town on the other side of Sumatera, some where near Acheh. The man was telling me how the authorities treated the expatriates much to the discomfort of his wife, but I told them that I had my own observations and opinions of the authorities. Padang then was just a backwater and the electricity supply was also insufficient. During one of the dinner given to our delegation at a local hotel, the lights kept flickering in intensity, sometimes bright and sometimes dim. I was told the electricity often got interrupted as demand often exceeds supply. Apart from that the water supply was also in askance and I just prayed that the water I drank did not give me any further problem.

Now with the earthquake being experienced in Padang, I just could not imagine how normalcy could be restored. But I was relating the situation about three decades ago, it could well be a different place today. I only hope the people and the authorities could bring back the life of the people back to normalcy and knowing the people's resilience and steadfastness in facing adversity, they could emerge faster than Acheh from the disaster, as long as another earthquake is not forthcoming. May ALLAH S.W.T. bestow His Mercies and Compassion to the people of Sumatera.