‘Ahok’s nothing to do with us’: the left-behind Chinese rice millers of Medan, Indonesia
Pak Darwin’s family has been milling rice in Medan for three generations. Their operation may not last for a fourth
“Ahok has nothing to do with us Medan Chinese. Our city has always been safe and harmonious. Even in 1998, yes, we had some incidents, but nothing like Jakarta. We all live peacefully here.”
Pak Darwin, a Chinese Indonesian, is a 48-year-old rice miller in Sunggal, a suburb of the North Sumatran capital. Speaking in Bahasa Indonesia with a spattering of Hokkien, the Teochew businessman is unsentimental when referring to the controversial, jailed former Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaha Purnama (“Ahok”).
I point out the incredible progress made in cities like Jakarta under Ahok and Surabaya in East Java under its dynamic mayor Tri Rismaharini but Pak Darwin responds blandly:
“The Javanese are easier to manage. Here in Medan, you have Bataks, Melayus, Javanese, Chinese, Indians. How are you supposed to handle them all?”
With more than 2 million residents, Medan is Indonesia’s fourth-largest city and the most populous outside Java. It is also one of the most diverse places in the Republic, with a 34 per cent Batak (most of them Christian), 33 per cent Javanese, 10.65 per cent Chinese, 8.6 per cent Minangkabau, and 6.59 per cent Malay ethnic breakdown.
This diversity has meant that uniting Medan’s different communities can be a daunting task.
