My Impressions of Exotic Sumatra

Chen Xiaodong， a former student of mine， is now engaged in mining in Indonesia. He invited me to visit the archipelago of more than 10，000 islands. I traveled across Sumatra， the second largest island of Indonesia， and found nature and man there amazing.

Arjuna: National Hero

Indonesia was ruled by the Netherlands for more than 300 years and it was occupied by the Japanese troopers in 1942. It was not until August 17， 1945 that the archipelago nation declared independence. During my visit to Indonesia， I ran into a few streets named Independence. As a matter of fact， Independence Street is everywhere in Indonesia just as Sun Yat-sen Road is everywhere across China. All these streets honor Arjuna， a national hero of Indonesia， in the form of a bronze statue: a heroic young man rides a six-horse carriage.

Arjuna is a legendary hero in the namesake epic created in the 11th century by men of letters in ancient Java， the predecessor of today’s Indonesia. The epic is as popular in Indonesia as “The King Gesar” and “Gadamelin” among Tibetans and Mongolians. Arjuna is a household name in Indonesia and it has spawned numerous stories and plays over centuries. Newlyweds pray to Arjuna to have sons as strong as the national hero.

Food

Situated in the tropic area， Sumatra abounds with forests stretching from south to north. It also produces a great variety of fruits and vegetables. I had thought local residents had a cuisine that would be very light in response to such a hot climate. I was wrong. The local cuisine in Padang， a port city in western Sumatra， is famed for its large quantity， for its oil-fried choice， and for the way it is served .

We came to a restaurant in a one-story house. I later learned that Padang has few tall houses because it is frequently hit by huge storms. I was astonished to see that waiters and waitresses， all smiling and dressed in Muslin garments， served a large quantity of food. I counted there were more than 40 plates and bowls heaped on the table， all the deep-fried food looking golden. I was not given any spoon or a single pair of chopsticks. I could understand that wine was a taboo in this Muslin restaurant. But how could the four of us consume so much food and eat without spoons or forks or chopsticks?

I learned that the islanders here eat with their hands， just as many people do in Xinjiang back home. Moreover， fried food and fruit are good for fingers to handle. It is part of the local lifestyle to heap a dining table with food so that diners just pick what they want to consume and pick an appropriate quantity. Diners don’t pay for what is left on the table.

I was curious about using fingers as chopsticks. The fried banana was something I had never tried before. It was sweet and slightly sour and it was very appetizing. Fried seafood such as conch and eel and pigeon meat were fresh and crispy. In the end， we finished food in ten plates and returned the rest. The bill was about 100 yuan in RMB. It was cheap.

No talking between the father-in-law and daughter-in-law

The village where we stayed was in a mining site in jungles. On the eastern side of the mountain is Riau， a province in Indonesia. Tourists are advised not to talk with women there. Men here have poison arrows ready to shoot anyone if they find their women are approached. Men in the village are on constant guard against strangers. Even fathers don’t speak directly with their sons’ wives.

I was so curious about such a taboo that I asked what if a situation happened that they would have to speak to each other. I was given an example. An old man is bitten by a snake in the jungle and hurries back home to get snake drug in the care of his daughter-in-law. He would shout at the door of the house to his next-door neighbor. “Mohammad， please tell my daughter-in-law that I was bitten on the foot by a snake and ask her to fetch the drug.” His daughter-in-law hears this and replies aloud， “Mohammad， please tell my father-in-law to bandage his foot tight first so that snake poison will not move upward. The drug will be in a jiffy.”

What happens if Mohammad is not around? If a father runs into his daughter-in-law outside village on his way back from the market， the daughter-in-law would greet him by asking a palm tree to send her greeting. She would ask about the price he sold his grain on the market by asking the palm tree. The palm tree would be Mohammad in this case.

Tattoos on the Body and the Face

Sumatra is hot year round and many people on the lower social strata essentially go naked. Some adults wear a cloth or even some tree leaves around the waist. Tattoo is a key personal ornament for some tribes. A tribe with a population of 20，000 on Mentawai Islands of Indonesia is known for their tattooing culture.

The tribe has some skillful tattooists who work with needles and knives and dyes made of palm tree juice and charcoal. The tattoos are mostly eagles and tigers， presumably ancient totems of the tribe. After the tattooing， these wild images are painted with the special dye so that the images will last forever.

Usually a person goes through a few tattoos through her lifetime and ceremonies are held before a tattoo is to occur. I heard that some even get face tattoos when they come of age in about 10 islands in Mentawai Islands， a chain of 70 plus islands and islets off the western coast of Sumatra.

After a ceremony is held， with all the people watching， boys and girls， who come of age， get tattoos on their faces. A boy gets five to six lines on his forehead while a girl gets a pattern composed of lines of deep spots. A special powder is used to stop bleeding and relieve pain， which is applied to the face during a process of 1 to 2 hours. After the tattooing， tattooists will get entertained with a banquet and an envelope of cash as rewards.

Different families have different totems and special tattooing designs. Local people can distinguish each other by looking at a tattoo on the face to tell from which island an individual comes， to which family she belongs. The identity tattoo is important in case people meet for a massive duel.

Unfortunately， however， I was not lucky enough to visit these islands to take a look.

Security Measures

I have visited more than 30 countries over the past years. Security measures over these years have been tightening. I was asked to take my shoes off at de Gaulle airport in France. When I was changing flights at Osaka， I underwent strict security check again even though I had never left the airport. I was asked to take off my belt and I had to hold my pants with my hands while going through the checkpoint gate. In America， I was asked to leave toothpaste and tea behind. In Indonesia I was puzzled when I boarded a plane without even getting my papers checked.

Civil aviation in Indonesia has been seeing fast growth in recent years since the government decided to develop flights to reduce ferry disasters. We bought four air tickets from Jakarta to Padang at a small airport without showing our passports. The next day， one of the four had to postpone the journey and another fellow joined us. We used the same tickets to board the plane. The ticket-collector just punched the tickets and let us board the plane without checking our papers. And I carried on my suitcase without checking it. I was told not to find my seat as indicated on my air ticket. I could take a seat as pleased. I looked around and fellow passengers just took seats and sat down. No one bothered to follow seat numbers printed on their tickets and no one bothered to say his seat was taken by someone else. I counted there were more than 90 passengers aboard. Passengers were quiet. About 30 minutes later we took off. The engines were roaring and deafening literally.

I peeped from the window. The aerial view was spectacular: islands with white beach and verdant woods scattering across the deep-blue sea. There are chains of islands.

I asked Xiaodong how the airliner would check passenger identities and make compensations in case of a crash if it did not know exactly who were aboard. Xiaodong chuckled. Probably all the flights in Indonesia were blessed. In case of a flight crash， there would probably no compensation at all since nobody would be sure who was killed. This is another exotic thing about Sumatra. □