LUBIS

Few years ago I read Alex Haley’s ‘Root’. A story of a search of origin of an African American with its main character Kunta Kinte, a African who was abducted by slave trader and brought to America. Reading that book I wonder where is my origin.

Ethnically, I am a Mandailingnese with surname or ‘marga’ Lubis. Mandailing is a tribe in North Sumatra, Indonesia and its region situated in border area of now North Sumatra Province and West Sumatra Province. If people see my name they will not see my ‘marga’ because it had been deleted from my name. My father used to say that he did not want an ethnic name and he did not want to known as an ethnocentric perswon, he preferred to be known as an Indonesian. I respect his nationalism but still I need to know where I come from.

From my research I come across with my ancestor’s legend. It’s more like a legend rather than an actual story because his story is covered with a lot of magical story in it. However, even in a legend must have a bit of truth in it.

A long, long time ago, there was a man named Namora Pande Bosi. He was originally from Bugis in South Celebes and he went from his village to seek for knowledge and experiences. One day he arrived in Singgalang area in South Tapanuli and he recided in that place. He was know as a master blacksmith. Then he married daughter of a local king, that princess was name Nan Tuan Layan Bolan (in ‘tarombo’ or family tree of Lubis family, she was known as Boru Dalimunte Naparila or Princess Dalimunte the Shy) and they had two sons, Sutan Borayun and Sutan Bugis.

One day Namora Pande Bosi went to hunt for bird in the jungle around his village. During his hunting trip, he met a fairy princess in the jungle and her beauty staggered him. After a long day shooting bird, he thought that he already got some bird but when he came down the tree where he waited for his preys, he could not find the birds that he shot. Then he hid again on the tree and shot another bird but this time he let the bird and watch it surrounding. He saw that a girl was picking up his prey. He jumped off the tree and caught the girl on her hand. Actually, the girl was daughter of the head of ‘orang Lubu’ where in some story was said to be fairy. Later he married the girl and live with those people.

From this marriage, he had twin sons, Si Baitang and Si Langkitang. Namora Pande Bosi , later went back to his first wife in Hatongga and lived there. Not after he returned to his village, his twin sons came and live with him. Like their father, Si Baitang and Si Langkitang also a good blacksmith and their ability had made their step mother felt jealous because she was afraid that the twins will made her sons lost their dignity in front of their father and people of their village. This jealousy had create a feud in their family and Namora Pande Bosi’s wife ask him to send his twin sons away from their village.

Namora Pande Bosi asked his twin son to go to find a river junction where the water run to different direction or in Mandailing it was called muara patontang. He gave them a blowpipe and a bullhorn; inside of these items he already filled some amount of gold for them to live.
Later, they found a place as their father described and started their own village. The descendants of the twin later known with the name of Lubis.

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EDUCATION REFORMATION IN INDONESIA

If you heard someone mention Indonesia, what is the first thing pop up in your head? Maybe for the last few years it will be terrorism and natural disasters. That’s also the same idea of Indonesia to the people I know here in India where I domicile for the last couple of years. Those people could not be blamed for that because most of news in international media only covers those issues.

But there is much more that happen in Indonesia apart from those things. Well, what can we say, bad news sales! Just like sex sales! That is the main jargon and principle in commercial broadcasting. However, there are also some positive movements in Indonesia which might skip international’s eyes. Slowly but sure the economic situation getting more and more conducive for a progressive recovery from the impact of financial crisis in the late 90s. Now, Indonesia has been considered as the third largest democratic nation in the world after USA and India.
But what is the main problem that Indonesians should solve before they can assume a prestigious place in International stage? It’s not corruption, collusion or nepotism which already destruct the whole social structure of the nation.

The first thing that Indonesians should do before try to solve all those problems is to reconstruct the education system in the country. It’s a common knowledge that educational system in Indonesia is as centralized as its governance during the New Order regime. This kind of education had limited student’s ability to develop their skill in suitable manner to their own interest. Students were not judged base on their practical ability but more on their theoretical knowledge. There is nothing wrong in it but what good of a theory without any practical ability. This practice had caused most of Indonesian students had to face a different reality from what they had learnt in school with what they have to do in the real world.

A centralized education could also cause student’s inability to digest local issues logically. In most cases, educational curricula in Indonesia were constructed by central government where sometime the focus of the curricula had put aside local needs. Intolerances to local needs in educational curricula had created a situation where student could not react to local demand immediately after graduation. There should be a system adjustment where education in an agricultural region is focused on agricultural topic rather than industrial matter and vice versa. But in practice there are many mismatches where an agricultural community was given an industrial based education. As a result this kind of mismatch would push the rate urbanization because school graduates felt that they could not practice their education in rural area where they were originated.

In the recent years, Indonesian government has started to reform its educational system. However, the emphasis of this reformation mainly in cultural education where student in the region are given lesson in ethnic language. The practical necessities of education are still put aside. There should be a national enlightenment to change the whole educational system and it will take a lot of time and financial back up but Indonesia should be willing to go through this change and pay all the price needed.

Corruption, collusion and nepotism problem will be solved when the whole Indonesian nation has been enlightened. The only way to enlighten a nation is through education.

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