What are their lives like? (ll)

Clan leaders within the Minang estimate that there are approximately 35,000 square kilometers of clan land in the region. This land is in the name of the female, but male clan leaders balance the scales of power. Clan leaders have their own titles within their suku (clan group) and strict hierarchy designates how many leaders each clan group is allowed.

Housing and architecture for the Minang have become more modern over the past generation though older, more traditional homes are still being occupied. The roof of a traditional home is peeked at both ends to represent the horns of a water buffalo. These roofs along with spicy food are two trademarks of the Minangkabau.

What Are Their Lives Like? (l)

The Minang are most noted for their adherence to adat pepatih (matrilineal inheritance). Certain areas of Negeri Sembilan have moved away from this tradition due to the complexities of the matrimonial ceremonies and the blending of communities with peoples from different Malay groups who use traditional male inheritance. However, the areas of Kuala Pilah, Tampin, Seri Menanti, and Jelebu are still strong in their unique culture and consistently practice this tradition. The Minang place great emphasis on their women. In order to protect the rights of the female, the name and property are passed down through the line of the mother. Daughters are strongly encouraged to marry within the same people group or else they are not allowed to live on family land. Sons are allowed to marry outside of the people group, but they, too, forfeit their right to live on family land since the wife would have no land inheritance of her own. Newlyweds either live on their own or with the family of the bride.

State Museum Complex

Minangkabau culture and history is housed at the State Museum (Teratak Perpatih) within the grounds of the State Museum Complex on Jalan Sungai Ujung in Seremban at the Seremban/Labu exit off the Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Highway. The museum showcases a fine display of ceremonial keris (daggers), Bugis and Minangkabau swords, and royal ornaments. The museum’s main building however, is the 19th-century Ampang Tinggi Palace from Kuala Pilah town that has been carefully reconstructed here. Next door is the Negeri Sembilan House, another fine piece of Minangkabau architecture and built without a single nail. Unlike the palace’s attap roof, the house has a cover of wooden shingles. 

Green hills and landscaped gardens provide the setting for the beautiful Diraja Sri Menanti Museum (tel: 06-762 1149/763 5388; daily 9am–5pm; free) in the royal town of Sri Menanti. A former palace, it was built in 1903 without a single nail. Pieced together with hardwood dowels and rivets, the four-storey timber structure sits on 99 pillars, representing the warriors of the various luak. It ceased to be a royal residence in 1931, when a new palace was completed in the shape of the blue-tiled Istana Besar nearby. The museum showcases the regalia of the Negeri Sembilan royal family as well as ceremonial weaponry and costumes. 

It is a proud tribute to the heritage of a group of settlers from west Sumatra who made their new home in the fertile valleys and hills behind Melaka, attracted by the port’s success. They brought their style of architecture and, protected by the Malay sultans, continued adhering to the unique adat pepatih customs that follow a matrilineal system, which governs laws, political organisation, traditions and social systems. 

The small principalities founded by the original settlers formed the nine luak or states that became the federation of Negeri Sembilan. Today, although the modern state is divided into districts, the luak remain. Violent clashes over tin that resulted in British intervention in the 1800s have reduced the number of luak to five.

Minangkabau of Negeri Sembilan II

The people of west Sumatra who resettled here brought with them customs that favour the women and unique architectural and cuisine styles.

The sweeping, peaked-roofed “buffalo horn” architecture is the most distinguishing feature of the Minangkabau or People of the Victorious Buffalo of Negeri Sembilan, Melaka’s northern neighbour. It appears everywhere; in the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, at luxury hotels fringed by swaying palms, even at a highway petrol station. The roofs have come to signify not just Minangkabau, but Malaysia.

Constructions of the Minangkabau

The construction of a house is subject to specific regulations, laid down by the ancestors and formalised in adat, that need to be observed if the house is to become a beautiful and pleasant building. The construction and maintenance of a rumah gadang is the responsibility of ninik mamak, the elder male blood-relatives of the matrilineal descent group that owns and builds it. In Indonesia, the construction of the house symbolizes the division of the macrocosm into three regions: the upper world, the seat of deities and ancestors. The typical way of buildings in Southeast Asia is to build on stilts, an architectural form usually combined with a saddle roof. Another characteristic of Southeast Asian houses is the forked horn on the roof, which is considered to be a symbol of the buffalo, regarded throughout the region as a link between Heaven and this world. The most famous stilt houses of Indonesia are those of the Dayak in Borneo, the Minangkabau and Batak on Sumatra, and the Toraja on Sulawesi.

Minangkabu ft Negeri Sembilan

There has been a sizable Minangkabau settlement in Negeri Sembilan (now in Malaysia) since the seventeenth century, with the chief of the Minangkabau still ruler there. The Negeri Sembilan Minangkabau, however, have adopted the Malay-style roof construction, with continuous ridge piece thatched with lengths of palm-leaf attached to battens. Although this has meant the loss of the characteristic curved roof and has blunter eaves, it is still considered dignified and beautiful.More orthodox Islamic influence has also led to variations such as modifications to the interior layout, as women are more restricted to the rear of the house than in the case of the matrilineal Sumatran Minangkabau.