The Mempawah Palace: the Symbol of Malayan`s Ceaseless Struggle against the Colonialists

Unfortunately, the crews of MelayuOnline.com only got a day to observe the entire remain traces of Malay history in West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. On Thursday February 21^st, 2008, MelayuOnline.com crews had a meeting with some West Kalimatan Malay figures in Majelis Adat Budaya Melayu-MABM (Malay Adat and Cultural Assembly) then continued to visit the Kadriah Palace, took some photographs of the surrounding atmosphere. The journey went on, the crews set the visit to Mempawah and Sambas considering that on the next day, the crews had to go to Kuching, Malaysia. This tiring journey spend a lot of time, but the crews were so glad knowing directly the remain traces of Malay heritages which are well-preserved, even though some of them are in the poor conditions.

The crews tried the hardest to observe the physical condition of both Malay palaces and Malay artifacts in West Kalimantan province. Dealing with the limited time, the crews spent the night in a car running fast along the bumpy and winding road. Such situation made one the crews vomited, headache and suffered from fever along the road. “Never mind, that‘s the consequence for efforts to revive the glory of Malay civilization,” said the head of MelayuOnline.com.  

As if the driver, Mr. Husein, did not pay any attention to one of the crews who got sick, he kept on driving the car fast. At 10 p.m, MelayuOnline.com crews arrived at the Amantubillah Palace, Mempawah. The night was very quiet, most of people‘s homes were closed. The barking of a dog was heard as if welcoming the arrival of the crews.

The car was stopped in front of the locked gate of the palace. Luckily, the surrounding area was brightly lightened so the crews were able to observe the fore-part of the palace, even though was in somber view. There was no another activities besides taking the photographs by the light of the car. Some palm trees grow in a row in the palace‘s yard surrounded by green grass garden that is neatly organized. Green color is the domination of its physical building which is fully decorated by traditional Malay ornamentations. It seems like a common house, small but artistic, when MelayuOnline.com crews viewed it from 30 meters distance.

The Amantubillah Palace comprises three buildings with the main building is in the centre. The others are situated aside to the main building. The main building, in the former, was used as the residence of the sultanate family. Another one, on the right side of the main building, was a place to take any preparation for the sultanate family‘s stocks. The building was also functioned as a banquet for honored guests. Now, it is settled by the sultanate family‘s relatives. A building on the left side of the main building is a convention hall where the sultanate officials convoke the state administrative duties, receive honored guests, and hold conferences.

The Amantubilah Palace lies in the same area as Jami‘atul Khair Mosque, on the right side, and alun-alun (Public space) in front of it. This concept of public space is an influence of Islam depicting the unity of politic, economy and Islam. The concept has been applied by most of palaces in Indonesia where the public space area located in front of palaces that was a centre of people‘s activities, especially economy. However, as the time goes by, this area is not functioned as an activities center for common people anymore. Nowadays, the area is erected schools buildings, roads, and houses. The Amantubilah Palace, administratively, includes into Pulau Pedalaman Village, East Mempawah Sub-district, in the district of Pontianak, West Kalimantan Province.

Jami‘atul Khair Mosque was built by Panembahan Gusti Muhammad Taufiq Accamuddin, the XIII Sultan of Mempawah in 1912 A.D. It is the continuation of the first mosque of Mempawah Sultanate which was ruin after being burned. The flickering lights on the outside of the building beautify this historic worship site that is nearby the Mempawah River. In the solitude, the crews kept on immortalizing the destination from every angle of the mosque in the night. As the crews could not experience its historical nuance, MelayuOnline com crews just took a look the beauty of the building from across the river. The mosque has two-stack roof separated by several narrow windows for air circulation.

So, what are the interesting items of the Amantubilah Palace that time? It does not mean to assume that the building is just a decrepit and dirty one, as it seems like an unsettled house. In contrary, the building, indeed, is so beautiful and artistic. However, the building is assumed as unsettled house since the historical values of the palace which have not been revealed and exposed yet. In fact, the palace is being foundered by the modern civilization. The palace has been produced so many great leaders, hasn‘t it?

Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman (The First Sultan of Kadriah) and Panembahan Adiwijaya Kesuma (The Fifth Sultan of Mempawah) living in the same age, grew up in this sultanate family. Together with other sultanate officials and Islamic scholars, both of them attained the education and learned about norm, ethic and moral value until appeared the great figures of sultan in West Kalimantan of such. Considering the fact, it must have a lot of value developing in the palace, shaping the characteristic of such great figures. If those values can be deeply revealed and socialized to common people, hopefully, it can be motivation to set a better future.

On some references, the writing structure of the Mempawah Sultanate history and other sultanates in Nusantara (Malay Archipelago) were written using diachronic approach. It is a writing structure arranged by the dimension of time. For instance, the transformation of the Mempawah Sultanate into Islam in 1740 A.D, under the tenire of Sultan Opu Daeng Menambun, it is considered as worthless, but it spread out to other the social aspects representing the government system and social structure. Therefore, the writing structure of the sultanate history must also be conducted using synchronic approach such as sociology, economy, politic and archeology.

The synchronic approach is conducted to catch the drawn history of Mempawah Sultanate by structural approach and functional approach. This one emphasizes on the detailed description of certain society, including common people and noble people, beyond the dimension of time. It also emphasizes on the interaction occurring among the member of certain society having different point of views, knowledge, even political and economical interests.

Based on the synchronic approach, it will be clearly seen the motives of the different point of views between Sultan Syarif Abdurahman and Pamnembahan Adiwijaya against the colonialist, even though they grew up in the same influential environment. The Mempawah Sultanate under the tenure of Panembahan Senopati Adiwijaya Kesuma was very anti-colonialists. Otherwise, the Kadriah Sultanate that was built by Syarif Abdurrahman, the brother in law of Panembahan Adiwijaya Kesuma, tended to be receptive toward the existence of the Dutch colonialist. So far, there is no evidence to reveal the motives of the different point of views between those two sultans in running their governments.  

It seems that the Mempawah Palace can be strictly declares the freedom of Malay from other nations‘ hegemony. The idea and thoughts within had been encouraged the Sultans of Mempawah, including Panembahan Adiwijaya, to keep on struggling tenaciously against the colonialist who want to exploit the resources of Nusantara. The last words, it still keeps a lot of great thoughts not having been revealed yet. To be continued…

Credit photo :

• Collection Balai Kajian dan Pengembangan Budaya Melayu
• www.virtualtourist.com

Write your comment !