Medan's heritage beckons

Ethnic diversities and scrumptious cuisines of Medan are worth experiencing, writes Raghu Gururaj

Anyone on their first Sumatran vacation usually transits through Medan to connect to Brastagi Highlands, Lake Toba and Samosir Island, which are already well-marked dots on an Indonesian vacation map. But those who decide to stay a day or two in Medan city would simply not know what to expect.

Medan’s laidback, somewhat chaotic, rustic, and nondescript narrow back alleys adjacent to the main thoroughfares with different modes of transport — cars, taxis, the omnipresent motorbikes, bicycles, tuk-tuks, becaks (trishaws or pedicabs) and vans — give it a busy look. One cannot miss the presence of billboards and advertisement signs covering the city’s skyline.

With time, the city’s charm sort of grows on you. I was able to see through its unspectacular façade to discover its cultural mosaic and intriguing traditions. Capital of North Sumatra, Medan is the fourth largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung, which makes it the biggest, beyond Java Island. The Dutch came in the early 1600s looking for spices and to colonise. Around the 1800s, they brought Indian workers to work in palm plantations in North Sumatra. And with them came their architecture and cuisines.

The cultural influences brought by the Dutch, Indians, Chinese, Melayu, Arabs, and a host of regional ethnicities have shaped Medan into a colourful ethnic and cultural melting pot that it is today. As one ambles across the city, this diversity becomes obvious. The buildings, ethnic conclaves, cuisine, dialects, costumes, and heterogeneous features of the residents, all point to harmonious assimilation of diverse imbibed cultural traits.

The office of Wali Kota City Hall (Mayor of Medan), now known as the ‘Heritage’ in Grand Aston Hotel, Nederlandsche Bank and the Old Dutch Post Office (Kantos Pos) are prime relics of Dutch architectural structures. It appears that the Medanese seemed to have made sure that all heritage colonial Dutch buildings were painted back to their original white colour. Maimoon Palace, one of the beautiful palaces in the whole of Indonesia, is admired for its hybrid architectural features of Malay, Moghul and Italian influences. It used to be the royal palace of the Sultanate of Deli from 1880 onwards. Medan’s various religions are aptly represented by its standout places of worship. Masjid Al-Mashun or simply Grand Mosque is 100 years old, a relic of the Malaysian Muslim kingdom of Deli, and holds a pride of place with the majority Muslim community. The hustle around Little India (Kampung Madras) is unmistakable. Populated by over 7,000 people of Indian descent, this ethnic conclave greets you with a medley of colourful Indian textiles, grocery shops, and roadside eateries, with sights, sounds, and smells reminiscent of a Chennai street of the 80s. Medan may not be a star tourist destination, but it has high utilitarian value as the gateway to North Sumatra.

(The author is Consul General of India to Sumatra and can be reached @Rgururaj7 on Twitter.)