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| Source: https://beritakini.co/ |
Through field studies, this essay seeks to explore Acehnese’s existence and the reasons why Acehnese are attracted to Pulau Pinang. This study aims to examine the existence of the Acehnese people in Pulau Pinang in the 1980-2000s era. This era is the current phase, where Pulau Pinang became a migration place for Acehnese.
To this day, apart from going through Medan, the people of Aceh have started visiting Pulau Pinang by air from Banda Aceh using FireFly airplanes which does not exclude the arrival of the Acehnese via Kuala Lumpur to Pulau Pinang via Air Asia from Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport. One of the reasons is to seek treatment at several hospitals in Pulau Pinang, especially Hospital Lam Wah Ee.
It is interesting to point out here, namely, how the Acehnese who have been in Pulau Pinang for a long time have become “Malays” or become Malaysian citizens.
The history of human movement from one place to another is a study that has attracted the attention of scholars. At least, from these studies, we will find the identity of a nation. Because through migration, people will carry out a process of cultural transformation, both to emphasize and carry out cultural assimilation.
Nusantara is a portrait of a very aggressive stage of human migration. Because humans who moved to this area have created a civilization known as Southeast Asia, this area, close to thousands of islands, has witnessed the history of human migration. A sea or strait surrounds each island.
The process of human movement that occurs is the process of compiling cultural and civilization artifacts. As a result, of this history of human migration, Southeast Asia has been known as a place of the most active human cultural contestation globally.
This essay will focus on the history of human migration from Aceh to the Malay Peninsula, namely Pulau Pinang. It must be admitted that the region has become a target for people from across Sumatra, Java, Bugis, and Borneo.
This acceleration gave rise to how humans from the Archipelago “ganged up” on Malay Land. Until this moment, the arrival of humans from the Archipelago is still taking place from various corners of the Malay Land. Not only humans from the Archipelago, but also South Asia and East Asia, which is not to mention South West Asia’s corner of the compass, better known as the Middle East.
They flocked to the Malay Land to make their best contribution to compiling cultural artifacts in the Malay Land. Each ethnic group arrived with the same interest, namely “wanting to live a better life.” Pulau Pinang, therefore, cannot be excluded from providing its land as an area for a better life.
This study does not want to reveal all historical data regarding the history of Pulau Pinang and Kuala Lumpur. Because there have been many scholars who have written the history of the island of Pinang, its relationship with Aceh is no exception.
However, this study is more of a contemporary oral historical narrative of the arrival of Acehnese at the Malay Peninsula, which, of course, has not been explored much because the history of human migration from Aceh to Pulau Pinang looked more at the historical aspect when The Dutch blocked Aceh and Pulau Pinang was occupied by the British. For this reason, this study only wants to limit Acehnese’s arrival from the 1980s to the present day.
In other words, this study looks at the historical developments of the last 30 years regarding the arrival of the Acehnese to Pulau Pinang and Kuala Lumpur. In addition to the works of scholars, the data used is also the result of several trips to Pulau Pinang and life experiences in Kuala Lumpur.
There are the faces of the people who live in Penang, not least the people of Aceh. When visiting the Penang Museum, I was invited to the past, the history of the tribes inhabiting the island discovered by Francis Light.
The Museum manager drew a reasonably firm line between the Malays and the Acehnese. I want to quote how the Penang state government views the people of Aceh:
The Acehnese who moved to Penang came from North Sumatra. In the early days, Aceh traders sailed to the Pinang River to sell merchandise to the locals. The settlement of the Acehnese in the area in the early 19th century was led by a religious teacher named Haji Kassim. Now the village is called Kampung Makam. In addition, the people of Aceh are also concentrated around Lebuh Aceh (Acheen Street) and several other areas.
As Muslims who adhere to the teachings of the religion, they also engage in various religious ceremonies and provide services to Muslims who wish to fulfill the Fardhu Ain to Makkah. Even until the middle of the 20th century. Lebuh Aceh is still known as the “Second Jeddah.” Now, most Acehnese is fully absorbed into the Malay community.
The evidence in the contemporary era about the migration of Aceh people in Malaya is still not neatly recorded. Even the younger generation of Malaysia is not very aware and even considers the importance of the presence of Aceh in the history of their country’s nationalism. However, the most impressive is the acceptance of the Acehnese among the Malays since post-independence in Malaysia.
If we trace some areas in Penang, not a few Aceh youths complain about the fate of the city built by Francis Light. One of the areas is Taman Pelangi (Seberang Perai). Here, it can be a village of immigrants from outside Malaysia. The area consists of several flat buildings. The Malay face is brutal to find because almost all the residents who live there are immigrants who complain about the fate of Penang. Although they are on the other side of Penang, not a few of them complain about Penang’s fate. The area that people from Indonesia most easily find is the Bukit Jambul area. Here immigrants who work both legally and illegally can be found everywhere.
They mostly work as contract workers. Sharing information about job vacancies is a natural thing. Usually, if there are jobs to be invested in, they are transported to the place of work. The daily salary is sometimes only RM 50. In addition to working as maids, women are also widely accommodated in shelter centers.
They are housed in dormitories and sometimes live together in a flat or rented house. Life away from family caused them to build “their own busyness” in Penang. This phenomenon gives a rather sad picture of how “self -preoccupation” is built in the name of meetings abroad which is probably why the girl in the song above is distraught if her idol has a new lover in Penang.
One of the herbal medicine sellers in Bukit Jambul described the behavior of the immigrants. He sells herbs and cosmetics. Because he has been living in Malaysia for more than twenty years, he remembers who bought the herbs.
Sitting in front of the herbal shop gives the atmosphere of how “own busyness” appears. He said that “potent herbs” are prevalent on Saturdays and Sundays. The buyers of the herbs are not only Indonesians but also locals. For him, selling herbs is the same as closing down the identity of the buyers, not least from Aceh.
One of the Malay men who worked as cleaning service at one of the places I stayed told me that he had been working at the hotel for more than 20 years. While cleaning the room, he said that the hotel does not accept female foreign workers from abroad because it is considered that foreign women, if working in a hotel, will provide other “services” to guests.
Eventually, he said, the regeneration of workers in the hotel would be stalled because Malays did not want to work in the private sector because they were more interested in working as government staff, known as government employees.
Eventually, the sectors that Malay children could afford to do in hospitality became unfulfilled. This hotel has been my subscription since 2004. The face of the workers has not changed. However, the hotel is located exactly in the heart of Penang, namely KOMTAR (Tengku Abdur Rahman Complex).
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