WASTRA
Spinning The Yarn - Heru Joni Putra
Songket Pandai Sikek Dealing with Uncertainty
T
he Minang people certainly
Therefore, reformation through Act
collapsed, related to songket as one of
remember when Suharto’s
No. 22 of 1999 on Local Government is
the cultural heritages. The destiny of
government in the 70s forced
expected to be the right momentum to
songket “hidup segan, mati tak mau” was
the form of a village to replace nagari,
improve everything that deserves to be
buffeted by economic crisis, colonial
as the smallest system of government.
improved. When the act was passed, and
war, and political turmoil like a knife that
What happened then? Habih tandeh, the
the practice of returning to nagari began
stabbed this weaving culture to death for
term used by Minangkabau to refer to
to be tried in various ways, people slowly
many times. Until the 2000s, there were
the destruction of various Minangkabau
had to understand: they could never
only three songket centers that could
cultures, both traditional infrastructure
really go back to the “past” even though
still survive despite uncertainty, namely
and the people’s mentality, because
some insisted on bringing it back to the
Silungkang, Pandai Sikek, and Kubang.
it was hit by the village system. A few
present day.
A number that is too small compared to
months after the reform, the people of West Sumatra also urged the government to babaliak ka nagari, which means a return to nagari.
I
44 INDONESIANA VOL. 13, 2022
Minangkabau also has an old problem, even long before the New Order
100 or 50 years earlier when the songket center was still circulating in more nagari.
