Preserving the Hope of the Suliki Revolution

KOMPAS/RINI KUSTIASIH

Part of the Tan Malaka Museum in Nagari Suliki, Payakumbung, West Sumatera. The museum was formerly the Nagari Suliki customary hall, which bore silent witness to the childhood of Tan Malaka, whose was originally named Ibrahim. The museum is in poor condition. Several glass windows are broken and the wooden floor is dilapidated. This picture was taken on February 24.

These actions toward national independence will be prolonged, but in the end there will be victory. (Tan Malaka, Naar de Republiek Indonesia, 1925)

The rumah gadang (traditional West Sumatran Minangkabau house) stands alone in the stillness of Nagari Pandan Gadang in Suliki, Payakumbuh, West Sumatra. The childhood home of Tan Malaka is visibly time-worn. It is covered in a thick layer of dust, as if a metaphor of how the nation often forgets to preserve the fires of revolution that brought forth its independence and for which Tan fought almost a century ago.