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SUMMARY

Padri War (Recount Text)

The Padri War (also called the Minangkabau War) was fought from 1803 until 1837 in
West Sumatra Indonesia between the Padris and the Adats. “Padris” were Muslim
clerics from Sumatra who, inspired by Wahabism and after returning from Hajj,
wanted to impose Sharia in Minangkabau country in West Sumatra, Indonesia.
“Adats” comprised the Minangkabau nobility and traditional chiefs. The latter asked
for the help of the Dutch, who intervened from 1821 and helped the nobility defeat the
Padri faction.
Background

It can be considered that the Padri War actually began in 1803, prior to Dutch
intervention, and was a conflict that had broken out in Minangkabau country when
the Padris started to suppress what they saw as unislamic customs, i.e. the adat. But
after occupation of the Pagaruyung Kingdom by Tuanku Pasaman, one of Padri
leaders in 1815, on 21 February 1821, the Minangkabau nobility made a deal with
Dutch in Padang to help them to fight the Padris.

Adat, as customary law is called in Indonesia, includes indigenous, pre-Islamic

religious practices and social traditions in local custom. The Padris, like
contemporaneous jihadists in the Sokoto Caliphate of West Africa, were Islamist
purists who had made the hajj to Mecca and returned[2] inspired to bring the Qur'an
and shariah to a position of greater influence in Sumatra. The Padri movement had
formed during the early 19th century and sought to purge the culture of traditions
and beliefs its partisans viewed as un-Islamic, including syncretic folk beliefs,
cockfighting and Minangkabau matrilineal traditions.

In the 1820s, the Dutch had yet to consolidate their possessions in some parts of the
Dutch East Indies (later Indonesia) after re-acquiring it from the British. This was
especially true on the island of Sumatra, where some areas would not come under
Dutch rule until the 20th century.

Skirmishes and the Masang Treaty

Dutch involvement in the war came about because it was "invited" by the Adat faction,
and in April 1821, Dutch troops attacked Simawang and Sulit Air under captains
Goffinet and Dienema on the orders of James du Puy, the Dutch Resident in Padang.
Between 1821–1824, skirmishes broke out throughout the region, ended only by the
Masang Treaty. The war cooled down during the next six years, as the Dutch faced
larger-scale uprisings in Java.

Dutch advances

The conflict broke out again in the 1830s with the Dutch gaining early victories. Soon
after, the war centred on Bonjol, the fortified last stronghold of the Padris. It finally fell
in 1837 after being besieged for three years, and along with the exile of Padri leader
Tuanku Imam Bonjol, the conflict died out. During the last phases of the conflict,
most of the Adat factions, due to the brutality and corruption of the Dutch and their
own religious awakening, subsequently joined with the Padris in facing the Dutch.

Impact

With the victory, the Dutch tightened their hold on West Sumatra. Yet there was a
positive legacy for the native Minangs: after the war, the traditional and religious
leaders increasingly reconciled their visions. This helped promulgating the new view of
"adat basandi syara', syara' basandi Kitabullah" ("tradition founded upon Islamic law,
Islamic law founded upon the Qur'an").