BOOK REVIEW

1. Asal Usul Orang Rao: Ditinjau Dari Peninggalan Kebudayaan

(Amran Dt. Jorajo)
This paper discuss about the origin of the Rao people from different
scholars and the author tries to examine the origin by looking at the culture
that left by Rao people. He starts by categorizing the culture leftover by two
which are the ancient things that left by Rao and the identity of Rao. There
are many artifacts that left by Rao people such as Ukiran Jejak, Prasati and
Candi. In the identity aspect, Rao people still practicing some of the culture
such as the language and the culture. Many of the people said that the Rao
language originated from Minangkabau but Rao language have their own
identity differs from Minangkabau dialect. Jejak Tanah ceremony is one of the
remaining culture that practiced by the Rao. This ceremony was practiced by
the royals where the baby cannot step on the land until the baby is 12
months. If they do so, bad luck will occur such as fever and stomached. In
Rao customs, it follows the Minangkabau customary system where it follows
the matrilineal line. The authors summarize that the origin of the Rao peole
was not come from Pagaruyung or Luhak Nan Tigo because of the different
cultural heritage where it shows that Rao people have their own identity,
language and customs. The author only stressed on the cultural heritage of
Rao community and show focus on his writing.

2. Sejarah Penghijrahan Dan Diaspora Masyarakat Rao di

Malaysia (Muhammad Bukhari Lubis and Afriadi Sanusi)
The authors discuss in length about the history of the migration and
diaspora of Rao Community in Malaysia where they define the meaning of
migration in Islamic perspective which started to happen in the time of the
Prophet Muhammad. The Rao community migrate to Malaya not because of

colonialists but simply because there are similarities between them and the
local community in terms of history, anthropology, linguistics and customs. In
addition, in geography aspects, Rao are located in a strategic area with
Mandailing, Melayu Riau, Minangkabau and Air Bangis Coast as neighbours
but Rao had own customs, traditions and language. The stereotype that
people always thought is that Rao is same with the Minangkabau but in this
work shows that there are many relicts left from Rao area. In order to
preserve the traditions, Jaringan Anak Rao (JARO) was established in
Malaysia in keeping the genealogy of the Rao family. The popular ritual to
determine the existence of Rao community is the Adat Bojojak (adat pantang
tanah) is still practiced. They also elaborates a little bit about the
contributions of Rao people in Malaysia such as Syeikh Muhammad Murid
Rawa, Haji Yusuf Rawa and Mat Kilau. On top of that, it showed that the Rao
people used different approach in learning and reading Al-Quran where it
used own language in understanding Al-Quran. In the language aspects, the
Rao got its influence from Riau region which was known to the oldest Malay
language existed.

3. Sumbangan Tokoh-tokoh Melayu Keturunan Rao Dalam

Pembinaan Tamadun Malaysia (Talib Samat)
This article focus on the contributions that made by the Malay Rao
descent in building Malaysia in terms of administration, politics, medicine,
health, military, publication, arts, education, religion, entertainment and
business. All the figures that had been mentioned came from various states
in Malaysia had given contributions in building Malaysia today. Tun Dr. Ahmad
Sarji bin Haji Abdul Hamid is one of the personages that had contributed in
administration field. He involved in administrating big companies such as
PETRONAS, Sime Darby and Hartanah Nasional. In terms of politics, Tan Sri
Rafidah Aziz act as the leader of Wanita UMNO whereas Datuk Ahmad Razali

Mohamed Ali is the former minister of Selangor and one of the members of
UMNO. The prominent figure that gives contribution in medicine and health
field is Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Mohd. Ali. She is the first female medical officer
that appointed in the department of women and children centre in Kedah. In
the military field, Mat Kilau Pahlawan Pahang contributed in defending
Pahang from enemies and expert in martial arts.

4. Tuanku Rao: Riwayat Hidup Tokoh Paderi di Kawasan Utara

Minagkabau (Mestika Zed)
This articles written by Mestika Zed about the life of Tuanku Rao whom
one of the three figures of Padri Movement in the north Minangkabau. Tuanku
Rao is a scholar who has managed the Islamize entire people Rao and the
surrounding area. He is a freedom fighter who lost his lives in the hands of
the colonialist. Prominent Tuanku Rao has been engraved in the hearts and
the pride of every person in particularly Rao community. Together with
Tuanku Imam Bonjol, mastermind of the Padri Movement in the northern
region, Tuanku Rao and Tuanku Tambusai, launch the revolution of social and
intellectual in the North West. This works aims to reconstruct the history of
life figures Tuanku Rao, especially in respect of struggle in the renewal of
social-intellectual Rao Valley and his position as a Padri Movement leader. By
tracking the journey of life and ideological struggle, we may be able to
provide a more balanced assessment of the life of Tuanku Rao in the context
of local history in particular and Indonesia in general history.

5. Hubungkait Adat dan Budaya Minangkabau Pagar Ruyung

dengan Masyarakat Rao Malaysia (Puti Reno Raudha Thaib)
Puti Reni Raudha Thaib wrote about the relationship between customs and
traditions of Minangkabau Pagar Ruyung and Rao Community in Malaysia.

She stress a lot on the Minangkabau history than the Rao where it touch in
the aspects of family system, traditions structure, religious ceremony, the
traditional costumes, games, language and literature and the history itself.
The Minangkabau practice matrilineal family system where the woman is the
top compared to the man and the woman have the rights to get more of the
property and assets left by family. As Miangkabau practice Islam, many of
the ceromony held will follow Islamic practice such as celebrating eid and
also khatam Al-Quran. In costumes side, the leader of Miangkabau will wear
special cloth to differentiate them with the people and also to show the
power that the leader had. For women, they will wear the cloth according to
the area that they come and usually they will wear on a special occasions
such as wedding.

6. Komunikasi Puisi Tradisional Rao (Mohd Rosli Saludin)

The source of Malay Rao traditional literature came from oral then
followed by writing. Both of the source were transformed in the form of
poetry. They using Jawi writing in expressing the thoughts and ideas and it
showed the religion of Islam were widely accepted in Rao community. Mainly,
in writing poetry, the Raos were influenced on the nature elements such as
trees and land. On top of that, they also put the elements of their live that
they experienced daily. The Rao use this medium in expressing their
emotions, thoughts and ideas whereas we can see that there is an aesthetic
values in each of the poems. All the meaning of the poetry need to be
interpreted nicely in order to draw a conclusion and take the lessons from
what had been written. On the other hand, we will not know about our
ancestors if we do not do a research and by using the poetry it can be used
as a measurement to evaluate how our ancestors back then thinks. It also
set as a benchmark in order to move forward and improvise the Malay
literature scene in modern day.

7. Sejarah Asal Usul Rao (Syamsuruddin)

The author debates on origin of Rao by looking at the history itself.
Many people will relates Rao with the Minangkabau and but it was actually
not from Pagaruyung. In culture setting, he touch about the language, arts,
cuisine and customs. He compared the language of Rao with other language
such as Batak, Minang and Malay language and resulted that those
languages have similarities. Rao also had own dance called Tari Inang, Tari
Tandaq and Tari Japin and being performed along with traditional Rao music
instrument such as gondang, robano and kenong. The traditional cuisine is
also different with Batak and Miangkabau people where they serve food like
Asam Keluwang, Asam Lauok, Gulei Birah and Panggang Pacak. Adat Berjojak
Tanah is one of the popular practice of Rao community where the baby are
prohibited to step on the land until time comes and a lot of elements need to
be prepared in order to do this practice.
It can be concluded that Rao people (Pasaman) origins from the Lubuk
tribe and it developed became Malay people. The Lubuk tribe came to Rao
area around 6th century and practices Hindu religion. From then until now,
even though many immigrant residing in Rao district, the language do not
have any changes. It shows that the Rao district was considered as the
oldest area existed compared to other area and proved that the Rao people
is not from Pagaruyung or Minangkabau.

8. Peranan dan Aktiviti Surau dalam Masyarakat Melayu Rao

(Afriadi Sanusi)
In terms of geography and customs, it can be considered that Rao
people can be categorized under the Minangkabau clan but the Rao have
their own identity differs from the Minangkabau itself. Islam came to

Minangkabau since 1250M where the Arab people do trade and at the same
time use the opportunity to preach people. Since then, Islam developed in
Minangkabau under the rule of Raja Sultan Alif from Pagaruyung
government. The first Islamic education started in Sumatera Barat done by
the traders from Acheh where the learning were conducted in surau by
Sheikh Burhanuddin. The education at first take place in small group of
people listened to their teachers without dividing them into class. The
teachers also do not get salary and the students also learns for free. There
are two type of method used in Islmic education which are the learining of AlQuran and also other subjects such as Fiqh, Tafsir and Nahu. The
development of surau became huge after the return of three Minangkabau
religious teacher from Middle East which are Haji Miskin, Haji Piobang and
Haji Sumanik. The return of these ulama give major chages in Islmic
education in Minangkabau. He other importants figure of Surau Islamic
education were Syeilh Muhammad Jamil, Muhammad Dalil and Syeikh Taher
Jalaluddin. In surau, the students will learn as early as seven years old with
the basic of Islamic teachings, customs and traditions of Minangkabau,
martial arts, debate and also do social activities. It can be said that the
teachers try to bring back the Islamic environment where mosques as one
stop center to do all daily activities and the starting of children education.

9. Adat dan Seni Budaya Rao (Edi Erman)

Rao is one of the district in Kabupaaten Pasamaan that located on the
North Sumatran province. The author try to elaborate on the traditions and
customs of Rao people that still practiced by them. One of them was called
Jojak Tanah where practiced by the royals where the baby cannot step on the
land until the baby is 12 months. If they do so, bad luck will occur such as
fever and stomached. The other customs were called Timbang Tando where
the male come to female house to ask for marriage and if the woman accept

it, they will discuss on the next step of marriage. Molopek or Mongolamei is
one of the practice of Rao where this traditions done by the people in the
village one day before Eid to show that the fasting seasons has ended.
Mombuek Boka is one of the traditions that practice in remembering the big
events in Islam. For instance, the observance of the birthday of the Islamic
prophet Muhammad, Israk Mikraj and in the month of Ramadhan especially
in 17 Ramadhan which is Nuzul Quran. The village people will cook and
distribute the food among others and celebrated together. Besides the
practice, the author also emphasis on the cuisine of Rao people where he
listed some of the recipes of the traditional food that included the ingredients
and the way in making the dish. For example, the popular cuisine of Rao is
Gulai Khas Rao, Gulai Lauak Tonsen, Asam Daging, Gulei Birah, Asam Lauak,
Gulei Pisang Mudo Samo Lauak and Itak Binti.

10.

Hubungan Rao dengan Perak melalui Penerokaan

Petempatan Baru (Zabidin Hj Ismail)

Exploration of a settlement is often done by immigrants who migrated
from their place of origin to find new shelter and building new life. There are
many reasons that led to the migration. In the context of Sumatera people in
Indonesia, they migrated to Tanah Melayu after the end of Padri War which
they do not want the Dutch colonialist to oppress them and they decided to
go in the area of Perak. The authors divides the coming of the Rao peole to
Perak in two waves. The first waves of the coming of Rao to Perak is in 1850s
through Sungai Perak and until to the stream of Sungai Kinta. In 1860s, the
villages of Rao developed due to the building of small shops and the
populations mainly Rao people from Medan and Bukit Tinggi. After years,
Kampung Raos name slowly faded and new name emerged called Gopeng.
The second waves happened when the Rao people that comes from
Sumatera to the area of North Perak. In 1880s, the vast migration of

Sumatera people to Selama due to the discovery of tin and the Rao needed
to develop the industries. There are also the Rao people that come not
following to the waves but by small family and they started to explore new
place such in Teluk Intan, Tanjung Malim and Kampung Rao Chemor. The
author also discuss about the history of Perak by stating the origins of Perak
name and the early systems of ruling in the Perak sultanate government.

11.

Kedatangan Rao ke Negeri Sembilan dan Hubungan

Dengan Adat Perpatih (Mohd Rosli Saludin)

The origins of Rao people actually uncertain and what had been
founded is that they came from Sumatera but not from the Minangkabau
people. Rao district became a frontier in order to defend themselves from
Padri Movement against the Dutch colonials. The struggle between the key
figures such as Tuanku Rao became a symbol of heroism for Rao community.
In discussing the role of Rao people in Negeri Sembilan, It can be stated that
there are four waves of Rao people coming to Tanah Melayu. The first waves
is in 500M until 1400M that consisted of the peasants and the gold hunters.
The second waves started in 1401M until 1600M which comes from the group
of traders because at that time, Melaka is one of the trade centre for all the
region. The third waves is from 1601M until 1800M consisted of group of
religuos teachers and also miners. The last waves of Rao people migrated to
Tanah Melayu is from 1801M until 1900M with vast migration where at that
time the Minangkabau people cooperated with the Dutch to kill Rao people
from Rao-Mapat Tunggul, Padang Nunang and Pagar Ruyung. In Negeri
Sembilan, the Rao people started to build new settlement in Seri Menanti
trough Sungai Ujong. It can be seen that the Minangkabau people are
focusing on the politic and the Rao are more to the trade so it resulted to the
lack of Rao influence in governing Negeri Sembilan. They were into economic

aspects and in terms of cuisine, they are similarities as compared to Negeri

Sembilan. For example, dish like tempoyak kacau, rendang and others.

12.

Bingkisan Sejarah Raub Rao dan Pagaruyung:

Pertaliannya dengan Raub dan Pahang Zaffuan Haji Manap

This work written by Zaffuan Haji Manap should be a reference in
knowing the history of Pahang and the Sumatran community migration into
Malaya in general. Even though the focus is mainly on the history of the
opening of Raub, but there is a lot of story related to the history of the
opening of several settlements and a key figure involved in the historical
events. The writing of the book is based on a manuscript called Riwayatut
Tammauwi, the story for the Temau Dong tribe is used as the main
reference. Malay Jawi manuscripts produced by Imam Ishak Haji Muhammad
Ariff (1908 - 1992) a prominent figure admired by the people in the
settlement Dong, Raub, Pahang had been used. In addition, the sources also
based on oral histories gathered from the older generation in the area.
Among the important things that was discussed was the migration group
Rawa (Rao) to Hulu Pahang. Padri War in the North as well as the Dutch
colonial pressure against the residents were to be among the main reasons
that led to the migration. Briefly, the history of Pagaruyung Government was
mentioned in order to give an overview in understanding the reason of the
people migration to Malaya. Some of the settlements and villages that were
opened will led to discovered of some important figures and their genealogy
ine beside their role and contribution. The people who migrated to Malaya
came from various type of people, not only ordinary people but also the
nobles, clergy and even the warriors who leave their rank and social status,
but must adapt to the new environment. It is undeniable that the Sumatera
people had contributed greatly to the development of their locality. They

were recognized and appointed as a community leaders and some of their

descendant today has become a respected figure.