Indonesian Diaspora
Septiana Ledysia – detikNews
- Brigadier General Richard Rakotonirina
Jakarta – Murray Cox Cs Research that analyzes Madagascar DNA concluded that the ancestors of Madagascar, a country in Africa , are 28 women from Indonesia. Well, one of the descendants was Brigadier General Richard Rakotonirina, who is now the Governor of the Military Academy (Akmil AD) of Madagascar. Richard shared stories of Madagascar cultural roots in the Indonesian Diaspora.
According to Richard, there were several waves of people who went from the archipelago to Madagascar by sea since the 7th century.
“So the first migrant here was from Indonesia. It was told in our history. The other Madagascr Immigrants were from Suriname or South Africa because they were discarded. Indonesians in Madagascar were struggling for life. Indonesians were so brave,” said Richard when he was met at the Congress of Indonesian Diaspora II, Jakarta Convention Center, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday ( 08/19/2013 ) .
Based on his calculations, he is the 12th generation of his ancestors. The man,who was born on April 9, 1963 in Madagascar, revealed similarities between Indonesian’s and Madagascar’s culture,such as Madagascar people consume dishes (with rice) 3 times a day, until the funeral etiquette from Toraja and traditional Batak cloth style.
“The funeral ceremony from Toraja can be seen in Madagascar. Batak cloth motifs can also be found in Madagascar. Madagascar can be considered as mini Indonesia, so we have Bugis, Medan, Java, possibly Eastern Indonesia,” said Richard who fluently in Indonesian as a result from he has learned from Indonesian’s Misnistry of Defense training center in Pondok Labu.
Richard also revealed that there were few words of Indonesian taken by Madagascar, “Tenuna, taken from ‘tenun’, hati (hati), mati (mati). Alasenin for ‘Senin’, ‘Selasa’ becomes Alasa, tanggal (tanggal) and ‘bulan’ (bulan), but Sunday is different, Alahat, ” said Richard, a bachelor and master in history of the University of Madagascar .
“I like history. If we do not know the history, it will be hard to lead our nation in the future,” he added.
About food, since his first visit to Indonesia, Richard immediately loved fried rice. “And I love all Indonesian food because it is not different from Madagascar, ” he said .
Father of 4 sons said that 2 of them are studying at the University of Widya Kartika, Surabaya , majoring in international business .
“The former rector was a friend of mine in National Resilience Institute. So he offered scholarships, the university opened its doors for students from outside Indonesia. Maybe they can speak Indonesian for being two years there. Maybe they can even talk in East Javanese better than Indonesian, ” he said while smiling.
As a Madagascar soldier, Richard also had a full military studying in Indonesia, began with Sesko AD in Bandung (2001), Sesko TNI in Bandung (2005) and education in the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) in 2011 in Jakarta.
“What surprised me was that Indonesians look a lot like the people in my village in Madagascar. If you come to Madagascar maybe people there will think that you’re not Indonesian,” said Richard when he set his foot in Indonesia .
As Governor of Military Academy of Madagascar, Richard had to ask permission to attend this Indonesian Diaspora conference. However, because the government of Madagascar has known that Indonesian is the ancestors of the people of Madagascar, it was not difficult for him to go to Jakarta .
“The people of Madagascar is currently looking at Indonesia as a country that stands out, because there used to be Asian-African Conference in Bandung written in history. As a soldier, I cannot possibly change my citizenship, but in heart I remain an Indonesian. Come to Madagascar, then later I will welcome you,”he said .
As a Follow-up from the Indonesian Diaspora, Richard said, one example in the military, Indonesia has offered military training to his country. “There were training offers from Indonesia to neighboring countries including Madagascar to train soldiers,” he said.
In addition, besides having cooperation in military,there are possibilities for his country to work together in other areas with Indonesia. “Yes, certainly, but it will be discussed shortly, the embassy in Madagascar will collected entirely later, ” concluded Richard who will return to his country on August 24. (wk/nrl)
sources :
detikNews
(http://news.detik.com/read/2013/08/19/163245/2334284/10/richard-rakotonirina-gubernur-akmil-ad-madagaskar-berdarah-nusantara)