Traces Of Dutch Technology History At Coal Mine Ombilin, Sawahlunto

JAKARTA - West Sumatra is synonymous with rendang, gadang houses, and its merantau culture. A number of cities in this province are no less well-known, for example, Bukittinggi, which has a bad time, or Padang, which was once the most important port city in colonial times.

Likewise, Sawahlunto, the city, which is about 100 km from Padang, turned out to have its own uniqueness because it was a famous coal mining city during the Dutch colonial era.

Sawahlunto, to be precise Ombilin, has even held the World Heritage Heritagealias World Heritage Site from UNESCO on the largest and oldest underground coal mining heritage in Southeast Asia in 2019.

Coal Mining Cultural Heritage Ombilin Sawahlunto (WTBOS/Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto) is considered a remarkable example of the early technology built by European engineers to mine coal in their colony areas.

Coal exploitation in Ombilin began when Hendrik De Greve discovered the potential for Ombilin's coal mining deposit in 1868. The discovery of "black gold" was fought for by the Dutch colonial government, which at that time had entered the industrial revolution.

Although its location is difficult to access, the Netherlands managed to build an underground coal mining industrial area in Ombilin. The Windmill country takes about 10 years to build underground mining infrastructure.

In addition to building mining infrastructure, the development of coal mines is also equipped with transportation specifically to carry the needs of mining development as well as coal transportation to be sent to other places.

The railway line from Padang to Sawahlunto began construction in 1887. However, the line that was built was not an ordinary railroad line because the soil contour in the Anai Valley area had extreme level of corruption. Special constructions to jagged locomotive engines are needed to control the speed of the train.

In fact, coal transportation is divided into at least three change of locomotives. First, from Sawahlunto to Padang Panjang, continued from Padang Panjang to Kayu Tanam, and then from Kayu Tanam to Padang. The change of locomotive is adjusted to the train's ability to take the existing route.

After being transported from the mining site, coal was dismantled from a series of trains in Silo Gunung, Padang, to be loaded onto a ship at Teluk Bayur Port (formerly known as Emmahaven). In addition to being a loading and unloading place, the silo was also built as a storage warehouse.

Furthermore, coal was carried by ship to other places in the Dutch East Indies, or then Indonesia, and other parts of the world as an energy source that revives industry and transportation.

Unfortunately, behind the role of coal that had illuminated Sawahlunto, the Dutch East Indies colonial period at that time also provided a sad story. The reason is, the coal chunks were dredged by contract workers, freelancers, and unnamed prisoners called "chain people".

The term "chain people" is intended for detainees who were sent directly from various Dutch East Indies colony areas in the country for forced labor (rodi) at the Ombilin mine. Instead of names, the prisoners who were chainsed during the forced labor were marked by the order of the number they brought to the end of their lives.

The rodi workers were forced to work in a dark and electrifying underground hole until they breathed their last. Those who tried to escape were punished with caning and imprisonment. In fact, until now, only a tombstone with the identity of the number remains from the history of the chain people.

Based on a statement by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemdikbudristek), for the exchange of mining technology carried out by the Dutch in its colonies as well as the challenges of the extreme nature faced, UNESCO assesses that the construction of the Ombilin coal mine and the railway line is an "impossible mission" that has been successfully fulfilled.

There is an extraordinary universal value in the process of coal mining development and exploitation during the colonial era. And, when the coal mine stopped, this universal value remained part of Indonesia's history that needed to be maintained and utilized.

The cultural heritage site for the coal mining area Ombilin Sawahlunto is divided into three areas, namely, Sawahlunto Mining City; railway facilities and infrastructure; and coal storage facilities at Emmahaven or Bayur Bay Port. The three areas are spread across seven cities/regencies in West Sumatra.

As support for maintaining world heritage assets, the Sawahlunto City Government formed an image as a heritage-based cultural heritage city. This was formulated in Sawahlunto City Vision as "Sahahlunto City in 2020 to become a Cultureed Mining Tourism City" as outlined in the Sawahlunto City Regional Regulation Number 2 of 2001.

It took about 3.5 hours to arrive at Sawahlunto from Minangkabau International Airport via the Padang-Solok highway. The green view with the contour of the winding road became a friend during the trip to the oldest mining city in Indonesia.

The green, shady, and winding landscape will still be found when it arrives in Sawahlunto City. Understandably, the name Sawahlunto itself is taken from the word Sawah which describes the expanse of rice fields and the word Lunto taken from the name of the Batang Lunto River that surrounds the area.

Not only beautiful, the row of buildings that stand in Sawahlunto has different characteristics from buildings in other West Sumatra areas that are identical to pointed roofs.

Typical Dutch architecture buildings, in Sawahlunto, especially in the city center, still stand firmly and majestic. Some of them have been converted into office buildings, hotels, schools, and museums.

Apart from being instagrammable, old buildings in Sawahlunto should not be propagated carelessly.

As a person with the World Heritage Site title, there is a special guide that has been established by UNESCO so that the world heritage is not damaged and its authenticity is maintained.

These guidelines include understanding the universal value of the site; preserving the site and environment; do not change the shape and appearance of native buildings; do not increase the area and height of the original building, and do not carry out new developments; and coordinate with related agencies in handling buildings and the environment.

In total there are 119 cultural heritage units in all areas of the Ombilin cultural heritage, of which 68 units belong to PT Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk (PTBA) and are the objects of managing the coal SOE.

A number of main buildings include Hoofdkantoor Ombilinmijn Sawacrianto, which is now the main office building of the PTBA Ombilin Mining Unit (UPO); Woning 51 which is now the PTBA Mining Museum; Societiet Gluck Auf or the Cultural Center Building; also the Ombilinmijnen Keuken or a public kitchen in ancient times which is now the Goedang Ransoem Museum.

There is also the Soegarato Tunnel which is now used as the Mbah Soero Mining Hole Museum and the KHAS Ombilin Hotel which was once a Dutch army dormitory. In addition, there is also the Sawahluwung Hole which is now used as a location for mining activities under the Ministry of Energy and Mine and Mineral Resources' Underground Mining Training Center (BDTBT).

As the owner and manager of a number of cultural heritage assets in Ombilin, PTBA fully supports Sawahlunto's vision as a cultured mining tourist destination.

Post-mining tourism showing off early technology and mining history is expected to provide knowledge and experience of how the Dutch East Indies technology in the 18th century was very visionary and advanced.

In order to support Sawahlunto's vision as a mining tourism city, General Manager of the Ombilin Mining Unit PT Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk Yulfaidon explained that the company will revitalize its main office building to become a four-star-scale hotel heritage. In 1916-1942 ago, the main PTBA office building was the office of the coal mining company Ombilin.

"Later there will be 11 presidential suite rooms in this main building and 33 rooms in the back building of the main building. The back building is a planning building built in the 1980s and not a heritage building so we can renovate it into rooms," he said, quoted by Antara.

Not only main office buildings and planning buildings, revitalization efforts also include three other buildings, namely Wisma 14, Wisma 15, and Wisma 16 located in the KHAS Hotel complex, as well as the Cultural Center Building (Societiet) which had caught fire in 2022.

The asset revitalization effort is a strategic step taken by the company to help preserve and empower its potential to support Sawahlunto's vision of becoming a leading tourism destination.

Because Sawahlunto's vision and mission is to become a cultured mining tourism city, in supporting this goal his party provides support, one of which is the procurement of lodging. Although now many homestays, large-scale hotels do not exist.

PTBA UPO itself has obtained all permits, including a study of the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) to a strong building test, to revitalize assets in the UNESCO cultural heritage area. Likewise, a study from the Ministry of Education and Culture regarding special provisions related to the revitalization of this cultural heritage.

The target is that all revitalizations can be completed by the end of 2024.

Even though at that time there was pain behind colonialism, the Dutch East Indies had transferred technology and knowledge to Indonesia. The Dutch not only inherited mines and buildings, but also culture and an integrated city development system in accordance with the existing natural wealth potential.

Seeing Sawahlunto is like seeing a'small Dutch' that has been arranged in such a way as to become an economic center that is comfortable to live in.

Behind the occupation which left a dark side, it was amazing to imagine that more than 130 years ago the Dutch had thought about building underground mines and all their supporters, preparing community support facilities ranging from settlements, performance buildings, hospitals, public kitchens and slaughterhouses, steam power plants, to places of worship.