CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE Volume: 02 Issue: 07 | July 2021 The Conflict of the Kerinci Chinese Community Cemetery Complex in Sungai Penuh 1997-2010 Yana Liza Master Program of Social Science, Postgraduate, Universitas Negeri Padang, Indonesia Erniwati Lecture, Master of Social Science of Universitas Negeri Padang, Indonesia Received 26th May 2022, Accepted 19th June2021, Online 7th July 2021 Abstract : This article discusses the conflict regarding Introduction burial issues that occurred among the Kerinci In 1997, the Kerinci Regency government planned to Chinese Community as a result of the relocation of move the Kerinci Chinese community cemetery the cemetery complex by the Kerinci Regency complex from Bukit Sentiong to Kilometer 7.5 in the government. this research is qualitative research with direction of Tapan [1]. This relocation was carried historical research methods which are divided into out because of the local government regulation No. four stages, namely: heuristics, source criticism, 2/1997 concerning urban development. In Bukit interpretation, and historiography. The source of the Sentiong, an office building and a Kerinci museum writing of this article was obtained through the building will be erected as a means of education for historical method using government documents, the people of Kerinci and as a place to store Chinese organizations, and interviews. This article heirlooms belonging to the Kerinci Regency. The shows that the relocation of the Kerinci Chinese relocation of this burial complex is not as easy as one Community cemetery caused the Kerinci Chinese might think, because, until 2000, not a single grave Community to split into two groups, each of which on Bukit Sentiong had been moved. This is due to formed a Foundation as a forum for managing the the absence of punctuation between the Chinese cemetery. The old group is part of the Budi Bakti people of Kerinci in determining the new burial Foundation and the younger group is the Himpunan complex. Sehati Foundation. The conflict between the Chinese This incident left many problems for the Kerinci Kerinci community did not end even though the Chinese community even though the Kerinci Sungai Penuh City government had set a cemetery Regency government had tried to reduce the for the Kerinci Chinese community at a kilometer 7.5 problems they faced. How conflicts occur and how to in the direction of Tapan. This can be seen from the resolve these issues will be examined in this article. daily activities carried out by the Kerinci Chinese Conflicts about the burial complex have often community. They will not attend events organized by occurred, as written by Sulaiman in an article entitled opposing foundations. Conflict over Cemetery Land: A Study in Mambulu Keywords: ethnic chinese, conflict and displacement Barat Village, Tambelangan District, Sampang Regency. of cemetery complex © 2021, CAJLPC, Central Asian Studies, All Rights Reserved 56 CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE Volume: 02 Issue: 07 | July 2021 , ISSN: 2660-6828 Sulaiman explained that the conflict over the burial three stages are then presented in the form of writing land involved residents of Mambulu Barat village or articles [5]. and residents of Glagas village. Meanwhile, in DISCUSSION Kerinci, the conflict over the choice of burial The ethnic Chinese in Kerinci Regency is a minority location occurred between the Chinese people of group who have inhabited the Sungai Full market Kerinci. What is the trigger so that the Chinese since 1883. At that time, Sungai Penuh was a market community is in the opposite position? To discuss that became a gathering place for both indigenous this, Lewis A Coser's conflict theory is needed. and foreign traders, to trade the produce obtained by Lewis' theory will help to analyze who triggers the the farmers. Kerinci. The distance between Sungai internal conflict and how the resolution is mediated Penuh and Padang via the Muaro Labuh road is by the Kerinci Regency government. about 180 Km, and approximately 227 Km if taken METHODS via the Pesisir Selatan road. This article is qualitative research with historical The long-distance was covered in about 5 days of research methods which are divided into four stages, travel because at that time the road was still a path. namely: heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, The Sungai Penuh market, which is located far in the and historiography [2]. Heuristics is the first stage in interior of Sumatra, requires ethnic Chinese traders this research which consists of finding and collecting who come to rent houses from residents around the historical data and sources that the author considers Sungai Penuh market. In addition, the length of the relevant, both primary and secondary. Data were trip also caused many ethnic Chinese traders to collected in two ways, firstly by archive and library choose to live in Kerinci. studies, secondly by interview studies [3]. The archives were obtained from the archive collections In 1915, 80 ethnic Chinese were found living in of the Central Statistics Agency for the city of Sungai Penuh, Kerinci Regency, this number Sungai Penuh and the District of Kerinci. increased in 1930, to around 974 people. This Meanwhile, interviews were conducted with several increase in the number of ethnic Chinese led to the people in Sungai Penuh who were considered to be formation of a Chinese community in Kerinci which able to provide information about the funerals of the they called the Kerinci Chinese Community. Since Kerinci Chinese community, including Khoe Ing Ho, they arrived in Sungai Penuh they have lived side by Indra Kusuma who had written several articles about side as traders with the indigenous people of Sungai the Kerinci Chinese community in 1999. Pen Ipat Penuh and they have never conflicted with the and Martinus Ridwan as young people The Kerinci indigenous people or their fellow Chinese. Chinese Community Healthy Foundation. The place where the people live is always equipped Burhanuddin and Gusman worked in the government with general facilities and infrastructure, which of Kerinci Regency in 1998. support all the activities of the surrounding The second stage in this research is source criticism. community, including the ethnic Chinese. The place Source criticism is carried out to know the truth and where the ethnic Chinese live is always equipped authenticity of the data obtained. In this study, two with social facilities to support the life of the ethnic methods were used to determine the level of truth Chinese there, such as places of worship, meeting and validity of the data, namely internal criticism and buildings, and burial sites as places to bury the dead. external criticism [3]. The third stage is an This is also seen in the ethnic Chinese settlement in interpretation which is the stage of analyzing the data Kerinci. The meetinghouse was built around the obtained in the field. The purpose of interpreting 1980s at the Sungai Penuh market. Apart from being sources is to find accurate facts so that the data a meeting place, this building is also used as a obtained can be trusted to be true [4]. The last step is funeral home before the bodies are sent to the the presentation of the research results cemetery. This building has been renovated several (historiography). The data that has gone through the times because the first building used boards as walls © 2021, CAJLPC, Central Asian Studies, All Rights Reserved 57 CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE Volume: 02 Issue: 07 | July 2021 , ISSN: 2660-6828 and floors. There are no special places of worship as social facilities for the Kerinci Chinese community in Sungai Peuh. They worship in their respective homes. For the burial location, the Dutch East Indies government has designated the hills on the edge of the Sungai Penuh market called Bukit Sentiong as the burial location for ethnic Chinese and Indonesian citizens of other descent. The name Bukit Sentiong as the location of the Chinese ethnic cemetery is not only found in Kerinci Regency but the name Bukit Sentiong is also used as the name of the Chinese ethnic burial location in Padang. The similarity of this name shows the relationship between the Chinese ethnicity in Padang and the Kerinci Chinese Figure 1 Estimated Oldest Tomb community. Bukit Sentiong as the location of the Chinese ethnic cemetery is very strategic and has As time goes by, the number of Kerinci Chinese Fengsui that is by the wishes of the Kerinci Chinese tombs in Bukit Sentiong is increasing. This resulted community. With the appropriate Fengshui, the in no longer available space to add a new tomb. The Chinese began to fill the burial site when his brother full size of the Kerinci Chinese cemetery in Bukit died. Sentiong has an impact on the rareness of the ethnic Chinese to visit the location except on certain days Based on interviews that the author has conducted so that the graves are not taken care of. There was no with the Chinese community in Kerinci, it is found visible effort from the Kerinci Chinese Community that in 1890 there were bodies buried at the Bukit to clean up the grass that filled the tomb except Sentiong cemetery, although the authors did not get ahead of the Cheng Beng ceremony celebrations in tombstones with 1890s figures. No tombstone found early April. in 1890 could be because the tomb was destroyed. After all, it was too old. In addition, the author also This funeral cleaning is usually done one month received information that some of the old tombs before the Cheng Beng celebration. The cost of buried in Bukit Sentiong had been moved by his cleaning the cemetery is usually funded by each brother to the Padang area and some had been family from the Kerinci Chinese Community.