ANSWER: YAJ* tried his darndest to stomp all of them into the
ground.
Today, the Minang own and run banks, bookstores, schools and
satellite dishes. As anthropologist P.R.
Sanday puts it, Minang is “a modern society all the more interesting for its matriarchal values in a world torn by conflict, strife, and male dominance.”
The Minang aren’t ruled by men or women, but by adat matriarchaat, a set of rules based on nature and motherhood.
The Minang aren’t ruled by men or women, but by adat matriarchaat, a set of rules based on nature and motherhood.
When Allah tried to rip the adat away from the Minang back in the late 18th century, they
fought like bloody heck – and won! This
was “the Pradi War.”
Plant growth along with other features of nature gave the Minang their rules for living.
For ex., if tiny, vulnerable rice seeds aren’t protected, there’s no
rice, and people bite the dust – starve to death.
Likewise,
tiny and vulnerable people must be protected (women, children, elderly, etc.).
The
Minang go with the good in nature and pitch the bad. So the violence of nature (bad) is
pitched. “Any one who stands in the way
of truth by acting discourteously or resorting to the use of force is exiled
from the community or shunned.”
PROPOSITION: the
entire world should switch to the Minang Way.
I mean it! All of you: save your
pennies, catch a plane to Sumatra, make some Minang friends, come back, teach
your country how to be Minang!
And if you are Minang and read this post, please leave us
poor suffering Americans a comment or two!
Teach us how you stay peaceful, equal and happy! 
___________
* Yahweh-Allah-Jehovah, or “YAJ” for short -- the God of
Abraham.
