Bengkulu

Bengkulu is the capital of Bengkulu province, which is named after the city, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. With a population of 329,000 (latest estimate for 2014), Bengkulu is the largest city of Bengkulu province. It was founded by the British as their main source of pepper for almost two hundred years, before being exchanged for Malacca in 1824. The city offers slow-paced and quiet coastal life - locals hang out on the beach in the late afternoon buying freshly caught fish and waiting for the sun to set.

History
Several small chiefdoms ruled what is nowadays the Bengkulu area. These chiefdoms were under the loose suzerainty of the Inderapura Sultanate from southern West Sumatra. They didn’t flourish as much as the settlements in the eastern part of Sumatra that enjoyed the bustling traffic of Malacca Strait; they were far from major population centres, lacked natural harbours, and were swarmed with diseases. Inderapura became a vassal of the Banten Sultanate after its ruler married the daughter of Inderapura’s sultan circa 1560.

In 1682, the Dutch attacked Banten and expelled all other Europeans including the British from that town. The British thereupon signed a treaty with some chiefs, so as to maintain a presence in Sumatra. After a failed attempt by Banten-Dutch forces to knock the British out, the British established a trading post under the East Indian Company, named the area Bencoolen, and secured a safe anchorage spot for their ships. Their first fort (Fort York) didn’t last very long, leading them to built Fort Marlborough in 1714, which still robustly stands today.

This trading post brought the British only trouble, as it was never profitable, quarrels constantly broke out with the locals, and the local climate was deemed highly unpleasant; yet in spite of all of this, the British remained for another century. In 1807, a rebellion broke out to end the rule of Thomas Parr, the Resident of Bencoolen at that time. He was killed and decapitated in his home during the uprising.

Founder of modern Singapore, Thomas Stamford Raffles landed in Bencoolen on 19 March 1818 to assume the rule of the colony’s Governor General. He managed to abolish slavery, sent in convict labourers from India, and limited cockfighting and similar games among locals. During his time, the tug-of-war between the British and the Dutch concerning the archipelago once again took place. Somehow it was resolved in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1824, in which British Bencoolen was ceded in exchange for Dutch Malacca. Bencoolen (which became Bengkoelen and Bengkulu later) remained part of the Dutch East Indies until the Japanese occupation in World War II.

During Sukarno's imprisonment by the Dutch in the early 1930s, the future first president of Indonesia lived briefly in Bengkulu where he met his wife, Fatmawati. After independence, the city became part of Sumatra Province, then South Sumatra Province, and finally was made capital of the newly-formed Bengkulu Province.

Bengkulu lies near the Sunda Fault and is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. In June 2000, an earthquake killed at least 100 people. A series of earthquakes struck Bengkulu later during September 2007, killing 13 people. A 2016 report stated that Bengkulu is at risk of inundation over the next few decades from undersea earthquakes predicted along the coast of Sumatra.

Talk
Indonesian is widely used in the city for official business, education, commerce, and service purposes. Locals also speak Bengkulunese Malay, lingua franca of the province, especially when conversing among themselves. Both are mutually intelligible, with little adaptation required.

Foreign languages are rarely heard in the city. Basic Indonesian knowledge helps a lot during your stay here. Youths should be able to hold conversation in basic English, although most of them will be quite shy about engaging in conversation in a foreign tongue. Despite that, locals are very happy to help and try their best.

By plane


To go to the city centre (14 km to the northwest of the airport), you can hail taxi with meter from the arrival hall. The ride costs about Rp120.000 and takes around 20 minutes. There are also illegal taxicabs that offers slightly cheaper price.

By bus


There are also several van travel services that ply the route between Padang and Palembang toward Bengkulu. Journey from/to Padang may pass Muara Bungo and Sarolangun in Jambi province (Trans-Sumatran Highway East Route) or the coastal road that go through Mukomuko and Painan (Trans-Sumatran Highway West Route). The latter offers less winding roads, although at some spots, there are potholes and damaged section due to its proximity to the beach. You should ask the travel counter before booking any ticket. Example: Loket Bus PO. SAN Padang, daily 10:00, Rp375,000 (Mar 2024), duration 18h, ac, no power/wifi.

By minivan
Minivan (angkot) acts as the city's sole public transport system. Riding the minivan will also give you insight into the daily life in the city, since its service covers most of Bengkulu, including traditional markets, business districts, and residential areas. There are neither fixed timetables nor proper stops. You can hail and alight from anywhere along the streets. State your destination before you board and pay when you alight. As of 2016, it costs Rp4.000 per trip regardless of distance. Operating hour is 06AM-06PM.

The drivers usually wait for their van to be filled, which may prolong your waiting time. They are not likely to speak English, so you'll need basic knowledge of Indonesian to ask for information or anything else. Words you need to know are "kiri" (kee-ree) or "minggir" (meeng-gear) which indicates you want to alight.

The minivan is colour- and alphabet-coded, based on which line it's operated in. Each alphabet actually has suffix to indicate certain route it takes, but in practice only Green and Red minivan follow the convention.

Architecture

 * Fort marlborough 1.jpg

Beaches
Bengkulu boasts numbers of white sand beach with groves of casuarina (instead of coconut trees you'd usually imagine of tropical beaches would look like). Surfing and swimming are generally not allowed, considering the rip current and sharp corals of the shores.

Culture
Once a year, ten days after Islamic New Year, Bengkulu city commemorates the fall of Husein, grandson of prophet Muhammad, in the Battle of Karbala on 10 Muharram 61 AH (10 October 681 AD). The ceremony is called Tabut which means coffin or wooden chest. The tradition is presumably brought by Shiite Madrasi and Bengali workers who were employed to built Fort Marlborough. As they intermarried with the local Malay, the tradition lived and kept for generations. Despite its religious root, the tradition had got more secular as the time passes. Their descendants (aptly named Tabut family) embraced Sunni denomination to assimilate further with the locals, other reasons being the government promotes its an elaborate tourism event, as well as the recent negative sentiment towards Shiite sect held by most Indonesians.

The ceremony lasts for 10 days. There are several smaller ceremonies you may see:
 * Mengambik Tanah. At 1 Muharram, the Tabut family comes to sacred cemeteries (one in the west of Fort Marlborough and another one in Pantai Panjang) at night to collect soil from the burial site. This soil lumps will be made into a shape of human body. After that, the family breaks into two groups (Bangsal and Berkas) - each then stores the soil dolls at their respective place.
 * Duduk Penja. At 5 Muharram, the families take out sacred jewelleries made of silver, copper, or brass called penja. The penjas takes form of human palm to symbolise the hand of Husein. The shaman/elder of the families washes the penjas with lime water and flower water at this ceremony and puts out some offerings. The soil doll and the penja is kept inside a coffin, which later will be decorated in a shape of lean pyramidal tower. The decorated coffin is the tabut that each group make some of it.
 * Menjara & Meradai. At 6 and 7 Muharram, each family will visit each other at their respective place. The visitor will ask the host to compete in drum-beating contest. On their way to the other’s place, they also play the drum and shouting some kind of warcry. People can give a donation to them during this time.
 * Mengarak. At 8 and 9 Muharram, the penjas and white turbans is put in small tabuts and paraded around the old town. At the night of 9 Muharram, the real tabuts is ready to hit the road where the two groups meet. They will be joined by non-sacred tabuts (made by the people outside of the family), floats, and art-performers from all over the city. They all then gather in the city’s square. The gathering is called tabut besanding and always accompanied by art performances.
 * Tabut Tebuang. On the last day, at 10 Muharram, the tabuts is brought to the grave of Tabut family’s ancestor. There, the soil doll and some parts of the decoration will be put on the grave. The oldest shaman of the family lead the whole ceremony, with some members often get in a trance state during the events.

The city certainly becomes livelier during this event. Area surrounding the city’s square will be turned into pasar malam for at least two weeks, with vendors and carnival troupes come from as far as Medan and Surabaya to sell various items at reasonable prices.

Usually the ceremony is held in View Tower, Kampung Cina, but in 2018 will be held in Fort Marlborough inline with International Bencoolen Dol Festival. Dol percussion is made from big tree with diameter 70-125 centimeters and is made as a tube and then is covered with cow skin at one end.

Drink
Coconut water and sugarcane juice are the most common drinks sold by street vendors and carts. The vendors store coconut water in a refrigerated water jar (comes with coconut shaving), but they make sugarcane juice on order.

Go next

 * Explore the rest of Bengkulu province.