Abstrack:
Padang, West Sumatra, is noted to rarely experience mass violent conflict, although it is known to be a plural city, in which several ethnic groups reside together with the native ethnic group, namely Minangkabau. Indeed, this does not mean that Padang does not have problems. The issues of discrimination against ethnic Chinese post-2009 earthquake, as well as the application of Perda Syariah issued in mayor Fauzi Bahar?s first term (2004-2009) that have resulted strong social tension between different ethnic and religous groups are amongst the most important problems to mention. However, unlike many other big cities in Indonesia, as Solo, Semarang, Medan, and Makasar, in which mass violence is easily exploded, the social tension in Padang is often successfully managed. In this regards, looking at the cultural aspects of Minangkabau society, in addition to the political economy perspective, is important, and raso pareso, the cultural practice of Minangkabau, applied not only by ethnic Minang, but also by the other minority ethnic groups, including ethnic Chinese, could not be avoided to discuss. The assertion of mutual-respect, tolerance, mutual understanding, evidence based argumentation, and long-term oriented behaviors in raso pareso has helped people from different ethnic groups to build peaceful social interactions. This has enabled, for instance, the building of trading relation between ethnic Minang and ethnic Chinese in the midst of long-existing problems of religious differences. In fact, raso pareso has not only been social ethics, more importantly, it has also been social exchange for enabling the building of consensus and commitment to share in trading, and in the other fields of social life. Neverteheless, raso pareso is also very political for becoming the bargaining tool for different ethnic groups in Padang through the politics of accommodation and the politics of recognition. Using the framework of social ethics, social exchange and politics, this paper discusses how the cultural practice like raso pareso, in addition to the political economy factor, could enable the peaceful encounters between different ethnic groups in Padang. Given the technical limitation, this paper is limited to discuss ethnic Minang and ethnic Chinese relationship.
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