The gateway to north Sulawesi via Manado City has much to entice visitors who may not know much about one of Indonesia’s most vibrant regions.
The second-largest city in Sulawesi, outsized only by Makassar, Manado has known many names. The Spanish called the city Manados, while the Portuguese knew it as Moradores or Manada, or ‘herd of islands’. The Dutch named it Mandadorezen or Manado’s Gebied. Like all roads that lead to Rome, the names claimed by Manado reach the same point. With each use, the speaker conveys a clear image. Sloping hills, green mountain ranges and, farther out, volcanic peaks at rest in the Sulawesi Sea.
Those who stand on the west of Manado City, or whichever name one chooses to give the city, may become lost in thought. This they do in deference to the depths of the blue sea before them. But they also retain enough critical faculty to recognise, from the black sand Malalayang Beach, a trio of islands. Namely, Bunaken, old Manado Tua and Siladen.
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The wily visitor, though, does not get ahead of themselves. They have not yet left dry land. Instead, those who stay and wander the streets may learn a thing or two of interest. For instance, Manado’s anniversary falls on July 14. The city, states the records, has existed since 1623. And unlike most places in Indonesia, Christianity ranks as the main form of belief.
So too may the interested visitor learn of Manado City’s position. It is the capital of North Sulawesi, a cultural centre for the Minahasa people. In times gone by, it was a stronghold for Dutch colonialists. Those with an eye for business will most likely know that merchants in Manado prospered thanks to the spice trade.
History of Manado City
Map makers brought Manado to the world’s attention, for the name first became known on the world map of Renaissance cartographer Nicolas Desliens. Here the name was ascribed to Manarow, or today’s Manado Tua. The island stayed, but the name moved to the mainland. And all around it swirled the passage of history.
History shows that the Europeans ruled Manado for a good long time. But before they arrived in North Sulawesi, the Sultan of Ternate, a ruler from Maluku, claimed power. It was he who introduced Islam to the region. And so things stayed for a while. That is, until the Portuguese made him their vassal. This move gave him, and by extension, the colonists, control over the Minahasans.
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Further north, settlers from Spain made inroads into the Philippines and settled there awhile as a colonial power. And the Spanish cast their eyes south to Minahasa. There, the rich soil cultivated fine coffee and allowed for the trade of such delicacies. Thus did Spain develop Manado as a place of business, where traders from China could buy coffee to sell in their own country.
But what is business without power? Very little, thought the Spanish. And so they enlisted local allies to help them take control of the Portuguese fortress in Amurang. They then worked their way northeast to Manado and established a presence there. All of Minahasa had fallen under Spain’s control. In 1630, when Muntu Untu, the first king of Manado, took power, all knew he was of Spanish descent.
The Spanish eventually handed control of Minahasa back to the Portuguese for 350,000 ducats. But this shift in power did not last, for the Minahasans entered into a treaty with the Dutch. The Portuguese soon found themselves expelled from the region, minus a great deal of money and influence.
The Dutch did not take long to make their mark. They built a fortress, Fort Amsterdam, in Manado in 1658, and their missionaries introduced Christianity to the Minahasans. Not here would a bulbous masjid and the word of Allah suffice, as it does in most parts of the archipelago. Instead, the settlers constructed a great Church that they called Oude Kerk, or Old Church. This edifice still stands in Manado and goes by the name of Gereja Sentrum.
Fast forward a couple of centuries, when the ebb and flow of control shifted like the tides. In 1810, the British ship HMS Dover captured Manado City. A few decades later, the Dutch authorities exiled Prince Diponegoro to the city. He had a prominent role in the Java War, when the Javanese rose against the Dutch colonists. By 1942, the Japanese gained control of Manado City. Invasion again reared its ugly head. In 1958, the central government deemed it their turn on the power carousel in North Sulawesi. This they did in the name of quelling the rebel Permesta movement. Many thousands died over the following years. Manado became North Sulawesi’s capital city in 1962.
While debates may simmer – or not – over the roots of Manado’s name, in Sangir, the term ‘manaro’ means ‘in the distance’. In this case, ‘manaro’ meant the furthest island one could see from the coast. And when the islanders resettled on Sulawesi’s mainland, the name chose to follow them. The new settlement became Manado. The island adopted the dignified name Manado Tua in deference to its former sway.
The people of Manado
Minahasans account for the majority of people in Manado, and the Indigenous population are of Tombulu blood. But it is also true to say that one may find many groups in the region. Babontehu, Bantik, Borgo, Gorontalo, Mongondow, Sangir, Siau, Talaud and Tionudese. Added to this mix are Sumatran Bataks, Chinese, Javanese, Makassarese from southern Sulawesi and Moluccans, whose roots trace to Maluku. The main language is Bahasa Manado.
In terms of belief, Manado follows a mostly Christian path. So doing, it bucks the trend in Indonesia, where Islam claims the most followers. But faith is not limited here. Christians live beside Muslims, as do followers of Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism and Judaism. And unlike other places in the archipelago that have suffered conflict with religion as a contributing factor, Manado has rarely been blighted by such things. Instead, unity prevails. In Manado, they say, ‘Torang samua basudara’, or ‘We are all family’. This attitude negates the need to harm someone based on their choice of religion.
Those who wander the streets or arrive at Manado’s airport, or even study at the city’s university, may note the name Sam Ratulangi, a National Hero of Indonesia. His likeness appears on statues and busts in Manado and Tondano. And roads across the Minhasa region, in cities like Bitung, Manado, Tomohon and Tondano, bear his name.
This Minahasan teacher, journalist and politician was an important figure of the Indonesian independence movement. They criticised the Dutch colonial powers and foresaw the Japanese invasion in the Second World War. He formed part of the group that sanctioned Indonesia’s Constitution and served as the first Governor of Sulawesi. He also gained renown for his humanism. He coined the Minahasan phrase ‘Si Tou Timou Tumou To’, or ‘humans live for the sake of others.’ A visitor may draw parallels with the Minahasan code of Mapalus, wherein people help each other for the sake of doing a nice thing.
What it do
A person can pass their time in many splendid ways. If they head northeast for 40-ish miles, they will find Tangkoko Nature Reserve, which takes its name from a volcano. The reserve protects many endemic species, including tarsiers and macaques. Fears may arise, however, about the cruel reach of nearby hunting and habitat destruction, and the effects on these creatures.
Close to Tangkoko is the city of Bitung, from which it is possible to reach the Lembeh Strait, a place favoured the world over for its muck-diving and photogenic waters; the things that live inside this water are just as pretty. Little needs to be said about the island of Bunaken, to the north of Manado, except that the seawalls are steep, its crevices deep and inhabitants varied, while rumours of mermaids, orcas and the machinations of spirits give the island a far-off, bubble-like quality.
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Of equal elemental power is Tomohon. Located in the hills and home to a cool, crisp climate, there lies a rich tapestry of culture and nature. Keen sightseers will find much to please them around Tomohon’s peaks and valleys.
For many, the twin-volcano Lokon-Empung is the literal and symbolic high point of a trip to Tomohon. Rising over the Tondano Plain and about an hour’s walk to the west of the city, visitors can expect a close encounter with some of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes and, on a clear day, views reaching Manado to the north.
Lokon’s imposing crater is an arresting sight. Mostly flat and strewn with volcanic rocks, it belches reams of smoke from sulphur-tinged fissures that only hint at the destructive power beneath. The volcano’s cone, flat and craterless, reaches a height of 1,580 metres, while Empung, the younger and smaller of the two, has a crater 400 metres wide and 150 deep. No surprise that the latter is more prone to erupting, which it last did in the 18th century.
The ‘other’ major volcano in Tomohon, dormant Mahawu lacks the size of Lokon-Empung but not the awe. This smaller crater, flanked by two pyroclastic cones, allows for fine views of the landscape, some say as far as Pulau Bunaken, and birdwatchers will have much to interest them on the green summit. Visitors have reported a floating, supreme calm on Mahawu, and others swear that they could touch the clouds, so close does the peak feel to the sky.
There are many other things to pass the time. Those with an interest in the fixings of spirituality may choose to visit Ban Hin Kiong, a historical Taoist temple and a place of much abundance and blessings. The temple, Manado’s oldest, has survived renovation and immolation, perhaps a sign that it lies under the watchful gaze of Shouxing, the God of Longevity.
Equally striking is the Yesus Kase Berkat, or Christ Blessing, statue. It dominates the view like the Cristo Rei statue of Dili, Timor-Leste. If one can equate the size of a monument to the depth of feeling it symbolises, this imposing 50-metre statue, found in Malalayang, shows that faith runs deep and true in Manado. A statue in the heart of Manado also immortalises Maria Walanda Maramis, another Indonesian hero, who advanced women’s rights in the 20th century.
Stimulating the senses
An outsider may at once note Manado’s warm hospitality. And even if they don’t, the depth and breadth of the place’s heritage will soon become clear. The sound of gongs alat bambu and other traditional instruments may shimmer in the air. And if the listener follows this sound, which carries within it a sense of performative devotion, they may soon find dances like kabasaran, cakalele and maengket.
Whilst the taste of Manado comes from many fine dishes, not least bubur Manado rice porridge, of lasting note is the notorious cap tikus. Cap tikus translates as ‘rat stamp’, which may have some hidden meaning but seems to have little bearing on the end product. Most consumers will care very little for the drink’s symbolism. This is a sure sign that they have consumed a quantity of this traditional drink distilled from aren, or sugar palm. And then they find that such cares have long since vanished. Cap tikus has a strong taste and an alcohol content of up to 50%, which places it firmly in ‘rocket fuel’ territory.
Small surprise then that one day, the authorities cottoned on that cap tikus represents something of a health risk. Some consumers become ferocious and violent, and others have died from drinking it. Such losses prompted the slogan ‘brenti jo bagate’, emblazoned in stern type on many warning signs in a bid to ward people off the dangers of cap tikus. One may wonder whether the drink inhibits or enlivens the love of singing and karaoke that permeates Manado.
But with every buzz comes a crash. Despite being the main transport hub of north Sulawesi, even Manado has to slow down once in a while and regroup. At dawn, the streetcleaners move across the city. They prepare the roads for the onslaught of traffic, and the whole story soon begins to repeat itself.
[Editor: You are correct, dear reader, in your assumption that we at EITM are professional-standard photographers.]
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