We took our flight to Medan in the morning of Friday on the first February 2013. Our destination was a small village of our friend, Diki, known as Lawe Loning Harapan in Aceh Tenggara of Northern Sumatra. Our friend, Diki was waiting for us at the airport of Medan and with him there were two vans which will take us to his village. According to Diki, the whole journey to his village will take about seven hours. When our vans were cruising along the winding roads from Medan to Aceh Tenggara we could realize how beautiful the roads in Malaysia are. Immediately I realized that Malaysians will only feel thankful to Allah over the bounties which are given to all Malaysians when they are made to travel along the winding roads in remote Indonesia and Cambodia. In many remote areas of Indonesia such as Bengkulu and Aceh Tenggara, all the roads are not well maintained and there are so many holes all along the roads. Although there were very few cars moving along the road but all of them were moving at a very slow speed. All the cars had to move at a very slow speed because there were so many pot holes on the roads which were filled with water. When our vans were cruising along the roads I could observe that there were also many heavy trucks which carry heavy loads of goods using the roads. I think the heavy trucks which carry the heavy loads of goods and together with the poor quality of the material used to make the road, had caused many roads in remote areas of Indonesia to have many pot holes.

As we drove along the roads of Indonesia with so many pot holes we could realize how fortunate Malaysians are to have a country with many beautiful roads which cover almost the whole country. I would like to suggest to those who are not thankful to live in such a beautiful country with beautiful roads as Malaysia to try to live either in Indonesia or Cambodia. Many Malaysians are driving their cars along Malaysian highways beyond the specified speed and there are some irresponsible Malaysians who even use our roads for racing. I would like to suggest to these irresponsible Malaysian to come to this remote areas of Indonesia and to observe with their own eyes the suffering and the poverty of the people of Indonesia. As we drove along the extremely winding roads with so many pot holes of Indonesia, we missed the joy of driving in Malaysia. Our vans as well all the other cars which were using the roads were moving very slow and the whole journey in my opinion is tiring and troublesome. Our journey from Medan to Lawe Loning in Aceh Tenggara took almost seven to eight hours which in my opinion in Malaysia will only take about three hours. I have been traveling to Indonesia for so many times and in general in my opinion, all the roads in Indonesia are poorly maintained and some of the main roads are not maintained at all. Why are the roads not maintained in Indonesia? Is Indonesia a poor country? Many would think that Indonesia is not a poor country because Indonesia has many natural resources and in my opinion the natural resources which Indonesia has could probably be more than the natural resources which Malaysia has.

While I was traveling along the roads which are poorly maintained in Indonesia, I was thinking about the possibility of some rich country like Malaysia, Brunei and some of the Arab countries to help to repair all the main roads in the remote areas of Indonesia. It appears to me as if there is no such steps being taken at all by the rich Muslims countries in the world to help their Muslims brothers and sisters who live in such poor Muslims countries like Indonesia and some of the Muslims countries in Africa. Is Indonesia really a poor Muslims country? Many may not agree with me that Indonesia is a poor country. However when I visited the remote areas of Indonesia such as Aceh Tenggara, I am now convinced that Indonesia is indeed a poor country. Although Indonesia appears to me to be a poor country but I think the land in Indonesia is very fertile and even more fertile than the lands in Malaysia. I saw with my own eyes that the cocoa plant grown easily in between their houses in Lawe Loning. In this area of Aceh Tenggara, most of the people are farmers and they grow cocoa which they told me that they are growing ‘chocolates’. What was the reason I went to this remote area of Indonesia? We were invited by our friend Diki to his village in order to do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils. While we were in his village we station our work in the small surau of the village. The small surau has a toilet but without a door and with the grace of Allah I asked one of my companion Azdi Abbas to sponsor the cost of repairing the door of the toilet. The supply of water for the surau came from the mountain and the water was really cold and clean.

The village is divided into two parts by a road. The area on the upper side of the road is occupied mainly by the Muslims and the area on the lower side of the road is occupied mainly by the Christians. We were using the surau as the centre of our mission and from the surau we formed groups of two and three persons and each group will go to every house in the villages and irrespective whether they are Muslims or they are Christians. When we met Christians we invited them to recite the Great Kalimah and when met Muslims we reminded them about the meaning of the Great Kalimah and we invited the Muslims to obey the first and the second orders of Allah which is the order to invite mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and the order to perform the five times daily prayers. In my opinion, generally all the people in the village were nice and kind to us. During the two days we were in the village, we had never encountered any harsh treatment from anyone in the village whether they are Muslims or they are Christians. However on the second day we were in the village the imam of the mosque came to meet us in the surau advising us to stop inviting the Christians to embrace Islam. He was worried that the Christians may cause trouble to the Muslims in the village. The imam reiterated to us that Indonesia is not the same as Malaysia. He said to us that Malaysia is an Islamic country whereas Indonesia is a Pancasila country. When the imam said to us that Malaysia is an Islamic country, I felt very fortunate that I am Malay and a Muslims who live in Malaysia. Others in Indonesia are recognizing Malaysia as an Islamic country whereas there are others in Malaysia who is trying to deny the fact that Malaysia is an Islamic country. The imam was trying to explain to us that the work of inviting the Christians to embrace Islam cannot be done in Indonesia, because Indonesia is a country which makes Pancasila as the principle to be followed by all Indonesians. In Pancasila a person who belongs to any religion is prohibited from inviting others who belong to other religion to embrace their religion. Pancasila was a principle designed by the leaders of Indonesia in order to attain unity from among her citizens with varied races and religion.
However in my opinion, only the Muslims in Indonesia which adhere to the principle of Pancasila but the Christians of Indonesia are not willing to adhere to Pancasila. All the Muslims which about 85% in Indonesia, including their religious scholars are obeying Pancasila very strictly and because the Muslims in Indonesia are following Pancasila they are not inviting the people of other religion to embrace Islam but the Christians in Indonesia are not obeying Pancasila but obeying the bible and the Christians in Indonesia since many decades have been actively inviting the people of other religion including Muslims to embrace Christianity. When the Christians in Indonesia are asked by the Muslims for the reasons why they invite others who belong to other religion including Muslims to embrace Christianity, they answered to the Muslims that it is the order of their God and it is written in the bible that Christians must invite others who are not Christians to embrace Christianity. In Indonesia, all religions are regarded to be the same and no one is allowed to invite others who have a religion to embrace other religion. In Indonesia all religions are regarded to be the same and that include Islam, Hindu, Buddha, Judaism and Christianity. Others in Indonesia who do not belong to this five religion are regarded as having no religion and only they can be invited to embrace a religion. The imam of the mosque came to the surau during the time of solat Magrib and he became the imam of the solat of Magrib. Immediately after the Magrib prayer he stood up and gave a lecture to all of us. He was speaking in a very soft and kind word but in short the content of his speech was to politely requesting us to leave the village. When we had performed the Isyah prayer in the surau we decided to leave the village and to continue our journey to the Samosir Island in the middle of Danau Toba.

In this article I would like to describe to you also the foods that we were eating when we were in Lawe Loning, Indonesia. When we were in the village for about two days, our food was cooked by the family members of our friend, Diki. We collected some money and we gave the money to the family members of Diki to buy foods and to cook the food for us. What surprised me was the costs of foods in Indonesia were expensive as or even more expensive than in Malaysia. During the two days we were in the village of Lawe Loning we ate mainly chickens and the meat of the chickens was very hard to chew. I was told by our friend Diki that the villagers were so surprised to see us eating chicken everyday, when they on the other hand can only eat chicken, once in a year. When I heard this from Diki, I felt so fortunate to be living in Malaysia and to be able to eat rice with chicken, meat and fish almost everyday. We in Malaysia are having so much food to satisfy our hunger and having so many types of drinks to quench our thirst. In this neighbouring country of ours, the people are not having much food to eat and they can only drink tea as a luxury drink. I am sure those Indonesians who used to live in Malaysia for so many years would not like to go back to their country to live and if they are forced to go back to their country by the Malaysian authority I am quite sure they will try to find ways on how to come back and live in this beautiful and prosperous country of Malaysia. Why the people in Indonesia live in poverty while their neighbours who live in Malaysia, live in abundance? Why the Indonesians live in poverty whereas the lands in Indonesia as I observed are more fertile than the land in Malaysia. Many crops can easily be grown in Indonesia. On the other hand Indonesia has also many minerals in their soil and in their sea are having abundance of fish and other sea products. Indonesia on the other hand has more oil than Malaysia and Indonesia is one of the oil producing country in the world.
Indonesia is one of the OPEC member’s countries. What is wrong with Indonesia? I was thinking and questioning myself the same questions again and again and I would like very much to know the answer. Why are there so many Indonesians who came to Malaysia to earn their living? Our Indonesians neighbours are the ones who become our maids, our gardeners, our farmers and our construction workers. Indonesians are the one who are willing to do all the hard works which many Malaysians are not ready to do. Indonesians are willing to do all the hard jobs because there are no jobs in their country and yet the cost of living in Indonesia is high. They came to Malaysia to earn a living so that they can send money to their children who are schooling in Indonesia. Many people in Indonesia are living in poverty and the amount of money they earn in Indonesia is less whereas the costs of foods and other necessities of life in Indonesia are high. In other words in Indonesia the inflation rate is high and the buying power of the people is low. Why Indonesians are poorer than Malaysians? Are Indonesians lazier than Malaysians? In my opinions Indonesians work harder than Malaysians. This shows us, that to work harder is not the only factor which will make a person or a country to become prosperous.

Why Indonesia cannot be a prosperous country in spite of having abundance of natural resources and millions of hardworking citizens? What is wrong with Indonesians? In my opinion Indonesia cannot become a prosperous country in spite of having abundance of natural resources and millions hardworking citizens is because of weak or poor management of the people and the natural resources. The Indonesian leaders are not capable in managing the people and the natural resources effectively. Why the Indonesians leaders are poor in the management of their people and their natural resources? Indonesians leaders are poor in managing their people and their natural resources because both of the leaders and the people are having wrong behaviours and wrong mental outlook. Both the leaders and the people of Indonesia have wrong behaviours because they have the wrong belief and wrong mental outlook. Because of wrong behaviours in my opinion Indonesia cannot become a prosperous nation in spite of having abundance of natural resources and millions of hardworking citizens. Indonesia in spite of gaining her independent from the Dutch much earlier than Malaysia is less developed than Malaysia. Indonesia has larger land areas than Malaysia, much larger population, much greater human and natural resources than Malaysia. Petronas, a Malaysian oil company during their early days had learned about managing a petroleum company from Patamina an Indonesian oil company but now Petronas has spread her wings in many parts of the world but Pertmanina still remain as an oil company which operates only within Indonesia. In order to develop Indonesia into a modern nation in my opinion both the belief and mindset of the people of Indonesia towards modernization need to be completely overhauled.
When we reached the Samosir Island in the middle of Danau Toba it was already the time of Fajar solat. We prayed our Fajar solat in one of the restaurant owned by a Muslim because we hardly found any mosque or surau in the island. Finally we arrived at one of the Surau in the Samosir Island and as we reached the surau, immediately we started making the work of inviting the people to good and forbidding the people from evils. I was told by a person that in the Samosir Island there is hardly any Muslim and the Muslims in the island only constitute about five percent of the population and the majority of the Batak in the island is Christians. When we met the Bataks who are Christians we invited them to embrace Islam or to recite the Great Kalimah. When we met Muslims we reminded them about the meaning of the Great Kalimah and we invited them to do the work of inviting the people to good and forbidding the people from evils and to perform the five times daily prayers.
In my opinion, Bataks are generally kind and nice people but I think their women are controlling the man and the way Batak women speak which is much louder and stronger than the man shows that in the Batak community the woman is in control. In Somasa Island we found there were some Batak women who were not very happy with us coming to their houses and inviting their men to embrace Islam. Some of the Batak women were shouting and jeering at us but we kept patient. Except for the few women who jeered and shouted at us, in my opinion most of the Batak people were kind and gentle to us. At about 10.00 am we were visited by one of the leader of the Muslims community in the island who politely requested us to leave the island. At about noon we left the Samosir Island with a ferry heading towards the town of Parapat which is located at the bank of Danau Toba on the island of Sumatra.

When we reached the town of Parapat we initially went to the main mosque of the town of Parapat and we tried to request the imam of the mosque to allow us to use the mosque as the centre of our mission in Parapat but our request to stay in the mosque was turned down by the imam. Unable to use the mosque as the centre of our mission, we rented an apartment in the town of Parapat which is owned by a Christian lady and the apartment was quite large to accommodate the twenty of us. Our group consists of thirteen persons from Malaysia and nine persons from Indonesia and three of the Indonesians were our drivers. I was told by the locals that in the town of Parapat there are equal number of Muslims and non-Muslims. The non-Muslims in Parapat are mainly the Batak Christians. We were only able to start our mission in inviting the Christians to recite the Great Kalimah and reminding the Muslims about the meaning of the Great Kalimah and to invite Muslims to do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and to perform the five times daily solat only after the Asar prayer.
Immediately after the Asar prayer, we formed about seven groups of two persons and each group took each lane or road of the town. Each group was visiting every home of either Muslims or Christians along each road or lane of the town. After Fajar prayer and a lecture, the next morning the same activities of visiting the Muslims and the non-Muslims were repeated and after we had our breakfast we continued our journey back towards Medan while our Indonesians counterpart continued their journey towards Bengkulu.

We reached Medan at about three in the evening and after a tired journey we let ourselves to enjoy a sumptuous lunch at the famous Garuda Restaurant in Medan.

On the night of the 5th February 2013, we flew back to Kuala Lumpur and our friend Diki, traveled back to his village. When our friend Diki returned to his village, we had the news that he was being attacked by the people of his village. Diki told us that the villagers went to his house in search of Diki and they threw stones towards the house of Diki which forced Diki to escape from his house via the back door of the house towards the farms. Diki also told us that the villager chased him even to his farms which forced him to flee to the jungle. He remained in the jungle for several days before his brother helped him to escape to Medan. In Medan, Diki took a refuge in his friend house. The stories of our friend Diki in my opinion is similar to the story which is mentioned in Surah Yassin, the story of a carpenter by the name Habibunajjar who was killed by his people because he was advising his villagers to listen to the invitation of the three persons who came to his village in order to invite them to believe in Allah and to obey the orders of Allah.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
March 2013
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre