Medan

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Medan is the capital of the province of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Located in the northern part of the province along the coast, Medan occupies 265,10 km², making it the third largest city in Indonesia. The city is bordered by Deli Serdang Regency to the east, south, and west, and the Strait of Malacca to the north.

[edit] History

Medan started as a village called Kampung Medan (Medan Village). Kampung Medan was founded by Guru Patimpus around the 1590s. Because Kampung Medan sits on Tanah Deli (Land of Deli), Kampung Medan is also referred as Medan-Deli. The original location of Kampung Medan is an area where the Deli River meets Babura River.

Based on the diary of the Portuguese merchant in early 16th century, it stated that the name of Medan was actually derived from Medina which is actually a holy city in the western of Saudi Arabia. However, other source indicated that the name of Medan actually came from Indian language "Meiden". One of the Karo-Indonesia dictionary written by Darwin Prinst SH published in 2002 wrote that Medan could also be defined as "recover" or "be better".

The first inhabitants of Medan came from the Batak Karo community. It was not until the Sultan of Aceh, Sultan Iskandar Muda, sent his warlord, Gocah Pahlawan Laksamana Khoja Bintan, to be the Sultanate of Aceh's representative in Tanah Deli, that the Sultanate of Deli started to grow. This growth stimulated growth in both the population and culture of Medan. In the second year reign of Sultan Deli (between 1669-1698), there was a cavalry battle in Medan.

Medan did not enjoy significant development until the 1860s, when the Dutch colonialists began clearing the land for tobacco plantations. Medan quickly became a center of government and commercial activity, dominating development of Indonesia's western region.

The Dutch governed Tanah Deli from 1658, after Sultan Ismail, ruler of the Kingdom of Siak Sri Indrapura, yielded some of his once-ruled land, Deli, Langkat, and Serdang. In 1915 Medan officially became the capital of North Sumatera Province, and officially a city in 1918.

Medan is governed by a mayor, Drs. H. Abdillah Ak, MBA (period 2005-2010). Medan is divided into 21 districts (kecamatan) and 151 subdistricts kelurahan.

[edit] Demography

The city is Indonesia's third most populous after Jakarta and Surabaya, with approximately 2.5 million people.

The city has a mix of communities, reflecting its pre- and post-independence history. It is famous throughout Indonesia as the home of the Batak people, although the ancestral sites of these people are scattered throughout northern Sumatra. In addition, there is a large ethnic Javanese community, largely made up of the descendants of people shipped from Java in the last century as part of the government's transmigration policy, an attempt to relieve the chronic overcrowding on Java.

A highly visible component of Medan's population is the large number of ethnic Chinese, who control much of the business sector. Finally, the city has a sizeable community of Tamil descent, the people known as keling. A well-known Tamil market, is the Kampung Keling. In addition to Indonesian, Javanese, Hokkien (Min Nan), Tamil and English are spoken. '

[edit] Landmarks

There are many older buildings in Medan that still retain their Dutch architecture. These include the old City Hall, the central Post Office, the Water Tower, which is Medan City's icon, and Titi Gantung - a bridge over the railway.

There are several historic places such as Maimun Palace (Istana Maimun), where the Sultan of Deli still lives, and the Great Mosque (Masjid Raya) of Medan built in 1906.

[edit] Transportation

Getting to Medan by air means flying from Singapore on SilkAir (codeshare with Garuda). There are only two flights each day, one around 7.30am and one around 8.30pm. It is also possible to fly to Medan from Penang on AirAsia but not everyday. It is also possible to fly to Medan from a number of domestic airports within Indonesia. Most of the major airlines fly there with many flights from Jakarta, Banda Aceh, Padang and so on. Please be sure to check on the safety records of the airlines in Indonesia as there have been many minor and not so minor incidents in recent years as the LCC, Low Cost Carrier, phenomenon hit Indonesia.

Arriving into Polonia International Airport is an interesting experience. Your plane will almost always be parked as far away from the arrival hall, regardless of whether its a domestic or international flight, so you get to ride to the arrival area on a bus. Dont hurry to get on the bus as its a LIFO situation, Last In First Off. The Immigration officials are quite efficient on arrival, not so efficiant on departure. If you dont have a visa you can get one on arrival. Always take the left hand line at Immigration but be prepared to be pushed aside for one of the many VIP's that populate airtravel communities in Indonesia.

The major terminal was recently (Dec07) destroyed by fire so conditions at the airport will be somewhat chaotic and may hasten the building of the new terminal.

It is strongly recommended to have your ground transportation arranged in advance if you are staying in a local hotel. This will help deal with getting your bags off the belt and not have to deal with the local taxi drivers who are not aggressive but can grab your suitcase and throw into the back of their cab if you are not quick.

Taxis in Medan do not run on a meter. Each fare is negotiated prior to departure and is subject to renegotiation mid journey. It is highly recommended that you have the hotel staff negotiate for you and dont fall for any sad story on the way. The taxis are also generally in very bad repair, including the so called flagship companies that operate. It is only slightly more expensive to use the cars from the hotel and if you are likely to go to three or four places in a day just hire the car and driver for the day, you can communicate by sms.

One of the unique features of Medan are the motorized becaks that are found almost everywhere. Unlike traditional becaks, a motorized becak can take its passenger anywhere in the city. There are also more common transport like taxis and minibuses, known as sudako.

The 'Becak' mentioned above is certainly a novel and unique way to get around Medan, they are quick and relatively cheap. Average fare should be no more than Rp10,000 (US$1.00). But again make sure that the fare is negotiated and agreed, if you are seen to be a raw tourist your minimum fare is going to be Rp50,000, so then its better and cheaper to take a taxi.

The Becak is not comfortable and getting two western backsides into the narrow seat is not at all easy, so look at them as a great thrill but not your normal mode of transport.

Railroad tracks connect Medan to Binjai and Tanjungpura to the northwest, to port of Belawan to the north, and to Tebing Tinggi and Pematang Siantar to the southeast.

The seaport of Belawan is about 20 km to the north. Polonia International Airport is located in the heart of the city. Kuala Namu International Airport is a new airport under construction and is due to replace Polonia in 2009.

A toll highway connects Medan to Belawan and Tanjungmorawa. A plan for the extension of this highway to Tebing Tinggi and to Binjai has been completed, and the central government is currently seeking investors to build the extension.

Road rules are randomly obeyed in all of Indonesia and in Medan the major offenders are the young motorcyclists, almost daily you will see one with his head split open on the road being shoveled into a Becak for his last trip to the local hospital.

[edit] Media

The TVRI Medan (state-owned) and Deli TV (private) are the only two local TV stations in Medan. Several local newspapers are running in the city with Harian Analisa as the oldest one.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Sport

Football is a favorite sport game with two local clubs: PSMS Medan and Medan Jaya.

[edit] Sister cities

• Image:Flag of Japan.svg Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan
• Image:Flag of Malaysia.svg George Town, Penang, Malaysia
• Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Chengdu, China
• Image:Flag of South Korea.svg Gwangju, South Korea

Cathay Shopping Mall

Medan Mall Shopping Mall

Machine Becak

Jalan Thamrin

[edit] External links

• (Indonesian) Official website
• Map of north Sumatra
• Medan Heritage
• Medan travel guide from Wikitravelbg:Медан

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