How has your hometown changed since you left?

It has been 14 years since I left my hometown. The answer to that question for me is 'not really much'. But does it mean that it is a problem?

I spent the new year holiday by took a trip to my hometown, West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a province dominated by active volcanoes and hilly rainforests with amazing canyons. It is a base for exploring the inland villages and culture of the indigenous Minang people. Their unique curved-roof architecture is still found throughout the area, not only for tourism, but also for offices and houses.

I drove around the province, from Padang, Padang Panjang, Agam, Bukittinggi, Pasaman, and Payakumbuh. I would say I did not really see massive changes in those cities and districts, in terms of land use, development, people movement, and economics - compared to what I experience in big Indonesian cities like Jakarta and Bandung.

In Padang, I still see broken traffic lights, absence of road signs, and 'wasty' beach. The district where I grew up still has small road and large rice paddy fields. The mosque is still at the same size. The satay restaurant is still small and exactly with the same look like it was 20 years ago.

This perspective is a bit different when I talked to old friends in the city. They would say there have been significant changes in the area as there are new cafes, restaurants, and hotels. I guess their scale of change is relatively different with mine.

Local sustainability

According to Central Bureau of Statistics, West Sumatra does not belong to the top 10 provinces with highest economic growth. These provinces had annual economic growth from 7-16%, while West Sumatra only had 4%. Why is it?

In Agam, I met Suhatril, a founder of Lassy Dairy Farm. After 15 years career in an oil company headquartered in Jakarta, he went back to Agam - trying to make significant changes in his hometown. Since 2016, he has been empowering local potentials to develop dairy farm businesses and market in West Sumatra.

He said to me, "come home and develop your hometown, not only with money and idea but also with your presence and existence here". He was desperate to see development progress in West Sumatra. Thus he is calling the Minang people outside the province to return home helping the development.

But, does it really needed? Personally, I am happy to still see a lot of trees and natural forest remain in the province. The customary land ownership has significant role to hold land-use conversion for development in West Sumatra. Some village communities refused to be administratively included in cities. One of their reasons is a belief that such urbanization will harm the culture and traditions of the village. They want to maintain their culture and traditions of land management. This shows that the local communities are doing good job for sustainable development in the province.

While other neighboring provinces (Riau, North Sumatra, and Jambi) belong to the top 6 regions responsible for 52% of all tree cover loss in the country between 2001 and 2021, West Sumatra is not even on the top 10 regions, according to Global Forest Watch. The province is doing a great job to keep trees standing, protecting environment.

To achieve social equity, more works are needed. In Pasaman, I met high school students who had no clear plan for their life after graduation. I was invited to share stories about life changing experiences from my school and university years. Fourteen years ago, I did kind of the same thing to high school students in another school, as part of an activity from student organisation. I found the same issue persists - they had no clear plan for their life after graduation due to lack of information and motivation to figure it out.

To conclude, well my hometown may not change so much since I left, but it is protecting the earth. People use less of the world's energy and resources and put well-being ahead of profit. The economies can help themselves, the citizens and the planet by becoming more sustainable.

They say "Alam takambang jadi guru", mother nature is teaching them lessons (about sustainability).