In front of the panoramic garden, there is an airplane ready to take off. The plane is often the backdrop for local tourists to take pictures. The aircraft is a collection of Tridaya Eka Dharma museum. Although the museum is located in front of the panoramic park, which is always filled with visitors, but only a few tourists come to the museum. In fact, there is no need to pay to see and know the museum’s collection. The museum is open from 8:00 – 16:00 WIB.
In the 1980s, in elementary school, I looked at the museum collection with some friends. There is a museum guide who will explain the collection, dressed in military clothes. I still remember, the museum guide explained the clothes of Indonesian soldiers and their equipment that fought with fretilin soldiers in East Timor.
Museum collections include: short-barreled rifles, long-barreled rifles, grenades, ammunition, cannons, communication devices (radio transmitters, telephones, signal receivers). Documentation in the form of photos of generals, heroes of the revolution, and the president of Indonesia. There are traditional weapons used by fighters in the Kamang War, Paderi War, and Manggopoh War: Badik setengga, Parang, Ruduh, Pupuik Horn (a danger sign used in the Kamang War), and the Sword. Some weapons are made in Indonesia and some are made in the Puar River, West Sumatra.
Tridaya Eka Dharma Museum, August 16, 1973 was inaugurated by Mohammad Hatta, this museum was initiated by Brigadier General Widodo, (head of the TNI Central Sumatra region). Then, the idea was continued by Brigadier General Soemantor and named the Tridaya Eka Dharma Struggle Museum (three elements of strength one devotion) in Minang language “Tigo Furnace Sajarangan”. The museum was established in Bukittinggi, because this city, was once the capital of Sumatra province and the capital of the Republic of Indonesia during the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI).
The aircraft in the museum yard, AT-16 Aircraft, Harvard B-419 made in the United States, which was used to suppress the rebellion of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia in Central Sumatra in 1958, in the areas of Indarung, Bukittinggi, Payakumbuh, and Solok, after its flying period, was placed at the Hussein Sastra Negara Air Base in Bandung. In 1973, it was made into the collection of the Tridaya Eka Dharma Museum, as reported by gadang.com
