The Blossoming Face of Selaru

KOMPAS/FRANSISKUS PATI HERIN

A motorcyclist travels down a smooth road with electricity poles along the Selaru road network on Selaru Island, Southwest Maluku regency, Maluku, on Saturday (12/5/2018). Infrastructure development on one of the islands bordering Australia has been moving rapidly in the last three years.

The people of Selaru Island in West Maluku Tenggara regency, Maluku, once lost all hope. For too long they had been deprived of development programs.

However, in the past three years, the face of the island located on the maritime border between Indonesia and Australia has changed dramatically. Its residents have gained new hope.

When Kompas visited Selaru in August 2015, asphalt road was only available in Adaut village, the capital of Selaru district. It was less than 300 meters long and connected the local port with the district head’s office and home, the community health center (Puskesmas) and the military post. The asphalt quality was mediocre. It was damaged in various places and had sharp pebbles all over.

Almost three years later, in May, Selaru’s face has changed for the better. A smooth asphalt road stretched for 16 kilometers from the Adaut port to Kandar village.

Road access has also been built up to Eliasa village at the island’s western tip. Much of the road is still being hardened and asphalted.

The 353.6-square-km island now has 76 km of road connecting all of its villages. There are seven villages in Selaru, namely Adaut, Kandar, Namtabung, Lingat, Werain, Fursuy and Eliasa. Adaut is on its eastern end and Eliasa on its western end.

Previously, roads on the island had been either dirt or concrete road built by locals.

Such conditions often forced locals to rely on marine transportation. Eliasa resident Evilina Amarduan, 28, was forced to journey on a boat for four hours when she went into labor and needed to go to the Adaut Puskesmas in 2014. At one time, the boat ran out of fuel in the middle of the sea. Evilina’s newborn baby died on the way.

If she chose to ride a motorbike, the journey would have been much longer.

Rapid

After road access was opened, the traveling time between Adaut and Eliasa was cut down to two hours. The ojek (motorcycle taxi) cost, which used to be Rp 250,000 (US$18), is now cut in half. Many locals today have pick-up trucks that they use to offer transportation services at a cost of no more than Rp 50,000 per person. The number of private vehicles, especially motorbikes, continues to grow.

Electricity poles stretch on both side of the road between Adaut and Eliasa. Since March, the island’s seven villages have been able to enjoy electricity supplied by state electricity company PLN for 24 hours a day. Children, who used to study using oil lamps for lighting and had their evening study hours cut short due to limited kerosene, can now enjoy light all night long.

Inter-village electricity lines in Selaru have existed for a long time, but they were never activated. The iron poles were slowly decayed by rust. Many were broken and some had even fallen. In the past three years, the electricity lines have been completely revamped.

“We never thought that it would be this fast. We are very grateful,” Lingat village youth Rejon M Oratmangun, 23, said.

With the electricity available, Rejon’s mother Yosina Sambonu, 40, could do her weaving at nighttime. She delivered her woven products to the regency capital of Saumlaki through Adaut. Selaru is a center for Tanimbar woven products.

Tanimbar weaving is world-renowned and has been presented is many world-class cultural and fashion events.

Through Australia

Eliasa village figure Frets Salakan, 38, said locals had once lost hope after seeing the rapid development in Java and western Indonesia while progress was minimal in eastern Indonesia. Infrastructure development during the President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo-Jusuf Kalla administration, seven decades after the nation gained independence, reignited hope among locals.

Access from Ambon to Eliasa is now easier. From Ambon, travelers can fly on an ATR-72 aircraft to Saumlaki in one and a half hours. Then, they can ride a speedboat to Adaut in around one hour and continue on a motorbike to Eliasa in another one and a half hours. Once the Trans-Selaru road is completed, the travel time between Adaut and Eliasa will be 45 minutes. This is much faster than before, when people needed to spend the night in either Saumlaki or Adaut.

Such long and tiring journeys often forced Eliasa residents to take a "shortcut" to go to Jakarta. With mediocre sailboats, they deliberately sailed to Australian waters. Selaru is only 337 km away from mainland Australia.

Then, the sailors would deliberately break their boat’s mast to look as if they had been lost at sea after going through a vicious storm. This became their alibi when they were caught by the Australian Navy, which would later take them to the Indonesian Embassy, give them some allowance and deport them to Jakarta. In Jakarta, they would visit their friends and families. This was commonplace until around 2000.

The lack of market access for fish forced many of them to become shark hunters. Many local fishermen drowned and died because of this. Now, locals can sell fish to Saumlaki or to fresh fish collectors in Adaut.

Communications for business purposes has also improved, after telecommunication networks reached the island with around 13,000 residents. Now, locals are waiting for internet to be installed.

Frets said Selaru people were very grateful for what the government had done for people on frontier lands. They wished to convey their gratitude directly to President Jokowi when he was slated to visit the island in mid-May. However, the planned visit — in which the President was also scheduled to observe a training session of the military’s Quick Reaction Strike Force (PPRC) — was cancelled.

“We are saddened by movements that wish to replace the President. He has done well for people in the east and on frontier lands. When we have a president who is focusing on us, people in the advanced western Indonesia want to replace him. If he is replaced, there may be no hope for us,” Frets said, his voice a little shaken.

Development in Selaru is proof that the government is paying attention to frontier lands. Indeed, 70 years is a long time to be spent in waiting. Lingat village head Melkisedek Baumaseh said social justice was key to nurturing unity in frontier lands.