Their boat carried two large drums of fuel, containing 200 liters each, plus five small jerry cans. In total they brought 500 liters of gasoline. This was needed to take their boat from Merauke to an area near Daru.
By
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
·4 minutes read
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
Leaving Tais, Papua New Guinea for Daru.
I have always been curious about Indonesian traders smuggling from Merauke into Papua New Guinea (PNG). How do they do it? What are the dangers they face? Due to the illegal nature of their activities, it was very difficult for me to meet them.
However, this rare opportunity came unexpectedly, just as I was about to end my exploration of PNG\'s southern coast.
On our way back from Tais to Daru, our boat floated in the waters near Sigabaduru village, which is also not far from Australia\'s Saibai Island. At that time we saw an overloaded motorboat. We waved our hands and the passengers on the boat waved back.
“They are Indonesian people,” Sisi said. “They have two motors in their boat. Only Indonesian people use two motors at once. They also wear bright colored jackets. PNG people do not wear good clothes like that."
We continued our journey and, shortly after that, we met again with the boat. Now it was their boat\'s turn to float in the sea, the motors were off. Our boat was approaching. "Hello! Hello!” Sisi screamed.
The passengers on the boat did not answer. They frantically tried to start the boat\'s engine, apparently trying to run away from us. Sisi then shouted in Indonesian, “Don\'t be afraid! We want to help you!”
Hearing that, the five people on the boat immediately turned their heads towards us. There was an indication of relief in their tense expressions. A light-skinned and Asian-looking person replied in Indonesian, “Hello! Can you speak our language?”
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
Faisal and Abdul (yellow rain coat) with their boat filled with drums and jerry cans filled with fuel.
***
The two leaders of the group, Faisal and Abdul, were Ambonese. They had lived in Merauke for 10 years, running a seafood export business. With them were three Papuan Marind men from Merauke, who were tasked with doing the heavy work and negotiating with the local population. “This is my first time here. I just want to try it out, to see whether this business can run," said Faisal.
Their boat carried two large drums of fuel, containing 200 liters each, plus five small jerry cans. In total they brought 500 liters of gasoline. This was needed to take their boat from Merauke to an area near Daru. After that, they had to buy another 500 liters of gasoline to return to Merauke. Because their boat was so overloaded, it took two motors at once, 40 horsepower each, to get the boat moving.
Sisi gave a solution by borrowing a machine from the village head of Sigabaduru. She jumped into the shallow sea, then went on foot to the village, while our boats remained adrift in the ocean.
We had waited for three hours, soon the sun was setting. Faisal was restless. Every time he saw a boat crossing the sea, he trembled. “We must leave this place quickly. It\'s too dangerous here," he said.
Sisi came back empty handed. The village head turned out to be shopping on an Australian island across the sea. She suggested staying the night in the village and continued the journey the next morning.
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
Heading to Daru, Papua New Guinea in a loaded boat
Faisal immediately screamed. "No! We have to go now! We\'ll spend the night in the woods or wherever, as long as it\'s not here!”
Faisal observed our boat. "Can you help us?" he asked. “Can you carry some of the weight of our boat so that our boat can move? Help us, for the sake of humanity!”
Faisal then distributed betel nuts and cigarettes from Merauke to all PNG passengers on our boat. Instantly, all of them immediately agreed to Faisal\'s request.
A large drum of gasoline from their boat was transferred to our boat. Now it was our boat\'s turn to sink, while theirs began to float. We also became a part of an illegal trade syndicate.
Our boats sailed to the east as dusk approached. Because of the weight of the load, the seating position of the passengers was now lower than sea level. Whenever the waves hit just a little, the water inundated the bottom of the boat. The motor of our boat was also not strong enough for this heavy load so the boat was very difficult to control.
Sisi shouted to the boat operator to immediately find a place to spend the night because soon the sky would be dark. Three hours after leaving Sigabaduru, we had just reached the next village, Mabadauan, where people speak Kiwai. However, we would not stop at this village. We turned to the south, towards a small uninhabited island just across from Mabadauan, called Pulau Marukara. As it turned out, the island was not empty.
