backpackin magazine vol. 2

MIANGASISLANDHOW TO GET THEREGO TOMIANGAS ISLANDLOCAL CULTUREMANAMIFOR THE CONTINUITYOF SEA PRODUCTS

MY JOURNEY

MY MIANGAS THESIS

ACCESORIES : AIR PILLOW I COMMUNITY : SHARE TRAVELLER I BI NEWS : INFO TRIP WWW.BACKPACKINMAGAZINE.COM

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BACKPACKIN’ 2

BACKPACKIN’DECEMBER-JANUARY 2011

YOU’REHERE

MY MIANGAS THESIS

A YEAR AGO, IN THE middle of 2009, I was given a chance by my campus to show my loyalty to my country, as known as K2N, Kuliah Kerja Nyata or Real Lecture and Work. The 2009 K2N wasn’t a common one because we were asked to do some-thing for one remote area in the northest area in Indonesia, Miangas.

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MANAMI, FOR THE CONTINUITY OF SEA PRODUCTS

IN A YEAR, THERE are six forbidden months for the society to not step in the sand and exploits sea products through all the beach lines.

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GALLERY MIANGAS ISLAND

Capturing Miangas Island23

HOW TO GET THERE : GO TO MIANGAS

THERE ARE FLIGHTS to Manado from Jakarta, Sura-baya, Makassar, Balikpapan, Denpasar, Sorong, Ternate, Jayapura, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur.

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LALUGABECOMING INFERIOR

SEA PRODUCTS BECOME the priority. One meter fish is only for Rp 50.000. Just like other sea shore areas, Miangas has plentiful sea products.

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MELIKU NUSAFOR MIANGAS

INDONESIA WILL BE very disappointed if Miangas taken by Philippines, just like when Ambalat was taken by Malaysia.

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COMMUNITY :SHARE TRAVELLER

O NOT MAKE THE COST as an obstacle to reach your dream to explore the beauty of this nature! This principle has become the fad of Share Trav-eler community.

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ACCESORIES :AIR PILLOW

SOMETIMES IN THE MIDDLE of the road, we need something that we have to take inside the carrier bag. Inappropriate packing will make it hard to get the thing and put it back in order.

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Crazy fact, Miangas -which count as the

most northern island of Indonesia if

we’re looking on Google Maps- is ad-

mitted as a part of Philippines. Indeed, from

Miangas only takes 6 hours for the Philippines,

meanwhile for the Manado need 3 days, but

Miangas remains as a part of Indonesian island

legally. Miangas is still using Rupiah and the

red and white is still flying

there.

However, it is now.

What about 10 years ahead?

100 years later? Who can

guarantee Indonesia can

save Miangas as its part

consistently and the Phil-

ippines will not bother to

tamper the existing rules?

Backpackin’ thinks,

with enough information, will lure tourists to

tread Miangas. With so many tourists, besides

the economy of Miangas residents would be

lifted and the area is reduced from the risk of

being “stolen” by neighboring countries, will

also be fishing for passenger ships frequently

docked to Miangas to smooth the supplying of

basic needs.

In this Miangas edition, Backpackin’ got

a lot of material supply of maps, writings and

photographs from Ferdinand RZ, Eko, Ghamal,

Devi, and Tipa. Thanks guys.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

EDITOR IN CHIEF :Ambar Arum

SENIOR EDITOR :Muhammad Iqbal

TRANSLATORS :Annisa M.F. Harahap

Anindya LeonitaDea Maria Crista

Ryana Andari Purba

ART AND DESIGN:Galih PermadiOdie Destrana

MARKETING :Jeremy Gemarista

Putri Uloly

WEBMASTER :Kurniawan Aji Saputra

WEBSITE :www.backpackinmagazine.com

CONTACT/ADVERTISING :[email protected]

BACKPACKIN’ MAGAZINE STAFF

CHEERS FOR BACKPACKERS!CONTENTS

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MY MIANGASTHESIS

A YEAR AGO, IN THE middle of 2009, I was given a chance by my campus to show my loyalty to my coun-try, as known as K2N, Kuliah Kerja Nyata or Real Lec-ture and Work. The 2009 K2N wasn’t a common one because we were asked to do something for one re-mote area in the northest area in Indonesia, Miangas.

BY: EKO BUDI WA

MY JOURNEY

MY MIANGAS THESIS MY MIANGAS THESIS

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MY MIANGAS THESISMY MIANGAS THESIS

At that time, I was still an active stu-dent in campus. My experience in Miangas for a month made me make the decision to nail my dream to take Miangas as my the-sis topic. At first, many people refused it, mostly because of the location which is very far away, but I still tried. But then, January weather wasn’t support me. Finally I went there in April 2010.

There were many things that made me interested in observing Miangas. I am sure one day every people in Indonesia will give their attention to Miangas, just like they did on Sipadan-Ligitan islands (the islands that were in conflict with Malaysia –red). Miangas is the northest island in Indonesia, it is the island that borders Indonesia and The Phil-lipines. To go to The Phillipines only took 2,5

hours by boat, meanwhile to go to the sur-rounding islands which are in Indonesia area, like Tahuna and Melonguane, it took for about 24 hours. But the access to that closest area was limited by Indonesian Government be-cause of the worrisome of The Phillipines ruled Miangas. The conflict between Indo-nesia and The Phillipines was related to the

waters between Miangas Island (Indonesia) and Mindanao Beach (Phillipines), also about the bottom of the sea between Balut Island (Phillipines) and Sulawesi Sea Beach which goes for less than 400 miles distance. The ownership of Miangas Island by Indonesia resulted from 1928 Arbitrage Judi-cature in Den Haag. Phillipines was still using the explanation that Las Palmas (Phillipines Fo

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version of Miangas) was in the square posi-tion based on 1898 Paris Treaty and this was backed by the finding of Pardao (monument) of Magelhaens landing on that island in 1512. That’s why The Phillipines claimed Miangas several times and proposed the island to United Nation UNCLOS as part of their ter-

ritory. I was very interested in analising this case. From Jakarta, I flew to Manado. The standard plane ticket was about Rp 700.000. If ordered days before the price would cost Rp 500.000. After I arrived in Manado, I took ‘black’ taxi for Rp 120.000 until Bitung. Most-ly the taxi was ‘mobil sedan’ which is usually parked in front of the airport. Rp 120.000 was the standard price. Usually the drivers would asked for Rp 150.000 if he saw the attitude of the passenger was like first time coming to Manado. No need to worry about the crimi-nal rate there, it is guaranteed that Manado is saved for new comer. The people are nice. The ride took around 2-3 hours. Along the journey, the common view was many res-taurants selling many foods like bat’s meat, mouse, pig and dog. On the left and right of the road there were many coconut trees.From Bitung I took Meliku Nusa boat, sat on the deck, like other passangers. Actually there were rented rooms on this boat but I chose deck because I only had to pay Rp 50.000. It needed extra fee to enter the room. I kept sitting, looking at the sea and observing people around me. If I got bored, I talked to other passangers. They told me about the islands group that we had through. The islands was beautiful. They would feel happy if newcomer who sees it would tell it to other people so that the story would spread. For me, they were pretty nice to strangers like me. There was something wrong with the boat. No one sold food. I thought the condi-tion would be like in economy train in Java that is full with food seller. It turned out to be

a big false! Well, there was food seller on the deck, but it was complicated for me because I brought many stuffs. I prefered to stay sit and hold this hun-ger. One big mistake because of the wrong assumption. One day I hold my hunger un-til the boat moored in Tahuna Island. I went straight to search for food. Not many choices and the price was very expensive! One wrap of rice contained of egg and noodle priced Rp 25.000. Argh! Wished I brought foods from Manado or Bitung, it would be cheaper. Everything was expensive, including mineral water. But what could I do? I had to bought

it. I bought many foods for my supplies on boat. On the third day, I arrived at Miangas. When I went down from the boat, it seemed like everyone saw me and said, “here’s the newcomer. What a handsome guy.” I was sure they were rarely visited by strangers, in fact for my two-month visit, there were no strangers. When I went down the boat, I was in-terrogated a lot by the police. Well I took it as a normal thing in Miangas because Miangas was the tip island and often made as terrorist track to enter The Phillipines.

“They would feel happy if newcomer who sees it would tell it to other people so that the story would spread.

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I knew Miangas from my last visit be-cause last year I have stayed here for a month. I went straight to the house of the head of the village. They welcomed me warmly just like they did on other strangers. For two months, I stayed in the house of the village head, including eating there. For this friendliness I got, they didn’t want to receive my money. I gave the money to their kids instead. For them, I was unite with them and they considered me as their own family member and there was no paying for family. Every day, my activity was interview-ing the people about the border concept that is hooked with kinship, economy, and the development of the area in the border.

I observed and get involved also with their activities. I was interested to examined the border issue here because first, outside In-donesia and South East Asia, the study of border has been developed, mostly in West Europe and North America’s social sciences and it has become a new field of studies. Second, I was just a small group of an-thropologist who give special attention in the study of border in South East Asia. From this study field brought more attention about the consciousness of border as social-culture changing lab, especially in South East Asia. From my writing, I would try to discuss a co-heren concept about boundary, border area and frontier area, also to identified research questions and future agenda of this study of border. I liked Miangas beach so much. It got the characteristic of very clear water and clean beach, just like beaches I found in Lom-bok and Bali. It’s not just only the view that was beautiful, the society also has their val-ues that they still closely hold. One afternoon, I sat on the beach, look-

ing at fishermen came back from the sea. At that time, there was only few people there. I was asked to help the fishermen to carry the fishes to the land. As a result, I got a fish as big as half human hand. There was many surprises in Miangas, including the telecommunication. There was only one spot with only 100 meters of radius of signal area. So, the people from that island can only call or text in that area. What was more unique was that only seven people that can use their handphones to call. If there is other people who want to call or send texts, they have to wait until that seven people fin-

ish their call. That if they win the booty, if they lose, well they have to wait again. There was an interesting experience for me. The ladies of Miangas often flirt me. They were very happy if I respond it. All this time, I respond normally to them. Holding my self from their flirtness was very hard, because they looked prettier everyday. They tried many ways for me to marry them. Thank God until I went back, I wasn’t tempted by them. Believe it or not =P

*as what is told to Mohammad Iqbal

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HOW TO GET THERE

GO TO MIANGAS GO TO MIANGAS

HEADING TO MIANGAS

1. You can take Meliku Nusa boat The main route of the boat is Bitung (B) – Tahuna Island (T) – Miangas Island (Mi) – Melongoane Island (Me). It takes 3 days and 2 nights from Bitung to Miangas in the good weather condition. (Ticket IDR 50.000). The departure schedule is once in a 2 weeks, at 8 P.M., but in irregular days. The passenger will call Chief Adry to get the info about Meliku Nusa’s schedule. Meliku has total route: B – T – Mi – Me (2) – Mi – Te (3) – Mi – Me – B. Those are the main directions, but sometimes the ship also drop the tourists in at the Siau Island, Kawio, Tagulandang, Kawaluso, Mamatua, Marore, Karatung, etc. It depends which is-lands the tourists want to go. Thise route is turned once in a two weeks. The boat stays 2 days in Melongoane and 3 days in Tahuna.

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HEADING TO MANADO

THERE ARE FLIGHTS to Manado from Jakarta, Sura-baya, Makassar, Balikpapan, Denpasar, Sorong, Ternate, Jayapura, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur.

FROM MANADO TO BITUNG

1. You Can Take Illegal Taxi Service (IDR 120 ribu, 2-3 hours). The black taxi service is available until the last arrival, around 10 P.M.2. Angkot Manado-Pal 2 (IDR 3.000, 1 hour) and then contin-ues with small bus from Pal 2-Bitung (IDR 2.500, 2 hours). Usually the small bus is available from 5 A.M. to 9 P.M. Minibus, that available 24 hours.

USE BOATUSE PLANE

FROM MALAYSIA/SINGAPURA

FROM SURABAYA/JAKARTAFROM BALI

FROM PAPUA

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TIPS

1. Respect the local culture.2. During the trip from Bitung to Miangas and when you stay at Miangas, it is difficult to find food and beverages, if any, must be expensive. You better buy in Bitung or Manado.3. Take enough money. There is no ATM4. Sleeping bag is the best choice if you want to sleep comfortably at the ship.5. The wet wipes absolutely will help you if you have to use the restroom, because the clean water is rarely available at the ship.6. Be careful with the temptation from Mi-angas’s girls or boys.

CONTACT

1. Chief Adry(The chief of Meliku Nusa boat)085240568118 2. Santini(Melongoane’s woman)081356406083

7. Bring the sport equipments like volley-ball or football.8. Don’t go to the pier at nights when the sky is dark.9. Bring the Barito (onions, chilli, toma-toes), 1 kg each and share it at the place when you stay (army’s station, navy’s sta-tion, Miangas’s Koramil station, etc.)10. Use Telkomsel as your cellphone pro-vider. Only the signal from that provider you can use.11. It is better for you to bring accu and DC lights. You can stun the accu at PLN, ar-my’s station, or at the house of headman of the village (Apitalau),

THE ACTIVITIES

1. Tracking around Miangas beach for 2 hours. You have to ask for permission from Mangkubumi II and also ask the local peo-ple to accompany you.2. Tracking to Tanjung Wora. It is connect-ed with Miangas when the tide is began to ebb.3. Jumping from the wharf and swimming.4. Hunting the souvenir at the local peo-ple house. There are mat and hat-knitted crafts.5. Going up to the lighthouse and then continue to the shrine.6. Trying Laluga (a kind of taro), Kenari crab, Baboca (octopus), and Saguer (the fermentation of coconut water).7. Trying to eat raw fish that have been formulated.

8. Fishing at the pier.9. Around the island by the army’s rubber boat (if it still available). Give them money for the diesel fuel around IDR 200.000 or you also can take the navy’s speed boat.

GO TO MIANGAS GO TO MIANGAS

BEST TIME TO MIANGAS

1. You have to avoid October until Novem-ber if you want to go there, because the wave is really dangerous.2. The best moment is from June to Au-gust, because at this time the Manami will be held.

2. You can take Daraki Nusa boat or Ber-kat Takoda boat. It is not recommended because it takes longer time to go to Miangas from Bitung, around 7 days, and the schedule is not in a certain time.3. You also can take Kapal Putih boat. The route of this boat is Bitung – Ta-huna and Bitung – Melongoane. This ship is available every day. You have to pay IDR 150.000 for 2 days trip. The departure from Bitung is at 8 – 11 A.M., and the departure from Melongoane is at 3 – 9 P.M. This boat won’t go to Miangas, but is is an alternative if you missed Meliku Nusa boat and you want to run after it.4. You can take flight from Manado by Trigana Air to Melongoane. The schedule is every Monday, Tues-day, and Thursday (fee IDR 350,000),After you arrived at Melongoane, you have to take Meliku Nusa boat to Miangas.DE

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MANAMI,FOR THE CONTINUITYOF SEA PRODUCTS

LOCAL CULTURE

MANAMI

BY : MUHAMMAD IQBAL

IN A YEAR, THERE are six forbidden months for the society to not step in the sand and exploits sea products through all the beach lines.


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Raja Ampat, Indonesia mainstay snor-keling and diving place, has one local wisdom which is called Sasi. On that occasion, some beach-side areas are sterilized from activi-ties. No person is allowed to take sea prod-ucts from that beach part. That tribal law is strongly held by the people. No one dares to pass by that beach until the predicate of Sasi Beach is untied. Miangas has also that wisdom. Local people usually called it Manami. Firstly, the people Sasi-ing one part of the beach for three to six months. It is usually held in Janu-ary until June. Myth said, if someone step on the Sasi beach , he will be fined RP 500.000 and get Tukit Tambor, which is to go around Miangas while beating a kind of drum and sing with Bahasa Tanah (Soil Language), Mi-angas original language, which more or less mean: I will never do this anymore. Besides that, he is obliged to give food for the whole village in Miangas. Long time ago, there was a foreigner who surf in the Sasi beach. Well, of course he got the fine above.

Soil Language is the predicate for Mi-angas ancestor language. It is said that from the beginning of Miangas, this language has been used. The words are very different from Makassar or Manado language. Only a small group of people who is able to masters the language. In tribal ceremonies, Soil Language is often heard. Until June, where sea waters decrease and the moon is full moon, then it is the sign for Sasi to finish. The next morning, the main

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event is held. A long knitted young coco-nut leaf is made, special for that day. The knittting is made perfectly to trap fishes on the sea. All Miangas people must be there that day, including old man and women and little children, no excuse. Even tourists are obliged to come. So all activities have to be stopped and all people in Miangas Island have to stand in a row on the beach line. Everyone hold the knitting. Young lads are placed in the part where the knitted of coconut leaf touch the beach, meanwhile children are placed in the shallow part of the beach. From 8 in the morning, they have ready on their position. Those young lads hold up the beach as deep as 1.5 meters. They hold on until 11 a.m., where the water is al-ready decrease. The fishes in the shallow beach have no choice than to go inside the trap. The guys then drive those fish to the beach side, no need to work hard to fish. Before the fishes are caught, there is the tribal procession first. Chief tribal are pleased to catch the first fish. After that the officials of the area, then tourists or guests are pleased to catch the fishes. Those fishes are gathered then given to the people of Miangas. Days after that, beach is permit-ted from stepping up and fishes on the sea are allowed to be catched or fished, until the next Sasi. Unfortunately, Manami as the local wi-dom of Miangas is starting to dissapear. This condition was clearly seen at the MURI (Indo-nesia Record Museum –red) record breaking

MANAMI MANAMI

for the longest flag waving that was held in the seaside of Miangas. At that time, Manami was held too. It means that no one is allowed to step on the beach. On the other hand, flag waving must be done by stepping up on that beach. Then a small meeting was held be-tween the elders of tribal. The big question was, to defend tribal law or country law? They agreed to give priority to country law. Finally, the flag waving was held and the beach that

was on manami activity was being stepped on.

CAKALELE For important guests that come to Mi-angas, the society have Cakalele Ceremony to welcome them. Actually, Cakalele dance is not only for important guests. Common guests used to have the same dancing, but since more and more people coming to Mi-angas, then the dancing was limited for im-

portant guests. Only for welcoming cer-emonial. Common guests can ask to be welcomed by Cakalele dance, though. It is said that in this dancing, the Mian-gas people are praying for the guests. If the guests have good heart, they pray the guests would give positive contribu-tions for Miangas. If the guests have bad intention, they pray the guests would stay only for a short time.

Basically, Cakalele dance is a war dance which is to drive away bad people from Mi-angas. Each dancer holds sword as a sign of readiness for war. Total dancer of Cakalele dance are six to twelve people, plus four to six women as the musicians. Those twelve people are the reprentatives of twelve roan-gan in Miangas. Roangan are a kind of family name in Miangas.

*as what is told to Mohammad IqbalFoto

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“Everyone hold the knitting. Young lads are placed in the part where the knitted of coco-nut leaf touch the beach, mean-while children are placed in the shallow part of the beach.

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SEA PRODUCTS BECOME the priority. One meter fish is only for Rp 50.000. Just like other sea shore areas, Miangas has plentiful sea products. No days without eating fish. Though there are many fishermen search-ing for fish, it doesn’t affect the sea products to decrease. Miangas is still given the grant of having many fish, even the fishermen will give a fish as big as half the human hand for anybody who helped him carries the fishes from the boat to the fish sale. The price is

very cheap. One fish as long as human hand priced for only Rp !0.000, even the one me-ter fish only costs RP 50.000. Indonesian Government and officials, who visit, often give rice to the Miangas people. At the beginning, it was the policy to make the people doesn’t have to travel to The Philippines to search for rice, because Miangas is very close to The Philippines.

LALUGA But then, there is the time when the there is no rice stock left or the boat to Mian-gas cannot through the sea due to high wave. At these times, the true Miangas culinary is out, the name is Laluga. Paro is grated then boiled. The output of it is mixed with fish and the gravy of the fish. That is Laluga. Chili is the primary food component that must be always available for Miangas people, though they are not the producer of

it. Usually, they get the chilies from Tahuna. Their appetite are much alike the Menadon-ese.

SAGUER A very plentiful Coconut gardens make the Miangas people creative to conjure co-conut into unique foods. They often keep coconut water for a week and the fermen-tation makes it a drink like toddy, which has become the favorite of the local people. The name is Saguer and it is only drunk by men.

BABOCA Baboca is the name for octopus in Mi-angas (Manadonese called Boboca).The size is normal, like any other octopus selled in the sea side along Java and Sumatera. Many foods are made to from the octopus. One more terrific thing is the Ketam Kenari Crab. This food is available in every corner in Miangas. The size is as big as human head. It takes a long time to boiled and processed to be a nice food. Be careful when you hunt alone, because when fingers nipped by it, well......

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LALUGA

LALUGABecoming InferiorBY : MUHAMMAD IQBAL

CULINARY

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“Baboca is the name for octopus in Miangas (Manadonese called Boboca).

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GALLERY

CapturingMiangas IslandBACKPACKIN’

Photo :Ferdi Rosman F

& Kelompok 6 CMT, K2N UI 2009

ON THE SPOT

MELIKU NUSA MELIKU NUSA

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INDONESIA WILL BE very disappoint-ed if Miangas taken by Philippines, just like when Ambalat was taken by Malaysia. The song with the lyrics “From Sabang to Mer-auke, islands are lined...” have been familiar in the ears of the people of Indonesia, but not with Miangas. If Sabang and Merauke are the farthermost points in West and East of Indo-nesia, Miangas is the most northern point of Indonesia. It lies at the coordinates 05 º 35 ‘N - 126 º 35’ east longitude, is listed in the Mian-gas Village, Nanusa District, Talaud Regency, North Sulawesi Province. Meliku Nusa Ship is a major vessel that used to go to Miangas from Bitung (The most northern harbor in Sulawesi). The Schedule is twice a week but not always accurate. Only God and the captain know the ship schedule. The entire population of the Nusa Island that passed by Meliku have the mobile number of helmsman, Chief Adry (085240568118), if that number could not be reached, it means that Chief Adry is floating in the sea. His time on the sea is almost the same as on the land. This ship is quite friendly with new people and presenting two rooms above the steering wheel. Each room can be filled by 3 persons. Facilities in each room are TV, WC, and AC. Of course there is an additional fee, Rp 150.000 for each room. Actually, there is another ship that also

led to Miangas, named Nusa Daraki and Ber-kat Takoda. But, both are rarely chosen be-cause it took a week for up to Miangas due to transit at many islands, whereas with Meliku Nusa only took 3 days. In addition, both are often fickle, sometimes leaving sometimes not. The vessels are not as as trong as Meliku Nusa who dare to dock until Miangas, waves in the North Sulawesi is known challenging enough to do so. In fact, Indonesian warship

MELIKU NUSA FOR MIANGASBY : MUHAMMAD IQBAL

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have trouble against the Miangas.For those who come to Miangas for the first time, first thing to do is to visit the village head’s house to convey the purpose, whether research, roads, or find a mate. In general, society earns a meager living as a fish-erman. Agriculture is made as a second livelihood. Co-conut garden decorate almost every corner of Miangas. They created a copra which can be sold to Bitung and other places. They live peacefully side by side. It’s so peaceful until the economic life in Miangas almost can be said is close to the death. In the past, when fishermen returned from the sea, he would give away their catch to their neighbors until the fish was gone. Now, they’re starting to sell them. It’s a bit difficult to get a variety of food. Sea-food is a source of protein that they can access easiest. Occasionally the dog and the pig became a source of protein interlude. Their Carbohydrate source is from the rice given by the government or from laluga (a kind of taro) that are embedded in Miangas. Provision of this free rice is one of concrete steps to protect the loyality of Miangas people in Indonesia, as well as eliminate the reason why people in Miangas sail to the Philippines.

For the visitors who come to Miangas for the first, it’s better to stay in one of the houses and asked them to make food for us. There is no set price for the food given to us, but as an illustration, a pack of rice with egg and noodles on the islands around Miangas has price about Rp 25.000. Communication is still becoming a problem in Miangas. There is only one spe-cific area that can receive Telkomsel signal. In this region that has about 7 meters in

Beach and Coral

Settlement

Garden/Farm (Coconut, Laluga, etc)

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“In general, society earns a meager living as a fisher-man. Agriculture is made as a second livelihood.

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diameter, only 7 people are lucky to be able to call with their own handphone and only 20 SMS sent to recipients luckily. At night, this struggle becomes excited. When one of people turn off the phone, others are racing to gain a ticket signal. No referee or mediator who provides the use of signal sequence. All depends on the alertness and

of course, luck. For toilets, Miangas is lucky enough to have a source of fresh water from the soil. Al-most in every house there is a bathroom stall. They have to draw them first to the well to get water. The location of that water source was located in the middle of the township. Pump machine has not been familiar in Miangas be-

cause the water that is produced is also salty. They prefer to carry the buckets with a cart that would take from toilets. There were also public baths. Residents often use it for bath-ing and washing clothes. They bath without removing clothes. Wells for bathing are distinguished from the source of drinking water wells. Must

not be exchanged even if occasionally. But, despite already differentiated like that, there is still well water for drinking, after it’s cooked, it’s still taste salty. Mineral water sold in Mian-gas, a price double the usual. Education in Miangas is going pretty smoothly. Building for elementary school, ju-nior high school, and vocational school are bravely standing. If you want to go to col-lege, the closest city which can be accessed is Manado. Most of the people in Miangas terminate their education only in junior high/ vocational school. Rarely continue to college. Uniquely, because of its small population, one force has the same people. A schoolmate and playmate, yes that’s it. There is a beach with white sand in the whole Miangas. If you expect a beauti-ful snorkel spot, it is difficult, because there are no colonies of the dominant coral on the beach sand. But on the beach, we n ceas-ily get a blue starfish. There are many other colors, but the dominant is blue. Octopus is also easy to find on the beach. The water was really clear, so it’s so easy to find them wan-dering. When the water recedes, we can walk to Cape Wora, a small island that is actually connected to Miangas. If it was high tide, a connection is closed. There was no popu-lation. Local residents usually go there to hunt canary crabs and harvesting palm. We can easily find the crabs with their fantastic clamps wandering. Miangas is really unique.

*Like what was told to Muhammad Iqbal

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FERDI ROSMAN F.Building

Miangas’sTelecommunication

EXPLORING ABOUT MIANGAS in the In-ternet brought Backpackin’ to a great blog www.miangas.multiply.com which was cre-ated by Ferdi Rosman Feizal. His writings are pretty fun and describe Miangas’ activities, especially in the development of Miangas’ communication’s access. Luckily, we met the employee of Telkom in Pekalongan on Facebook. The response

BY : MUHAMMAD IQBAL

was really warm when Backpackin’ asked him to fill some pictures and text in Miangas edition. Here are some of his thoughts and experiences after he has gone to Miangas for seven times.

How bad is the situation of Miangas’ tele-communication instead of other outer is-lands in Indonesia?

Miangas’ telecommunication facility (fastel) is actually great. Within fourteen outer islands, only Miangas and Marore already had this fastel.

In the future plan, or what’s been in progress, what will they do for Miangas’ telecommunica-tion? There’s a plan from Serikat Karyawan (SEKAR) Telkom, fastel in Miangas will build an in-ternet cafe, including WiFi, cooperating with DIK-NAS. However, due to the unsupported-Telkom and also Depkominfo has a plan of the develop-ment of Internet Masuk Desa (Internet goes to vil-lage), so the Miangas’ fastel is stuck until there.Lucky, Telkom built Pico Base Transceiver Station (BTS), so Miangas’ people can use mobile phone (GSM) and the products of Telkomsel such as Sim-pati, As, etc. Pico BTS, which was built in the back yard of Miangas’ pendopo, has capacities of eight ca-nals: seven voice canals and one SMS canals with the coverage of a hundred meter, so the people, who want to have their phone calls and send text messages, should go near the location of this an-tenna.

Have you ever had a deathly experience that still in touch with Miangas? I boarded with a fast ship ‘Valentine’ from Melonguane to Manado in the storm season (July 2008). The ship arrived in Dermaga Lirung (across Melonguane), before continued to Manado, the wave was really big that night. I saw a ship which got back to Lirung because of the wave.Valentine, the ship that we boarded with, deter-mined to continue to Manado. Our ship had been hit by a big wave for approximately three hours.

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FERDI ROSMAN F.

33 BACKPACKIN’

FERDI ROSMAN F.

Suddenly, I heard something “BRAK!” I could only pray that time. So many passengers panicked and some of them prayed loudly. It was really dark, so I did not know exactly where it was. The only thing I know, almost all of the passengers threw up. After the wave becalmed, I went to the bathroom in the back corner of the ship. I saw vomit all over the ground. It was really stinky.

What kind of things that make you long for Miangas? Why? I long for the journey and the scenery, especially the sea. The journey was really fun because I can stop by in some small islands.

What kind of daily culture that amazed you? The culture that still be guarded like Manami, a tradition of catching fish tradition-ally, which is held once a year. Second, ev-ery guest that came to Miangas always wel-comed with Upacara Penyambutan Tamu (a ceremony of welcoming guest) in the quay or beach where the ship arrived.

There is an issue that Miangas is made into Filipina’s territory. Is it right? It’s a lie from the people who don’t like the government. Usually, that kind of prov-ocation shows up when the storm season, there’s no ship that brave enough to go to

BACKPACKIN’ 34

Miangas that time. The provocation is also done by several journalists with exposing the information from those people. From the information of secret service Kodam VII/Wirabuana, these several journalists are very similar to the journalists who provoke the news in Poso etc.

Is the free rice that the government sends to Miangas’ people make them lazy to work? Free rice is not always sent by the gov-ernment. The rice dispatch usually done af-ter the storm season or when a functionary came to Miangas. Because Miangas suddenly

became famous, so many functionaries visit Miangas and hand over the rice. I think there’s no connection between rice and lazy to work. In fact, I predict that many of Miangas’ people are civil employees, for example district, village, and tax office staff, marine transportation service (Syah-bandar and Navigasi), community health center, elementary school teachers, junior high school teachers, PLN’s employee, Na-tional Armed Forces of Indonesia (Koramil and Babinsa), police, etc. only a few people become fishermen.

“I long for the journey and the scenery, espe-cially the sea.

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DO NOT MAKE THE COST as an obstacle to reach your dream to explore the beauty of this nature! This principle has become the fad of Share Traveler community. As the name implies, sharing is a pledge that has to be a role model of everyone in this commu-nity, starting from sharing the expenses trip, sharing pleasure, sharing grief, sharing food, sharing misfortune, sharing everything. Share Traveler is a backpacker com-munity that came about by chance. Starting from the needs of people who wants travel with a low cost, then they invite some friends to do a trip together so that the cost can be reduced. Addiction, trip after trip was held. More and more people are gathered because each member brings a new friend on every trip. From that, the idea to form a group

COMMUNITY

SHARE TRAVELLER SHARE TRAVELLER

BY : AMBAR ARUM

SHARE TRAVELLERSharing is Beautiful

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spontaneously emerged. So, on the ba-sis of togetherness, the searching of the name of the group until the group’s motto carried unanimously. All members submit their proposals and their own ideas re-spectively. Then through the process of voting, the chosen name is Share Traveler, and the motto is “Share, Enjoy, and Pre-serve”. Hammer was knocked on March 30, 2010 at the Semanggi Plaza, Jakarta, as well as a sign of the birth of this com-munity. Sharing is the most important value in this community. Therefore, in every trip, its members share the cost, ideas, and spirit. Another important value is enjoy, which is enjoying the beauty of nature during the trip. While the “preserve” shows this community’s commitment to protecting the environment, customs and local cul-

ture in order to remain good as it is, a wise commitment which is still often overlooked by other groups of nature lovers. This community believes that by shar-ing, the journey becomes more beautiful and enjoyable. Each trip is simply and enjoyable passed. These characters also appear in the members mine. Once a while Backpackin’ questioned the meaning of the Share Traveler’s logo, which thicken the letter H on the word ‘share’ and L on the word the traveler, logo for every group should have a deep and philosophi-cal meaning. Likewise Backpackin’ thought at that time. However, with laughing and re-laxed, Dwie Bayu, one activator of this com-munity responded, “Ah this is only for fun. Nothing really means anything. “

Although less than one year standing, Share Traveler has made many trips like climb-ing to Mount Merbabu, the volcano Mount Semeru, Mount Gede Pangrango, Mount Argopuro, and the Ijen - Baluran – Papuma trip, Tangkahan trip (Sumatra), Coast Drini trip (Gunung Kidul), Sumedang trip, Princess Islands trip (Thousand Islands), and many more. For the future, Share Traveler also has a series of trips to various places in Indone-sia, like beach, mountain, island, cave, water-fall, etc. There will be no end to explore the beauty of Indonesia, and all the places will be possible tovisit with Share Traveler who will deal for the cost that can be reduced

into the most minimum price. Coupled with a sense of kinship that is usually formed along the process of sharing among its members, Share Traveler becomes a community that is highly recommended if you want to find friends to travel around Indonesia. Share Traveler can be joined by any-one who has the same spirit of sharing. Just search this group on Facebook, then join. From there the trip invitations will continue to emerge. All people can join without any restriction. The spirit of sharing in this group will make anyone who participate in it feel welcome and comfortable, though they have just joined. So, what are you waiting for?

SHARE TRAVELLERSHARE TRAVELLER

“Sharing is the most important value in this community. Therefore, in every trip, its members share the cost, ideas, and spirit.

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FOR THOSE WHO HAVE READ Tales from the Road must have familiar with the name of Matatita, an alumni of Gajah Mada University, majoring anthropology. She wrote an eth-nography note of her first trip in that book. It tells about how she can go to many places in Indonesia and also outside this country. She takes us to follow her journey trac-ing five countries in Europe for fifteen days, started from Paris and ended in Athena. We can understand Matatita’s point of view dur-

EUROTRIP, SAFE & FUN

Going Around Europe with MatatitaBY : JEREMY GEMARISTA

REVIEW

EUROTRIP CHEERS UK!

CHEERS, UK!

Scrimping in Londonand Its Surrounding

CITRA DYAH PRASTUTI, or usually called Citra, is a scholar from Indonesia who is studying in University of London for her mas-ter degree. She only gets 800 pounds in a month for her scholarship money, yet she has to pay for 400 pounds for her dorm. In her opinion, having limited money does not mean that you can’t have a trip in this Queen Elizabeth’s country. In this book, she shows how to spend lower budget for a living cost in London.

ing her journey to nine cities in Europe. Matatita made this book more than just an ordinary book with some historical notes of the places she had visited. She also put a metro map of every city, information about comfortable and cheap accommoda-tion, and some tips to be a safe female back-packer. This book can be a simple guide for those who dream to cross the land of Europe and feel the beauty of the Blue Continent’s culture.

From her scrimping life, Citra can plan a

low-budget-trip around E n g l a n d , started from Manchester, Liverpool, Stonehenge, until Scotland. Com-plete with how to arrange the lowest budget trip, the places you must visit, and also per-sonal note about those places which is told cheerfully and energetically.

JUDUL BUKU :

Eurotrip, Safe & Fun

WRITER :

Matatita

PENERBIT :

Bentang Pustaka

TEBAL BUKU :

228 Halaman

PRICE :

Rp. 38.500,00

JUDUL BUKU :

Cheers, UK!

WRITER :

Citra Dyah Prastuti

PENERBIT :

Gagasmedia

TEBAL BUKU :

350 Halaman

PRICE :

Rp. 44.000,00

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THRIFTY AND HANDY ARE the best words to represent travelling a’la Backpacker. Nev-ertheless, you can’t forget the importance of comfort during the trip. Even though you take economy class train, or maybe you fell asleep at the bus or station, backpackers also deserve the comfortable on the road. One of the method is you can bring air pillow wher-ever you go. Actually it’s not a new sophisticated thing, but not all travellers bring it on their

BY : AMBAR ARUM

stuffs. Air pillow is really flexible, simple, and convinient. It is easy to carry and it doesn’t take large space in your bag. The way to use it is pretty simple, you just have to puff it up until it get the best elasticity. After that, this 30 x 48 cm pillow is ready to accompany our sleep. After you wake up, you just only deflate the pillow and put it back to your bag, and your trip is fit to go. You don’t need much energy to use it, it doesn’t waste your time, and of course, you don’t need large space inside your bag to put it. How simple is that?!! Besides the air pillow, you can also found it friends, which are air matress and air Dutch-wife. The way to use is same as the air pillow. But to the travellers, its too difficult if you have to bring all those things, so you just need to bring the air pillow. You can find the air pillow at stores, also you can buy it on online shop, like Kaskus. How much does it cost? You can have your own air pillow with 25,000 – 145,000 rupiahs, depends on the brand. Have a try!

ACCESORIES

AIR PILLOW AIR PILLOW

AIR PILLOWHandy and Comfy!

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TIPS

SIMPLE PACKING SIMPLE PACKING

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TIPS:Simple Packing

SOMETIMES IN THE MIDDLE of the road, we need something that we have to take in-side the carrier bag. Inappropriate packing will make it hard to get the thing and put it back in order. Besides, it can also make your carrier bag heavier, thus it has a potential of making damage in your shoulder. These are the steps of packing that we can do:

BY : AMBAR ARUM

1. Classify your goods into several groups that have the same level needs. First, the stuffs that seldom used such as tent, sleeping bag, or clothes. Then the stuffs that will often be used, for instance stove, nesting, and logistics. Last but not least, the stuffs that will always be used, like tis-sue, camera, and flash light.

2. Start packing with putting the least important stuffs, and then continue with the stuffs that will often be used. For sleeping bag, clothes, and other stuffs from fabric should be deflated so it will not take much place. Mini-mize empty space.

3. You’d better put the stuffs that will always be used in the top of the bag or inside the pockets of the bag. So it will be easier to reach.

It is also valid to every visitor who is not a mountain climber. Classify your goods into several groups that have the same level needs. Arrange the goods in the bag, do not make a space. Then for the stuffs that will always be used, put them in the other parts of the bag that are easier to reach or in a small bag.

4. If it’s possible, prepare a small shoulder bag to keep the small important stuffs during a far journey. Such as food (chocolate, honey, and bread), camera, victorinox, and money.

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2010TRIPINFO

CommunitySocial Activities During the fasting month, many com-munities do the social service activities in many places. The SERGAP team shares with the kids who live in the street and Kaskus In-donesian Traveller shares with the Anak Akar Studio, and Share Traveller Community with the kids from the orphanage.

BY : AMBAR ARUM

The infos below are about the trip agendas during November and December 2010. The Backpackin’s editorial staff col-lects some trip infos from various communi-ties, but we aren’t the event organizer for the events. So, for further information, you can contact the community who held the event. Don’t forget to keep the beauty of our nature and have a great adventure!!

The Adventure is JustBegun! AFTER THE CELEBRATION of ied, the adventure spirit is back! Various communities held a mountain climbing in some places:

1. Go to Summit community 2. Bali Backpacker Held a Rinjani Mountain tour (including explore Lombok),

3. Share Traveller Goes to Argopuro Mountain, and

4. Odong-Odong Traveller Has a trip to Sempu Island.

BI NEWS

INFO TRIP INFO TRIP

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DECEMBER

1. Lawu MountainThe climbing of Lawu MountainLocation: Central JavaThe dates not yet determinated

Organized by Sergap Indonesia TeamFacebook Group Account:TIM SERGAP INDONESIA

Website: www.sergapindonesia.com

2. BengkuluExplore BengkuluDates: December 23 – 27, 2010

Organized by Share TravellerFacebook Group Account: Share Traveller

3. Slamet MountainThe climbing of Slamet Mountainvia BlambanganLocation: Purbalingga, Central JavaThe dates not yet determinated

Organized by Share TravellerFacebook Group Account: Share Traveller

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PRAYFORINDONESIA

WHEN NATUREISN’T FRIENDLY ANYMORE...

WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING...

WASIOR (WEST PAPUA)September, 26, Flood Disaster

MENTAWAI ISLAND (WEST SUMATERA)October, 26, Earthquake and Tsunami

MERAPI VOLCANO (YOGYAKARTA)October, 26, Eruption

www.backpackinmagazine.com

backpackin magazine vol. 2

Travel

miangas edition

economy of miangas residents

indonesia area

northest area

northern island of indonesia

closest area

remote area

northest island