[Kabar-indonesia] The Age: Indonesia's Spice of Life

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Age [Melbourne]
Saturday, September 2, 2006

Travel

Spice of life

Mark Forbes

It was nutmeg that first brought foreigners to the
Banda Islands, but that's far from their only delight.
Mark Forbes reports.

FOR centuries a tiny cluster of tropical islands were
a near-mythical Eldorado. But the Banda Islands'
riches were borne of spices, cloves, cinnamon, mace
and especially nutmeg, worth more than its weight in
gold, a preservative, aphrodisiac and believed to be
the cure for the plague.

Only on these isolated Indonesian islands, lying
closer to Darwin than Jakarta, did the yellow nutmegs
grow, ripen and split to reveal the bright red mace
enveloping a brown nut. The lure of nutmeg first drew
the Chinese and Arabs. Then the Portuguese, Dutch and
English fought bloody battles for more than 100 years
to control the trade. Thousands of sailors and many
ships were lost on the perilous journey from Europe to
reap the islands' riches. Magellan sailed here,
Francis Drake too, and a hopelessly lost Christopher
Columbus was seeking the Spice Islands when he
"discovered" America.

So valued by the Dutch was their stranglehold on the
nutmeg supply that, according to one version of the
region's history, its leaders swapped the small island
of Run, seized by the British, for one they held in
America, now known as Manhattan.

Reaching the Bandas today remains something of an
adventure, requiring a journey to the capital of the
Moluccas (also known as the Maluku province), Ambon,
then an unreliable weekly airline flight - often
cancelled because of weather and concerns about
touching down on its tiny airstrip - or a seven-hour
ferry trip. A bitter, bloody religious conflict
emanating out of Ambon between 1999 and 2002 saw
tourists shun the region. Few make the journey today -
during two weeks we saw only one other visitor - but
they are rewarded with a treasure trove of history.

Wandering across the main island, Banda Neira, is a
walk through a time capsule, past deserted forts,
nutmeg and cloves drying on straw mats, moss-covered
300-year-old decaying Dutch mansions, with rusty
cannon littering the streets. Only a handful of cars
traverse the narrow roads; motorbikes and rickshaws
are the preferred modes of transport.

With tourists a novelty, it is impossible to walk far
without being feted by locals, asked to join communal
volleyball games (a favourite form of entertainment
with televisions rare), and invited to the private
dangdut dance parties, Arab-influenced music mixed
with modern dance beats, which represent the islands'
only nightlife.

During the past century the nutmeg plantations -
suffering competition from seedlings smuggled off the
islands - fell into decline, then a flourishing
mother-of-pearl trade, producing buttons, was
overtaken by modern technology. During the 1990s the
Bandas experienced a brief revival as a secret jetset
destination; Banda Neira's Hotel Maulana hosted Mick
Jagger, Princess Di and numerous European nobles.

The Muslim-Christian conflict that enveloped the
region in 1999 - spread by Muslim agitators to even
the backwaters of Banda, with churches torched and
Christians slaughtered - drove the celebrities and
other travellers away. Scars of the conflict remain.
On Banda Besar lives Pongki Van Der Broeke, the last
of the perkiners, descendants of the Dutch nutmeg
plantation owners imported by the Dutch East Indies
Company - after it slaughtered most of the 15,000
locals who continued to resist occupation and replaced
them with slave labour.

He is the 13th generation to farm the plantation,
continuing the family tradition despite only a third
of the Van Der Broekes' land being recovered after a
failed government nationalisation in 1975 and the
torching of the family seashore mansion, the islands'
grandest, by a Muslim mob in 1999. Only the
350-year-old nutmeg drying barn remains.

It is"too difficult" to talk of the troubles, Pongki
says, but he walks me to the family cemetery and
stares towards several dirt graves shaded by a
corrugated tin roof. "My children", he sighs, running
a finger across his throat and turning away. With
Pongki away in Java, the mob killed his Christian wife
and two young daughters.

On his deathbed, Pongki's father made him promise to
return. "He told me, 'No matter what, you must go back
to Banda to continue what we have been doing, to keep
the plantation, it is your life'."

Walking through his nutmeg groves, shaded by massive
200-year-old tropical almond trees as bright yellow
and black giant butterflies flutter by, Pongki's
spirits lift and a sense of tranquility descends.

He knows the age of every nutmeg tree, "12 years, 90,
130", and he points as we walk by.

He uses the same methods as his ancestors, picking the
nutmegs by hand in a lifecycle he says mirrors ours.
It is the female trees that are rich in the fruit,
taking nine months to ripen and swell before splitting
to reveal the mace within. The mace, or "fuli", is
peeled off for use as a preservative and oil for
cosmetics, then the nutmegs are smoke-dried in the
dark barn.

"Before the trouble, every day a tourist came to
visit," says Pongki.

Now he is lucky to see two in a month.

Des Alwi, the islands' "chief of chiefs", is called
the King of the Bandas, a title he laughs off,
preferring "the old man of the Moluccas". He has
fought to preserve the islands and believes tourists
will soon return.

Des' history is as colourful as his islands. His
family tree boasts Moloccan and Javanese royalty,
along with entrepreneurs and raconteurs, whose
showmanship Des has inherited. One grandfather, Said
Baadilla, was known as the Pearl King of the Aru Sea
and knighted by the Dutch after presenting a pearl as
large as a pigeon's egg to Queen Wilhelmina.

When he was eight, Des emerged from swimming in Banda
Neira's harbour to give directions to two strangers.
They were Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir, who would
become, along with Soekarno, the founding fathers of
Indonesian independence.

Accommodated in an old Dutch mansion, Hatta
established a school out the back, instilling
nationalist ambitions in Banda's youngsters.

Hatta became a second father to Des, and at 14 he
followed him back to Jakarta when the Dutch sought
their help to combat the invading Japanese.

Des and his mentors began the fight for independence,
with Des establishing an underground radio network.
After being wounded by a mortar shell in 1945, Des was
dispatched to England to be educated, then appointed a
diplomat before supporting a rebellion against
Soekarno and fleeing to Malaysia. After Soeharto
overthrew Soekarno, he recruited Des to mediate an end
to the confrontation with Malaysia and he returned
home to become a close confidant of the new president.

When he escorted Hatta to the Bandas in 1973, Des was
appalled by the impoverished, decrepit ruins of the
once-grand islands. "'They had no drinking glasses,
they had to give Hatta a coconut shell," he says.

"Hatta told me, 'You are the man to rebuild Banda as
it was'."

Des made a film featuring his 12-year-old son
returning to the islands to reclaim his birthright
from grasping relatives. It became Indonesia's most
successful feature, and with the profits Des set about
rescuing the grand mansions and conscripted government
assistance to restore the old Dutch Fort Belgica,
which dominates Banda Neira's skyline.

He also built the Hotel Maulana in grand colonial
style on the water's edge, where he still takes the
stage at night while holding court on the island,
crooning love songs in impromptu karaoke sessions.

>From the late 16th century, the Portuguese, British
and Dutch competed for control of the islands, with
the superior resources and ruthless tactics of the
Dutch eventually holding sway.

Today, crumbling forts and rusty cannon are the only
reminders of the violent past. Smiling locals proffer
greetings and flocks of youngsters follow you along
narrow pathways. You are invited inside, to homes such
as the musty old governor's mansion, where ramshackle
walls have been constructed between grand columns to
house several families. There is a friendly,
country-town atmosphere. Our two young children were
welcomed by all they met and quickly adopted by local
youngsters, spending hours roaming the streets,
playing badminton or introducing their new friends to
the novelty of Gameboys.

>From Banda Neira you can catch a tiny wooden ferry
(called pok-poks) to Banda Besar or the imposing,
active Gunning Api volcano across the bay.

The vibrant coral here is reputed to provide the
world's most rewarding snorkelling, with
multi-coloured forests springing from the lava flow of
Gunning Api's last explosion in 1988.

At 78, Des still insists on inspecting his undersea
domain each afternoon, inviting visitors along.
Through the undersea gardens flit countless bright
tropical fish, large chameleon cuttlefish hover,
turtles and manta rays cruise by and massive gropers
float up from the depths.

Americans John Randolph - a chopper pilot who flew aid
to Ambon during the troubles and wanted to give
something back to the people - and anthropologist Mike
Hillis are establishing a new diving centre on Banda
Neira, believing the richness of the waters and the
islands' history will provide an irresistible lure for
the adventurous tourist.

Along with the reefs, centuries-old shipwrecks and
remnants of World War II battles, the Bandas boast the
most abundant fish life in the world, Randolph says,
offering the opportunity to dive with moray eels,
two-metre-long napoleon wrasse, dolphins, whales and
manta rays.

Just metres from the Maulana Hotel can be found large
numbers of the near-extinct, bug-eyed, bright orange
and green-striped mandarin fish.

With direct flights to Ambon from Denpasar, the Bandas
provide an ideal addition to those wanting to spice up
a Bali holiday with a taste of undiscovered adventure.
Gastronomic delights also await; the ocean's harvest
fills the islands' tables, tuna hauled from the seas
by fishermen in wooden dugouts provides the freshest
sashimi and seafood is served in every conceivable
manner. Halved eggplants smothered in a tropical
almond paste are delicious.

The aroma of nutmeg is ever-present. At the Maulana
nutmeg pancakes are served for breakfast, which you
can smother in nutmeg jam. Des, who has so far
resisted large-scale development in favour of
preserving the buildings and culture of Banda,
believes a revival of the nutmeg industry could
provide economic salvation.

Pongki too has grand dreams.Standing inside the shell
of his family mansion - he lives in a small shack in
one corner of its former walls - he hopes the tiny
nuts could help restore its glory.

New demand from Japan has helped Pongki turn a tidy
profit; they have begun using nutmeg oil as a base for
cosmetics. Lucrative or not, he could not consider
leaving. "It's in the blood," he says. "It makes me
happy to take care of the plantation. I feel proud I
can still keep it as it was from the first generation.
I haven't lost the culture of Banda and nutmeg."

Mark Forbes is The Age Indonesia correspondent.

Fast facts

Getting there: Qantas or Garuda flights to Bali or
Jakarta, then an internal flight to Ambon on Lion Air
or Mandela Airways, return air fares about $1200. From
Ambon there is a weekly flight to Banda Neira on
Merpati, but the twice-weekly Pelni ferry is more
reliable. Tickets on either about $30.

Getting around: Most of the islands can be traversed
on foot, or you can take a rickshaw or "ojek"
motorcycle taxi. Tiny wooden ferries make regular
trips between most islands, but you need to charter a
larger boat to reach Run Island, if seas permit.

Staying there: Banda Neira is the best home base, and
the Hotel Maulana the most comfortable accommodation
at around three-star standard; doubles less than $50.
There are also several homestays and guesthouses on
Banda Neira and Ai, which charge about $10 a person,
including all meals. The Maulana presents a delicious
open-table dinner.

When to go: The weather is best from September to
April, when the seas are calm and large numbers of
dolphins and whales visit.

Currency: $A1 is worth nearly 7000 Indonesian rupiah.

Contacts: Maluku Divers run diving trips out of the
Maulana, and also have a luxury boat with
accommodation, www.unexploredadventures.com or

+62 911 323 216; Hotel Maulana

+62 91 021022 or 62 21 4240151.

Reading: Lonely Planet Indonesia guide includes a
helpful section on the Bandas. Nathaniel's Nutmeg, by
Giles Milton, is a wonderful retelling of the British
Captain Nathaniel Courthope's heroic efforts to repel
the Dutch from Run Island.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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