ID :
12801
Thu, 07/17/2008 - 15:52
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/12801
The shortlink copeid
Feature: OUTLYING KISAR ISLAND NO LONGER ISOLATED
By Otniel Tamindael
Jakarta, July 17 (ANTARA) - Once forgotten and out of reach for years, tiny and rocky Kisar island in Southwest Maluku is now no longer isolated.
Kisar and its neighbor, Wetar, are two of Indonesia's 92 outlying islands, bordering Timor Leste and Australia.
Therefore, Indonesian Navy spokesman Commodore Bambang Susanto said recently the Navy would continue to safeguard the country's two southernmost islands.
According to Bambang, protection of the two islands was part of the Indonesian Navy's consistency in maintaining the territorial integrity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
He said Kisar and Wetar were the country's outermost islands in Maluku which was being given special attention by the government, the Navy in particular.
It is for this reason that a lighthouse has been erected at Cape Loronwisi near Oirata village in the southeastern part of Kisar island.
Kisar at present is within easy reach from other parts of Maluku, including Ambon, East Nusatenggara provincial city of Kupang, and even Surabaya in East Java.
There are three regular passenger ships alternately calling at Kisar island once every fortnight.
Kisar is now a regular port of call for three passenger ships, namely the MV Maloli, MV Wetar, and MV Pangrano from Ambon so Kisar people can easily make trips to Ambon, Kupang, Surabaya, or wherever they want to.
In the past, it was difficult for them to leave their island.
"With only Rp30,000, you can now get to Kisar from Ambon by either MV Maloli or MV Wetar," said Yunus Silkati, a trader on board the MV Maloli.
But it takes five days for the MV Maloli to arrive in Kisar from Ambon via Saumlaki, Tepa, Damer, Roma, Kisar, Wetar, and on to Kupang and return.
While MV Wetar links Surabaya, Kalabahi on Alor island in East Nusa Tenggara, Wetar, Kisar, Leti, Tepa, Saumlaki, and Ambon and then returns through the same route.
"But if you want to go even faster, you can pay Rp300,000 for a more comfortable Pelni liner, the MV Pangrano, for only two days from Ambon to Kisar," Yunus said.
Pangrano is currently linking Ambon, Saumlaki, Kisar, and Kupang and back again.
Meanwhile, Yohanis Ratumali of Kisar said the distance between the provincial city of Ambon and Kisar was even shorter.
"In only one hour and forty five minutes with Rp370,000, one can arrive in Kisar by Merpati Nusantara Airlines' Casa 212 aircraft which serves Ambon-Kisar-Ambon every Monday and Friday," Yohanis said.
Air transportation from Ambon to Kisar and from Kisar to the East Southwest Maluku district town of Saumlaki has been better since the dedication of Purpura Airport in Kisar by the then Governor M Acip Latuconsina on August 5, 1996.
Latuconsina said the construction of Purpura Airport in Kisar was initiated by the provincial administration in an effort to make transportation from Ambon to remote areas in the province easier.
When dedicating the airport in Kisar, Governor Latuconsina admitted that transportation in Maluku at the time posed a serious problem because of its geographic condition.
Mimhere Incident
Before the year 2000, transportation from Kisar to Ambon and other islands in Maluku was difficult and therefore sail boats were popular then.
One day in July 1968, a tragic incident happened to Cinta Mimhere sail boat when she was on her way from Kisar to Ambon.
It used to take two or three days for a sail boat to reach Ambon from Kisar but at the time Mimhere failed to reach the provincial city and got stranded somewhere else.
Two weeks after Mimhere left Kisar, there was no news or information about her fate.
The Mimhere sail boat left Jawalan port at the east coast of Kisar Island and was crossing the Banda Sea when one night the sea turned wild and the currents unfriendly.
Mimhere was tossed about by huge waves and found nowhere to proceed.
Some 25 passengers and crew members on board were in peril, and only a miracle could save them.
Simon Dalkati who joined Mimhere trip said all passengers and crews, despite their plight, displayed the same kind of strength: praying.
Dalkati said that still unafraid in the critical moments, he told himself to keep a positive point of view.
In the midst of the roaring sea, Dalkati, a shepherd who used to tend his sheep when he was a little boy, recalled the sight of the defenseless creatures grazing peacefully on the grassy Soru Teher hill side.
Reminiscing about his sheep which were able to munch everything contentedly under the watchful eye of the one they had learned to trust, Dalkati tried to comprehend what it meant to find serenity under the protection of his loving, trustworthy, heavenly Shepherd.
Dalkati said he vividly remembered the moment before his family members sent him off to Ambon by Mimhere sail boat saying: "May the spirit of the Lord go with you and protect you and make your path easier. The Lord is My shepherd, I shall not want."
The family prayer for Dalkati made him feel better and repeated the same petition over and over in that perilous moment at Banda Sea.
And indeed, a miracle happened.
The ill-fated Mimhere failed to reach Ambon for the rough seas, but instead was dragged away by the currents and finally landed safely with all passengers unharmed at Moa island near Kisar.
However, the problem was not over while they were in Moa island, unable to return to Kisar immediately because of rough seas between the two islands.
Since communication and transportation were difficult at the time, they were unable to contact their families in Kisar to tell about their fate.
Hopeless after one-month wait, the families finally assumed the Mimhere had sank at sea with no survivors.
Their assumption was even intensified by the fact that two local fishermen had caught a big shark with hair and bones discovered in its belly.
Believing that the hair and bones were of Mimhere passengers and crews, the families in Kisar then put them in a coffin and buried it in like manner as they did with the body of a person.
But after five weeks, Mimhere and all her passengers safely returned to Kisar from Moa for a blissful reunion with their family members.
Mimhere's safe return to Kisar proved that the hair and bones, discovered in the shark's belly were assumed to be of dead goats thrown into the sea by the ill-fated boat.
The transportation from Kisar to Ambon and other islands in the province used to be a serious problem but now it is over and the island is no longer isolated.
Jakarta, July 17 (ANTARA) - Once forgotten and out of reach for years, tiny and rocky Kisar island in Southwest Maluku is now no longer isolated.
Kisar and its neighbor, Wetar, are two of Indonesia's 92 outlying islands, bordering Timor Leste and Australia.
Therefore, Indonesian Navy spokesman Commodore Bambang Susanto said recently the Navy would continue to safeguard the country's two southernmost islands.
According to Bambang, protection of the two islands was part of the Indonesian Navy's consistency in maintaining the territorial integrity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
He said Kisar and Wetar were the country's outermost islands in Maluku which was being given special attention by the government, the Navy in particular.
It is for this reason that a lighthouse has been erected at Cape Loronwisi near Oirata village in the southeastern part of Kisar island.
Kisar at present is within easy reach from other parts of Maluku, including Ambon, East Nusatenggara provincial city of Kupang, and even Surabaya in East Java.
There are three regular passenger ships alternately calling at Kisar island once every fortnight.
Kisar is now a regular port of call for three passenger ships, namely the MV Maloli, MV Wetar, and MV Pangrano from Ambon so Kisar people can easily make trips to Ambon, Kupang, Surabaya, or wherever they want to.
In the past, it was difficult for them to leave their island.
"With only Rp30,000, you can now get to Kisar from Ambon by either MV Maloli or MV Wetar," said Yunus Silkati, a trader on board the MV Maloli.
But it takes five days for the MV Maloli to arrive in Kisar from Ambon via Saumlaki, Tepa, Damer, Roma, Kisar, Wetar, and on to Kupang and return.
While MV Wetar links Surabaya, Kalabahi on Alor island in East Nusa Tenggara, Wetar, Kisar, Leti, Tepa, Saumlaki, and Ambon and then returns through the same route.
"But if you want to go even faster, you can pay Rp300,000 for a more comfortable Pelni liner, the MV Pangrano, for only two days from Ambon to Kisar," Yunus said.
Pangrano is currently linking Ambon, Saumlaki, Kisar, and Kupang and back again.
Meanwhile, Yohanis Ratumali of Kisar said the distance between the provincial city of Ambon and Kisar was even shorter.
"In only one hour and forty five minutes with Rp370,000, one can arrive in Kisar by Merpati Nusantara Airlines' Casa 212 aircraft which serves Ambon-Kisar-Ambon every Monday and Friday," Yohanis said.
Air transportation from Ambon to Kisar and from Kisar to the East Southwest Maluku district town of Saumlaki has been better since the dedication of Purpura Airport in Kisar by the then Governor M Acip Latuconsina on August 5, 1996.
Latuconsina said the construction of Purpura Airport in Kisar was initiated by the provincial administration in an effort to make transportation from Ambon to remote areas in the province easier.
When dedicating the airport in Kisar, Governor Latuconsina admitted that transportation in Maluku at the time posed a serious problem because of its geographic condition.
Mimhere Incident
Before the year 2000, transportation from Kisar to Ambon and other islands in Maluku was difficult and therefore sail boats were popular then.
One day in July 1968, a tragic incident happened to Cinta Mimhere sail boat when she was on her way from Kisar to Ambon.
It used to take two or three days for a sail boat to reach Ambon from Kisar but at the time Mimhere failed to reach the provincial city and got stranded somewhere else.
Two weeks after Mimhere left Kisar, there was no news or information about her fate.
The Mimhere sail boat left Jawalan port at the east coast of Kisar Island and was crossing the Banda Sea when one night the sea turned wild and the currents unfriendly.
Mimhere was tossed about by huge waves and found nowhere to proceed.
Some 25 passengers and crew members on board were in peril, and only a miracle could save them.
Simon Dalkati who joined Mimhere trip said all passengers and crews, despite their plight, displayed the same kind of strength: praying.
Dalkati said that still unafraid in the critical moments, he told himself to keep a positive point of view.
In the midst of the roaring sea, Dalkati, a shepherd who used to tend his sheep when he was a little boy, recalled the sight of the defenseless creatures grazing peacefully on the grassy Soru Teher hill side.
Reminiscing about his sheep which were able to munch everything contentedly under the watchful eye of the one they had learned to trust, Dalkati tried to comprehend what it meant to find serenity under the protection of his loving, trustworthy, heavenly Shepherd.
Dalkati said he vividly remembered the moment before his family members sent him off to Ambon by Mimhere sail boat saying: "May the spirit of the Lord go with you and protect you and make your path easier. The Lord is My shepherd, I shall not want."
The family prayer for Dalkati made him feel better and repeated the same petition over and over in that perilous moment at Banda Sea.
And indeed, a miracle happened.
The ill-fated Mimhere failed to reach Ambon for the rough seas, but instead was dragged away by the currents and finally landed safely with all passengers unharmed at Moa island near Kisar.
However, the problem was not over while they were in Moa island, unable to return to Kisar immediately because of rough seas between the two islands.
Since communication and transportation were difficult at the time, they were unable to contact their families in Kisar to tell about their fate.
Hopeless after one-month wait, the families finally assumed the Mimhere had sank at sea with no survivors.
Their assumption was even intensified by the fact that two local fishermen had caught a big shark with hair and bones discovered in its belly.
Believing that the hair and bones were of Mimhere passengers and crews, the families in Kisar then put them in a coffin and buried it in like manner as they did with the body of a person.
But after five weeks, Mimhere and all her passengers safely returned to Kisar from Moa for a blissful reunion with their family members.
Mimhere's safe return to Kisar proved that the hair and bones, discovered in the shark's belly were assumed to be of dead goats thrown into the sea by the ill-fated boat.
The transportation from Kisar to Ambon and other islands in the province used to be a serious problem but now it is over and the island is no longer isolated.
