Autonomy: A wish to repeat the success of Makassar harbor

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi (JP): Mayor HB Amiruddin Maula says he is most optimistic that autonomy will bring back the glory of Makassar.

"This policy (promises) us the glorious tradition of Makassar harbor, which served as an international port in the old days. Here autonomy was once written in golden ink," said Maula when The Jakarta Post asked him for comment on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the celebration of 393rd anniversary of Makassar city on Nov. 9.

Historically, Makassar, which was called Bandar Makassar (Makassar Port) in the 16th century, was given autonomy during the Gowa kingdom. Makassar Port was a self-managed area and eventually developed into the biggest commercial harbor in the Asia-Pacific region.

Prof. Andi Zainal Abidin Faried, a Hasannudin University historian, quoted in his paper for a 1995 seminar on the tracing of the founding date of Makassar the depiction that C.R. Boxer (1967: 1-55) made of a Portuguese adventurer called Francisco Viera de Figueiredo in 1624-1667.

In the old Makassar, de Figueiredo collaborated with I Mangadacina Daeng Sitaba Karaeng Pattingalloang, the high court administrator of the Gowa kingdom, and a self-made learned man who was simultaneously the secretary of the kingdom, Francisco Mendez, who once ordered a telescope from Galileo.

Makassar was then a liberalized trade city with autonomy. Visitors from Portugal, Britain and Denmark were allotted free plots of land so that they could put up office buildings and houses around Ujungpandang Fort. Trade facilities were also granted to Malay people from Sumatra, the Malay peninsula, Patani, Cambodia, Siam (now Thailand) and perhaps also the Javanese.

Through the administrator of Makassar Port, the king of Gowa guaranteed that Europeans and Malays could profess their own faith. Religious tolerance was second to none in Makassar Port. At that time, large vessels came from various places: Macao, Malacca and ports on the Coromandel coast to dock here.

Prof. Zainal also depicted Makassar Port as a commercial city undergoing rapid change thanks to the arrival of the Malays, followed by the Portuguese (1558) and the British (1615), who set up Factorij, a warehouse building and a house.

Danish adventurers arrived in 1618 and in 1515 while in 1640 Spain sent representatives to Makassar Port. Foreign writers, especially from Britain, always wrote how Makassar had extraordinary charm.

The late Prof. Mattulada, an anthropologist at Hasanuddin University, also had interesting notes about the autonomy of Makassar.

He said that Makassar's commercial port was the commercial harbor of the Gowa and Tallo kingdoms. The southern part belonged to Gowa and the northern part to Tallo.

However, after the management of Makassar Port was handed over to a local leader, Daengta Sabannaraka, all hamlets, villages and areas belonging to Gowa -- from a defense area in Panakukang Fort in the south (close to what is now Barombong) up to Ujungpandang Fort (now Rotterdam Fort), which should have belonged to Tallo -- were all included in Makassar under the management of Sabannaraka.

It was Sabannaraka who took care of the harbor on behalf of the kingdom, and who managed Makassar city so that it could eventually become an autonomous region and gain fame as the world's busiest commercial city.

As evidence, historian Onghokham quoted in an 1983 paper sources from the West, which claim that in 1640 some 160,000 people lived in Makassar. By comparison, over the same period only some 100,000 people lived respectively in Paris, Napoli and Malacca, some 70,000 people in Banten, some 50,000 people in Surabaya and some 30,000 people in Gresik.

How do things stand at present? Will the golden history of Makassar city repeat itself?

Maula said that Makassar residents had long waited for the implementation of regional autonomy. "We have been waiting for autonomy for quite a long time," he said.

It is only natural that he remains optimistic. Makassar, which has a population of 1,251,493 (1999 population census), measures 175.77 square kilometers, 0.28 percent of the entire area of South Sulawesi province. It comprises 14 subdistricts and 143 village-level administrative units.

The city is unique as it lies between two rivers: Jeneberang River, which has its estuary in the southern part of the city, and Tallo River, which has its estuary in the north.

In terms of regional revenue, Makassar earns the most in the entire South Sulawesi. For the 1998/1999 budget its regional revenue stood at Rp 25,183,683,000, three times as much as the revenue of Gowa district, which came second with a revenue of Rp 7,451,637,000.

"In principle, autonomy is no longer a problem. We have made preparations in many areas: from facilities and infrastructure improvement to the betterment of the organizational structure of the regional administration," said Maula.

Meanwhile, in 2000 South Sulawesi province's regional revenue rose 20 percent. "Our own regional revenue has gone up 20 percent from the previous level. Therefore, we are very optimistic about the arrival of year 2001," he went on.

Maula has reason to be optimistic. Makassar has plenty of natural resources, human resources and also fine educational facilities, roads, toll roads with access to strategic urban areas, the Makassar Industrial Estate Center (KIMA), the Soekarno-Hatta Port and Hasanuddin International Airport.

"Autonomy gives us significant authority and decision-making power. This means bolstering investment, working effectiveness and simplifying the bureaucracy."

In the future, Maula said, the city administration will no longer initiate projects but will assume the role of empowering the community.

The structure of the urban economy, which is dominated by trade, processing plants, transportation and services sectors, indicates that the role of the community and the private sector is very significant in the process of urban construction.

This is in line with the statistical data of Makassar city, which say that flourishing businesses include mining (0.02 percent), agriculture (2.23 percent), electricity and gas (2.24 percent), finance and banking (7.08 percent), property (8.01 percent), services (12.67 percent), transportation (12.89 percent), processing plants (26.73 percent), trade, restaurants and hotels (27.96 percent).

"In line with the region's annual development plan, in 2001 the private sector will be the main source of finance for urban development with a contribution of 79 percent of the total cost," he noted.

The other sources are the regional budget (1 percent), the urban budget (3 percent), the state budget (17 percent), he added.

Maula also said that for the year 2001 he had prepared a development concept with emphasis on religion, the development of businesses in services, industries and trade, the narrowing of economic disparity, improvement of the quality of human resources, the management of marine potentials, the management of potentials for tourism and promotion as well as marketing of the region's products abroad.

With vast potentials at its disposal, Maula said, the city of Makassar, as the capital of South Sulawesi province, is likely to repeat the glorious tradition of Makassar Port.

Will the Makassar metropolis of today engrave a new history in early 21st century, the new millennium? Only time will tell. (Jupriadi)