Autonomy: A wish to repeat the success of Makassar harbor
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)