Depressing Ujungpandang is still great seafood catch

Depressing Ujungpandang is still great seafood catch

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): All I remember of
Ujungpandang is wide, wide tree-lined avenues, a gorgeous road
along the beach called Strand Boulevard (this was in the days
when Ujungpandang was called Makassar, which I still prefer),
cakes so sweet they made your hair stand on end and the best
seafood in this world and the next.

But this was the Ujungpandang (or Makassar) of more than 40
years ago, and, of course, things have changed.

I think it would have been bad if anything had remained the
same.

The boulevard, now rechristened Jl. Pantai Losari, is still
the most popular stretch for a late afternoon stroll to watch the
sun take its daily dive in the sea. But now the road is half its
former width, as the other half on the ocean side has been set
aside for roving food and drink vendors. This may have made the
spot even more popular, but it is horrendous for evening drivers
who have to make do with a snail's pace (and lots of teeth
grinding) when negotiating their vehicles through the mass of
humans.

Too bad for the drivers, that is. The moral of the story?

Well, don't take your own wheels if you plan to linger a bit
on Pantai Losari after sunset -- as you certainly should.

Why don't I include Fort Rotterdam among the remembrance of
things past? For the simple reason that 40 years ago it was
still in the condition that made it less than unworthy as a must-
see item, and suitable only for the wrecker's ball.

But the thing was erected a couple of hundred years
ago, when thick walls were thick walls and walls of forts even
more so.

The fort has risen again (though not in its original function,
thank you) and now rightly holds pride of place in the city.

Insist on a good guide who can tell you about the fort. One,
a tourist industry student, attached himself to me, but when I
asked him about divisions -- location of enlisted men's quarters,
the commanding officer's quarters, magazines, mess hall -- the
poor boy was at a loss for explanations, though he was rather
voluble about the boring subject of atrocities inflicted by the
Dutch.

I had looked forward very much to the few days sojourn in
Ujungpandang, and was determined to have a good time. However, I
wasn't prepared for the distressing sights that greeted me
practically everywhere. Of course, news publications had been
full of reports about the riots that took place some weeks
before, but the extent of the destruction was stunning.

Few buildings were left in tact or so it looked to me, except
perhaps in the outer suburbs.

Gaping holes that once were entrances, doors and windows had
already been boarded up, leaving some local wags to comment
sourly that the most popular type of building material at the
moment was plywood.

What I found even more disheartening was that there seemed to
have been an element of premeditation; how else to explain the
mutilated houses in narrow streets of low-income suburbs,
standing next to others that were left untouched?

Many were the homes of indigenous people who were embarrassed
about the turmoil, including the governor who, to his credit,
opened the grounds of his official residence to the fleeing
Chinese against whom the violence was directed. Everything is
apparently back to normal now, but I could still detect a degree
of wariness among my Chinese cousins.

Despite the depressing views, I did have a good time, thanks
to the seafood dishes for which Ujungpandang is justly famous.

I must admit that as a resident of Jakarta -- though
ethnically from elsewhere -- I tend to regard anywhere on the
coast, except our fair capital, as a paradise of seafood. To cut
a long story short, I ate myself sick on giant prawns, sweet
snapper, succulent bandeng (milk fish), and other types of
goodies from the depths of the ocean that had gone straight from
the sea into the pan.

Or on the coals, rather, because plain roast is probably the
best way to eat fresh fish.

And since it was durian season in the city we, a niece and her
husband who live there, went on durian binges several times.

If only for the food, I resolved not to let another couple of
decades go by before setting foot on the soil of one of
Indonesia's prettiest cities.

-- Gus Kairupan