Kupang fishermen need help

Forgive me any fellow Australians reading this but I must say I have seen more slightly eccentric Australians in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara than I have ever seen anywhere else. Including myself!

All of us senior citizens trying to escape from the "TV culture society" back into a familiar, simpler, lifestyle. However we do complicate life for the locals by trying to impose "European thinking" on Southeast Asian culture.

At the other end of the spectrum the young backpackers are more adaptable and do not "advise and instruct". Their way of life sometimes does not give the good example their home countries could wish. However I love them much and see them as the hope for the world, uniting people of all countries and cultures.

When I first came to Kupang in 1985 just as a neighbor "dropping in to get to know you". Kupang was friendly and kind and poor.

Over the years the Indonesian government has brought progress to this region. The kindness remains. My thanks to all who have helped me during my stay.

My special interest lies in the Makassar fishing families of Pepela Rote island in East Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi, oil in the Timor Sea and Australia's closure of some of their Timor Sea fishing areas. Also rulings that others can still be fished but are undersailed have brought poverty and the loss of both boats and men in cyclones while afterwards there should be sea and air searches for the missing boats.

Indonesia-Australia coordinated home aquiculture programs and fish processing factories in Kupang and Bau Bau are urgently needed. Actually a survey of all the Indonesian fishing areas and a program for them is required.

I am from Tasmania, Australia, the island of "mountains and fishermen" and I know fishing. Fishery problems are the same in all countries.

Joint ventures and trade programs of Australia should help the fishermen. Such programs have mostly gone where the most money can be made and the most development and progress ensue. However, Australia has a responsibility to these fishermen. Also fisheries are a source of national income when fully and properly developed.

Meanwhile, fishermen's widows and children need assistance. Cities such as Kupang, Bau Bau and Kendari need craft centers where village craft teachers can be trained and crafts made in the villages can be sold.

Dharma Wanita is good but it is more of a "status program" than a commercial one. It is a commercial one that is needed.

VONNY HELBERG O.A.M.

Pepela Island

East Nusa Tenggara