Mentawai Island

Mentawai Island

This letter is in response to Imran Rusli's article Mentawai
now West Sumatra's main tourist attraction (The Jakarta Post,
Oct. 22, 1995). We are both non-Indonesians who have spent
considerable time in Siberut Island, in the capacity as tour
guide and anthropologist, and as such feel that our views and
experiences may be of some interest.

Nazif Lubuk seems confused that tourists "fall head over heels
for natural, traditional objects." However, our experience has
been the Mentawai philosophy and way of life. For thousands of
years the Mentawai have lived in harmony with the forest,
treating it with love and respect. Taking only what is needed,
they share openly.

For many Westerners, coming from industrialized, urbanized
nations, which have lost an intimate relationship with nature
(treating it only as a commodity), witnessing and, to a certain
extent participating in, the Mentawai way of life is an emotive
and deeply moving experience.

Rather than being perceived as merely "exotic" and
"primitive", the Mentawai people are seen by many visitors as
living examples of successful and sustainable "environmental
management".

As such they are a potential role model and source of
inspiration for the developing world, rather than simply an
exotic spectacle.

Nazif states concern that the Mentawai "Don't lag too far
behind their brethren from the coast". The fact is, however, that
many Mentawai have already visited the Sumatra mainland. Fully
conscious of the possibilities open to them, the majority choose
to return to the forest and their traditional way of life.

Perhaps, instead of focusing on teaching the Mentawai "What is
right and what is not", more attention could be paid as to how
tourists and other visitors could possibly learn from the
"immaterial" wealth of their culture.

Tourism is fine, the Mentawai enjoy having visitors; however
there is a danger that if this tourism is not strictly regulated
(in accordance with the Mentawai's wishes) the "main attraction"
of Siberut, the Mentawai's integrated way of life, could be
unnecessarily disrupted.

Some possible suggestions are: that tourists receive
preliminary information on Mentawai culture and language so that
they are sensitive to indigenous ways. Secondly, that all guides
are registered, have spent at least several years living on
Siberut, have an adequate grasp of local language, and are
accepted and liked by the people from which they make a living.
Such simple regulations could go a long way towards ensuring that
both visitors and Mentawais themselves benefit from tourism.

IAN WILSON

and ANDINA VAN BINSBERGEN

Yogyakarta