Seribu Islands faces 'seribu' problems
By Novan Iman Santosa
PUTRI ISLAND, Seribu Islands (JP): Nobody knows for sure how or why the chain of 110 islands (including six already washed away by the sea) is called the Seribu (thousand) Islands.
Perhaps, the person who introduced the name in days gone by refused or had no adequate means to individually count the scattered islands off Jakarta Bay.
They might have simply concluded that there were many islands, probably "a thousand or so", located close to each other.
One thing is for sure, almost half the islands are owned and managed by private companies, foundations and individuals, particularly businessmen from Jakarta, and used mostly as marine resorts.
Others say that they occupy the islands for research purposes, natural preservation and greening programs. None of them are willing to confirm media reports that several of the islands are used for illegal businesses, such as gambling dens and smuggling stopover points.
According to North Jakarta authorities, among the wealthy people that own and manage the islands are children and cronies of former president Soeharto, such as Bambang Trihatmodjo and Probosutedjo. The others include businessmen Aburizal Bakri, Setiawan Djodi, Benny Sumampauw, Pontjo Sutowo and former minister Frans Seda.
Some of the islands are home to local residents, mostly poor fishermen and their families.
Several offshore spots located near Pabelokan island are under the supervision of state oil firm Pertamina and their counterparts, such as YPF Maxus and Mobil Oil.
Recently, the neighboring Tangerang authorities said they wanted nine of the islands located near to their coastline to be recognized as their assets.
The nine islands which they said should be under Tangerang's authority are Rambut, Karang, Laki, Cangkir, Bokor, Karang Tiga, Gosong, Untung Jawa and Ubi Kecil islands.
According to them, Jakarta has no reason to manage and supervise the nine islands since, geographically, their positions are closer to Tangerang's coast than any other part of Jakarta.
The matter is still being discussed by officials from the two neighboring administrations.
Jakarta has been busily preparing for the upgrading status of the Seribu Islands from a district to administrative regency.
No Council
Under its new status, the islands -- currently home to a population of some 17,000 -- would not have a council but the local authorities would have the right to manage the area on their own initiative.
Currently, the district is under the North Jakarta mayoralty. The tentative date for the promotion is Aug. 1 next year. The new regency will consist of two districts and six subdistricts.
With an area of 69,976 square kilometers (9,214 square kilometers or 13 percent of which is land), the Seribu Islands is currently divided into four subdistricts, namely Panggang island (13 islands), Untung Jawa island (16 islands), Tidung island (16 islands) and Kelapa island (65 islands).
The six missing islands have vanished in stages from the waters since 1985. Studies say that many islands could follow the sad story as there have only been few efforts by responsible parties to protect the islands from massive sea abrasion.
The Jakarta administration, instead, has spent most of its time on the preparations for their new status.
During a recent two-day tour with the media on some of the islands, head of the City Program Office Kosasih Wirahadikusumah said related agencies under the Jakarta administration were working on an integrated master plan for the development of the Seribu Islands in anticipation of the status promotion.
"Current plans and studies on the development of the Seribu Islands lack integration. We will integrate them all," he said.
His office, Kosasih said, had received Rp 1.8 billion (US$ 211,000) in funds to be used for the integration program.
"We will also coordinate the implementation of all of the accepted proposals," he added.
Some 60 people took part in last month's trip, mostly Jakarta councilors and officials. There were councilors of Commissions D for Development Affairs and Commission E for Social Welfare Affairs, and officials, such as the assistant to the City Secretary for Development Affairs, Ongky Sukasah, head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Communications Faisal Amir, head of the City Mining Agency Ali Rozi and head of the City Planning Agency Ahmaddin Ahmad.
The visitors, including eight journalists, were accompanied by hosts Seribu Islands district head Unu Maknun, head of Untung Jawa Island subdistrict Ambas and head of Kelapa Island subdistrict Ramlan.
Unu explained to his guests that 80 percent of the population of the Seribu Islands fished in the surrounding vast waters in order to earn a living.
"The rest are traders and civil servants. A few others work at nearby marine resorts as shipmates and captains," he said.
During the trip, the guests were also taken to Ayer island, a popular marine resort which is widely believed to be a site of gambling dens.
Since it was not an impromptu visit, the councilors found nothing to prove the rumors.
"It seems that the gambling operators have already taken their gambling machines away," said councilor Tjuk Sudono of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction.
Public facilities
During a visit to Untung Jawa island, the nearest inhabited island to Jakarta, subdistrict head Ambas said that its population of 1,563 badly need several public facilities, schools in particular, to be developed soon on the island.
"Although we are close to the mainland (Jakarta), we don't have any senior high schools here. Students have to stay on the mainland to continue their education," Ambas said.
"We also have a limited supply of electricity. Each family has to pay more than Rp 1,000 per day for 12 hours of very basic lighting," he added.
In response, Ahmaddin said that Jakarta had included the plan in its schedule.
"My agency is planning to improve the public facilities here, such as building a larger hospital and more schools," he said, without giving further details.
"We'll also build new offices here to serve the residents. We are still considering on which islands to do so," Ahmaddin said.
At least 11 of the Seribu Islands have been known for years as favorite resorts for wealthy Jakartans, expatriates, scuba divers and tourists.
Data show that the 11 resorts have so far lured an average of some 220,000 visitors per year. However, there is no data on how much money the visitors spend during their trips.
To accommodate the visitors, the city administration said it would develop Kelapa island subdistrict, particularly several islands located close to Panjang island.
Panjang is the only island in the district that has an airstrip.
The airstrip -- 1-kilometer-long and 40 meters wide -- can accommodate 13-seater airplanes.
Unfortunately, the facilities are run down as a result of poor maintenance. The ceiling and walls of the waiting room, for example, have fallen apart and crumbled.
The foundations of the room, facing heavy erosion by water, need urgent attention.
Councilor F.X. Marsiadi of the Indonesian Military (TNI)/National Police faction said that Jakarta needed to further improve Panjang island's airstrip, which has not yet been surfaced.
"The budget to develop it won't be too large as the soil is already solid. We only have to install communications and safety equipment here," said Marsiadi, an Air Force pilot himself.
According to Faisal, air charter operator Pelita Air Service had stated an interest in serving people looking for speedy transportation from Jakarta to the marine resorts.
"They will connect Halim Perdanakusuma and Soekarno-Hatta airports in Jakarta with Panjang island," he said, without stating when Pelita's service would begin.
"The company is also ready to provide chartered flights, as well as regular ones," Faisal said.
Like some of the other islands, Panjang also has its own helipad.
Tjuk, however, pointed out that the projects should not disregard the importance of the environment in guaranteeing the resort's sustainability.
"Simple questions on the mainland, such as where to dump daily garbage or to process wastewater, become difficult here because of the limited space," he said.
Another problem was fresh water. No matter deep how the wells or how many times they were desalinated, the water would still taste salty, he said.
According to Panji, an employee on Putri island, the other significant problem was a poor telephone system.
"When there are storms, we can't contact Jakarta. We have to wait for the weather to calm," he told the visiting guests.
Besides tourism, another potential area in the Seribu Islands is the mining sector.
"We receive some US$12 million per year from our share in oil and gas exploitation here," Ali from the Mining Agency said.
"We also have a deposit of more than 4.3 billion metric meters of sea sand here, although we can only exploit some 3.7 billion of that," he added.
Ali said his agency was drafting a mechanism for licensing and other technical guidelines for sand quarrying.
"The sand miners, for example, must operate at least three miles away from existing coral reefs in order to protect them," he said.
"This is important because coral reefs need sunlight to grow. The reefs only grow half a centimeter a year; that's why we have to take care of them," he added.
While the likely bright future of the Seribu Islands is still under discussion, the islands still have many thousands of problems that need to be solved.