Tanya: Behind the natural beauty of Banda
By Mehru Jaffer
JAKARTA (JP): Once upon a time England swapped with the Dutch its claim to Banda in return for Manhattan, the island at the heart of New York City and todays magnet for all the world's money.
According to A Short History of British Expansion by James A. Williamson, England gave up the claim to Pulau Run (Banda) in 1667. In return the Dutch yielded New Amsterdam (Manhattan), New Jersey and the Delaware estuary to the English, thus retiring completely from the North American Continent.
More recently it was the turn of 38 year old Tanya Marinka Alwi to turn her back on Manhattan and swap a life in the USA for her original home in Banda, one of the loveliest and most serene of the Maluku islands.
And now that she is here under a canopy of blue skies and immersed in the crystalline seas, she wonders how she survived for so long without the island's beauty, its haunting history and above all the wonderful people of her community.
Born in Singapore while her father Des Alwi, head of Banda's first family was in self-exile, Tanya spent her childhood mostly in Malaysia and graduated in film making from the San Francisco Art Institute, University of California at Berkeley. In New York she worked with several film production companies where she found it difficult to get along with most producers and directors.
"I decided to have a good time instead. And I was having the time of my life when I was asked to return home immediately. In fact my family had to bribe me to come back to Indonesia," she recalls. That was more than a decade ago.
By this time her father had returned to Banda and wanted the family to be together once again on the island.
Des was introduced to the freedom struggle as an eight year old by none other than Sutan Sjahrir and Mohammad Hatta when the two founding fathers were exiled to Banda as political prisoners by the Dutch in the 1930s.
About six years later Des united with Sjahrir, his foster father and mentor, in Jakarta and was at the first meeting between Sukarno, Hatta, Sjahrir and Dr. Tjipto Mangunkusumo in August 1942. After having acted as an underground broadcaster during the freedom struggle he was sent to study in London.
However, soon after independence, Des became increasingly disillusioned with the policies of Sukarno and defected from the Foreign Ministry when he was Indonesian Press Attache in Manila. He fled first to Hong Kong and then to Malaysia where he acted as official spokesman for the anti-Sukarno Permesta rebellion in the early 1960s.
After nearly three decades, he finally returned to Banda to find that the island was badly bombed during the war and reduced to rubble. He decided to stay on and rebuild its colonial forts and buildings and restore some of the island's lost glory.
Inspired by her father's love for the island and his untiring efforts to improve the welfare of the people, Tanya too has made it a full time job. Taking as much care as possible of a home that she nearly lost.
Two years ago she set up PT Eco Bumi Nusantara with the aim of creating a clean environment, and serving as a bridge between the government and the public for the exchange of information on environmental matters. She is working on a coastal and marine resources book and website, and as co-founder and vice chairwoman of The Banda Cultural and Heritage Foundation she has already organized several seminars on marine conservation, workshops for coral reef scientists and published books on the island that was once the world's only source of the aromatic nutmeg seed wrapped in a lace of ruby red mace.
However, at the moment, her most passionate plea is to see that the Banda islands get the national nomination as one of Unesco's World Heritage sites.
Tanya recently spoke to The Jakarta Post at length about herself and her dreams for the conservation of not just the natural and cultural heritage of Banda but of all Indonesia, a country that is home to some of the natural world's most spectacular creations.
Excerpts from the interview:
Question: What is so great about Banda?
Answer: The peace and beauty of the islands is unimaginable. The hospitality and friendliness legendary. I have seen ten children in my village sharing two cookies between themselves.
The island is a historic relic of forts and spice groves and its waters yet another paradise of life in the world under. The people are a joyful and colorful mixture of Malays, Papuans, Europeans, Chinese, Bugis and Arab merchants from around the world. The smoke houses where the spices were first dried and then piled up for sale are still there. It is all very romantic.
Banda has always been great. Way back from 200 years before Christ the Chinese from the early Han dynasty came here in search of spices. Then the Spanish and Portuguese arrived in the 15th century and later the Dutch.
Coral reef scientists tell me that the coastal and marine habitats here are among the most productive and species rich on earth.
At least 48 different types of marine ecosystems have been classified. Indonesia's reefs, representing one-eighth of the world total, are inhabited by a staggering 2,500 species of dazzlingly colored fish and more than 400 species of stony corals, making the region a very precious place of marine biodiversity.
Q: What is the problem?
A: Nearly half of the coral reefs in Indonesia are under threat. Millions of people live in the coastal areas of the country and depend on resources from the sea. With the economic boom these areas are being ruined. The waters are ravaged by pollution and increased sedimentation from forests that are mercilessly logged.
Worst of all tons of cyanide are dumped on the reefs to stun large reef fish for export. Traditional fishermen are now fishing with dynamite as well. Soon all this depletion of natural resources will have a terrible impact not just on Indonesians but on the whole world. The thought of it is painful. I would like to see the import of cyanide banned and we are lobbying very hard to create public awareness amongst farmers and fishermen that it is suicide to cut down all the forests and destroy life under the sea.
Q: How are you working on this colossal problem?
A: By holding seminars and workshops we hope to keep the world's eye on Banda. One of my first jobs in the field was as marine conservation consultant with the WWF. I work very closely with experts in environmental protection. I have no degrees in the subject. But I am good with people, at public relations. Sarah Ferguson and Mick Jagger amongst others have come over for diving. Mike Chand, the English travel writer is a friend.
I encourage people to visit Banda and to write and photograph the beauty of the island and to talk about it to the rest of the world. In their own way, all these friends have been a source of great strength to us during the recent trouble on the islands.
I organized a photo and painting exhibition called Kalimantan on Fire in 1998 during the terrible forest fires that blazed here due to the indiscriminate logging.
As someone who wants to revive the adat practices and strengthen self sufficiency amongst the islanders our foundation tries to send at least half a dozen high school graduates for higher education and training from Banda to Jakarta every year.
Q: What do you say to the youngsters who are training themselves in Java in preparation for a holy war against the Christians in the Maluku islands?
A: That it is all quite there now and there is no need to go there to fight. My mother was a Christian from Manado so I can feel for both communities. When my mother died in 1983 my father, a Muslim, gave her a Christian burial. We might practice two religions but we are still one people with a common language and culture. My message to both communities is: "Please do not be so angry, so violent. There is no need to kill each other".
Q: But when you laugh and joke so much how do you get people to take you seriously?
A: Let us say that my sunny personality helps me to keep all doors open. Or better still, kick all doors open. I think it is to my advantage that I do not have a threatening attitude when I approach people. I feel that approaching people non-offensively, giving them the benefit of the doubt makes people relax and everyone is more willing to help.
Of course there are many who do not take me seriously but they do not matter in my life.
Q: You are not exactly what an Indonesian woman is supposed to be...?
A: I have always been a tomboy. Loud and playful. In fact at one stage in my life my family threatened to send me to Japan to learn the art of being feminine. At the age of about 25 years I felt bad about the way I was; but no longer. Now I am very comfortable with the way I am.
Q: Your great grandfather was the king of pearls but you don't fit into the classical description of a princess, do you?
A: I have the airs of a princess. I have charm. People like me and I love people. Networking with people is what I am best at. Even though this is not a very well paid job.
By the way my father is no ruler or raja. He is a democratically elected leader of seven villages in charge of preserving the adat that includes the building of the warrior ship kora-kora, the dances and other customs.
Q: If your job is not well paid how do you pay your bills?
A: I don't (laughs). Let us say that I am not rich but I am able to manage. I work on projects and often get paid in dollars. I have produced a series of coral reef films in Banda, Ternate and Kepulauan Seribu and collaborated on productions for the BBC, PBS, NHK, ABC and ITV.
I was production manager for Longest Chain of Islands in the World, a Zebra production for BBC Natural, and public relations person for Where Two Worlds Collide, a Tigress film production that has just finished filming Julia Roberts with the Orang Utans in Kalimantan.
Q: What about the personal side of you, marriage...?
A: I prefer to flirt; I have the whole Indonesian Navy, the entire ministry of marine exploration and fisheries. Actually the person I wanted to marry is wedded to his work. I found that out only recently.
So I have little choice but to go on treating the children of my brothers as my own and to continue working to preserve and conserve for the future generation everything in this world that has given me so much personal joy.