Traditional shipbuilders move on

By Arifuddin Saeni

BULUKUMBA, South Sulawesi (JP): The success story of the traditional shipbuilding industry in Tana Beru, Bulukumba regency, South Sulawesi, is being rewritten with an unhappy ending.

Dozens of owners of shipbuilding businesses have relocated to other areas due to declining orders. Nearly half of about 300 shipbuilding workers are selling their services in Malaysia, Kalimantan, Polmas, Majene and Mamuju. In general, they have left for places in coastal areas.

Tana Beru, the longtime center for building Phinisi Nusantara, the Bugis cargo ships which sail to Vancouver, Canada, still shows glimpses of its past grandeur here and there. Big piles of wooden planks are to be found, ready for use when the next order comes through.

"Although traditional shipbuilding is not as busy as it used to be, its heartbeat is still felt here. You can see for yourself," said Andi Rahman, one of the shipbuilding business owners at Tana Beru.

On a two-kilometer-long stretch of the coastline, many shipbuilding businesses still show some activities, with hundreds of workers employed in the industry. Andi Rahman acknowledged that the country's economic chaos dealt a significant impact on the businesses, employing about 1,500 heads of households.

Tana Beru is 180 kilometers from Ujungpandang and it takes four hours to cover the distance by motor vehicle. This relatively short distance has encouraged both domestic and foreign tourists to see for themselves the traditional shipbuilding process.

Orders have come from countries such as the U.S., Canada and Japan. "We are now building a ship according to a VOC (Dutch East India Company) model for a client in Japan," said Andi Rahman.

Most of the orders are from within Indonesia: cargo, interinsular passenger ships and fishing boats.

In one year production averages five to 10 ships. Fifteen shipbuilding owners are involved in the process. The number increases if the process is expedited in line with customer demands.

Andi Rahman said the price depends on the ship's weight; orders from abroad are usually calculated in U.S. dollars.

Based on the dollar price the industrialists can cover the cost of wood which generally comes from Kalimantan. "The price of wood is now excessively high," Rahman said.

Foreign customers often express admiration for the uniqueness of the traditional shipbuilding. Armed only with skills inherited from their ancestors, the Tana Beru people -- without any formal training -- are able to build ships weighing hundreds of tons.

Before building starts, both the customer and the shipbuilder are obliged to participate in a ritual in the hope that the vessel will be finished on time and be safe when it sets sail.

Community figure H. Ahmad admitted that many happenings at Tana Beru defy common sense. How is it possible that untrained, illiterate people have a knack for designing ships? How do you explain that when customers have doubts about the ritual ceremony, the finishing of a ship can be delayed or the ship runs aground at sea?

The story of the superiority of the Tana Beru people in building superior ships is only part of the tales related by seafaring people. For Abdullah, a sailor, the sea is the place to test his skills. How can he guess the distance to the coast simply by touching the seawater? How can they set sail simply by the formation of the stars?

"We often know the condition of nature, whether there will be a typhoon at sea or not, just by reading the direction of the wind or the clouds," he said.

Between October and November, many men from Tana Beru leave their wives at home and set sail for journeys lasting months at a time. Consequently, many of the women in the area become pregnant and give birth at the same time.