Traditional shipbuilders move on
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.