The Simakakang Declaration - 11th December 2006

Bupati Mentawai, Members of Parliament and tourism industry represetatives at the signing

Pemda Mentawai hosted a special meeting on the 11th of December at Aloita Resort, Simakakang Island. Licensed marine tour operators were invited to submit questions and ideas to the Mentawai administration and key members of parliament. The forum culminated in the signing of the Simakakang Declaration.

A. Pemda have clarified the five companies currently holding a Marine Tour Operators license:

1. Sariana Koat Mentawai (Kandui Resort)
2. Inter Nusa Bahagia (Macas Resort)
3. Mentawai Wisata Bahari (E-Bay Resort, Lances Resort)
4. Bangun Toro Koat (Scarecrows)
5. Bintang Samudera Mentawai (Rags)
   

B. Revision of Perda No 16 - in late 2007 widen scope to give buffer zone type protection other forms of tourism specifically diving and trekking. The Dept of Fisheries announced a coordinated plan to declare Marine Management Areas in a number of sensitive areas in the Mentawais including Nyang Nyang and Katiet. Mooring buoys will be installed to eliminate anchor damage to reefs. Sebastiano lobbied for a Marine Tour license for diving so likely there will be 6 or 7 in the end but with a corresponding reduction in the charter boat numbers.

C. The Mentawai Government to improve enforcement of laws and regulations protecting investors to avoid conflicts over land and overlaps in licensing.

D. Pemda to purchase selected tourism locations and upgrade to land title on behalf of investors. (This service is optional and investors may elect to clear land themselves)

E. Pemda committed to upgrading transport and communications (SMAC will start flying 2 to 3 times per week in March 2007 with a 24 seat aircraft. The fare will be less than $50 one way. Telkom have committed to increasing bandwidth to make internet available for
major towns)

F. Support for a Marine Tourism Industry Association in the form of the 'Simakakang Declaration'.

G. The Mentawai Government to support & encourage the development of other types of tourism (not only surfing)

H. Tourists and Tourism operators must be oriented towards environmental protection.

I. Mentawai to focus on 'exclusive or high end' tourism.

Ed.

Mail to Surfing World Editor & Tim Baker

Reggaee & Tim,

Just read the SW article authored by Tim. Congratulations on the beautiful layout and photographs.

Generally the article is a strong endorsement of everything Mentawai Sanctuary has worked for over the past 12 years.

Unfortunately it is seriously flawed.

The article is advertorial for the Bray brothers (PT OMI)

Read the material at http://mentawai.blogspot.com and you will see why it might have been a good idea to give Mentawai Sanctuary the time of day when you did your research. We are not hard to find. www.mentawai.com

I understand the commercial pressure that you and the mag are under..... we are no different. We are a business and we work hard to make a living under some very extreme circumstances here in Sumatra.

We have had to deal with riots, political revolution, the war in Timor, fiscal meltdowns, several tense elections, El Nino haze, 2 Gulf Wars, Sept 11, the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars, SARs, Bali and Jakarta bombs, mega quakes and tsunamis, avian flu, Papuan refugees and grossly punitive travel warnings. All of these events were beyond our control and all Mentawai surf operators took a beating.

Believe it or not, by far the most disruptive and damaging events for our small business over this troubled decade have been the articles authored by Tim Baker in the surf media.

Tim, we have taken a huge beating from you over the years. We survived it but it cost us more than the damage from all the other globe shaking troubles we faced. ( Reggaee and as far as I know SW has not carried articles that caused us damage in the past.... Tim wrote damaging articles for ASL, Tracks & Surfer).

Why do you feel the need to attack our company and me personally in this very public way?

Tim, you have now publicly supported a Cronulla syndicate in their bid to claim-jump HTs wave rights and to hijack our companies land holdings and Marine Tourism license. Why?

This small cafe was destroyed by 22 villagers on 17th August 2006

In our opinion the Cronulla syndicate are ultimately responsible for the destruction of our resort buildings at Katiet. Resort representatives ordered the destruction and paid the local workers so they are now inextricably implicated in all that followed. Tragically 27 members of Katiet/Sau village now face criminal charges and possible incarceration. This is unprecedented and massive negative fallout for the Katiet community.

More grief than the entire surf industry has inflicted on the Mentawais in the past decade. Illegal logging has finally been shut down, only to see the ugly side of surf tourism replace it. And you support this?

We have proof that the developers are marketing villas and/or inviting investors in Australia to participate in their scheme using misleading legal documents. They refer to these documents on their public website.

Tim's article warmly endorses this Cronulla syndicate's activities and we are appalled that SW would publish what amounts to blatant advertorial supporting them.



GENERAL COMMENTS ON YOUR ARTICLE

Change is rarely 'popular' at first :
I submit that my 'popularity' amongst a handful of Australian surf operators is not important nor the slightest bit relevant to the development of tourism in the Mentawais. Anyone associated with radical change in a booming new market is almost certain to be very unpopular with some stakeholders. I sincerely hope that the surf industry operators who plundered the Mentawais for years and contributed nothing know that I live for the day they either wake up or leave forever.

Frankly I have always felt far more at home with my circle of local Sumatran friends than with some of the Aussie surf operators who have come and gone over the years.

We help support a very large extended family in West Sumatra and after the tsunami we made many new friends in Aceh and Nias. To call someone 'widely unpopular' while ignoring the communities where they live and work is not cricket. Aussies pride themselves on giving others 'a fair go' and that is all I ask of your magazine.

Who is Voting?
The new Mentawai legislation passed by popular vote. Popular in the Mentawais that is.

It was very unpopular among the Aussie surf boat operators for sure (back in 2003 there were no land camps) It is hardly surprising that the boat operators were suspicious and negative.

I was part of a group of registered (licensed) operators who were asked to help the parliamentary committee charged with preparing PERDA No 16. Most Aussie operators were not licensed under local companies back then so they were not invited to participate. Earlier attempts by the Mentawai government to introduce permits had failed because they lacked public support and had no legal teeth. We all learned a lot from those controversial strategies.

My personal contribution to PERDA No 16 was to win the support of the Maldives Government's Department of Tourism who sent me the full package of laws and regulations that have proven so successful in that small island nation. (Tourism contributes over 65% of their GNP). No big deal. A no-brainer really if you think about it.

The parliamentary committee then asked the Bung Hatta University Law Faculty to help adapt the Maldives legislation to be functional under Indonesian law. Our team advised the lawyers on the practical field issues that needed to be considered. It was a lot of hard work and none of us were paid to do it. We considered it a rare opportunity to finally get the development strategy right and we were all honored to be invited to participate.

You would have to read the full document to understand what went into it. Have you?

Clearly the tide has turned and now most of the foreign stakeholders you interviewed are supportive of PERDA No 16. I am amazed that you did not talk to Un or Bangun or Dedi or in fact one single Indonesian citizen! No government or village representatives were given a chance to have their voices heard. Quite incredible when you think about it.

So is the legislation that our committee helped author still 'widely unpopular' ? Has the Mentawai Sanctuary strategy proved unworkable?

I would argue that PERDA No 16 is now deemed 'widely acceptable' and for sure it is well on the way to being very popular with the Mentawai authorities.

Impact of PERDA No 16 to date:
Before PERDA No 16 there was virtually no way to tax the foreign boats here... or any of the local boat based tourism operators in fact. This is because of a loophole in the local tax laws that makes it almost impossible for local tax officers to get access to off-shore sales transactions. Put simply, the profits stayed off-shore and untaxed. Now the boats will have to choose a licensed operator to work with in the Mentawais and they will be expected to pay VAT and special surf zone taxes. Surely you are not going to argue against that?

A little research will show you that both Macaronis Resort and Katiet Villas raised money from investors based on their 'exclusive' wave rights to Macas and HTs respectively.

It could be argued that those resorts may never have got up and running without that extra incentive to tempt investors.... call it greed or whatever. Investors DO care about making money and the more the better. Ironically both groups either misunderstood or misrepresented their claims to these surf gems.

Implementation:
What counts is that the Mentawai people have decided to adopt new surf legislation via their own elected parliament. I am confident that once all 5 marine tour licenses are granted, the regulations will be implemented by the companies that make the grade. We are one of those companies. One of five. Surely you would not argue with that?

Implementation will take time. We earned our license after 10 years of operations. Some newbies were sold fake licenses and they were naive enough to believe it would be that easy. Buyer beware.

For instance the Cronulla syndicate state on their website that they hold one of the five Mentawai Marine Tour licenses. Strangely their SK license has the same numerical code as ours. When pressed they admitted to the local media that they only have a 'verbal license' and so could not show anyone the document. They said they were not at liberty to tell the media who had issued the verbal license. This kind of nonsense is not helping implementation nor the credibility of the new laws but at least they are getting headlines in Padang and that is raising awareness.

So much for their investor's hopes of making a Tavarua-like fortune! They and the people of Katiet are the losers in the short term.

Without question, the five companies will enjoy strong demand and they will move towards co-operation and sharing of wave rights. If the investors in the five companies finally make some money, more infrastructure will follow. Anyone who has spent time here knows how desperately the local population need infrastructure and now that logging has all but disappeared, tourism revenues are the islanders best hope for the funding their schools, hospitals, ferries and airports.

Why we are here:
In summary we happily acknowledge that the development strategy that we helped to shape was ahead of its time.

We can live with the flack we took for sticking our necks out and having a go. It was very heavy flack. Would anyone have gone through that just for financial reward? I don't think so.

If we make serious money in the end, fine. So far that has not happened and 12 years is a long time to wait. Think about it.

It is the challenge that keeps us here, just like most of the veteran operators with boats or camps.

For us the reward is to see the changes take place more or less in the way we predicted. If our ideas influence the future of the Islands in a positive way we will be vindicated. So far it looks promising but we know that the work is far from done.

Please understand, I dont seek public praise for any of this. I do ask that you check your facts and cease hurting our business by denigrating our hard work and defaming me personally.

Surf Media's Roll:
So where does SW stand? Are you ready to stand up and be counted? Is SW prepared to sacrifice an advertiser to expose the truth?

How about you Tim? I'm sure that you are not on the Katiet developers's payroll.

The press release below has been issued by our local company PT MWB.

Also attached below, local headlines. "Illegal Logging Wiped Out, Illegal Tourism Arrives"

Rick

My definition of a free society is a society
where it is safe to be unpopular.

- Adlai E. Stevenson

ps No Australian surf mag was prepared to print Mike Froods interview "Turning the Tide" (The Surfers Path - No 55) so clearly I am 'widely unpopular' with Aussie surf mag editors:-) See: http://electriclambstory.blogspot.com

So how about running it now you have heard our side of the story?

Webby Win for Island Aid Volunteers

NotSeenNotHeard has been awarded the coveted Webby People's Choice award in the 10th Annual Webby contest. This year the Webby's attracted a record number of applicants and Zach and Chris's beautiful work dominated the highly competitive 'Student' category.

"The Online Oscars" - Time Magazine

While other categories sport winners that read like the whos-who of the www, the student category gives low budget non-commercial websites a chance to show new talent. Zach and Chris will be rubbing shoulders with the creators of web superstar sites like Google Maps, National Geographic, MySpace, CondeNet & Flickr at the gala presentation night in NY.

Congratulations Zach and Chris!

I know how hard you worked and I know you were motivated by the thought of helping the tsunami and quake victims and not by any idea that your work would be recognized like this. You deserve this award in every way and it is doubly gratifying that your efforts have already raised over $2,000 towards skin grafts for the girls in Gomo.

For those who have not hear yet, Zach and Chris have published a special site for that purpose.

Visit:
http://gomogirlsfund.com

Donors can track the girls progress at our new dedicated site: http://groups.mac.com/gomogirlsfund
(site requires free registration at .Mac and is password protected)

Brays Contracts Tourism SWAT Team

Tourism SWAT Teams - World First

Apparently anticipating in-house problems, Bray brothers Katiet Villas today announced a radical new approach to guest security. Their Indonesian company PT OMI have engaged bodyguard & protection specialists, Dynamiq Pty Ltd of Crows Nest, Sydney to handle interaction with local communities. Dynamiq specialize in Hostile Environment Training (HET) and Corporate Protection Teams (CPTs) using retired Army Special Forces (SAS) mercenaries.

Adam Bray again faced the media to announce this 'World First' tourism initiative. "Nobody ever thought of this before" said a flushed an apparently pumped up Bray. "I took the HET course after the locals tried to take me out in Teluk Nibung over some kind of pathetic misunderstanding. It made me start thinking and later I linked up with Anthony in the gym"

Anthony (FNW - family name withheld), head trainer at Dynamiq, joined Bray to face the press. "Adam is a challenged student but our trainers are the best and we are very pleased with his progress". A PPP (power point presentation) narrated by Anthony (FNW) showed images of Adam at HET quarters learning to identify friend and foe cardboard cutouts before injecting their eyeballs with battery acid. "He is starting to score better than 50/50 now and we have only been training for 3 weeks"

Bray went on to explain how a 5 man SWAT Team would be choppered in to Katiet fully armed should there be any suspicion of conflict with local tribesmen. "I took photos of some Mentawai people and we have used them to make cardboard cutouts to help in my training" Bray said showing a close up of an old man being terminated by lethal injection. "We want the SAS blokes to be able to tell the difference between the Brazilian guests and the local tribes. We dont have to deal with messy FF (Friendly Fire) incidents like what happened at Hitlantis Resort a few years ago".

"We lost all our investment in that island resort after the locals unleashed swarms of sand flies. We soaked everything in pesticide and were lucky to escape alive when the wood fire ignited the fumes and burned down the hut with our friends dog inside. I hated that dog so it was a kinda 'friendly fire' I'd say" chuckled Bray.

Asked about the cost of the SWAT team Bray became defensive. "That is a need-to-know issue and you will first have to prove to me that you need-to-know"

An un-named Dynamiq SWAT team member displays his personal
negotiation kit for use against tribal insurgents. Face withheld.
He claimed that the name was deliberately misleading to confuse the TIs

Anthony FNW was more forthcoming. "Well I need to know right now. No more pussyfooting around this Adam. We'll take a flat 33% off the top for our services. Normally we only ask 25% but because all the guests at Katiet Villas are BNs (Brazilian Nuts) we have negotiated a higher rate. It is hard to tell BNs apart from the TIs (Tribal Insurgents) and LS (Local Staff) so we have to do a lot of ET (Extra Training) with the CCs (Cardboard Cutouts). And those BAR rooms are very pokey and dark. In the end there are very good reasons why it costs a bit more to stay at Katiet Villas than other LSLs (Less Secure Locations)"

Bray then handed out brochures that will be mailed to guests before they fly direct from Singapore to the Katiet beach drop zone. "Its all explained in here..... we want the guests to all wait in their rooms till the SWAT blokes have cleared the beach... if we have to use stun grenades there is no need to worry. Our in-house ex-SAS surgeon had loads of experience with internal bleeding in Cambodia" .... "In the fine print you can see we offer all our guests the Dynamiq HET training course at a discount so it is a real win win for everyone"

The Brays have placed an order for this $570,000 SWAT support vehicle
from the US. "I had to hide in a cabin to save my life in Teluk Nibung and
I dont want to go through that again. This is my personal vehicle and I'm
going to live in it" Bray said to reporters.
He denied rumors that it would be used to manage Brazilian surfers,
claiming that the paint job was just a joke.

Adilldumb the Dunce - A Childrens Story from the Mentawais

DILLDAPP ADUMB - A DONKEY'S TALE

n an old typically Western Sydney suburb whose peaceful image was reflected in the spillage waters of a carwash, there lived a poor couple by the name of Braydle.

Bad luck was his constant companion, and had she, a seam-stress, not had her needles, life would often have been very difficult. But both of them lived in hope of better times and dreamed, as people in need so often do, of the good fortune and a color TV, which would one day come. For the time being, there was new trouble every day.

Their greatest worry was their second son, Dilldapp Adumb. First born Heydung had long fled the nest and was into something called 'Rushmeteavee' that lost vast fortunes and cost him some fame, but he at least could walk, talk and chew a wad.

Dilldapp Adumb was a good boy, but he had a blockhead instead of a brain, so that he got everything wrong and did everything wrong. Nothing worked. Sweeties & a taste of this and that given to him by father and mother didn't help; nor were clips on his ear, clouts on his head, or bangs on his nose of the slightest use.

"You dunce, you donkey, you clown, you dimwit, you buffoon", and so it went on all day long. Dilldapp Adumb was unconcerned and passed the time eating, drinking and licking plates clean, so that he became as heavy as a sack of flour, as fat as an eel, as shiny as an onion, as red as the coat of a trumpeter and as shapeless as a stuffed pug.

His parents took to calling him Adilldumb. It was very difficult to get him to move away from his seat near the fire. - "Adilldumb, bring me some wax!" And stupid Adilldumb would bring flax. - "Bring me thread!" Adilldumb would bring bread. He never brought what he was supposed to bring. Instead of a hat, he would bring in a dead rat; instead of a box, two cocks; instead of driving home the goat, he would arrive with a coat; instead of fetching a jar, he would return with an iron bar etc. One day his mother wanted to do the washing and called to him: "Adilldumb Adum fetch me a bucket of water!" Adilldumb went off, and came back hours later with a barrow of mortar...

Mrs Braydle took a up her heckel and gave him a blow on the head with it. It made such a loud noise that Adilldumb got a fright and ran down the stairs. He grabbed his skate board and ran off, ran up hill and down dale, through forests and fields, lands and sands, sticks and stones, thistles and thorns and did not stop until he could see nothing in the darkness of the night. He had run over the sun and into the coloured window panes of the sunset. The stars hung up their thousand lanterns in the sky and the moon patrolled as nightwatchman to see who was running so desperately.



Adilldumb ran on and on. Towards morning he came to a beach. The fish laughed at Adilldumb's stupid face and called to him: "Adilldumb, don't take a boat; you would do better to jump across on your skateboard!" Adilldumb believed them, thought it would indeed be better; he jumped high but very short and landed in the water. Plop!! - He made quite a splash. He swam and swam blindly but before Adilldumb crawled out of the water onto a nearby island, the fish ate all the food in his pockets and mocked him laughing even louder than before.

Now Adilldumb finally came to, stopped, stood still on the white beach and looked around him on all sides. - "You've made a fine fool of yourself, you idiot!" giggled an seagull. A minah bird called from a nearby tree: "Hey! Adilldumb, you must be very hungry! Why don't you reach into yonder hole in the sand where you will find fresh lamingtons!" Adilldumb believed him and stuck his hand quickly into the hole. It was a mud crab's den: Crusty Ricksneger the bone crusher was already waiting for him and took off the end of his finger. "Ouch!" cried Adilldumb and fell over backwards in fright, right into a large fire-antheap. The fire ants instantly enveloped him completely.

This entertaining spectacle gave rise to great excitement. Fruit bats and finches, woodpeckers and parrots, dragon flies and beetles, musangs and monitors chuckled and laughed; even the sea slugs, mud skippers and jellyfish splashed loudly and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Ha-ha and ho-ho and quackettyquack: " You fool, you dildo, you clown, you dimwit, you buffoon!" and so it resounded with laughter on all sides in the island. Adilldumb wormed his way out, wiped the crawling insects out of his eyes, tried to escape, stumbled and fell on to a piece of rock, as he thought. But what he had taken for a boulder was in fact a resting wild donkey which now sprang up and off, carrying Adilldumb away on its back. So no sooner had Adilldumb more or less rescued himself from his black antheap than the donkey made off with him to an air conditioned cave in the deepest darkest jungle.

Here sat a big fat bugiman who went by the name of Pork Kung, magically illuminated, of such goodness of heart that it could be measured with yardsticks. - "Oh, Behold this child! how horrid!" - The face of the bugiman was as large as a bale of pepper, its nose as wide as a bellows, its eyes as large and round as the wheels on a barrow, its mouth gaped open like the postman's bag. Adilldumb sprang off the donkey and started to talk his usual nonsense, whereupon the bugiman realised that such foolish prattle could only come from a Dilldapp.

It shook with laughter, and Adilldumb laughed as well. - "So be it! Stay here", said the hulk. So Adilldumb entered into its service. All he had to do was to scratch the bugiman's back, since it was too wide to do so itself. But it was not ungrateful and in return scratched honest Adilldumb's back, and the two of them usually fell asleep over their labors. Pork Kung taught Adilldumb to shadow box and lie no matter what was asked of him.

After a year, the ugly giant said to Adilldumb: "Your parents are waiting for you at home. Go back to them. You have served me faithfully and I will reward you by keeping your gold watch and giving you a present of my magic donkey. But I give you this gift on one condition: you must never take hold of the donkey's tail and imagine it is the handle of a pump!" - "Thank you", said Adilldumb. Thinking the donkey a poor trade for his gold watch but fearing the bugiman, Adilldumb hatched a plan to even the trade. He crept into Pork Kung's room as the giant snored and stole the deeds to the entire island. After all Pork Kung had taught him well. Before the bugiman woke Adilldum set off with the donkey. In the next clearing, Adilldumb stopped. So that he would not forget what he was forbidden to do, he repeated the monster's words: "You are not to think the donkey's tail is a pump-handle!"

As he was recalling the words to his mind, he happened to catch the tail of the donkey and pumped. Out of the donkey fell hard, shiny, gold coins - a great number of them.

Adilldumb was too stupid to be astonished. He took off his jacket, tied the sleeves together and made a money bag out of it. He rode to the very best hotel in Jakarta, ordered a huge bowl of super mie and hung his heavy money-bag over his head on the wall. Adilldumb ate to his heart's content and also fed his donkey well. When the innkeeper, Osolomelio, came with the bill, Adilldumb asked: "Good sir, what do you owe me?" "With respect and your permission," replied the innkeeper, "it is I who is to get something from you" - "How much?" was Adilldumb's The innkeeper had recognised Adilldumb for the dunce he was and told him what the bill was, explaining his calculation: "Twenty-times supermie, sir, makes Rp250,000 no wine and bread - comes to Rp50,000 in all; no lodgings - Rp75,000, a bundle of straw and stabling for the fine donkey - Rp100,000, my cap doffed 25 times - Rp125,000; and 25 inquiries about your name comes to Rp750,000 in all. - If you please!"

- "That is very cheap", said Adilldumb, reaching into his money-bag. - "My goodness! What is that heavy thing you have hanging on the wall?" asked the innkeeper, "that must be a dreadful burden during your travels!" - "You are quite right, innkeeper. Would you be so good as to take the bag? You can take out the Rp750,000 and throw away the rest.!" - Whereupon Adilldumb mounted his donkey and trotted off in the best of humours towards the town of his birth.

When he reached Sydney, he rode without delay through the back lanes past the dunnies to his parents' house, tied up the donkey and ran straight into the kitchen. Father Braydle and his mother no sooner caught sight of him than they embraced him. Adilldumb wept for joy. All at once he cried out: "My dear parents, you will never have to work again; I have brought you a donkey which will give you more gold than you have ever dreamt of. - It is waiting outside!" They both rushed out and did indeed see a donkey. Adilldumb gripped the donkey's tail, pumped and cried: "Gold! Gold! Gold!" -


Now the news went up Quiksolder' Lane and down Rapcurlers' Alley and right across the town to Cronulla: "Adilldumb, Braydle's dunce, has brought good fortune home with him!" Indeed - children and fools can catch hold of good fortune. The whole town came running and crowded around Braydles' house. The people showed their true nature: they were full of resentment and envy. Some were so overcome with greed that they purchased shares in the magic donkey! Sydneys biggest purveyors of travel and the finest waterwear begged Adilldumb to solicit on their behalf.

Reporters and spies, tax collectors and officials from all sorts of institutions and government departments gave the Braydle's no peace. And things got worse and worse. Finally the police arrived full of suspicion, began to investigate and said:

Ho! ... Ha! Let's X-Ray this donkey forthwith!

Now the Braydle family realised that what they had dreamed of was not in fact great good fortune; they understood now that what is called happiness in this world is a peaceful and tranquil life, but never ever gold.

Now they wished that the magic donkey was nothing but an ordinary donkey. One morning, on his father's instructions, Adilldumb Braydle took the animal by the bridle to bring it back into the forest. The whole town followed the two of them. Some of the boys took the donkey by the tail and pumped. Loud laughter arose and they all called out: "Adumb, you blockhead, that is not gold: that is just donkey dung!"

NotSeenNotHeard wins Gold - Horizon Interactive Awards

Zach & Chris win Horizon Interactive Gold award for
www.notseennotheard.com

While the website maintains its lead in Webby Award voting, the boys
found out more or less by accident that they won another award recently.

The Webby Awards are the most prestigious by far in the on-line world
and are compared to the Oscars of the Web.

See http://horizoninteractiveawards.com/winners/video.htm

Vote: http://peoplesvoice.webbyawards.com/login.mhtml

IslandAid operated by ELM
450 Taraval St. San Francisco 94116, USA
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+62-81534059018 (mobile)
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Skype / AIM : elmaceh
www.island-aid.org

Time Magazine's "LIVING ON A FAULT LINE"

JOHN STANMEYER—VII FOR TIME

HELPING HANDS: Geologist Sieh, center, explains tectonic plate movements to local residents

How frightened should we be?

http://www.time.com/time/asia/2005/disaster/story.html

Posted Monday, December 12, 2005; 20:00 HKT

The village of Maligi (Pasaman) on the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra seems idyllic—two dozen houses strung along a palm- and casuarina-covered strip of land, on one side the crashing waves of the Indian Ocean, on the other a rippling river mouth. When a rare group of visitors appears in the bright mid-morning sunlight, a dozen children chase after the car, laughing and waving. (does this remind you of Katiet/HTs? it should, ocean one side and wide swamp the other- Ed)

"So many kids," American geologist Charles Rubin mutters gloomily as he waves back. "They don't have a chance."

"Nope," agrees fellow geologist Kerry Sieh, also waving and smiling. "They'd all be killed. There's just nowhere to run here. It's water on both sides."

"If they knew what was coming, they might be able to climb the coconut trees and survive," Rubin continues, "assuming the tsunami wasn't too high, say in the four-meter range. They need to build platforms on the trees and maybe cut steps in the tree trunks. They need information. You should give them one of your posters, Kerry."

Sieh nods. A professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology, he probably knows more than any person on the planet about how and why earthquakes and tsunamis happen so often, to such deadly effect, in this part of the world. Sieh and his colleagues on this field trip know how many lives have already been saved by posters and other efforts to educate those who live in a 2,000-km-long danger zone running from Aceh on the northern end of Sumatra to an island off its southern tip called Anak Krakatau, or Child of Krakatau. And they'd like to save some more.

For Sumatra is at risk. In the space of just three months at the beginning of 2005, two giant earthquakes rocked the region. A tremor on Dec. 26 produced a tsunami that knocked the earth off its axis and killed nearly a quarter of a million people. Then, on March 28, came another huge earthquake, this time farther south. There was no large tsunami generated by that temblor—dubbed the Nias quake after the island off the Sumatra coast that was worst affected—but over a thousand islanders died. After two such devastating blows, the inhabitants of Sumatra might be forgiven for assuming that nature will leave them in peace. It probably won't. Sieh, 54, and other scientists are warning that the island's troubles are not over. It isn't as though anybody needed a reminder, but the Oct. 8 earthquake that leveled large swathes of Pakistan and Northern India, leaving some 73,000 dead and millions homeless, could be a small taste of what is to come in Sumatra.

Even by Indonesia's chaotic standards, 2005 was a tough year. First came the gargantuan task of cleaning up and rebuilding after the tsunami—a job rendered more challenging by incompetence, bureaucracy and corruption. Then came the sudden eruption of bird flu that constantly threatened to explode into a major epidemic, and fresh bombings in Bali, which sent the country's tourism industry into a tailspin. But such problems would pale in the face of yet another monster earthquake striking Sumatra. That could kill hundreds of thousands of people. Such a quake, moreover, might trigger not just another tsunami but force a volcano to erupt, as happened with Mt. Talang, which was jolted out of an almost 40-year slumber by the Nias temblor.

How sure can we be that another catastrophe is coming? A combination of historical, geographical and geological research accumulated over some 12 years of painstaking field and laboratory work emphatically suggests that a section of the coast several hundred kilometers long, and populated by more than a million inhabitants, is threatened by the possibility of another shock.

"There has never been a more certain geological prediction," Sieh declares. "There will be another gigantic earthquake and tsunami south of the equator off the west coast of Sumatra. It could be tomorrow or it could be in two decades from now, but there is no doubt that it will happen and that if the towns and villages along the coast aren't prepared, many, many people will die again."

Read more:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/2005/disaster/story2.html

THE ELECTRIC LAMB STORY - 1949 till Today

One of our ELM volunteers works for ASL, Australia's largest surf magazine. We worked up this interview in September - October last year and the idea was to publish in ASL in time for the tsunami anniversary. The Editor gave the go ahead....... then a strange thing happened.

ASL's publisher pulled the article. Seems he was pressured by friends of Paul King, a surf travel operator who features in my interview. Paul is in prison for drug smuggling and I suppose his friends just could not stand the thought of his arch rival finally telling my side of the Mentawai surf charter saga.

So "surf politics" derailed the publishing of a story that would have helped us raise funds to help the tsunami victims!

The good news is that the article will now run in several international surf magazines. Other Australian surf publications are looking at running it as well. (Now published in The Surfers Path No 55)

Bear in mind that the language I speak here is "Aussie surf lingo". Just one of a several languages that I have picked up over the years!

Before the tsunami I operated a surf charter tourism business. See http://www.mentawai.com
All involved are now very deeply concerned that the Mentawais and Padang will be the next to be devastated by a mega quake and tsunami.

We are dedicating all our island holdings to management and development by our non-profit for the benefit of the local communities. All proceeds from the charter of my yacht are used to support ELM. I would like to shut down my surf charter operation and devote the yacht to purely non profit work in the Mentawais but until we secure adequate funding I can't afford to do that. The yacht has to earn the money we need to continue.

Click for the full story

The Problem with Pirate Parrots

THE PROBLEM WITH PIRATE PARROTS

A custom assembly. Dedicated to the L.D.Ps of this world.
Thanks www.psychobird.com/placedateforcomic.htm

Impact of the Surf Industry on Katiet - 1994-2005

A S i m p l e S t o r y - Impact of the Surf Industry on Katiet - 1994-2005

One of the best surf breaks in the Mentawais (ranked in the top 10 in the world) is called HTs (hollow trees). It is located near the village of Katiet, home to about 200 families. Only cash revenues are from copra, cloves, petuli oil and a few lobster. Rice, sugar, kerosene, fuel, clothing, medicine, tools etc etc all have to purchase from the mainland 100 miles away.


In 1994 Jane skippered Electric Lamb with her 2 surfing sons and friends as guests. The boat stopped at HTs and Jane went ashore for a walk. She noticed that the locals used wooden bowls for food preparation and admiring the shape she asked if they could make one for her. One of the local men, Manase, offered a well worn wooden bowl to Jane as a gift and said he would make a new one ready for her return. Some malaria pills changed hands after Jane noticed one of the children running a high fever at the back of the tiny hut.

Jane decided to check the local museum for reference books describing Mentawai artifacts and found a whole range of unique carved palm wood knives, spears, bowls, drums and many other items that the locals had evidently forgotten existed. Armed with photocopies of the artifacts, Jane went back to the village and asked if Manase could make some of the items and the souvenir industry started. This was mid 1994.

Next season Jane was back. On each stop in the village she checked the progress of the locals and purchase all the pieces with merit. Soon 5 or more other local men had decided to try their hand and some showed a natural talent that was quite remarkable. Jane took the carvings back to MWB's office in Padang and put them on display so that guests could buy something even if they had been too busy surfing to think of it during their stay at HTs.


At the end of the season Manase and a group of his friends came to Padang with big rice bags full of carvings for our consideration. Jane made a point of buying the best and pointing out how the rest could be modified or improved next time round. This process continued through the off season.

In 97 the village chief, Pak Jusar, wrote MWB a letter thanking everyone involved for supporting the now thriving village industry and reporting that the total income during the surf season was averaging over Rp4 million per month. There were about 20 boats working in the area at that time. The business continued to thrive and next off season nobody came to Padang to sell product. They wanted to keep the items for the following year and sell direct!


Pak Jusar visited Padang recently and he got talking about the progress of the industry. He estimates that over 50 men and boys are now working almost full time on carving and that Manase made over Rp10 million during 2003. Pak Jusar estimates that total sales to visiting surfers will exceed Rp200 million this year. Copra production revenues are probably below Rp400million for same period due to a downturn in commodity prices over the past 2 years.

Wood carving is on the way to dominating the economy of the village!