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?
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