Eid Mubarak!

The Eid al-Fitr is the “Festival of Breaking the Saum/fast. ”It is one of two major Islamic holidays which marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month in which Muslims saum from sunrise to sunset. It is a festive celebration that occurs during the first three days of Shawwal, the month following Ramadan.

The Eid preparations in Indonesia particularly, begin days in advance. Each household donates food or money to buy food for those in need so that everyone can have a holiday meal and share in the celebration. Family members participate in the making of sweets and specialties. Houses are cleaned and decorated, new clothes for most children and many adults. To put it simple, Eid al-Fitr is creating a festive environment for the celebration and influx of guests soon to come.

Muslims, dressed in their best attire, begin the first day of the Eid with special prayers performed at the local masjid or at large indoor or outdoor gatherings. A sermon is given after the completion of Eid prayers. Muslims then greet their fellow worshipers with “Eid Mubarak,” meaning “May your holiday be blessed.”

The "eid mubarak" term usually follows with "maaf lahir batin" or "sorry for every wrong doings and misbehavings in the past". Why apologize? This is one tough question, but like it or not the "sorry" part remain as it is. In my case, better ask for forgiveness from family and friends anually than not. No serious discussion on why we apologize or not, simply let me wish all Muslim readers of this blog:

Eid Mubarak!

Sorry for all the wrongdoings and misbehavings in the past.

May your holidays be blessed.

While for non-Muslim readers:

Happy Holiday and enjoy the quiet ambience and street of Jakarta while some of us are "mudik", or "pulang kampung" or "back to their hometown".

Can we hope for a "greener" Indonesia?

Indonesia's environmental problem is considered large. From illegal logging that causing the destruction of our rain forest, poor environmental law enforcement, floods, landslides, toxic garbage, air pollution, high level of emission from industry and motor vehicles, and the corrupting quality of our water supplies. There are several indicators that can be used to measure how big exactly our problem is.

Environmental Performance Index

There are several environmental indicators we can use to see how serious our problem is. n this post, I am using EPI (Environmental Performance Index) as a barometer. EPI is an index to environmental performance of countries around the globe, produced by Yale University.

EPI is not without flaws. The weighting is considered bias to more advanced and wealthy countries. EPI has several categories. For in stance, environmental health was given a 50% weight while climate change only 25%.

Being more well equipped (with finance and technology) the more advanced countries thus have more capacity in preventing environmental pollution to their nation’s health compared to developing or even under developed countries. On the other side, advanced countries have the largest portion of energy consumption and therefore contribute the highest to global climate shifting. This aspect was given a smaller weighting. There are several other reasons why the EPI is considered bias.

Though considered bias, at least it’s a start and basic to see whether a country’s policies are environmental friendly, especially to those that have yet established similar indicators, while waiting for a far better and improved index than EPI.

According to EPI, two largest problems (amongst many) we are facing right now is air pollution and water supply quality.

Air Pollution

Air pollution is perhaps our most serious problem. Air pollution imposes costs of at least $400 million to Indonesian economy every year (World Bank). It also has very a serious impact on public health.

Motor vehicle is the largest contributor of air pollution in Indonesia. Many of these vehicles are motorcycles or scooters, which lack the catalytic converters required for cleaner emissions. Moreover, almost no motor vehicles in Indonesia use unleaded gasoline.



Jakarta's air remains among the dirtiest in the world. Forest fires also contribute to Indonesian air pollution. Often these fires result from illegal logging of Indonesia's rain forests. Indonesia's industrial sector, which contains chemical, petroleum, coal, plastic and rubber products, and food industries, also is a significant polluter. Unfortunately, there is limited quantitative data on their overall impact.

Water Supply

Water supply and sanitation in Indonesia is characterized by poor levels of access and service quality. Over 100 million people lack access to safe water and more than 70 percent of the country’s 220 million population relies on water obtained from potentially contaminated source. With only 2% access to sewerage in urban areas is one of the lowest in the world among middle-income countries. Pollution is widespread on Bali and Java. Women in Jakarta reportedly spending US$ 11 per month on boiling water, implying a significant burden for the poor (ADB).

There is another effective yet simple indicator to see how big our problem is. Just google Indonesia and environment in the same sentence and you will be amazed that problems are 90% of the search result. I also conduct some searching in "environmental graffiti" and find a similar match. In the environmental department, Indonesia is mainly famous of its problems and poor environment quality.

We CAN change those results into a more positive ones. How can we change that?!

Ternate, My Fashionable Hometown (II)

Ternate Island, which lies within North Maluku propinsi (province), is situated 14 miles (23 km) west of Halmahera. The island is dominated by a volcano (5,646 feet [1,721 metres]) with three peaks. It has suffered from frequent volcanic activity since the 15th century, the worst eruption occurring in 1763. The southern and eastern coasts of Ternate Island have forests and luxuriant vegetation. Rice, corn (maize), sage, coffee, pepper, nutmeg, and fruit are grown. (taken from Encyclopedia Britannica)


Ternate town, which is the capital and main commercial centre of North Maluku propinsi, includes about half of the population of Ternate Island. The people are mixed but probably largely of Malay ancestry. Most are Muslims, though some are Christians; the island has a language of its own, written in Arabic script. Although once a leading centre of clove cultivation, the island now trades principally in nutmeg and copra.


Tourist Attractions in Ternate

Tolire Besar Lake

Tolire Besar Lake is a spectacular crater lake in the north of the island. It is located in a deep crater, so the water seems just about impossible to reach, but is said to be home to crocodiles. The lake is surrounded by forest on the side towards the peak of Gamalama, and is a good area for bird watching. We can see a cockatoo here.



Mount Gamalama

On the south of Ternate City, the Portuguese built the unfinished Kayu Merah Fortress on 1510. The peak of Gamalama is 1271 m high and can be reached by trail. It has three craters and its surrounding environment is very beautiful. Stones from Gamalama's eruption are scattered across the landscape.




The Sultan's Palace

Ternate's major sight is the Sultan's palace, overlooking the sea from the foot of Gamalama. The palace is a colonial style building supposedly planned to resemble a sitting lion. Part of the royal family still lives inside, but visitors are welcome to enter the main hall, where a selection of royal memorablia such as clothing, weapons and flags can be seen. The main object of interest, the Sultan's crown is firmly locked away from peering eyes.



Batu Angus

"Burned Rock" is a thick flow of lava from one of Gamalama's previous eruptions that reaches right down to the seaside north of the town on the way to Sulamadaha. If you don't climb up to Gamalama's crater, this is the best place to get an idea of how destructive its eruptions can be.




The Sultan's Mosque

Just a short walk to the south of the palace, the royal mosque with its several-tiered roof is a typical old-style Indonesian mosque. Inside is interesting, old woodwork. Visitors are welcome to enter except during prayer services.



Benteng Toloko

This heavy-handedly restored small Portuguese fort standa by the seaside in Dufa-dufa village in the south of the town. There is not a lot to see inside, but the views are good and the exhibit about the restauration works interesting enough.



Orange Fort

This large Dutch fort, originally built in 1607, stands unrestored in the centre of the town. Interestingly, it doesn't serve as a tourist attraction, but houses several families living inside, as well as an Army unit! Still, tourists can enter it through the main gates, climb to the walls and check out the huge cannons lying around.


Churches

Ternate may be a Muslim majority island, but it has a number of large churches in the centre. None are really of outstanding historical or architectural interest, but this Catholic church with its black lava foundations and walls is interesting enough.



Kayumerah Fort This larger fort in the south of the town has a spectacular seeting right by the sea, just opposite Tidore.



Sulamadaha beach

This black sand beach is for some strange reason the most popular one with locals on the whole island. Perhaps what they like here is the view of neighbouring Pulau Hiri - definitely very pretty. If you come here for a swim, try and swim over to the left past the bushy, rocky stretch of coast to reach an isolated small, white sand beach. Snorkellers should also check out the bay from where Hiri boats leave - a few minutes walk back towards the town.



Pulau Hiri

Hiri is Ternate's small satellite island to the north-west, just off the coast at Sulamadaha.
Like Ternate, it is a volcano, though no longer active. There are only 4 villages there, all inhabited by very friendly ethnic Ternateans. Snorkeling right in front of the main village facing Ternate is very good, with a turtle and a shark seen within 10 minutes of entering the water! In fact this may be the best snorkeling to be had around Ternate.



Danau Laguna

This beautiful crater lake is in the south of Ternate Island, near the village of Ngade. Depending on which side of the lake you are standing on, you have either Ternate's Gamalama volcano, or Tidore's Kiematubu as a majestic backdrop. The part of the lakeshore near the main ring-road around the island is easily accessible, though circumnavigating the whole lot involves some serious scrambling along narrow trails on steep hillsides. Kids use the lake for swimming, some locals tend gardens around it, while others raise fish in cages in its water. An excellent, tranquil getaway from the heat and bustle of the city.

Ternate, My Fashionable Hometown (I)

Whenever someone heard that I'm from Ternate, I sometimes get a comment like "Ah... Ternate, it is in Sulawesi right?" or "Ternate, oo... the one in Ambon." (this one is actually pretty close - mendingan lah). Hmmm..sometimes (often) I feel like yelling: "Read/buy yourself a map" or even "how did you even get passed junior high". As an Indonesian, you should be aware that Ternate was part of Maluku (Molucca), but on its own now. I bet not all of you are aware that Ternate is one of the province now. But it's fine really, now that you know, I hope I won't be mistaken as someone from "Ternate-Sulawesi".

A Map of Ternate (see... it's nowhere near Sulawesi)

A view of Ternate City

A History of Ternate

The tiny volcanic island of Ternate is one of the four historic sultanates of North Maluku that were once the World's only source of cloves and attracted traders from across the globe. Today Ternate is the capital of, and the main gateway into North Maluku province. It offers several historical sights and great volcanic scenery, dominated by active Mount Gamalama.

Here's a picture of Mount Gamalama

Ternate, the most prominent of the four Moluccan sultanates, traces its origins to the arrival of the Muslim sage, Sayyid Ja'afar Siddiq, but the exact line of descent is subject to contradictory genealogy, from the late sixteenth century Sultan, Zainal Abidin.

The island shares a unique history with the neighbouring states of Jailolo, Tidore and Bacan. All four share the same legendary past in which they form a cosmic whole, almost a separate universe or realm. In this universe, each state has its appointed place. Ternate forms the most important unit and its ruler is termed the Kolano ma-Luku (ruler of the Moluccas). Modern history, however, suggests that Ternate's position owes its place military triumphs, successfully concluded when it vanquished Tidore and Jailolo in 1380.

The Sultanate Palace

Located in the midst of the "Spice Islands", Ternate attracted the early attention of European explorers and merchants during the sixteenth century. The Portuguese were the first on the scene and began in local politics and religious affairs almost immediately. Later, the Spanish also retook the fort in 1606 and removed Sultan Said to Manila. They then set about converting the Sultan and his family to Catholicism.

The arrival of Dutch in 1599 proved fortuitous to Kaicili Muzaffar, the youngest son of Sultan Said. He forged an alliance with the VOC, which enabled him to secure the throne in 1607. The grateful Sultan granted the VOC a lucrative contract with an exclusive spice concession in 1609.

Although relations with the Dutch remained peaceful, continuing rivalry with the Tidore resulted in sporadic outbreaks of conflict into the nineteenth century. The British took over control of the Dutch East Indies during the Napoleonic Wars.Although there was an attempt to end the sultanate in 1876 and again in 1916, the Dutch colonial powers changed their minds and relented in the face of popular feeling. They restored the sultanate in 1927 and made no further attempts to destroy the institution.

Next... Attractions in Ternate