Independence Day in Indonesia’s most famous Tin Mine
By Ratna Yunita

On 16 August 2008, I departed to Bangka Island with a group. Bangka is one of the islands belonging to Bangka-Belitung Province that lies just east of Sumatra. The population is approximately 600 thousand people which is consisted of different ethnic groups coming from all parts of Indonesia. There are a large number of Chinese inhabitants especially in the northern part around Belinyu. According to my tour guide, people here live in harmony, there’s very rare conflict among race. The name Bangka is actually derived from the Sanskrit word ''Wangka'' which means ''tin.'' This word was also written in Sriwijaya inscription dated 686 AD and discovered near Kota Kapur in West Bangka. That’s why tin from Bangka has a well-known worldwide reputation or grade “A” tin since the 18th century. The other important products of the island are rubber and pepper. During the Dutch occupation in Indonesia, the Muntok white pepper became very famous and continues to be one of the best export commodities of Indonesia.

The group members and I took a boat trip and landed in Muntok, the principal port in Bangka. Not far from the port, I saw a lighthouse which was built in 1862. It’s located nearby Tanjung Kelian beach. In the beach, we can see the hull of an Australian ship which sunk during the Second World War. There is a statue with the name of the ship -- Vyner Brooke -- and it was bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft on 14 February 1942. It was really astonishing! I was planning to touch the hull but I didn’t do that since I was afraid that it will ruin the valuable fossil. Then, I just took pictures.

After half an hour staring at the ship hull, the group and I went back to the bus that brought us to the hotel which is located nearby Tanjung Pesona beach. When we arrived, the sun had almost set so that I was only able to take one nice shot. I got the water color degradation from dark blue to ivory. It’s so lovely. After dinner, we continued with night sessions. I was entitled to be a facilitator of team building and time management sessions. All the participants paid attention enthusiastically to the games and competition during the sessions. Then we sang and danced all night long. We were all happy and ended the night with a smile.

On 17 August 2008, I woke up very early just to see the sun rising and luckily I saw it. That’s remarkable. I enjoyed the beauty of nature, the splash of the waves, and felt the fresh unpolluted air touching my cheek as if whispering, “do you like the rhythm?” Yes… indeed, life is all rhythm. Wished to stay longer and didn’t want to lose any seconds of enjoying the nature. “Ratna, we have to catch up the 11am boat, hurry up!” Suddenly my friend came and stopped my contentment. Then I moved quickly to pack all my baggage and had a quick breakfast since it’s almost 6.30am and should take 4-hour distance from the hotel to the port.

63 years ago, the President and the Vice President of my country declared our Independence Day. Then people commemorate it every 17 August by having national flag-raising ceremony, traditional games, and music entertainment, among others. On my way to the port, I saw colorful banners along the road, red-white flags in front of every resident’s house, and people gathering in some places having traditional games, such as lomba makan kerupuk (cracker eating contest), tarik tambang (tug-of-war) and panjat pinang contest (climbing race to get prizes at the top of an areca palm tree). This scene is rarely found in big cities, such as Jakarta nowadays. I don’t know why, but according to my friend, communal tradition is fading away since people are becoming more individualists. Unfortunately I was hardly to take pictures of those moments. I was only able to take a picture of elementary school students’ parade. Ahh… I was also part of parades when I was in elementary school. Sometimes my parents dressed me up as a teacher (my dream when I was still very young) or a nurse who helped the national heroes. I’m proud to have the memory. Hmmm… finally I arrived at the port; I heard the song of Indonesia Raya, Indonesian anthem. While my friend asked me, “Are we really independent now?” I only replied, “It’s up to the matter of your point of view”. For me, stop complaining and start contributing good things for my beloved country. MERDEKA !!!