The Journey of Kanetasya

Since Andrea Hirata successfully wrote his semi-fiction story in Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troopers) novel, Belitung Island became the new travel destination in Indonesia. In July-August 2011, I had a chance to visit this beautiful island in the social community development service from my university with the other 19 friends. We went to Belitung with a ship from Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta for 18 hours.

During in Belitung, we stayed in a local resident’s house which was very ordinary but clean. We had to live independently with cooked and washed clothes by ourself.

Like all local residents who really nice to us, the landscape of Belitung island is very nice to see. The white sands, the blue sea, and Belitung island trademark is the row of big granites at the beach. I can say that Belitung island is more beautiful than Bali island, the later always said as the best tourism place in Indonesia.

Belitung island has been long known as the main tin’s producer in Indonesia. Most of the people there live with working in the stannary and you can find the stannary everywhere in Belitung. Beside of that, they choose to be the fisherman. So they only know how to produce tins or fishing and they exactly do not know how to create a job in tourism business.

This fact is not good for their economic overall. Because if they can only depend on mining, it is not good for sustainable development in Belitung. Now, there are so many area in Belitung which are severely damaged by mining. In that kind of area, the soil has a really big hole and could not produce anything because they have losed their fertility. This situation makes dryness in several area and sadly contrast with the beautiful scenery on Belitung’s beach.

The government than have took a step to introduce and promote tourism business as a sustainable economic activities in Belitung. As a college students, me and my friends helped them as best as we could. Of course they already have the main resources for that business, as they have the beautiful natural beach and the granites. Also, Belitung has have paved road for infrastructure and homestays for accomodation.