> Sabang - Merauke, Sangihe - Rote
Courtesy of
Muliadi Nainggolan
"Kilometer Nol Indonesia"
Sabang, The Bali of Aceh
Sabang
is a small town
in Weh Island.
>> By : Muliadi Nainggolan
S
abang is a teeny-weeny-itsy-bity small
city. At first I was a bit floored to know
that I would spend the next three
weeks there. I only knew Sabang from an
old Indonesian national song ‘Dari Sabang
sampai Merauke, terpampang pulau-pulau…’
The song, however, didn’t tell me anything
about how hard it was to get into Sabang,
which was far west in Indonesia archipelago.
Firstly, to get into Sabang you would need to
go to Medan, which, admittedly, was located
far off from the actual island we were aiming
for. And then we took another plane to Aceh,
on the brim of Sumatra island. That was
only half of the journey, because the next
14
# the colors of pratesis / I / JULY 2016
day I needed to take a becak (a traditional
form of rickshaw) to go to the port, where
we took the ferry to the Weh Island. Finally.
Okay, not finally, because we still had to
took the bumpy and lightless road to our
distributor in PT Bina Usaha Pratama. The
whole journey took two days and basically all
of my energy. Sabang is a small town in Weh
Island. Despite the difficulties getting there,
the town was packed. People of all colours
were there, from the locals, sellers, also
tourists. The town is incredibly beautiful,
and everywhere you could see the sea on the
background. That’s how small it is.
One thing that took me aback was this
peculiar chiaroscuro in Sabang. As you all
could remember, Sabang, alongside with
Aceh, was attacked by a brutal tsunami
a decade back. The ruins still exist and it
contrasted in a beautiful paradox with the
impossibly blue sea. One could see how
much power the nature hold, as proven by
the ruins. But it also posses innate beauty
incomparable by anything humans could
make. It truly was apt when people called
Sabang the Bali of Aceh. The sea, the wind,
the underwater view were beautiful. I found
myself going to the beach after work just
to relax, and many people, particularly
foreigners, had the same notion. I am glad
that I got assigned here, and finally, I knew
more about Sabang more than just the old
folk song told me.•••