Courtesy of
Esa Firdaus
"Sota, Merauke"
Merauke, The City of All Colors
There are a total
of 18 tribes of people
residing in Merauke.
>> By : Esa Firdaus
M
erauke is mostly known for
its contribution to a popular
Indonesian folksong. It’s located
far east in the Papua island, intersecting
with the new country Papua New Guinea.
To reach Merauke itself is a huge challenge,
because it’s not the kind of place you simply
can jump into an airplane and immediately
get to. Personally, I had to make three transit,
which was worse than going from Jakarta to
Australia. The whole trip took 12 hours.
My legs were still a little numb when I
stepped my feet into the distributor’s place,
Riski Akbar.
The diversity of the people were amazing
here, though. The natives of Merauke was,
like most Papua people,
are dark skinned and
had an afro much
like Africans. They
smile a lot and they
definitely don’t run
around all nude
like what you might
have seen depicted
in televisions.
Merauke itself is quite
modern, although by all
means is not Jakarta. You could
find your everyday daily needs here,
and it’s got a huge marketplace. Aside from
the Papuans, you could also find Chinese
people, Indonesian people, and sometimes
even white people. Like
I said, the diversity
here is amazing.
It reminds me of
Gado-gado. There
are a total
of 18 tribes of
people residing in
Merauke.
Everyone here smiles a
lot, and I feel welcomed
during most of my stay here.
Aside from the small city, Merauke
also has really dense jungle and rivers,
which are good destinations if you’re a bit
wanderlust.•••
the colors of pratesis / I / JULY 2016 #
15