Tarakan, so the story goes, was the first place where Japanese soldiers set foot on Indonesian soil.   After independence, the first mangrove forest concession granted by the Indonesian government was ironically given to a Japanese company for an area on Tarakan.

Published in the The Jakarta Post Monday, March 27, 1989.

Tarakan, East Kalimantan (JP): Tarakan island, located off the coast of East Kalimantan, has an interesting historical connection with Japan. Tarakan, so the story goes, was the first place where Japanese soldiers set foot on Indonesian soil. Long before World War II, Japanese traders and businessmen had settled on the island. Some of them were agents who sent back information about the situation on Tarakan to the Japanese army.

Then in 1942, while Dutch guards watched the west coast of Tarakan, the Japanese army took them by surprise from the rear by landing on the east coast. Thus began the three-year Japanese occupation of Indonesia.

After independence, the first mangrove forest concession granted by the Indonesian government was ironically given to a Japanese company for an area on Tarakan.

Aside from this, Tarakan and its surrounding islands have a story of their own to tell. Flying over the group of islands off the coast of East Kalimantan, one can see the process of mangrove destruction. From the air, few areas can be seen which have any green cover left. Setting foot on Tarakan, one is reminded more of a small town in Java rather than other parts of East Kalimantan.

Tarakan is part of Bulungan Regency (Kabupaten Bulungan), one of the largest regencies in East Kalimantan. The 300 square kilometer island and its neighbors are inhabited by some 70,000 people. Of the island group, only Tarakan, Bunyu, Nunukan and Sebatik are inhabited.

Some 85,000 hectares of mangrove forest in Juwata, located on the north coast of Tarakan, has been given out to CHIPDECO (Chip Producer Development Company). This Japanese company is actually a consortium of 5 Japanese paper companies and has been operating here since 1977. It has its own chip mill which sends out an average of 126,000 tons of chips each year to Japan. “We just celebrated our 200^th shipment last October”, said the Japanese manager in his office last December.

The concession area can be reached in a half hour by car from the center of Tarakan town. The company has a relatively well kept office plus a housing complex in this area. It even has its own ship, which sails 18 time a year. Its concession area includes Juwata, the north tip of Tarakan and several other small islands in the surrounding area. CHIPDECO’s Indonesian partner is PT. Karyasa Kencana, which owns 51% of the concession share. From the look of things, however, the four Japanese officers are completely in charge.

On average, CHIPDECO cuts 150 hectares of mangrove per month, or about 2000 hectares per year. Each cubic meter of wood provides 1.2 tons of chips, so for each 7,000 ton shipment some 2.33 million trees are needed. The mangrove species usually used for chips is Rhizophora, although other minor species are also used.

The chips exported to Japan are processed there for paper production. Japan imports 40 percent of its raw materials for paper manufacture, mostly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and China. The most commonly used wood is eucalyptus. In fact using mangrove chips has no special advantage except that it is cost efficient, said the Japanese officer.

Tarakan has four other mangrove concessionaires, one of which is Inhutani, the state forest corporation for outside of Java. CHIPDECO buys 60% of its mangrove logs from these companies while obtaining 40% of the logs from its own concession area. This arrangement has greatly depleted the islands’ mangrove forests. On a tour around Tarakan and other islands, it was evident that little primary mangrove forest is left. Natural regeneration of mangrove trees seem to be going on well, but CHIPDECO has just finished its first round of cutting. Next year, after it starts on the second round of logging, what happens is anybody’s guess.

CHIPDECO and other logging companies are facing encroachment of their land at present. Logged areas are being taken over by local inhabitants for shrimp culture using the tambak (brackish water culturing system). The increasing demand and price of shrimp, another favorite export commodity, has prompted the government to promote shrimp culture. A fisherman told us that with soft credit loan from the bank and a recommendation from the village head he can easily convert a logged area into shrimp tambak.

The problem is, many fishermen embark on shrimp culture without understanding the technology. Most of the time the expected shrimp harvest does not materialize. Many of the shrimp farmers are losing money on tambak ventures.

Besides the tambak system, shrimps are caught at sea and then sold to the four shrimp companies in Tarakan. Many Bugis farmers have formed shrimp cooperatives to buy motorboats and even small trawlers.

Many of the fishermen that we talked to were Bugis. The shrimp catch is decreasing, they said, although the price has increased compared to seven years ago. The reason is more and more people are going out to se to catch shrimp. Also some non-local fishermen are now trawling in Tarakan waters and affecting the shrimp catch.

The indigenous people of Tarakan, the Tidung people, are alsofishermen. They are not as many as Bugis and Javanese in number and are concentrated in Tanjung Pasir, on the west side of the island. Tidung people catch fish, crabs and shrimp at sea using traditional equipment. They attribute to the decreasing crab catch to the fact that mangroves are being denuded by the logging companies. In fact, they said, if the number of fishermen keeps increasing and mangrove logging continues, one day there will be no more fish, shrimp or crab.

CHIPDECO officers admit that they have received complaints from local fishermen, who attribute the decrease in their catch to mangrove logging. They did not clarify how the complaints were dealt with.

Tarakan’s economy is based on oil, shrimp and mangrove. Business flourish in Tarakan city. The small island has four three-star hotels and many smaller hotels and inns. A variety of shops can be found in the center of the city, which is only about 10 kilometers across. There are shops selling plasticware, automobile, bookshops and even a well-known garment shop.

The main market, called Beringin Market, stands on a wooden platform built out over the sea. It is open from sunrise to sunset and one can find all kinds of goods. There are fresh vegetables, fruits, rice, fabrics, toys, shoes, utensils, meat and of course fish and shrimp, all in little stalls on the wooden platform over the water.

At the edge of the market, facing the sea is the water taxi terminal (pangkalan taksi air). Water taxis are actually wooden boats equipped with motors. People use these vehicles to visit the northern part of the island, which has no road access, and also the surrounding islands. Fishemen kampongs are scattered on the banks of some islands near Tarakan. The fishermen kampongs gather their fuelwood from mangrove forests. Since the entry of logging companies, fuelwood is not easy to get as before. Some well-to-do families can afford a generator. In Kampong Siandaoi, one family even owned a video cassette recorder. A film was running when we were there, and children gathered around to watch instead of going to school. The government has neglected us in the development planning, complained a fisherman who has two school-age children and one baby.

People proudly tell visitors if they have been to Malaysia, either illegally or legally. Indeed, Nunukan island, just a step away from Sabah, is a day’s journey by boat from Tarakan. Then there is Sebatik island, also a day’s journey from Tarakan. Half of Sebatik is Indonesian territory and half Malaysian. People feel a certain sense of achievement if they have journeyed as far as Malaysian territory. Usually they go to Sabah to work on plantations.

Tarakan’s rich life has developed because of its rich natural resources, in the form of mangrove forests, shrimp and oil. All three have been exploited for years. One wonders, at the current rate of exploitation, how many more years of the present way of life on Tarakan can be sustained.