Nusa Kambangan
Encyclopedia
Kambangan island is located in the Indian Ocean
, separated by a narrow strait off the southern coast of Java island; the closest port is Cilacap
in Central Java
province. Dubbed as the "Alcatraz of Indonesia", the island is notorious for its maximum security prison
s, home to convicted murderers, terrorists, drug dealers and those convicted in high profile corruption cases.
. The colonial government built a high security prison on the isolated island to exile criminals and political dissidents. The prison on Nusakambangan was opened in the mid-1920s by Indonesia's former Dutch colonial rulers and was once considered the harshest penal institution in South East Asia. The island was declared off-limits in 1905 by the Dutch.
Its usage as a prison island continued after independence. During the rule of former President Suharto, hundreds of political dissidents were imprisoned on the island. Most were political prisoners, members of the banned Communist Party of Indonesia
.
In 1996, the island was finally opened to the public as a tourist destination.
The island has also been involved in refugee
handling. About 140 Afghan refugees were detained on the island after their boat, which was en route to Christmas Island
, Australia
, sank in rough seas on August 17, 2001.
However, more than 90 of these refugees would later escape on September 19, 2001, sailing away in small fishing boats and are believed to be have headed for Australia.
The island was also affected by the July 2006 Java earthquake
, when a tsunami triggered by a 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake off the coast of Java. At least 11 villagers diappeared and 8 people killed in the aftermath, two of which are prisoners in Permisan prison. And at least fifteen inmates on the Nusakambangan prison island near Pangandaran were also missing.
Nusakambangan is separated from the island of Java by the narrow Segara Anakan strait
. Being isolated from mainland Java, the island is relatively under-developed and less inhabited and the wildlife is better preserved. The eastern side of a bay is a nature reserve
area where an old Dutch
fortress is located on the Karangbandung beach. As a lowland tropical rain forest, Nusakambangan is biologically diverse.
More than 71 different bird species, 14 reptile
species and various mammal
species are found in the island. Twenty-three bird species are in classified as protected, including Kuntul Karang (Egretta sacra), Black Egret (Ciconia episcopus), Bangau Tongtong (Leptoptilos javanicus), white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), elang bondol (Haliastur indus), and elang bido (Spilornis cheela). Several other protected mammal species include the black-spotted leopard (Panthera pardus), Javan Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) and Javan mouse deer (Tragulus javanicus). Four of six endemic primate
s in Java, namely Javan Lutung (Trachypithecus auratus), the crab-eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis), Javan Surili (Presbytis comata), and kukang (Nyctibus sp.), have been reported to live on the island.
and some work in rubber
and teak
plantations. However, illegal logging activities, mostly conducted by outsiders, threaten the island environment. Such activities have resulted in a vast critically threatened land area of approximately 30 km².
There are nine prisons built in the island, four of which are still used:
There are also five inactive prisons:
All of these were built by Dutch, except Kembangkuning prison, which was built after independence
. Of these, Batu prison (literally meaning "stone prison") is considered the most famous.
Nusakambangan has also held hundreds of members of Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, but they were later released as part of a peace deal.
In June 2007, 244 inmates convicted in various drugs and narcotics offences were transported to the new Super Maximum Security Prison (SMS) in Nusakambangan. These inmates came from various prisons in the country. The moving is intended to isolate them and cut drug circulation in Indonesia.
Notable attractions include Permisan beach (pantai Permisan) with its beautiful white and gray sands near the Permisan jail lighthouse
, Ranca Babakan on the west coast of the island, White Sands beach (Pantai Pasir Putih), and several caves such as Queen's cave (Goa Ratu).
According to the Cilacap Tourism Office, Nusakambangan was opened as a tourist destination following an agreement between the Central Java
Governor and Ministry of Justice in 1996. The Cilacap government then invested some Rp 1.7 billion in preparations for the opening up of the island, most of which was used on the construction of tourist-related infrastructure.
A special agency (BPOW) was also established to manage tourism on the island, with the Nusakambangan Prison warden made head of the agency and Cilacap Tourism Office chief as the deputy.
One of the main cultural events is Sedekah Laut (sea sacrifice), which is held by the Surakarta
Sultanate every new year in the Javanese calendar
.
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, separated by a narrow strait off the southern coast of Java island; the closest port is Cilacap
Cilacap
Cilacap is a regency in the southwestern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is Cilacap, which is an municipality in its own right....
in Central Java
Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
province. Dubbed as the "Alcatraz of Indonesia", the island is notorious for its maximum security prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s, home to convicted murderers, terrorists, drug dealers and those convicted in high profile corruption cases.
History
The island was made into a prison island during the Dutch periodDutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. The colonial government built a high security prison on the isolated island to exile criminals and political dissidents. The prison on Nusakambangan was opened in the mid-1920s by Indonesia's former Dutch colonial rulers and was once considered the harshest penal institution in South East Asia. The island was declared off-limits in 1905 by the Dutch.
Its usage as a prison island continued after independence. During the rule of former President Suharto, hundreds of political dissidents were imprisoned on the island. Most were political prisoners, members of the banned Communist Party of Indonesia
Communist Party of Indonesia
The Communist Party of Indonesia was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world prior to being crushed in 1965 and banned the following year.-Forerunners:...
.
In 1996, the island was finally opened to the public as a tourist destination.
The island has also been involved in refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
handling. About 140 Afghan refugees were detained on the island after their boat, which was en route to Christmas Island
Christmas Island
The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, sank in rough seas on August 17, 2001.
However, more than 90 of these refugees would later escape on September 19, 2001, sailing away in small fishing boats and are believed to be have headed for Australia.
The island was also affected by the July 2006 Java earthquake
July 2006 Java earthquake
The July 2006 Java earthquake was a magnitude 7.7 earthquake off the southwestern coast of Java, Indonesia. It occurred on July 17, 2006, at 08:24 UTC ....
, when a tsunami triggered by a 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake off the coast of Java. At least 11 villagers diappeared and 8 people killed in the aftermath, two of which are prisoners in Permisan prison. And at least fifteen inmates on the Nusakambangan prison island near Pangandaran were also missing.
Geography and nature
Strait
A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...
. Being isolated from mainland Java, the island is relatively under-developed and less inhabited and the wildlife is better preserved. The eastern side of a bay is a nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
area where an old Dutch
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
fortress is located on the Karangbandung beach. As a lowland tropical rain forest, Nusakambangan is biologically diverse.
More than 71 different bird species, 14 reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
species and various mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
species are found in the island. Twenty-three bird species are in classified as protected, including Kuntul Karang (Egretta sacra), Black Egret (Ciconia episcopus), Bangau Tongtong (Leptoptilos javanicus), white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), elang bondol (Haliastur indus), and elang bido (Spilornis cheela). Several other protected mammal species include the black-spotted leopard (Panthera pardus), Javan Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) and Javan mouse deer (Tragulus javanicus). Four of six endemic primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s in Java, namely Javan Lutung (Trachypithecus auratus), the crab-eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis), Javan Surili (Presbytis comata), and kukang (Nyctibus sp.), have been reported to live on the island.
Demographics
The island population is 3,000, excluding the prison inmates and staff; most inhabitants are Javanese. Their main occupation is fisheryFishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
and some work in rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
and teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
plantations. However, illegal logging activities, mostly conducted by outsiders, threaten the island environment. Such activities have resulted in a vast critically threatened land area of approximately 30 km².
Prisons
- Permisan prison, built in 1908,
- Batu prison, built in 1925,
- Besi prison, built in 1929,
- Kembangkuning prison, built in 1950.
There are also five inactive prisons:
- Nirbaya prison, built in 1912,
- Karanganyar prison, built in 1912,
- Karangtengah prison, built in 1928,
- Gliger prison, built in 1929,
- Limusbuntu prison, built in 1935.
All of these were built by Dutch, except Kembangkuning prison, which was built after independence
Indonesian Declaration of Independence
The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence was read at 10.00 a.m. on Friday, August 17, 1945. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed-resistance of the Indonesian National Revolution, fighting against the forces of the Netherlands until the latter officially acknowledged...
. Of these, Batu prison (literally meaning "stone prison") is considered the most famous.
Notorious inmates
Famous people once imprisoned on the island include:- Pramoedya Ananta ToerPramoedya Ananta ToerPramoedya Ananta Toer was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemic and histories of his homeland and its people...
, poet and novelist, jailed as political prisonerPolitical prisonerAccording to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
. - Bob HasanBob HasanMohamad "Bob" Hasan is an Indonesian businessman, former Minister of Trade and Industry, and friend of former president of Indonesia, Suharto...
, former Minister of Forestry, convicted of corruptionPolitical corruptionPolitical corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
charges, - Imam Samudra, Amrozi, and Ali Gufron, three men convicted of organising the 2002 Bali bombing2002 Bali bombingThe 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack was claimed as the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Indonesia according to the current police general, killing 202 people,...
. They were executed there by firing squad on November 9, 2008. - Tommy SuhartoTommy SuhartoTommy Suharto is the youngest son of Suharto, the former President of Indonesia. In 2002 he was found guilty and jailed for giving the order for the assassination/killing of a Supreme Court Judge of the Republic of Indonesia, Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, SH.-Bali Land Scandals:Tommy in the 80s used...
, son of former president Suharto, convicted of masterminding the murder of the judge who sentenced him for corruptionPolitical corruptionPolitical corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
. - Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marianus Riwu, three men convicted as provocateurs and mastermind of a deadly riot in Central SulawesiCentral SulawesiCentral Sulawesi is a province of Indonesia located in the centre of Sulawesi. It was established on 13 April 1964....
; they have been executed there.
Nusakambangan has also held hundreds of members of Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, but they were later released as part of a peace deal.
In June 2007, 244 inmates convicted in various drugs and narcotics offences were transported to the new Super Maximum Security Prison (SMS) in Nusakambangan. These inmates came from various prisons in the country. The moving is intended to isolate them and cut drug circulation in Indonesia.
Tourism
From the mid-1990s, the island was intermittently promoted by local authorities as a tourist destination, primarily for its caves, beaches, and unusual wildlife that is extinct on Java.Notable attractions include Permisan beach (pantai Permisan) with its beautiful white and gray sands near the Permisan jail lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
, Ranca Babakan on the west coast of the island, White Sands beach (Pantai Pasir Putih), and several caves such as Queen's cave (Goa Ratu).
According to the Cilacap Tourism Office, Nusakambangan was opened as a tourist destination following an agreement between the Central Java
Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
Governor and Ministry of Justice in 1996. The Cilacap government then invested some Rp 1.7 billion in preparations for the opening up of the island, most of which was used on the construction of tourist-related infrastructure.
A special agency (BPOW) was also established to manage tourism on the island, with the Nusakambangan Prison warden made head of the agency and Cilacap Tourism Office chief as the deputy.
One of the main cultural events is Sedekah Laut (sea sacrifice), which is held by the Surakarta
Surakarta
Surakarta, also called Solo or Sala, is a city in Central Java, Indonesia of more than 520,061 people with a population density of 11,811.5 people/km2. The 44 km2 city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and...
Sultanate every new year in the Javanese calendar
Javanese calendar
The Javanese calendar is the calendar of the Javanese people. It is used concurrently with two other calendars, the Gregorian calendar and the Islamic calendar...
.