Few travelers visit this wild, sparsely populated, historic province, which extends for almost 350 km down the spine of southwest Sumatra’s mighty Bukit Barisan range. The giant Rafflesia arnoldy, the world's largest flower, is found in Bengkulu’s extensive forests. Of the province’s nearly one million people, 98% are Muslim. Large numbers of impoverished transmigrant farmers have also settled the province.
Bengkulu has been overlooked by tourists because of the decrepit condition of its roads and the consequent difficulty of access, but in recent years both its road and air transport systems have improved, and undiscovered Bengkulu can now easily be included in a trans-Sumatran journey. It is, however, still off the beaten track, and you’ll see only a bare handful of orang asing in these parts.
The old coastal town of Bengkulu, in colonial times known as Bencoolen, is the capital. A famous 18th- and 19th-century British trading settlement, Bengkulu is rich in history. In 1973 it had only 10 cars, one restaurant, and several small warung; the first traffic light was installed in 1979.
In the past decades development has accelerated with a new port for larger ships and a dramatic population increase - now standing at around 80,000. But Bengkulu is still a small, peaceful city and a pleasure to visit. Long, sandy, paradise-like beaches line the coast not far from town.
There isn't much to do except walk the streets, banter with the locals and take in the sights. In the Jl. Panjaitan area is Kampung Cina (Chinatown), the old part of town with characteristic red-tiled two-storey shophouses. A cement monument to the monstrous rafflesia flower is in Jembatan Kecil on the road to the airport north of town.
History and Sights
The British, driven from their last stronghold in West Java at Banten, built several fortified factories in Bengkulu because the region’s pepper was at the time a fabulous cash earner. Their intention was to grab a larger share of the pepper trade, which up until then was controlled almost solely by the Dutch. The first English factory was built in 1685 and for the next 133 years relations between the British with the Bengkulunese proved stormy and bitter.
Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, arrived in 1818 to revive British fortunes and the failing pepper trade. Although Raffles preferred Java over Sumatra ("I would not give one Java for a thousand such islands," he said), this brilliant and ambitious 30-year-old ex-lieutenant-governor of the Indies threw himself into building a prosperous new colony by taking over Sumatra's west coast. Over the next several years he freed the slaves and pacified the pepper chiefs, healing the old wounds.
After Raffles was recalled to Britain in 1823, British rule in West Sumatra was doomed. The Dutch undercut the productivity of Bengkulu's yields, glutting the market and underselling in Europe. This finally culminated in the British handing over the west coast plantations in 1824 to the Dutch, in return for control over Malacca and its straits, a waterway critical to the English company's lucrative China trade. This quirky relocation culminated in the founding of Singapore which was to grow from a malarial backwater of pirates into one of the great success stories of Southeast Asia.
Sukarno, who distinguished himself early in his political career by his vocal opposition to colonial rule, was captured by the Dutch on Java in 1938, brought to Bengkulu, and put under house arrest. When the Japanese occupied Sumatra in 1942, he was caught again and put to work propagandising. The first Indonesian president's former house is quite small; it's off Jl. Sukarno-Hatta, the one with the flag. Open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sukarno, an engineer by trade, designed Mesjid Jamik during his exile here. The mosque is at the intersection of Jl. Haryono and Jl. Suprapto.
Built 1709-1719 by the British East India Company, Fort Marlborough (open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.) is the most formidable fort ever built by the British in the Orient. The structure is occupied now, as is usually the case with old forts, by the Indonesian army. The well-preserved castle-like parapets around the garden-like courtyard contain the original cannon tracks. From its high walls are excellent views of Bengkulu’s sleepy harbor, the pasar, Kampung Cina and whirling kites. The back of the fort has been left in its original state; take a walk along the high and windy ramparts that overlook the ruins of a rear drawbridge and moat. Inside the compound stand evocative old English inscribed gravestones.
E-mail : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2004 PakBill
You can read all past articles of
Indonesian Explorer at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz
