Protecting the future of the Mentawai

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

The following article was written by Rob Henry, a Victorian surfer who's lived among the Mentawai for the last seven years. Keep an eye out for further articles by Rob in the lead up to his movie 'As Worl'd Divide'.

Whether we choose to ignore it or not, tourism does impact local communities and their native environment in a big way – sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. What is important, however, is that we do have control over the decisions we make and therefore a choice in whether we’d like our travel ventures to either be of help to the people and places we love, or to be destructive.

Mentawai, arguably the most sought-after surf destination in the world, is now at a very critical stage of this evolution. More and more surf resorts and land-camps are being erected each year, bringing more and more people and – in a business sense – more competition. This, however, is where our choices become empowered and extremely important. This is why each and every person who travels to Mentawai now plays an influential role in what this island community and its habitat is going to look like in thirty years time.

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Of course the Mentawai Tourism department is not oblivious to this influx and in fact, for years, they’ve been discussing proposed methods to develop a better system here – even suggesting the SAPNG model as a worthwhile reference. These negotiations, though, still remain on the table. But that aside there is a great deal that we – the surf and tourism industry – can do to support.

First and foremost and on behalf of the local Mentawai community, what we encourage is a very simple yet effective action. Next time you’re planning a trip, remember to ask your tourism operator ‘what actions are you taking to support the sustainable future of the local community and environment?’

Are they employing local Mentawai staff; purchasing local produce; investing in sustainable, community-driven initiatives; how are they disposing of their garbage and waste; are they using environmentally-friendly boat engines and machinery; or, have they even considered what their social and environmental responsibility might be? Of course it is possible they have but just haven’t publicised their activities on the website or promotional documents, which we also encourage them to do, so best to make the enquiry.

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The reality is that we, as a community of surfers and travellers, have the ability and – at present – opportunity to ensure the local Mentawai people and environment benefit equally and in a self-sustaining way during this pivotal period of increased foreign development. We’ve all seen the ruin that sudden rushes of development can bring to a people and their homeland when there has been no support for sustainable, long-term community-development planning. This behaviour has been happening for decades, all over the world.

The awareness we’ve gained through this, as travellers, witnessing substantial social and environmental change to communities within a very short period of time – many of which we now neglect as destinations and who are left suffering the consequences of having been disconnected from themselves, their culture and their land – is reason enough for us to make a stand. Reason enough for us to offer our guidance by simply making ethical and sustainable-based choices. By banding together on this we can give back to a place that has already given us so much.

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Whilst we’ve yet to visit and discuss with each individual Mentawai tourism operator – though this is something we’re trying to do – we can recommend a few businesses that are taking action and in doing so making a clear statement that they do care about the future welfare of Mentawai and its people. Pitstop Hill Mentawai, for one, have supported the development of the Suku Mentawai cultural-education program since conception and continue to do so as an annual partner, donor, and sponsor of fundraising events. Others include Togat Nusa Retreat, Uma Maonu, and Wave Park, who have recently been evaluated and rated as a ‘Sustainable’ business by Stoke Certified.

Being a travelling surfer it is quite common to hear or even make comments about ‘how beautiful this place used to be’ or how ‘prior to these developments the local people used to be really vibrant, friendly and welcoming’, but at the same time what actions are we taking to prevent the continuation of this destructive cycle? By not speaking up, or supporting these businesses that are aware and actively making improvements to the way they operate, aren’t we – perhaps unknowingly – in fact giving to the very cause of this destruction?

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Mentawai really is a magical island destination – so rich in culture, resources, biodiversity, and indeed wave quality – but what will this look like in the years to come? Will we be looking back and, again, wishing we’d done more to protect the livelihood of a place and people we love so much? We all have a choice and, whether we choose to ignore it or not, we do make an impact. What will yours be? //ROB HENRY

Rob Henry has been working with the Mentawai community for over seven years supporting the development of Suku Mentawai - a community-driven cultural and environmental education program. During this time he also founded a not-for-profit organisation - the Indigenous Education Foundation (IEF) - to provide support for the Mentawai program and other displaced indigenous communities seeking to reconnect with culture as a means to enrich their future development. These past seven years have also been documented in the form of a film, As Worlds Divide, which is due to be released later this year.

All surf photos by John Barton.

Comments

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 5:28pm

Do you reckon the Chnese are wringing their hands over how Australians are going to fare as they ramp up their interests in our country ?

It's globalisation , deal with it.

Tarzan71's picture
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Tarzan71 Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 5:53pm

So globalization makes it cool to rape and pillage an environment on a grand scale? One way of dealing with it could possibly be to learn from Australia's mistakes in selling our resource industry to the Chinese. Keeping the Ments and all its tourism owned and operated by its indigenous people or using companies that are sympathetic to their needs and environmental concerns should be a mandate in this issue.

Blow rag- If you want to model your own opinion on how the Chinese feel then do some research on human rights abuses and deaths in the mining industry in China before making a really narrow minded comment like you did

stunet's picture
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stunet Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 6:09pm

Hangabout Blowin, you've been upfont and vocal about Chinese business interests in Australia. How it's not cool, and all the other confounding economic jargon that you use. But now you're using them as a model of laissez-faire capitalism?

One part of you isn't being honest.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 6:25pm

No , I'm not into it Stu.

But as I said in my later post it's happening and there is fuck all I can do about it.

Why should I get teary over what's going down in the Ments when worse is going down in Oz ?

PS Stu - the term " uncool " isn't just limited to the realm of economics ....it can be used to unbalance the layman in virtually any field of discussion where you wish to throw around obscure technical terms to win an argument .

indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 5:46pm

Good article i agree with pretty much everything said, maybe not the SAPNG model though, the rough concept is good but the exclusivity bit is not.

I really think people should think and do more research on where their money is going and put pressure on resorts and charter boats to give back to the places they sell.

Speaking of Chinese Blowin, the other day I was watching a bus load of asian tourist scramble off there bus with their Asian guide as they entered a local Aussie tourist attraction, i was thinking how they come to Australia they see Australia but in a sense they don't really experience Australia, more just view it from the outside kind of like a zoo.

Then it hit me the Mentawai type charter boat/resort tourism model is exactly the same.

Generally Asian (mostly Chinese/Korean/Japanese), buy a package in their country, arrive in Australia get picked up by their guide who is of their native country, get shuttled to stop to stop in buses getting shown what their guide decides they should see or shopping at specially designed shops just for them, most likely owned by a company of their country,even getting feed a lot of the food they would eat at home, it's like a Chinese/Korean/Japanese bubble within Australia they even often get charged at ridiculous inflated prices but don't think anything of it because to them its cheap.

Now look at the Mentawai charter boat/resort model, its almost a carbon copy.
Generally Westerners (mostly Aussies/Americans/Europeans/brazilians), buy a package in their country, arrive in Indonesia get picked up by their guide who is often a westerner, get shuttled to western type hotel, then either to resort or charter boat, then taken surf spot to surf spot generally where their guide decides they should surf maybe the odd novelty village stop, again the food is often very western, and the resort or charter boat generally owned by a western again its like a western bubble inside Indonesia even the prices are ridiculous in an Indonesian sense, but seem fair to us as we compare it what we know, how much a hotel cost here a meal etc.

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clif Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 7:38pm

like your wider point, ID.

But the Chinese don't just do their overseas trips like that simply because its cheap. There are cultural factors behind it too. For some it is their first foray overseas, language is a major issue, are a bit nervous there is a collectivist outlook, etc. I imagine an intersection of such complex reasons also inform this mode of tourism.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 6:07pm

It's the same Indo - did you read about the $2B Chinese theme park planned for the central coast NSW ?

To be fair, I read this article straight after a story about how WA government and WA real estate mobs are in Asia trying to flog Perth real estate to the Chinese to prop up the housing industry.

To consider the plight of the Ments culture after reading about the proposed and ongoing destruction of our own didn't really flame the old sympathy up too hard.

Why should Ments people be exempt from globalisation ?

Tarzan - we are on the same side, two wrongs don't make a right, Indo should be owned by Indonesians.

I have Indonesians offering me land and opportunities most weeks and i always tell them how lucky they are that I can't truly buy their land.

PS - Blowrag ??? That's a bit of a D grade attempt isn't it ?

indo-dreaming's picture
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indo-dreaming Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 6:17pm

It really should be our governments that protect our futures both Australians and indonesian's but sadly both don't do a very good job at it.

The Mentawai's and other areas are at a stage where it's not to late yet, i wish i was crazy rich, id buy up vast areas of Mentawai's near waves to ensure they never get developed and turn them into reserves and buy resorts that are for sale and run them with all the profits going back to community projects for improving living standards, health, fisheries etc

maxe's picture
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maxe Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 7:01pm

The proposed Chinese Theme park at Warnervale is a $500 million dollar development and it's all about selling 500 visas at $1 million each for 500 Chinese families, it's actually a "visa for sale scheme" so rich Chinese can move here more than an actual long term development for the region, you can keep up and support our attempt to prevent this from happing here https://www.facebook.com/chinesethemepark/

I was in Indonesia two weeks ago and nothing much has changed from 10, 20, 30 years ago in regards to the blatant environmental destruction I saw, just think, given the Indonesians generous use of small plastic packaged products, 250 million Indonesians using around 4 pieces of plastic/plastic bags a day = 1 Billion pieces of plastic everyday that ends up dumped somewhere in the country, rivers and oceans.

And it's also ironic that given the genocide of between 1 and 3 million people in the mid 1960's,( almost all being Chinese Indonesians and alleged communists) you now find the tourist areas packed with Chinese, Russians and East Europeans.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 6:51pm
maxe wrote:

The proposed Chinese Theme park at Warnervale is a $500 million dollar development and it's all about selling 500 visas at $1 million each for 500 Chinese families, it's actually a "visa for sale scheme" so rich Chinese can move here more than an actual long term development for the region, you can keep up and support our attempt to prevent this from happing here https://www.facebook.com/chinesethemepark/

I was in Indonesia two weeks ago and nothing much has changed from 10, 20, 30 years ago in regards to the blatant environmental destruction I saw, just think, given the Indonesians generous use of small plastic packaged products, 250 million Indonesians using around 4 pieces of plastic/plastic bags a day = 1 Billion pieces of plastic everyday that ends up dumped somewhere in the country, rivers and oceans.

Thanks for the info

I can't see your Facebook page - how can a development become a visa scheme unless it's a 457 deal ?

As for Indo environmental destruction , checkout the planned islands to be built in Benoa Harbour.

Protest tomorrow on the Toll Road if any one is interested.

maxe's picture
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maxe Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 7:29pm

You can view the herald story here http://www.theherald.com.au/story/3172228/chinese-theme-park-invest-1m-t... if you don't use facebook

Selling visas to the Chinese is an industry, the mayor of Wyong Doug Eaton's Chinese wife also had 100,000 shares in the Theme Park company, Australia China Theme Park PTY LTD which they bizarrely claimed they had no knowledge of BTW. http://www.theherald.com.au/story/3151335/the-mayor-his-wife-and-the-mys...

We also have a change.org pagehttps://www.change.org/p/tony-gavan-stop-the-chinese-cultural-theme-park... to support for anyone who may feel the same as us that this development is inappropriate for the region, it is an ongoing document (as the numbers increase) presented to the relevant authorities who are investigating this proposal, such as the NSW local government minister Paul Toole who is investigating the matter ATM http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/minister-paul-t...

Anyway I apologise for getting the topic off track.

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 7:20pm

Unreal.

switch's picture
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switch Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 8:47pm

I have been to Indonesia ('Indo' = ?) 6 or 7 times, and until recently have been a typical FIFO surfer and had not learnt a single word of bahasa Indonesia (btw 'bahasa' by itself doesn't mean Indonesian, it only means 'language'). I can't fully explain why, but I have recently completed 2 CAE learning Indonesian language courses, and on my last trip spent some extra time in Medan by myself trying to get around using my new language skill (which is still pretty rubbish, unpracticed and uninformed, but better than grunting or speaking English louder and slower in the hope that that will make it more understandable).

Later this year I am going to spend a week at one of the Aussie-created and sponsored Mentawai Foundation centres, helping the Foundation with some of their work with the local kids (hopefully helping with swimming lessons for example), with maybe some surfing thrown in (and of course with a proper surf trip before / after the week).

I am no saint, but I just reckon I should go to the effort to put something back, and get a better feel and understanding for how our close neighbours live. We are way too selfish in our lucky land.

What are you going to do to become a better neighbour? Global can be local.

Gary G's picture
Gary G's picture
Gary G Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 9:23pm

Stuart, as per your FB post "What visiting surfers do now will decide the fate of the future", there is surely only one option here to set things straight in the ments: Send in the Mad Hueys.

They'll establish the norms regarding dropping in, jetski step offs, aggression in the lineup, drinking bintang while getting barrelled: all the important things that developing cultures need.

Surely the Hueys have the right idea - you gotta take as much as you possibly can for yourself before anyone rises up and wants to 'share it' with you. Sharing is for suckers AMIRITE?

**mic drop**

wellymon's picture
wellymon's picture
wellymon Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 10:18pm

Co founder of the Hueys GG!
Or a marketing ploy?
Uuuummmm

Udo what do you reckon?

wellymon's picture
wellymon's picture
wellymon Friday, 4 Mar 2016 at 10:23pm

;)

Gary G's picture
Gary G's picture
Gary G Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 12:22pm

Just a humble ripper who thinks those Garyington brothers and their brethren really add a lot to the QLD surf landscape and I can only dream about them spreading their influence to more lawless parts of the surfing universe.

Ontheroad's picture
Ontheroad's picture
Ontheroad Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 2:24am

Interesting article. There's no doubt that globalisation is an unstoppable force, with the far reaches of Mentawai included. Anywhere a satellite dish can be erected on a thatched hut will inevitably broadcast the advertising dreams and soap opera lifestyles that continually belie the damage 'development' and 'progress' causes.

That's the difference between Australia and Mentawai. We are (comparatively) highly educated in a global context, many of us have a healthy skepticism, and can learn from what we've stuffed up in the past.

The Mentawai people's education is different - way more connected to the local land and ocean, but perhaps lacking the broader picture (because they are so inherently isolated from the rest of the world), and also because development is only in it's infancy there. And then they have to deal with some of the most backward corruption to be found in Indo.

That's why Rob's point is totally valid - we each take responsibility for our own actions and who we choose to support over there - there's nothing contentious about that - everything starts with self.

tonybarber's picture
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tonybarber Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 7:52am

Spending time on the islands as opposed to FIFO boats, I was able to see a little of their culture and way of life. But the question is what do we know what the Mentawians want ? Are we making comments on what we want or what we reckon is the best for them ?
After what's happened and witnessed over many years in Bali, I would guess it maybe much the same.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 7:56am

Rob Henry lived with them for seven years, learnt the language and customs. Reckon he'd have as much idea as any whitey about what the Mentawai want.

indo-dreaming's picture
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indo-dreaming Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 8:21am

I agree to an extent I have much respect for Rob, but i do think Tony has a point.

I guess like any society the people may all have different views, also one important thing to point out that many may not know is, there is two very different types of Mentawai people.

1. You have the original people, the ones who have the Mentawai traditions and culture, and have that unique high cheekbone face, all the remote areas are generally made up of these people from the jungle too areas like playgrounds, katiet, macaronis further south etc

2. Then you have people who's bloodline is not Mentawai but have migrated from the mainland mostly Padang but other places like Medan etc either recently or their parents etc most people whole live in the bigger port towns like Maura Siberut, Tuapajet and Sikakap (and villages close to these big port towns linked by road) are made up of these people and a great part of the business owned in these towns are owned by these people and the people who work in the higher end of society, Mentawai government, police force etc is mostly made up of these people.

Id say the outlook between both people probably varys a lot.

Even Desti the minister for Mentawai tourism (as nice as she is) is not of Mentawai bloodline but is from the mainland i believe she is Batak, actually i think she may even live in Padang.

indo-dreaming's picture
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indo-dreaming Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 7:56am

True that On the road, although it's not the Mentawai people that will stuff up things they don't have the money to do that and most just have to keep living life as they do, its the Mentawai government that will allow it to happen as are happy to have development and wold care if the Mentawai's became another Bali.

But it's generally foreign owned companies that do know better but many of which just want a piece of the Mentawai pie and many of which don't care about the impact of things and giving back but only care about profit.

That's why as surfers we have responsibility to put pressure on these operations not to stuff up things and lift their game.

Even simple things like employing locals, many resorts only employee Mentawai locals for very basic jobs like housekeeping and gardening, while the top rung jobs are taken by more educated staff from Padang and even Jakarta, i know this first hand as worked at a large Mentawai resort (Which i won't name)

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tonybarber Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 9:07am

It would be great if we surfers could influence the future development of this place. Sure we can try and I am sure most will. But I can't forget the time when first going to Bali and experiencing its richness in art, food and culture. Then trying to help them directly with providing clothes - specifically denim at the time. Then my good mate, Madi, wants my shirt and plast silver stars all over to look like a Ryan stone cowboy. He wanted western goods and life style whilst we were happy to be consumed by the Bali culture.

lindo's picture
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lindo Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 9:43am

No doubt Rob Henry has good motives in what he proposes here, and also no doubt in the short-term some good could potentially come of it. I wish those of us that had the luck to have been in Indonesia in the early 70s had recognized these issues, although whether anything practical could have been done to alter the development trajectory of Bali and other places remains an open question. Perhaps the Bukit could have been protected somehow? I know from personal experience that the government of Bali is well aware of the over-development issues, pollution, crowding and unsustainability of the present situation there, but are struggling, with the aid of NGOs, to do much more than develop advertising campaigns to 'green Bali', in the face of the relentless pressures. Surfers are only a small part of this of course, yet there are many millions of us today, and there's no sign of a slow-down in starters any time soon. For the Mentawai, and other once remote surf meccas, while our civilization provides cheap airfares, and entrepreneurial types in the surf industry spot a buck to be made, surfers will continue to flock to those islands, and associated development there will continue apace - analogous, in terms of its impacts, to a growing tsunami of change sweeping over those islands. But in the longer term, as the positive feedbacks of our fossil-fueled lifestyle on the climate system really kick in (albedo loss, permafrost melt, ice gas release off continental shelves among others), sea level will continue to rise, corals and the reefs they build will continue to degrade, and the global changes in weight distribution from the melting ice shelves may contribute to further destabilization of the tectonic plate boundaries. The waves there and in most other parts of the world will of course be radically affected, as indeed occurred on Nias and elsewhere during the earthquakes of the mid 2000s. Some may actually be improved, at least in the short-term, but most, I would argue, will not. This will take many decades to centuries to play out, but most if not all of it is an inevitable result of our collective lifestyle choices, and is a clear example of the unsustainability and short-termism of our behaviour. Surfers are among the more selfish in all these regards, and I include myself in this category, with our very heavy carbon footprints from equipment and travel. And like other relatively 'poor, undeveloped' peoples, at least in our deeply flawed western economic way of thinking, those people on the Mentawai will experience the brunt of these changes. So is there a moral to this story? I'll leave it to you to work that out.

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tonybarber Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 10:33am

Lindo…and your carbon footprint is what ? The moral is … what ?

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indo-dreaming Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 11:22am

Bali is a very different beast to Mentawai's, Bali tourism despite what people think was never developed by surfers alone and even without tourism Bali would still be heavily populated like Java due to it's good soil and rainfall and closeness to Java, yes off course tourism is like petrol to the fire, but many problems like pollution or water supply problems aren't restricted to Bali and are seen in many areas of Indonesia or Asia.

The Mentawai's is very different, the population is extremely low 64 thousand and 95-99% of tourism is surf related, it might as well be the 70,s in the Mentawai's as far as development and infrastructure goes

It would be very easy to protect areas of the Mentawai's if regulations were applied and followed, for example.

For commercial tourism operations:

1. Commercial buildings outside of current built up areas, to only take up 10% of the land they sit on, ensuring it dent become a concrete jungle and there is buffer zones and green areas between resorts/camps.
2. 50% of original vegetation to remain, be it bush or coconut plantations.
3. No buildings or other structures to be built within 25 metres of current high tide line.
4 . No reclaiming of land or construction of jettys, break walls etc and any current ones to be removed, Including no anchored buildings or structures, overwater bungalows etc to avoid the kind of mess you see in the Maldives.
5. A limit of 20 guest per resort and 10 per budget establishments.
6. Limit of 20 charter boats per the whole Mentawai's and a limit of 2 boats at one break per time, with charter boats being tracked like many fisheries do.

Areas and islands to be preserved and be off limits to commercial tourism operations.

Off course even if it was done the hard part would be ensuring rules where stuck too, with corruption so rife.

lindo's picture
lindo's picture
lindo Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 11:21am

TB, mine's still considerable, although a lot less so than the 'leaders' of our sport / lifestyle (whatever you want to call it) with their 100s of boards and many thousands of travel miles. I made the decision not to travel for surf holidays some years ago. There are several morals. One is simply to consider the apparent hypocrisy of 'trying to help' people when our very presence there, and the means we use to get there, is effectively consigning them, or their descendants, to a radically altered world. Another is the lack of accountability in terms of the economics of such travel and lifestyle choices in terms of their real costs to the biosphere, including the very thing we so desperately chase, the waves themselves. On the local scale, how many of the boats there store all their wastes and dispose of them appropriately? How much damage have their anchors done to the reefs there? How much of these kinds of impact have the land camps had? As Blowin said at the beginning - it's globalization, but we each have choices.

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tonybarber Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 12:17pm

Sorry lindo, but from what you imply is that 'carbon footprint' is a very nebulous term. It needs to be clearly defined. You seem to imply that surfing leaders consume more or have a larger footprint. How to did you get that figure or did you just guess how they live, eat travel , etc ?
Personally, groups such as Surfaid do a great job. Again I'm unclear what you are saying. I can't see the 'hypocrisy'.

t-diddy's picture
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t-diddy Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 1:57pm

When in Indo I stay with a local Mentawaiian legend. He has a PhD in arthropology and has studied the mentawaiian extensively (and being 1, very familiar with the culture). We are working with him to hopefully start a store / cafe along the pitstop stretch with good aussie coffee. His accomodation is a traditionally mentawaiian hut which can accommodate up to 10ppl. For $100 (AUD) per day you get a driver (fuel included), cooks/food. It is SIC!! Have lost his contact but will post soon!
It doesn't get much better than this dude in terms of supporting the locals. His place is on the east side of the island where kanduis is. about 4min walk from baby kanduis. Cant believe anyone would say fuck the Mentawais because Australia is being taken over by the Chinese - that seems like a reason for empathy.

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 3:33pm

So your mate is actually Mentawaiian ?

t-diddy's picture
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t-diddy Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 4:49pm

yup he grew there we flew there. The Dutch must have some agreement with Indo to give them cheap tertiary education (maybe a 'sorry' for the dutch east indies trading co.) because there are heaps of Dutch educated Indos and he is one.

groundswell's picture
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groundswell Tuesday, 8 Mar 2016 at 2:09pm

Has he got a website or email addy? i might go there later this year if possible.

indo-dreaming's picture
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indo-dreaming Tuesday, 8 Mar 2016 at 4:11pm

I think this is the place?

http://www.umatavillage.com/

Might have to update that list in that other thread, there has been quite a few new places open in the last year or so.

groundswell's picture
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groundswell Wednesday, 9 Mar 2016 at 8:35pm

Thanks.

t-diddy's picture
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t-diddy Wednesday, 9 Mar 2016 at 11:17pm

sorry guys took me a while...Indo-dreaming nice one!
[email protected]

www.umatavillage.com
super nice guy. speak english well. as i said previously he is from the ments (and ethnically mentawaian) and has a PhD in arthopology so is well versed in local culture. everyone who he employs is indonesian (most are not from the ments though but from the mainland)

t-diddy's picture
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t-diddy Wednesday, 9 Mar 2016 at 11:21pm

as a side rant..he is being heavily hassled by the 2 big, air-conditioned $500/night resorts on the island which are run by haole-hawaiians.

indo-dreaming's picture
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indo-dreaming Thursday, 10 Mar 2016 at 8:19am
t-diddy wrote:

as a side rant..he is being heavily hassled by the 2 big, air-conditioned $500/night resorts on the island which are run by haole-hawaiians.

Doesn't surprise me, im surprised they didn't lease all the land so no one else could.

Good on your friend, i might drop in there next time im in the area.

lindo's picture
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lindo Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 at 3:58pm

TB, as you may have already discovered, there's a heap of analysis of surfing's significant carbon footprint, and pro surfing in particular, on the web. To the point that some contests are trying to 'offset' this by buying into various schemes. Agreed re SurfAid, and as I said at the beginning Rob Henry's ideas may help in the short-term. But we as surfers are driving all sorts of changes on those islands, locally as mentioned with pollution issues and the inevitable shifts in traditional lifestyles and cultures, and globally, as major individual consumers of fossil fuels.

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tonybarber Sunday, 6 Mar 2016 at 9:56pm

Sorry, but I have not discovered any data re surfings carbon footprint. Simple question, what is yours, say ? What were the key metrics you used to quantify this 'footprint' ? It seems that indo has a good grasp of whats there and its impact. Plus his proposed ideas. Given that we have little or no influence on the place then it will be difficult to influence let alone control its future development.
Besides a few land camps, there is little that has changed. The boats come and go.

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andrew-pitt Sunday, 6 Mar 2016 at 9:23pm

Great article, important issue, well written Ken. I too have done 4 x FIFO tours to the Ments, been stoked on the place, but noticed the disconnect between we on the boat and them on the land. Each boat trip costs $5k of coin from door to door, but too little of that coin is shared with the local Ments people.

Perhaps an existing model to mirror is Supply Nation, which links certified Indigenous business with mainstream Australia (see www.supplynation.org.au). Australian Government has backed that organisation with the Indigenous Procurement Policy, meaning by 2020 at least 3% of the $59,000,000,000 p/a in government contracts is spread between Indigenous owned and controlled businesses (see more at https://www.dpmc.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/publication/factsheet-indigen... ) .Statistics show, Aboriginal businesses are100 times more likely to employ an Aboriginal person. The goal is more Indigenous jobs, greater business experience and capacity as well as serious and lasting social change.

For local Ments people to be empowered - they need to have ownership and control of local Ments businesses. Interesting, that T-diddy mentioned a mate up in the Ments with a business, but didn’t have the contact details. If Suku Mentawai functioned like Supply Nation, then those links would be on the Suku website, and then everybody would have a reference point when they make their purchasing decisions.

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Blowin Sunday, 6 Mar 2016 at 10:37pm

I'm hearing you Andrew P.

It's not really on with touring surfers just breezing through and not benefitting the locals financially.

That's why you'll often find me hanging around the Byron Main Street hitting up the Euro backpackers for coin.

Usually just $5 for " bus fare "

( burp !!!)

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indo-dreaming Thursday, 10 Mar 2016 at 8:40am

From T-diddys comment above.

"most are not from the ments though but from the mainland"

Which is pretty common, i don't know why some organisation doesn't start a basic training program in places like Pei Pei village area for playground area and Tua Pajet for Telescopes area etc, teaching younger people english and teaching them about the needs and running of resorts, so in the future they can be employed.

Even if they enter at a basic skill level such as house keeping, gardener, Kitchen hand, then work up to roles with more responsibility such as boat driver, surf guide (more responsibility because safety issues), bar man/maid then onto areas that require more skill like administration etc

There needs to be a transition to ultimately employee Mentawai people in both resorts and charter boats.

I haven't heard of such a program?

Is it happening?

It's not just about teaching skills and english, its about teaching and understanding of what tourist expect, standards like service and cleanliness etc and even why tourist/surfers come to Mentawai's as we take this for granted but these people often do not understand this.

IMO there is so much more that can be done to not dictate but to gently guide and help the locals to be able to get more involved in the industry or at least future generations.

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indo-dreaming Thursday, 10 Mar 2016 at 8:36am

BTW Rob i know your reading, would love to hear more of your take on some of these comments :D

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udo Sunday, 27 May 2018 at 8:08pm

Hope to Fuck this Mentawaii resort by Sentosa on Siberut dont get the go Ahead !

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indo-dreaming Monday, 28 May 2018 at 8:28am

Oh didn’t know about that, I’m sure it will though......that sucks they will most likely house lots of guest :(

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dandandan Monday, 28 May 2018 at 8:32am

It's the most predictable tale. I can scarcely think of a single surf area that hasn't gone down this path. Some have gone the full hog, others halfway there and just waiting for the right investor. But it's an inescapable truth that surfers can't help themselves.

The saddest thing is that if it gets built surfers will still flock to it, in the same way that all the 'beach clubs'along the Bukit are stacked to the brim with surfers too.

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ringmaster Sunday, 27 May 2018 at 8:36pm

Got back from the Mentawaiis a week ago. Had a good time/got good waves blah blah blah but definitely the last time I'll visit the area. The place is now crawling with people from all over the planet and new camps/tourism operators are springing up like mushrooms.

I really hope the unique natural environment and local people can ride out the human tsunami without too many downsides but probably not. The corrupt, untrustworthy Indonesian government (at all levels) will make sure of that.