Saparua
A Small Island Near Ambon Holding A Dutch Fort That Was Stormed In The 1817 Rising Led By Pattimura, Whose Face Is On The Banknote · Saparua, Maluku
SAPARUA IS A SMALL ISLAND AND A LARGE STORY. IN 1817 THE PEOPLE OF THIS ISLAND ROSE AGAINST THE RETURNING DUTCH, STORMED FORT DUURSTEDE AND KILLED THE RESIDENT AND HIS GARRISON - and the rising was led by THOMAS MATULESSY, KNOWN AS PATTIMURA, who held out for months before he was taken and hanged in Ambon. HE IS ONE OF INDONESIA'S NATIONAL HEROES AND HIS FACE IS ON THE BANKNOTE, which means an enormous number of Indonesians handle his portrait daily and could not tell you where the fort is. IT IS STILL HERE, low and white above the bay, and you can walk into it. AROUND IT IS A QUIET SPICE-ISLAND LANDSCAPE of clove and nutmeg smallholdings, old Protestant churches, beaches with nobody on them, and villages bound by the PELA alliance system that survived the conflict. Ferries from Tulehu are limited and stop in the afternoon, so stay a night rather than racing the last boat, and take the time to ask what pela actually means here - it is the thing people point to about the conflict years.
Pulau Saparua, Central Maluku, Maluku, Saparua, Maluku, Indonesia
REACHED FROM AMBON - by road to TULEHU and then a FERRY OR FAST BOAT to Saparua, roughly an hour or two in total depending on the service, with LIMITED SCHEDULES that stop in the afternoon. FORT DUURSTEDE stands above the bay at KOTA SAPARUA and is open and free to walk into, with a small caretaker arrangement. ACCOMMODATION IS SIMPLE and concentrated near the town and the north-coast beaches. MALUKU IS DIVIDED BETWEEN CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM VILLAGES and Saparua saw serious violence during the 1999-2002 conflict; it is long settled and people are welcoming, but be unhurried and respectful about it. BOATS TO THE REEFS are arranged locally. BRING CASH; banking is minimal outside the town.