Sumbawa Update May 31, 2008

Sumbawa Update is something new that I'm adding here as this page gets the most traffic on the site. We're getting ready to leave Sumbawa as our full-time base and move back to Bali. There are a lot of reasons for this - the main one being the education of our children. The kids will just have more options in Bali than they have here in Sekongkang, but I hate to leave here. Just this morning, I was wandering around the neighborhood while fixing a door over at our little bungalow in our land across the road, and I had one of those moments when you think, Wow, things are really going to change. After five years of living here, we won't be a part of life in the village; we'll be back to life in the kampung in Singaraja, Bali.

For me, Sekongkang and Sumbawa have become an integral part of my image of life in the tropics. Folks are friendly; life is relaxed; kids play in the river and along the road. Goats, water buffalo, horses and cows wander freely down the road. There are miles of empty, beautiful white sand beaches just a few minutes drive from my house. The sky seems to go on forever. At this point with only a few more weeks to go, we're wondering how things will play out. If we don't sell or rent out the main house, we're thinking of using it as a vacation home and maybe renting it out occasionally to surfers or visitors who want to spend a week or two traveling around the island. We'll just have to see.

About Sumbawa

Sumbawa is one of the 13,000 plus islands in the Indonesian archipelago. This site focuses on life in Sumbawa: its culture, history, language, politics, and tourism.

Sumbawa is a large island to the east of Bali and Lombok. It is part of West Nusa Tenggara along with Lombok. There are hundreds of small islands in this area in addition to the two major islands. Sumbawa really belongs more to Eastern Indonesia than to to the western part of the archipelago. The effects of Hindu and Buddhist cultures are minimal in Sumbawa (although there is a Balinese presence along the northern coastal area), and although the island is predominantly Muslim, the role of adat is still very strong.

The slogan of the Sumbawa Regency is: "B E S A R" which stands for BERSIH, ELOK, SEHAT, AMAN, DAN RAPI. The regional government's official website notes that Sumbawa still lacks sufficient medical facilities to support public health, in particular a lack of doctors and other health professionals. A public health center was recently opened in Sekongkang, but adequate treatment for a serious illness or accident requires a trip to Sumbawa Besar or Mataram, both of which require a journey of at least four hours minimum.

Sumbawa is divided into four regencies and one municipality. The regencies are: Sumbawa Barat, Sumbawa Besar, Dompu, and Bima. The municipality is Kodya Bima. The most recent census lists the population as being 1.1 million. There are two main ethnic groups: Bima and the Samawa.

The regional government has a six year plan (ending this year) for improving the lives of the island's residents. This plan includes: Health (improving health service quality including equipment and facilities), Education, Social Welfare (including reaching gender equality), Agriculture ( optimizing resources for improving agricultural products), Industry, Trade and Cooperation (developing an economic system that focuses on the fair market mechanism), Regional Finance and Capital Investment, Manpower and Demography, Public Works and Communication (improving transport and the use of water resources), Agrarian Matter and Landscape, Living Environment and Natural Resource (rehabilitating and conserving natural resources), Tourism, Art and Culture (developing tourism based on natural and cultural tours, as well as teaching traditional art and culture), Religious Life Teaching (improving religious life through teaching and providing praying facilities and by making the role of religious institutions and social organizations to be teaching about living in harmony with other religious people), Law and Society's Orderliness (creating safe conditions based on the supremacy of the law and human rights); Politic and the Efficiency of Apparatus (improving the quality of public service through responsibility and the quality of government institutions); Science and Technology (the application of right and useful technology).

In many respects Sumbawa can be considered remote. To get to Sumbawa from Bali most people take the ferry from Bali to Lombok, travel overland to the eastern seaport in Lombok and then take another ferry to Sumbawa, ending up in Poto Tano. From there transportation is somewhat problematic. There are buses that will take you on to Sumbawa Besar, the capital, or down the coast road to the south, but my experience has been that trying to get on a bus once you arrive in Sumbawa is somewhat difficult (see the Transportation page for more details). If traveling from Lombok, it is best to board a bus there that will take you to your final destination in Sumbawa. It is also possible to fly into the city of Sumbawa Besar on the western side of the island, and Bima on the eastern side of the island. A small airline called Tropical Air existed for a short while which flew directly to Sekongkan where I am located and where the surfing spots of Yoyo and Scar Reef are located.. We still have the airport, but flights have been stopped for an indefinite period.

Sumbawa is known for its great waves and sandy white beaches. Due to the somewhat trying process of getting there and the scarcity of cheap tourist facilities, the island is not visited much by non-surfing tourists which is unfortunate as the parts of the island that I have seen are quite beautiful. During the dry season (April to November) a lot of dust is blown up and around. Strong winds blow in off the ocean, and the lush green hills, mountains and valleys turn a dusty brown. When the rainy season begins an amazing transformation takes place and the island becomes a lush jungle once again.

The pace of life on Sumbawa is definitely slower than that in Bali. As most of the island is still developing, there is a very rural feel to just about everywhere that you go, including Sumbawa Besar, the capital of the western side fo the island. The mining company, Newmont, has a gold and copper mine down in the southwestern corner of the island around the villages of Sekongkang, Maluk and Benete. Their presence has speeded up the development process on this side of the island.

Sumbawa is one of the larger islands in the archipelago, and we only live in the southwestern corner. I've been to Sumbawa Besar several times, but only for short periods. Taliwang, about an hour north of us, is a fairly small place, but large compared to Sekongkang and Maluk. The largest city on the island is Sumbawa Besar, but that is a five hour drive from here. The best shopping is actually on Lombok which is the next island to the west.