When the sun sets over Pulau Weh in the evening, a deep rest descends over the island, north of Banda Aceh. Only the voices of fishermen and a few people and the water against the rusty, iron pillars of a pier break the silence. However the very good deep seaport and the strategic position at the entrance of Selat Malakka, one of the busiest sea trade routes, is Sabang, the most important city of the island, but it's forgotten by the rest of the world.
It hasn't been this all the time. Thin Pin Sun, the friendly owner of a restaurant close to the beach, emigrated from China with his parents, because a family member had a good running company in tropical wood from the island. Business was better back then, he remembers while the costumers wait for the order of boiled shrimps , fish, noodles and
gado-gado. On the wall a bleached black and white picture in panorama of the harbor in 1914 with a dozen of oceanic passenger ships and freighters.
When sailboats were replaced but steamboats at the end of the 19th century, the Dutch decided to develop Sabang, no more than a fishermen village back then. Along the water they built rows of warehouses (they are still there) and they stored coal from the mines on Sumatera. A dry-dock was built for repairing ships, and an oil depot. Via a pipeline, fresh water was brought in from a lake inland, to supply the ships and offices in the new city. At the start of the 20th century the seaport of Sabang was more important than Singapore. The transition from steam to diesel engines was the death penalty for Sabang. Demand for coal descended and the growth was gone.
In the Second World War, Japanese soldiers used the island after they ran over Singapore in 1942. Only after the capitulation, 3.5 years later, they were forces to leave the island. In some beaches old bunkers and weapon storages in the mountains cast a shadow over the nice environment.
War and foreign rule seem far away from this peaceful, 250 square kilometers big island. Fishery and coconut plantations give the 20,000 inhabitants the least they need for existence. At the end of March, or begin April, just after harvest, smell of fresh clove fill the air. Live is easy here. Some people can also make a living with the few tourists that go to the island.
Weh made a second, much promising trade-revival after 1970, when the Indonesian government gave the island the status of free trade zone. Arrival of ships and trade flourished, work was no problem and was relatively well-paid. Alarmed by the growing smuggle from and to the island, and with the plan to develop Batam, close to Singapore, into the most important free-trade zone, the central government rejected the special status of Sabang again. Ever since, the number of residents is descending; a part of the population left to look for a job.
Fishery, a recently founded rattan company and tourism seem to offer the best opportunities for the future and employment. The crystal clear water and coral reefs which house colorful fish have a natural appeal.
The ferry from Sumatera, which arrives daily, has a number of tourists on board, mainly backpackers which don't demand the luxury of a hotel, but a stay in Sabang. There is no hotel. Nightlife is there, outside the restaurant of Thin, of only two cinemas.
Too bad, a part of the most beautiful coral, among them pieces of the wonderful underwater garden in front of the island Rubiah, not far from Sabang, is destroyed by illegal fishing with dynamite. Villagers and civil servants say that fishers from Sumatera are the cause. De devastations are hard to stop, because the dynamite fishers work at night and they have fast boats in which they take away the dead fish.
