In the days of sorcerers, mystics and holy men, an Arab-Malay prince Sharif Abdul Rahman Alkadrie founded a kingdom on the marshy plains of the Kapuas river.
As the legend goes, Sharif Abdul Rahman and his army had to fight off a host of female vampires known as “Pontianak”occupying the marshy delta–ghosts which can be compared with the Irish banshee who turned from a young beautiful woman to a frightful hag–by using a magical cannon to finally put the witches to flight.
It was on this famous site opposite the Pontianak harbour on October 23, 1771 that Sharif Abdul Rahman built Masjid Jamek, the City’s first mosque and set up his sultanate.
Even today the Muslims ignite massive“Meriam Buloh” bamboo cannons on Haji Raya Aifil Fitri (Lebaran) as a tribute to Sultan Abdul Rahman.
Armed with that story, the New Sarawak Tribune sent their roving reporter to explore this world-famous City sitting directly on the Equator; where twice a year, when the sun is directly above the equator, you can stand on your own shadow.
To explore Pontianak, a City of contrasting cultures, two Indonesian journalists volunteered to take me around the City of about 600,000.
Being a motor-cycle enthusiast, I spent two days riding pillion with my friends and visiting some of the oldest and newest places of worship–the oldest Chinese temple “Sam Pek Kong” established in 1826, the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches and scores of mosques in every corner of this bustling metropolis.
The oldest catholic church is the Ketedral Santo Yosef (St Joseph’s cathedral) which was first built in 1908 and pastored by priests of the Capuchin Order.
In 2011,the old church was demolished to make bigger room for the growing number of parishioners. Currently, the US$6 million St Joseph’s cathedrals which was formally blessed on March 19, 2015 at the Feast of St. Joseph, is reputed to be the most expensive church in South East Asia.
Santo Yosef priest Reverend Father William Chang,55, said the exquisite and colourful interior of the Church with images of the Apostles embossed on stained glass was built on the goodwill of the Catholics of Pontianak.
Taking us on a tour of the Church’s premises was Father William who will become a professor of theology soon said: “It’s a honour to lead our church in Pontianak and I would like to thank all the well-wishers for helping us build Santo Josef which is a City of shared faiths.”
Freelance journalist Severinus Endi “Jenggot”(Jenggot is the Indonesian word for goatee) who led the tour said that Pontianak is also a City of motor-cycles as most of the traffic jams area caused by the growing population of motor-cycles.
“In the recent years more people are buying motorcycles with some families owning three to four machines. I would not be surprised if there are half a million motor-cycles in the City when compared to 100,000 cars,” he laughed.
Vibrant and exciting Pontianak feels as if it has a million people–not like sleepy Kuching which has 750,000 people which except for festivals, appears deserted most of the time.
Not too long ago the cost of living in Pontianak was affordable as it had hundreds of “Warongs”stalls selling everything you can imagine.
But that is slowly changing because with more tourists and visitors, from within Indonesia and outside, new hotels, bars and karaokes have slowly been emerging.
Even though I have been visiting Pontianak for almost 20 years, it’s always interesting to return stroll down memory lane to visit the Seng Khie harbour which Admiral Cheng Ho is reputed to have visited.
It has some of the oldest sailing vessels–now fitted with engines–called “Bugis Sail Boats” which sail as far as Natuna which is part of 272 islands between Malaysia and Borneo.
Also berthed near the port are dozens of “Kapal Bandung”–cargo boats that send goods up the 1,114km long Kapuas River–the longest river in Borneo–to as far as Putussibau, the furthest outpost on the river.
During the week-long journey, the cargo boats passed hundreds of boat houses’ lining the riverbank at the various villages which are home to the local folk.
To ensure that we did not leave out the Dayak quarter we visited the Rumah Betang traditional Dayak longhouse as well as the new Rumah Radangk (correct spelling)–the cultural center for the Dayaks of West Kalimantan which will be hosting the inaugural International Dayak Congress from July 24 till 30.
Bisnis Indonesia Pontianak correspondent Yanuarius Viodeogo,31, who graduated with a sociology degree (Sarjana) from a university in Jogjakarta, said that the Dayak community in Indonesia is looking forward to the international congress which is expected to be attended by Dayaks from Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan.
“We understand that some of the ethnic minorities in places like Taiwan, China and India who have cultural connections with the Dayaks of Borneo may also turn up and share their history,”
said Yanuarius (he was born in January as his name indicates) or “Deo”in short, a staunch Roman catholic who is part Embaloh (Memaloh) from Putussibau and part Kantu Iban.
Currently Pontianak has a long list of hotels from small losmen” (lodging houses) one of the oldest established three star Kapuas Palace and Kapuas Dharma hotels along Jalan Imam Bonjol, named after cleric “Tuanku”Imam Bonjol (title for a member of Royalty) who was a freedom fighter, to modern five stars hotels.
Like Jalan Imam Bonjol, many roads in Pontianak are named after Indonesian “Heroes and Patriots” such as General Ahmad Yani who was one of six generals murdered by communists and thrown into a well at Lubok Buaya (the crocodile lair) in Java in 1965.
A stone’s throw away from Kapuas Dharma where I stayed is the old “Flamboyan” wet market where the local farmers and Chinese businessmen sell all sorts of products. Local medicine shops also sell established pills, tablets and medicines as well as various types of traditional “Jamu” herbs and aphrodisiacs, promising a host of cures for ailments such as diabetes, blood circulation disease as well as erectile dysfunction.
The City is also a place where all sorts of cuisine from the local dish of “Mee Kepiting” (noodles with crabs) and Javanese “Bakso”, Sumatran “Nasi Padang and fresh Sea Food dishes to a variety of Chinese, Bugis and Sundanese foods.
For many decades, Pontianak was better known for its being one of Holland’s prized culture and landscape cities until recently when the drive to modernise the old town has triggered off the educated set of Indonesians.
In the last three years the City which was once a maze of narrow and dusty roads and polluted canals, is now a well-paved and tar-sealed green metropolis. With a dynamic Mayor Pak Termizi, it’s a matter of time before Pontianak overtakes Kuching.
A month before Air Asia made its inaugural Kuching-Pontianak schedule, the new Supadio International Airport which is the pride of Borneo, was rebuilt.
When built in the 1940s the airfield next to the Indonesia Air base, was called Sungai Durian Airport. In the 1970s the airport offered destination for domestic flights when Merpati Airlines flew to Kuching and Garuda to Singapore.It was renamed Supadio Airport in the 1980s.
With the recent inauguration of Aia Asia’s daily low cost flights between Kuching and Pontianak, things look bright for Kalimantan’s largest city which might even outshine the oil city of Balikpapan. Former Borneo Tribune and Pontianak Tribune journalist, Endi,38, said that thanks to the Governor of West Kalimantan Drs Cornelis and the Mayor or Pontianak Pak Termizi, the roads of Pontianak are not only better organised, but is a city of colours with also planted shady “Angsana” trees and flowers.
Three years ago, the streets were treeless, rubbish bins over-flowing with trash and rodents in the thousands!
But today under the leadership of Mayor Tarmizi, all rubbish bins in the City centre are colourfully painted and transported to a “cleaning centre”and washed before being sent back to its original location.
Endi added: “We have come a long way.. it’s a matter of time we will be on par if not more up to date with our neighbours, maybe even Kuching.”
