The Stories of Perantau in Nusantara (#01)

During the Touring Indonesia Harmoni trip, from Aceh to Papua, one of the most frequently encountered are Indonesians who like to wander in other provinces or abroad. Indonesia can be said to be the country’s stage for scavengers of sustenance from various regions. In other words, this motherland is a witness to how humans move from one island to another. The stories of immigrants who hunt for sustenance are not always happy at the end. Sometimes it is full of suffering. Then there is happiness at the end. Or, at first happy, but in the end in unhappiness. In this essay, of course, there will be many narrations or stories from various people we met during the Touring Indonesia Harmoni trip. The stories of these immigrants will indeed reveal how the life of the Indonesian people. A TNI man had to get married in Asmat. Then his wife worked in Boven Digoel. He had to fly to Boven Digoel for his honeymoon. A policeman who has lived in Merauke for decades feels that he is a Papuan, even though his skin color is not like a Papuan. A contractor in Ternate who hails from Makassar has business and political networks in Ternate and Halmahera Island. A businessman from Sulawesi became the head of a mining company in Kalimantan. A worker at a palm oil company in Munting, Merauke has lived in a housing camp for an oil palm company for a dozen years. Two itinerant traders rent a motorbike, living nomadic lives in Papua, only to sell household appliances from door to door. Our family, who recently married a young man from Enrekang, South Sulawesi, currently lives in Bulungan, Tanjung Selor, North Kalimantan. Political life in several provinces in Kalimantan is also undeniably controlled by migrants from Sulawesi who have