CAPTURING MARKUS LAIMERA'S LOVE FOR WELORA
The west wind was blowing hard when the speedboat we were on pulled up to the coast of Welora Village. The sky gave the water a chance to flow, sending down raindrops that hit the sea surface roughly. Welora Village is located on Dawera Island, a speck of an island in the Dawelor-Dawera sub-district of the East Babar Islands.
"Welcome to Welora," welcomed Welora's village head, Sarjun Walupi, and Markus Laimera, the village secretary, as we descended to the beach. The shadows of dozens of coconut groves shaded us as we walked toward the village gate. Right in front of the gate, two girls handed one of us a hat, and a glass of sopi, and sang in Welora. "Oletwala!" shouts Tomi - dapperly dressed in a red collar, standing next to the children - as the others respond with a resounding "oii!"Oletwala is a Welora greeting, equivalent to kalwedo - commonly used in Southwest Maluku.
We walked into the village and stopped right in front of a church with a courtyard big enough to hold up to 50 people, and a statue of a cold-faced, stiff-bodied man, facing the sea with his left hand holding a holy book to his chest and his right hand waving, beckoning us to listen to him, the tourists who had just set foot on Welora's soil.
The village of Welora is one of the 'hidden' destinations because of its hard-to-reach and hidden location, making it a special interest destination, especially for underwater exploration activities. The village's prestige was further recognized when it successfully won first place in the API (Anugerah Pesona Indonesia) Award by the Ministry of Tourism for the category of new tourist destinations in 2020. This is the fruit of hard work from all residents over the past decade, including Markus Laimera, familiarly called Om Max, one of the initiators of tourism development in the village. Markus Laimera, has a big dream: his village becomes a destination for people to travel.
In the past, Welora was just like any other village in Southwest Maluku, with traditional houses made of wood and coconut fronds, with one access road. Om Max's father, Jepta Laimera, initiated changes to the layout of the village and added several village roads, assisted by young Max and several other young men who had just finished high school.
"Katong made a road, flush the coral from there," he pointed to a road that used to be the only road in the village. "He proposed adding some lanes, and had to move some houses back to make room." The previous generation was getting fed up with the changes they were making. Who, they said, would pay for moving the houses?
Despite the opposition, the creation of the new road led many residents to sympathize and volunteer to help, for the sake of a better village layout. Welora village, which was originally inhabited by only a few families, gradually invited people from other villages to come and enlarge the village area.
"Bapak is very vocal. He also chaired the LKMD (Village Community Resilience Organization). Katong adopted the central government's rules, so finally used the village head."
"Katong is grateful for the change," he said.
Om Max's dream was to become a soccer player, a dream he had been working towards since he left and went to school in Ambon. Then he had to let his dream be buried deep after the Ambon riots occurred. The unstable political atmosphere made him choose to return to Welora.
"From then on [the Ambon riots], I never held a ball again. I decided to return to the village," he said.
Before tourism took off, the people of Welora worked like any other coastal community; fishing and selling to other villages. Om Max, who saw tourism as an opportunity, started gathering eight children to help him clear the undergrowth that covered Welora's historical sites and beaches. Although the places he cleared were notoriously haunted, he insisted that good intentions would always be protected.
In 2013, a pinisi ship with a Live on Board concept began docking in Welora waters. The ship, named Oceanic, anchored around Welora waters without permission from residents and conducted diving activities at a diving point called Ututkol.
"Because there is a written regulation that prohibits entering the Welora area and carrying out activities without permission, some youths began to react to the incident," said Om Max.
Before this incident, people had already started to get upset with the rampant cases of fish theft in the Welora area, which was done by improper means such as using poison or bombs. The people of Welora were not willing to see their sea die and started spying on what the boat was doing in their area. They saw speed boats carrying oxygen cylinders, diving masks, as well as other diving equipment not related to fishing activities.
Finally, with machetes and bows in hand ready to strike, they approached the boat and asked the foreign tourists to dock at the village. All luggage was held in the village hall. Then, the captain of the ship was summoned to appear before the village government.
"Because you did not report, you are charged with a fine of one million five hundred."
The villagers told him why they were concerned about the circulation of the ship in their area. The captain apologized and accepted the punishment, and agreed with the concerns the villagers had expressed about their sea. Before leaving, the captain said one thing that Om Max could not forget until now.
"Believe me, all ships will come here one day." This sentence from the captain's mouth is a whip for all villagers to work together to utilize their sea area as part of tourism. When village funds were secured and all permits were obtained, Welora began to preen freely, until now.
"Throughout Welora's history, the most contributing village asset for revenue is the tourism sector." Om Max shakes his fist in the air as if to illustrate his belief that tourism fosters a better economy for Welora residents. In the period 2018-2023, 582 tourists were visiting Welora, and 95% of them were foreign nationals.
Many people think Om Max has a degree in tourism or a degree in urban governance, but the knowledge he gained to manage tourism is all self-taught. "Tourism needs a soul. Maybe because the soul of art is inherent in beta, so beta tries to adopt some of the thoughts that beta sees in people's villages."
The fruits of this labor invite cruise ships to dock, especially during the shade season, from October to December. Big names such as KM Raja Manta, KM Rascal 2, Seven Seas, and Coralia make regular stops to experience Welora's amazing underwater sensation. There are about 8 Live on Board ships per year that routinely stop by there.
WWF-Indonesia provides full support in the management of Welora Village as a tourist village that applies sustainable principles. In early March 2024, WWF-Indonesia collaborated with the Welora Village government in the development of sustainable marine tourism. As the program progresses, one of them is by collecting data on the carrying capacity of tourism, both on the coast and the sea around Welora Village. The activity, which took place from March 20-24, 2024, received a positive response from the residents of Welora Village. For four days, the WWF-Indonesia team collected data on the potential of marine tourism in Welora, especially on four coastlines to determine the characteristics of the beach and five dive points have been identified to determine marine biodiversity and charismatic biota such as napoleon fish, cockatoos, rays, green turtles, and blacktip sharks.
The average Beach Tourism Suitability Index (IKW) obtained a value of 80.08, which indicates that beach tourism in Welora Village is in the highly suitable category (S1). As for the carrying capacity of beach tourism, PCC (Physical Carrying Capacity)is 192,508 per year with RCC (Real Carrying Capacity) of 46,622 tourists per year and 128 tourists per day.For the carrying capacity of diving tourism, the average diver that can be accommodated is 165 people, so that for one year it can accommodate up to 60,209 people per year. Based on this study, the number of tourist visits in Welora Village is still below the maximum capacity that can be accommodated. The average visit is only 150 per year.
"Surely we do not want in the future there to be overtourism in Welora. The studies conducted by WWF-Indonesia are certainly to help realize Welora Village as a quality and sustainable tourism destination," said Anastasia Alerbitu, WWF-Indonesia's Marine Tourism and Community Officer for Southwest Maluku.
This study will be a baseline for future studies, especially those on sustainable marine tourism, especially those related to marine biodiversity. In addition to the study, WWF-Indonesia also promoted Welora Village at the Deep and Extreme Indonesia event, profile video on its YouTube channel, as well as making tourist brochures and infographics.
Welora Village still needs to run to catch up with Raja Ampat's popularity as a marine tourism in Eastern Indonesia, but the foundation to get there, has begun to be strengthened, with support from WWF-Indonesia. The series of sustainable marine tourism programs in Welora in the future will also continue to monitor the independence of community-based tourism (Community Based Tourism), the introduction of BMP (Better Management Practice) towards sustainable tourism, to further promotional cooperation both regionally and nationally. Of course, by prioritizing the beauty of tourist destinations in Welora Village in accordance with the rules that have been attached as a natural tourist destination that has preserved the potential of nature and surrounding resources.