Clutching the shoreS of Makassar Strait, South Sulawesi’s capital city offers a host of exciting attractions, be it in the city centre or along its coastline. My adventure started at a dining table when my family and I visited a restaurant offering sunu fish—the local name for grouper fish, also known as kerapu—and six kinds of chilli sauce called sambal in small bowls. There was a bowl containing unripened mango, one with pieces of chilli, one with shallots and tomatoes and among others, one with Javanese tamarind chilli sauce. Giddy, I took turns dipping pieces of fish into each one but it turned out that I was doing it wrong. A waiter came running and told me that the six sauces should be mixed together to create a complex combination of tastes: spicy hot, sour, sweet and savoury. Ah... that figures.
I’ve been to Makassar several times, and each time this city never fails to offer something new. My first visit was 20 years ago when it was still called Ujung Pandang. The history of the city started in 1545 when the powerful sultanate of Gowa-Tallo built a fortress on the coast. Back then, the fortress was an imposing structure, standing taller than the surrounding pandan trees and the people of Makassar called it the Jumpandang Fortress which means “the fort on the tips of the ‘pandan’ trees”. The tendency of the locals to pronounce the final syllable of ‘n’ as ‘ng’ (pronounced the same way as in “hung”) gave rise to the evolution of the city’s name into “Ujung Pandang,” that which stuck with the city until it was formally changed into “Makassar” in 1999.
For more than a century the fortress served its purpose - spying on enemy movements. With its strategic location and high structure, even those in a distance could easily be detected and seen. The fort used Portuguese architecture design and, viewed from above, it looks rather like a turtle. There is a philosophical meaning behind this design: the kingdom of Gowa wanted to achieve glory both at sea and on land—just like the amphibious creature.

The imposing building has five bastions which are robust, towering constructions with cannons at every corner. In 1667, during the era of Dutch colonialism, the Jumpandang Fort had its name changed to Fort Rotterdam, thanks to a Dutch administrator named Cornelis Speelman who wished to pay tribute to his birthplace in the Netherlands. There were countless historic battles and important events that took place here that if we were to discuss all of them one by one, the saga would probably be longer than La Galigo, the longest work of literature in the world—longer than the Mahabarata—which tells of the Bugis concepts of cosmology and has been adapted as an opera performed at Fort Rotterdam and several countries.
Makassar became the city’s name during the era of Gowa-Tallo’s rule over the land, on the western shore of the Cape of South Sulawesi. It reverted to Ujung Pandang in 1971, only to be changed back again to Makassar in 1999 and has remained so until today. In terms of etymology, Makassar is derived from the word “mangkasarak”, meaning ‘big hearted’ and ‘to be frank’, sums up the character of the local people so very aptly.
“This is the city of ‘Si Ayam Jantan dari Timur’ (the Rooster from the East),” my mother once told me. The American Indian-style nickname was given to Sultan Hasanuddin, a great hero from Makassar. His name has since been preserved for posterity in the name of the airport whose sturdy, transparent structure reminds me of Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
Fort Rotterdam is now one of Makassar’s most iconic structures along with the South Sulawesi Cultural Centre, although it is not as dominant as it once was because many concrete buildings have sprouted all across the city. Spending the night on the town is a kind of ritual here. As we enjoy sunset, we can feel the angin mamiri—meaning “gentle breeze” in the local Bugis language—as it caresses our faces. Perhaps it was this sensation that inspired the composer of the famous song “Angin Mamiri” to create the song.
As a historic building, Fort Rotterdam is visited by droves of students from all over the country seeking to deepen their insights into history. While here, they are not only admiring the old structure but also courageously striking up conversations with foreign tourists to practise their English. After their interviews, these students invariably ask the tourists to take photographs together.

For those who are more interested in the present than the past, Losari Beach is a popular tourist attraction not far from the fort. The beach is still a splendid public space that the locals continue to visit, especially on Saturday evenings. They come to enjoy the sea views and local specialty snacks such as pisang epek, es pallubutung and pisang ijo.
The charm of Losari has had its up and downs. At one point in time it was simply overcrowded with so many visitors and sellers. Some of the tented stalls, which once filled the beach, have now been moved to the area in front of the Mayor’s official residence. The local government has upgraded the look of Losari by building a 100,000-square metre anjungan or pavilion. The promenades and pavements have now been improved and the area is cleaned on a regular basis. Even a wireless internet connection has been installed.
One of the best evidences of Makassar’s growth as the next economic centre of Indonesia and in the tourism industry is the Trans Studio, billed as the world’s biggest indoor theme park, which was opened on 9 September 2009 (09-09-09). Ten years ago, nobody would have thought that Makassar would one day play host to an air-conditioned entertainment park of a total land area of 2.7 hectares with a range of world-class rides—the only one in Indonesia. People from Papua or Manado no longer have to fly to Jakarta should they want to enjoy world-class roller coaster rides. This is no small feat: Makassar beat other major cities in Indonesia to become the city of choice for this gargantuan project.

As its name suggests, Trans Studio belongs to Trans Corp., which owns two private television stations, Trans TV and Trans 7. Among its 22 or more attractions, there are some which are linked to TV programmes such as Dunia Lain (The Other World), a train ride through a house haunted by various classic Indonesian ghosts, and Jelajah (Exploring), a boat ride (on rails) through a rocky mountain.
Makassar is surrounded by smaller islands with pristine white sands, which means the city also offers many attractions for nature lovers. One of them is called Kapoposan Island which the locals pronounce Kapoposang. It can be reached from the jetty at POPSA (Persatuan Olahraga Perahu Motor dan Ski Air or the Motorboat and Water Ski Organisation), located opposite Fort Rotterdam. With a rented speedboat running at 25 knots, the 68-kilometre crossing is about a 90-minute ride.
Kapoposang is part of the Kapoposang Islands Nature Tourism Park which spreads across 50,000 hectares and includes six main islands, all surrounded by corals. In addition to the island of Kapoposang, there is also Papandangan, Kondongbali, Pamangga-nggang, Tambakhulu and Suranti. Only the first three are inhabited with Kapoposang serving as the centre of socio-economic and marine tourism activities.

Kapoposang lies in the southern corner of the island cluster and has 600 inhabitants. Its population shoots up sharply when divers from different countries on summer holidays come to pay a visit to its corals. The one and only resort here does not yet have a dive centre so divers have to bring in their own equipment or rent from the Makassar Diving Centre, which has its headquarters at POPSA. It turns out that the owner of this resort also owns a renowned Japanese restaurant in Makassar, so he often offers sashimi made from the freshest fish caught in the waters around the national park.
Although only a short distance from Makassar, Kapoposang feels like a world away. There’s no reception or signal for mobile phones, for emergency purposes, the resort provides satellite phones. Electricity is only available during the night in the 20 bungalows and televisions have not been installed. But then again, who needs TV or Facebook when a breathtaking panorama of white sand and crystal clear ocean is staring back at you?
The people of Kapoposang deserve a commendation for their awareness and commitment to taking care of their environment. They don’t even throw their nets near the corals for fear of causing damage, despite the obvious hint of the abundance of fish there which could earn them easy money overnight. Traditionally, and indeed for generations, the livelihood of the local people has depended on the cultivation of seaweed. Their well-kept beaches also attract hundreds of turtles who drop in to lay their eggs. There is some illegal fishing but the perpetrators are fishermen from elsewhere.
Dipping my head into the water, my eyes were imme-diately treated to a vista of beautiful reef walls decorated with sea fans and colourful corals. Fish of various shapes and hues were busily swimming to and fro in all their beautiful diversity. Black tip and white tip sharks, barracuda, dogtooth tuna and groupers swam in search of prey. Crevices in reef were homes to turtles, lobsters and crabs.

About an hour from Kapoposang stands the island of Badi, another conservationist’s paradise and no less mesmerising. Several nature lover groups operating in South Sulawesi have turned it into a conservation site. They teach the locals about how coral transplantation can be an alternative livelihood in addition to fishing.
Coral, as an archetypal tropical ecosystem, is the habitat of various marine biotas. From 123 kinds of fishes with high economic values in Indonesia, 32 of them inhabit corals and they are valued very well in the international market. Healthy corals can produce between three to ten tonnes of fish annually per square kilometre. Supported by nature organisations, the local people on Pulau Badi cultivate tropical fish and seahorses for export.

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