TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A Community in Panggang and Pramuka Islands, Thousand Island, North Jakarta held a celebration called 'Pulang Babang' which means 'Going back home after sailing for long'. The local tradition lasted from Thursday until Sunday, May 30 to June 2.

"The celebration originated from the longing of life on the islands in the period of 1960s until 1990s," said Mahariah, one of the initiator of the celebration, who is originally from Thousand Island. She mentioned that people spent their spare time holding art and cultural performances back then. "We even used to have Malay theatre and orchestra group," Mahariah added.

Pulang Babang celebration is part of the program to develop tourism in Thousand Island, which has been going on since October 2011 and is a collaboration between the Centers of Village Forestry Training in Panggang, Teater PasirPutih, and Sanggar Apung.

It got it's name from a theme "Pulang Babang: Cultural Reconstruction of Panggang - Pramuka Islands Community". It began with a research done by a team from Ciputat and Sanggar Apung theater in Panggang and Pramuka Island. Both islands administratively belong to one sub-regency, which is Panggang Island sub-regency.

"The research has produced a book titled 'Orang Pulo di PulauKarang' (Island people in Karang Island)," said Mahariah.

For four days, people of the two islands, which are located adjacent to one another, held various activities as part of the Pulang Babang celebration such as the welcoming of fishermen who have come back from the sea, bazaar, photography and souvenirs exhibitions, and art performances. However, the main program was the theater performance held for two nights in a row on Saturday and Sunday at Panggang Island and Pramuka Island docks.

NUNUY NURHAYATI