Imekko

Have you ever heard about Imekko? Imekko refers to five districts in South Sorong regency (West Papua Province) that consists of Inanwatan, Kais, Matemani, Kokoda and East Kokoda. Imekko is located in south part of South Sorong regency. Total area of Imekkko is about is 3588.803 miles or about three-quarters of the South Sorong Regency. The five districts were once merely Inanwatan district (while still being a part of Sorong), but in its development, the district was divided into five districts as South Sorong regency formed. Imekko has an abundant natural resources, some of them are the vast-stretches forest, mines in the form of oil and gas, rivers and oceans -- in which it holds the potential of fisheries and marine catches.

Settlement in the riverside of Inanwatan

Besides imekko is rich in natural resources, imekko is also rich in customs and culture. There are six tribes which are inhabit in Imekko are, namely Bira, Yameta, Iwaro, Kaiso, Awe dan Emeyode. Each tribe has a clan (kereth). Bira has five clans, namely Dedaida, Taroy, Fatari, Tauwe and Paroy. Yameta has 12 clans, namely Aifufu, Maituman, Kena, Dahar, Ergor, Kefire, Budji, Biambiam, Nigare, Subay, Ginuni, and Namename. Kaiso has five clans, namely Tigori, Keba, Gerewas, Saimar, Regoy. Iwaro has 5 clans, namely Manas, Keime, Sadai, Berione, and Kadai. Awe has 4 clans, namely Aume, More, Kabire dan Oraite. The last but not least, Emeyode tribe has 8 clans, namely Gogoba, Jare, Wugaje, Tabakore, Turage, Agia, Bodori, Nagora. Each clan has it’s own language. You can imagine how rich is Imekko from the customs and culture.

As an area with an abundance of wealth, in case of natural resources and culture, Immeko is now surrounded by many problems. As a part of South Sorong, Imekko  is isolated from the central government and development. This problem then triggered a barrage of other problms that affect each other and create conditions of underdevelopment and inequality.

The isolation in Imekko is actually caused by the physical conditions that is difficult to reach and unavailability of adequate transportation facilities. An Imekko area is dominated by coastel areas, huge streams, marshes, and forest. This physical conditions requires the availability of adequate facilities and transportation infrastructure. So that, the existence of the docks, qualified boats for the ferocious sea conditions and the clear schedule of the boats become an urgent need to be realized.  The existence of the facilities will have a major impact on equitable development. Marine catches, sago, as well as agricultural crops and forest products from the society can be marketed because of the availability of the facilities and transportation infrastructure. In addition to the economic development, the opening of physical isolation will also have an impact on the availability and accessibility of public service to the society.

As your information, I’ve never come to Imekko. I got this story through friends who've been go there and in several times I met people from Immeko who visit to Yogyakarta. 

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