The Green Islands (1962)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] as a businessman traveling through the Far East to study investment possibilities I had included Indonesia in my itinerary shortly after my arrival I met an Indonesian friend in the Ambassador restaurant in Jakarta I've traveled a good deal but Indonesia was new to me and I like to see new places and meet new people a new place he said Indonesia is many places one country yes with its 90 million people the sixth most populous country in the world but it is a huge island chain 3,000 mil from west to east and with more than 3,000 Islands these are the Spice Islands that Columbus sought when he found America islands that are the natural home of clove nutmeg Pepper vanilla cinnamon and camper I was anxious to see the natural background of these many flowering islands of which I had read so much both in technical literature and in the fiction of Joseph Conrad and Somerset mall now for the first time I had an opportunity to see the deserted beauty of white strands in the Java sea hills and mountains verden by the ash of the volcanic turmoil which formed [Music] them bromo the home of the ancient god of fire grumbling in the midsts of the great sand sea quiet River centuries old highways for the jungle dwellers and arteries of modern Commerce through the islands of Sumatra and cant here were the people nameless crows I was impressed by the extreme Beauty and delicacy y characteristic of the Indonesians their Rich cultural background remains undestroyed cared for the great Buddhist era is fixed forever in their Memories by This Magnificent symbol at boror [Music] the Hindu temples no longer of religious significance yet assimilated and accepted a place for contemplation or for youth on holiday [Music] today most Indonesians are Muslims and many mosques stand now in the towns and cities an active religion practiced by an industrious [Music] people here in Java an island only slightly larger than Portugal there are 54 million people moving about busy with their daily tasks yet this country whose economy was formerly based on agriculture is rapidly modernizing with Indonesia's great natural wealth and their own skill and energy these people will help their to advance in economic progress theirs is an up hill task for the country is short in investment Capital but they're going ahead with an 8-year development program cities are busy and the need for good Communications is being met yet for these tasks facing Indonesia I found little tension there was time for pleasure place for youth [Music] only a mile from the smooth wide Road out of Jakarta yet here in this Village of chopo Salata I found a totally different environment near here was the capital of the Old sundan Kingdom powerful from the 12th to the 16th centuries and sundan is still the language among the older [Music] people for many this quiet life is preferable yet too often in many countries the rural scene is also a mark of poverty not here a simple life yes with such old Customs as prefabricated walls of Palm leaves yet a happy life with time for past things which live on as a part of the country scene puppets still used to tell the story of the Hindu ramayana bomba son of Krishna and Udell the [Music] clown the village is based on Rice the country's staple food and for Rice there must be [Music] water the quiet rice Patty Fields ingeniously terrist by people whose skill in creating irrigation systems goes back 2,000 years these same people will in the future willingly turn to the use of modern fertilizers and Machinery in order to increase their agricultural production thus decreasing Imports and saving several dollars yearly in foreign exchange here is production two of a different kind 10 th000 species of trees half a million species of plants attract the botanist of the world to Indonesia's botanical gardens in bogor Java here the first experimental oil Palms were planted the first rubber trees in the East Indies the first quinine trees outside South America all of these today form major agricultural Enterprises in Indonesia to two leaves and a bud that is what each tea plucker has to fill her basket with even on the Tea Plantation I was impressed by the calm patience of the Indonesian people good tea one of Indonesia's large exports [Music] [Applause] [Music] Payday on the Tea Plantation a thousand workers dressed for the occasion a gay and happy seat economic stability for The Villages in this age of uniformity I was pleased to find that the National Dress is still very popular the batique makers still use their traditional Arts blanking out complicated patterns with lines of hot wax dying the cloth rewaxing and dying again and again until the pattern is complete each design is peculiar to area one for West Java and this made only for the fishing villages of Central Java the Seas between and around these many islands abound in fish although modern power-driven fishing boats are rare I found that a start is being made in developing a large scale Indonesian fishing industry with a new tuna canning Factory on Bali the island just east of Jaa and a fish canery and amble a home is happy with a singing bird for me this old saying means Eastern Java for here there are few houses without their Birds the Japanese are logical people they say that the bird lives in a tree so how happy it will be high up and because of this we will be happy too I did not want to leave The Villages and the people but I had not yet come to the most important part of my mission I had to find out more about the possibilities of foreign investment in this country Investments which could be mutually profitable to the investors and to Indonesia I called on an Indonesian businessman as sort of buyer I told him what I had already seen the countryside and some of the great agricultural Industries tea coffee COA rice and palm oil he wanted me to see more the vast Forest areas of cantan or Borneo cibis and the jungles of Sumatra from the air he said I could see the asahan Falls scheduled to provide badly needed hydroelectric power for boite smelting and possibly for fertilizer production again away on the North tip of Sumatra paper mills were to be built I told him how interested I was in the investment possibilities in Indonesia for either foreign capital or in joint for Indonesian Enterprises it is our desire also he told [Music] me yes the new buildings were Rising for Indonesia must build to house its new and modern plants for industry to house its office staffs must progress swiftly in its new era of industrialization an Indonesian cement plant in East Java one of the keys to the building program new buildings to house new and modern plant for industry textiles opened in 1958 with an output of 50,000 m a day this plant still only satisfied 15% of Indonesian requirements in this case all the shareholders are Indonesian there is an obvious opportunity for further investment in the textile industry the processing of Indonesian grown tobacco is another industry which must be developed still further latex from the rubber trees from these small dribbles Indonesia can produce over 30% of the world supply of rubber there are factories for the fabrication of rubber into t tires tubes shoes and mattresses but more are needed the growing of sugar cane is one of Indonesia's most important agricultural Industries yet alone this is not enough sugar like most natural resources attains its true value only when developed economically and brought to the world markets the construction and use of modern plants such as this show the efforts of the Republic to develop its abundant resources here from the input of 3,000 tons of cane a day during the peak period about 3,000 bags of sugar each 200 lb leave the plant daily in this Factory alone including the plantation 6,000 workers are employed my friend was a well informed and interesting man he told me something of the mineral resources copper manganese lead zinc boide nickel tin and gold he was courteous and helped go and see more he told me so I took a walk around the market places and saw clearly that what my friend had told me was true the mining of minerals is not enough boite the basic ore for aluminum is mined in Indonesia in large quantities but it is sent abroad to be smelted and fabricated into the aluminum utensils used by the Indonesian housewife clearly a need for investment in electric power generation and metal processing in these islands there are other industrial advances This Modern factory makes toothpaste which no longer has to be imported Indonesia is now self-sufficient in the manufacturer of soap margerine and cooking oil all manufactured in modern plants such as this from the country's ample supply of coconut this new Factory an Australian investment manufactures aspirin it is efficient and well run yet Imports of other pharmaceutical supplies still cost Indonesia the equivalent of more than $12 million in foreign exchange a year a great deal of this could be saved if more investment in the pharmaceutical industry took place [Music] locally I moved on traveling all the ways I could so that I could get the feel of the country [Music] from kamayan the international airport at Jakarta I headed west across the end of samatra to the island of banka [Music] here from the Java sea vast quantities of tinor are dredged by some of the world's largest floating dredgers sample boring is done continually a simple device but effective [Music] tin ore from the soft seabed once a part of the large deposits on the island from this open pit mining it is estimated that over a million tons of tin have been mined since the start of the 18th century and today the industry of banka Island rates only second of the great tin producing areas of Mia yet as I found in the case of boite mining the Indonesian tin concentrates have to be sent abroad for smelting and Tin plate is often scarce in the Republic the tin island of banka mentioned in the stories of Sinbad the Sailor has produced tin for at least 1,000 years throughout this period too has also grown pepper on these vines that cover much of the Island from here in 16003 the first cargo of over a million pounds of pepper was shipped to the t's docks in London then as now Indonesia has consistently been the world's Chief supplier of pepper I left the tin and Spice Island of banker and flew on over the wild Sumatran jungles late Toba and the fall of [Music] [Music] asahan in Sumatra and the great rainforests of cantan and cibis are the trees their products Timber plywood tanic acid and paper are all important assets yet Indonesia must import newsprint and War board through lack of capital [Music] investment This Modern Sawmill set near the banks of the seak river in Sumatra was established by private Indonesian Capital which was assisted by a French loan it has been operating since 1957 with a capacity of 40 cubic meters of swn Timber for each 8h hour working [Music] ship the dark red maranti a type of mahogany makes valuable Lumber it is produced on a small scale but efficiently [Music] deep in this wild jungle country have been found the oil fields of Indonesia the oil Pioneers had to explore a country such as this geologically then drilled in likely looking areas to find out whether oil was there even after oil was found the task which faced them was formidable roads to be built housing offices pipelines and the greatest enemy which stood before these oil men was the jungle [Music] n [Music] [Music] oil men and machines attack the jungle clearing it working around swamps whole new oil towns were built brought into existence as a part of one of Indonesia's major Revenue producing Industries oil which competes with rubber as Indonesia's greatest money earning export foreign skill equipment and money have created this great industry in which local people and domestic money is now playing an increasing part today the discomfort of pioneering is replaced in the established oil camps by a normal [Music] life Americans Indonesians Australians and British civilization created by oil men where so recently only monkeys howled and tigers roamed [Music] but the production of oil does not allow too much play in relaxation constant vigilance and maintenance is essential if oil is to flow towards its markets during the fruitful years of development thousands of Indonesian employees have readily adapted themselves to the new skills required in oil field operations today over 90% of oil employees are Indonesian one unforeseen effect of this pioneering was the appearance of these tribes of wild hunters from the almost impenetrable jungle they have come to build their shelters near the new roads they feel more secure even they benefit from the oil industry of their own country oil pipelines and Communications they follow and the new roads are being driven through the swamps and the steaming Forest of Sumatra towards the sea [Music] terminals I returned to Jakarta to bid goodbye to my Indonesian friend and to tell him of all I had learned I had collected a wealth of data on this newly independent and rapidly developing country a land rich in diverse natural resources a land where of sufficient Capital are invested many basic and secondary Industries could be developed [Music] and then I recall all seeing a young woman climbing the ancient sunwarm steps of borabo and to me it was symbolic of the successful crafting of modern industrialization on the age-old cultural background still strongly prevailing in the lives of the Indonesian [Music] people my journey lay Westward toward the business enters the great cities but I knew that I should return to these green islands with their golden future [Music]