The Metaverse World
The Noko Island Part 5
One example occurred in the XIV century under the rule of a Palembang prince, Parameswara. Thanks to the help of a horde of pirates consisting of a tribe of Sea People loyal to him.
He managed to escape from the pursuit of the Majapahit royal envoy and eventually founded the Sultanate of Malacca. Parameswara succeeded in capturing the Land of Singapore which was once called Tumasik, after removing King Tumasik.
But in Nusantara, pirates often get support from coastal communities. They are considered heroes who save society from threats and disturbances that come from the outside.
Srivijaya was even considered a kingdom that used pirates to safeguard its trade interests. Pirate relationships with local kings are usually familiar. Pirates can be transformed into a Royal Navy if there is a mutual benefit sharing between the king and the pirate head.
Srivijaya and Tumasik made some traders from West Asia prefer to pass through the west coast of Sumatra to go to Java. On the west coast of Sumatra, there are at least several ports such as Barus, Padang, or Pariaman.
Srivijaya's power, which controlled pirates, made shipping lanes that were initially frightening to Muslim traders, safe and comfortable to navigate.
But since the collapse of Srivijaya around the 11th or 12th century, pirates in the Strait of Malacca acted alone and seemed to be increasingly violent. The Strait of Malacca became prone to shipping. This is what was then “ cleaned” by the fleet of Cheng Ho (Zheng He) in the 15th century. However, at later times, the pirates continued to act. Till now.
Symptoms of pirates increasingly surfaced in the 19th century, various events related to pirates at this time experienced a sharp increase. This is in line with the growing dominance of colonial countries, both on the mainland and in the waters of the archipelago.
The pirate phenomenon that exists along the waters of the archipelago is a resistance to the growing dominance of the territorial waters by colonial countries. Western writers with their own objectivity even wrote that pirate activity in Southeast Asia was a reaction to colonial politics.
In various pirate handling operations, the average pirate in the archipelago will be unfortunate, die because of the attack of colonial soldiers, caught and executed by the colonial court. With the growing dominance of western power in the archipelago, the indigenous sailors fell into colonial rule.
And for anyone who refuses to submit will be considered wild and branded as a pirate, or their power will be shifted into the status of a pirate. So the colonial had a pretext to fight them.
The same thing happened during the New Order (Orba), for example the policy of the New Order government that landed the indigenous sea people of Bangka or the Sekak people, around 1980. They are considered pirates from Bangka Island.
In fact, exploiting the sea is also the same as pirating the sea. Then, came the term pirate, which is actually a term from exploiting the sea.
The people who live on Bangka and Belitung - which consists of 750 islands - direct their civilization to the sea, so that it does not turn its back on the sea.
For example, villages led by Batin on Bangka Island that serves as feeder point or collecting point, which basically faces the sea so that the orientation is nautical.
Rumors say that before being brought back to China, Chen Zuyi hid his wealth on a remote island. He wrote down the position of the island onto the map and divided it into three. He gave each one piece to his three trusted subordinates.
Hundreds of years later, pieces of the treasure map passed from one hand to another, leading to countless incredible tragedies over the years.
Slowly and gradually, the truth behind the treasure map sank deep into the river of history. No one even believed Chen Zuyi's rumors anymore, and the treasure map piece became a collection item. No one ever fought for it.
Heru Cokro placed Nogo Ireng's Treasure Map to a random location in his storage bag. It took countless days and nights to gather all the parts of the map like this. He may not even collect all the pieces before the game is over.
After he checked the looted items, Heru Cokro sat back in his chair. Then, he turned to look at Joko Tingkir and asked, “Admiral Joko Tingkir, what do you think about the next action related to Noko Island?”
This question is not intended to make Joko Tepir difficult. As the commander of the Pantura naval fleet, he had to be a capable leader in battle and had to handle the affairs and logistics at the base.
Joko Tingkir pondered for a moment before he replied, “Facilities here are primitive and simple, but we can save the dock and use it as a supply charging station in the future.”
Joko Tingkir understands why you set up a naval fleet. Not just to destroy the pirates. His master had a vision and a bigger place for the Pantura naval fleet. Regardless, if the fleet wanted to sail deep into the middle of the ocean and dominate the ocean, the addition of supplies was a problem they could not avoid. Ships sail day and night, so the lack of a supply charging station would be very challenging for sailors and logistics members.
Heru Cokro nodded, but he shook his head a moment later.
"What do you mean, sir?" Joko Tingkir was worried.
"Resupply station is a must." First, Heru Cokro justifies Joko Tingkir's point of view. Then, he said, “But, that's not enough. Noko Island is small but powerful. The conditions here are perfect and the water source is clean enough. Therefore, we can turn Noko Island into a small naval base.”
As a supply charging station, Noko Island must accommodate a large storage of resources. In turn, they needed to put a guard team on the island to protect the resources. Therefore, Heru Cokro prefers to solve everything once and for all. He will make a big change to the island.
“I have some special requirements. You will talk to Notonegoro about the details of how to make it happen. Pantura Construction Division will finish it,” said Heru Cokro, “First, upgrade the dock to a port. Not only as a berthing of warships, sea lift can also make repairs and maintenance of warships there.”
“Second, destroy every building on the island and rebuild systematically. The core of the island will serve as a military fortress. It would act as an island guard base, and a repository of resources. The reason for the military fort was to shrink the defensive power. Moreover, it will not eat up much island land. Wooden workshops, blacksmiths, weapons workshops, and other building structures will be built inside the fort, forming a relatively enclosed fortress.”
“Three, land reclamation. You need to make use of the land outside the military fortress. Plant some vegetables and plants so that the island can be independent. I have estimated that we can regain at least 50,000 acres of land on Noko.” Island
“Once we reach such a scale, the island can achieve self-sufficiency but also supply externally. No more need to transport food and resources to Noko Island from Pantura.”
“Last, pool re-transformation. To grow crops on a large scale, we need enough irrigation water. Therefore, there is a need to expand the pond at least five to ten times what it already is. In the end, we will turn the pool into a small reservoir.”