This is the Silvery Gibbon.
Silvery Gibbons have a particular look in their eyes,
Between a stressed look
or not.
The Gibbons can be stressed when they are put in cages,
kept by humans.
When their territory is disturbed by other species
or when their mate dies.
The Silvery Gibbons only look for a mate once in their lives
Once they find a mate,
The females will give birth to only 2-3 offsprings in their lifetime.
The Silvery Gibbons that are not under apparent stress, are ready to be released back to the wild.
Those with eyes showing strong spirit to survive.
That is why we release the Silvery Gibbons back to the wild.
But not just like that,
to release the Silvery Gibbons into the wild, we need the right habitat.
The requirements are that the habitat needs to have the right vegetation and altitude.
After a survey, we found a location on Mount Puntang,
to be exact on Malabar Mountain range, Pengalengan area, South of Bandung.
But that's not what I want to share with you.
What I want to share with you is what I found on Mount Puntang.
I came to Mount Puntang with a question.
If the vegetation and the altitude meet all the requirements, then why are there no Silvery Gibbons to be found?
Then I also noticed that Mount Puntang's landscape looked very neatly organized.
It has a very beautiful contour
And honestly, for an area
on a foot of a mountain in Java, this is incredible.
I was curious, so I walked further into the mountain.
I came to a hanging bridge, there was nothing special about it
But to my right, I found this structure.
It also looked like a bridge, but abandoned
I asked the locals about the stucture and they confirmed that it was abandoned. I asked whether it was broken or not, nobody could answer.
As there was no signage at all, I kept walking.
I kept walking until I had a chance to take a picture of Mount Puntang
Its vegetation is incredible, the right conditions to set the Silvery Gibbons free.
But I didn't hear any sounds made by other primates. I only heard insects and birds.
Why would a primary tropical forest has no other animals? Were they all hunted? Or what?
I decided to keep walking. I kept walking until
I found this tree. This tree is not an indigenous species of a tropical area.
This species of tree is usually found in a sub-tropical area.
It means somebody planted the tree there.
My question is, why would anyone plant it there? and because it is old
It means somebody took care of it, but what was the tree for?
But it didn't connect. Why would anyone build a pond up there? It was 1,350 above sea level.
I took another picture of the structure because it is bigger than this room.
I noticed that the structure resembled a triangle or an arrow head.
My curiosity grew bigger, and I called my friend in Bandung,
who had a 3 dimensional topography map of Mount Puntang.
I wanted to be sure of where I was.
When I got this picture, I realized that I was standing exactly between Mount Puntang and Mount Haruman.
I became more curious. I returned to Bandung, looked it up on the internet,
then I found a blog written by Mr Tomita Prakoso, which is now a friend of mine.
In his blog, he refered to a document.
This document was made by a company called 'Telefunken', a German company that...
apparently was an antenna supplier for the Dutch East Indies government in the 20's.
The document was dated October 1925.
The document stated that there was a ground station in Malabar Radio in Java.
Remember the last structure? Pay attention to the red arrows.
This, back then... was this.
This was what they called Malabar Radio.
The structure was gigantic.
It was so big that what I witnessed was just the ruins.
And if it was that big, it means it would be visible from the sky.
tried to imagine what it would look like from google earth.
I tried using google earth, and there it was.
And if we pay attention to buildings built by the Dutch in the old days, the buildings always faced north, south, east or west.
So I was curious as to which direction this building was facing
I checked and it was facing 38 degree northwest.
If I extrapolate it on a bigger map, the structure is facing the Netherlands.
But it was alligned…
Alligned with Mount Puntang. It means naturally Mount Puntang and Mount Haruman also face the Netherlands.
Who discovered that? And what was a radio of this size for?
I was intrigued, so I searched for more photos and I found more pictures from Prophet Museum in Amsterdam.
It was used as a morse code transmission station where they exchanged data.
I didn’t know what data they were exchanging,
Was it intelligent data, military operations, stock exchange or entertainment news. I don't know.
What’s certain is that there was some form of data exchange.
I also found a radio studio here that was acoustically designed really well.
There was a big microphone in the middle,
A table and a piano over there, it means that there was an entertainment being exchanged.
I also found this. A tabloid called “Hallo! Bandoeng!”
Printed in 1923.
It means it was a place where those who missed their significant others,
From the two continents could be in touch with each other.
Was it our first telecommunication kiosk, I’m not sure.
But what’s clear is that this logo existed. This logo was on the Dutch radio,
Where they announced that they could broadcast and repeat the broadcast from Mount Puntang at the time.
The Dutch East Indies even built a monument in Bandung,
To celebrate their ability to communicate wirelessly between the two continents.
The locals called it 'Pantat Bugil Monument' that are now destroyed, very unfortunate.
I don’t know why it was destroyed either.
For an effort of this scale on the same document, building structure or a diagram where there was an expanse of Radio Malabar,
Between Mount Puntang and Mount Haruman.
It stretched more than 1.5 kilometers and stood more than 500 meters tall.
My first hypothesis of why the silvery gibbons vanished from the area is possibly because of the wave emitted by the radio that
Drove the gibbons away from their habitat.
Moreover, for a structure of that magnitude, they needed a support system.
They build what they called Radio Kampoeng or Radio Dorf.
That was where the engineers and the officers lived.
This answered my question why Gunung Puntang had a very neat and organized landscape.
It was because people wanted to live there.
They built a tennis court, movie theater, swimming pool.
To make people enjoy living there.
And for this magnificent structure.
They must need a lot of resources.
I’m sure that there were woods taken, stones dug out, sand sifted from
Various location on Malabar Mountains.
And here’s my second hypothesis on the disappearance of silvery gibbons from the area. Development.
This project was also appreciated by the locals. There was evidence of pictures of their rituals.
And on May 5, 1923, there was a wireless communication between Queen Wilhelmina in the Netherlands
With the Governor of the Dutch East Indies on Mount Puntang.
That was also an event to celebrate or to inaugurate Malabar Radio Station.
And the highest appreciation was also given by The Wireless World magazine in 1927
To the Dutch East Indies government for the effort to utilize this technology.
I came to Mount Puntang with one question and left with more questions.
Where did our history records go?
What happened to Mount Puntang?
With this big information, what can we do to revitalize Mount Puntant,
What can the locals do?
And where was the balance between development and biodiversity?
My worries that day lead me to an answer that leads me back
To a question and the next concern.
I have two choices.
The first one, I can let my worry happens. Just let it happen.
Or I can search for the right questions and move on.
I chose the second one, and today I came with an incredible story.
What are your worries? and What are your stories?
Thank you.