Geographic condition and accessibility
Pulau Miang (Miang Island) is a village located in the southeast of East Borneo Province. Its administrative location is at Sangkulirang District, East Kutai Regency. Based on the field survey which is based on Samarinda, It takes about 10-12 hours land trip to arrive at Sangkulirang and another 2 hours trip by sailing from Sangkulirang to Miang Island. The trip is suggested to be conducted in a group regarding its expensive cost (estimated Rp. 2.000.000 – Rp. 2.500.000 for the shuttle trip).
Miang Island is a seashore residential area. Regarding the unconditional condition of the sea tide, the local house is modeled as a stilt house accompanied by a wooden board footpath. However, even though they happen to live at the seashore, for the last decade the local people stated that there are no potential severe natural disasters.
People of The Village
Miang Island is inhabited by 341 females and 388 males which totaled 729 people. The amount is the result of cultural assimilations which is from the tribe people of Bugis, Java, and Makassar. They have created a group of 231 households which live in harmony. Their daily language is Bugis Language.
In daily life, the people of Miang Island still conduct their lives by obeying the traditional rules and putting their faith in the cultural leadership of a chief’s tribe. In the context of gender equality, the Miang People tend to put their faith in the male role in making a decision. The male also tends to the heavier duties in the process of fulfilling their family’s life.
The household necessity is usually completed by doing the home business by the wife meanwhile the husband tends to seek money by being a fisherman. The fishing activities are conducted at a certain time in the unpredictable period of fishing. The length of the fishing period is mainly affected by the amount of the fishing boat fuel. It can as long as two weeks.
The Facility and Electricity Existence
The Electricity in Pulau Miang is provided by the existing Solar Power Plant which focuses only on the residential necessary. Each house is given an 800 Wh quota per day. The Electricity used for the school building was obtained from its own Solar Power Plant. Their recent electricity can be used until 10 pm. On the other hand, based on the recent information from the DESDM officer, the Solar Power Plant will be enhanced in its capacity in early 2024.
The Certain Circumstances
By reading the general information about Miang Island Village, The reader can build the assumption of the future potential attractional spot of Miang Island. That kind of thought may become true by conducting detailed social problem mapping. At present, the potential of attractive spots such as Mangrove Forest and The Experience of Diving has been developed on a small scale by the local government. On the other hand, the current tourist attraction activities still can’t affect 100% positively on people’s daily lives.
The people of Miang Island conduct their jobs not only in the tourist attraction sector but also in the fishery sector. Currently, they are facing the problem of preserving the abundant amount of fishery products that can’t be sold to the wholesaler after the fishing activities. The present solution that can be conducted is providing the ice block to maintain the freshness of the fishery product, but the ice block can’t be produced by the Miang People’s self. They obtain the ice block by purchasing from the on-grid electrified area which costs Rp. 5.000 for each ice block and it’s categorized as expensive.