Masohi is the main town of Seram, Maluku`s largest island, where the lanscape is dominated by mountains and tropical forests, and the Manusela National Park renowned for its abundant endemic animals and plants is located.
"We have been preparing Masohi for the position of capital of Maluku province replacing Ambon for a long time," Central Maluku District Head Abdullah Tuasikal said in Ambon recently.
Tuasikal`s statement underlined the Maluku provincial administration`s plan to relocate the provincial capital from Ambon to Masohi.
"It is clear that everything has been made ready and that it is only a matter of time for the plan to be realized," Tuasikal said after a regional coordination meeting of provincial leaders late in August 2011.
Masohi in Seram island with several ports such as Amahai, Masohi Kairatu, and people harbors of Tehoru, Bula, and Piru deserves to be the capital of Maluku province because it also has two airports, one in Amahai and the other in Wahai.
Therefore Tuasilkal said the relocation of provincial capital to Masohi was urgent in order the reduce the number of population in Ambon.
Ambon was one of the first Maluku islands to be occupied by the Portuguese and used as a plantation.
Ambon City is one of the largest cities in eastern Indonesia.
The city which is built on a hillside overlooking the bay, has a number of interesting sites of historical and cultural interests.
Among them are the remnants of some old forts built by the Dutch East Indies Company during the heydays of the spice trade and the Siwa Lima Museum with its local arts and crafts collection.
More ruins of forts are found such as the Dutch one at Lima and those of the Portuguese at Hila, which are almost entirely hidden underneath the contorted roots of a giant Banyan tree.
All of the Maluku Islands formed a single province of Indonesia from 1950 until 1999 when the northern part of Maluku comprising the districts of Maluku Utara, Halmahera Tengah, and the City of Ternate, were split off to form a separate province of North Maluku.
The province of Maluku is currently divided into nine districts and the two Cities of Ambon and Tual, which form the tenth and eleventh district-level administrative divisions.
Meanwhile, Nice Voice Maluku Institute Director Agus Siahaya said in Ambon on Tuesday that the relocation of the provincial capital was inevitable.
"The relocation of provincial capital from Ambon to Masohi is a step forward and the best possible solution to the problem of overcrowding in Ambon city," Agus Siahaya said.
He said the relocation of the provincial capital was inevitable because the carrying capacity of Ambon city is no longer proportional to ever increasing population growth and limited employment.
"In the next five years the population increase cannot be controlled any longer, and with the present condition of Ambon city I think the relocation of provincial capital is very urgent and should be done immediately," Agus Siahaya said.
He was of the opinion that the relocation would also have a positive impact on the process of equitable development in "The Province of One Thousand Islands."
"With extensive area, Masohi is ideal to replace Ambon as the capital of Maluku province," Siahaya said, adding that Ambon could be turned into economic center and the city of education in the province.
The discourse of turning Masohi as the provincial capital was firs voiced by Indonesian founding father Soekarno when declaring it as the capital of Central Maluku district in 1957.
Therefore former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of first President Soekarno, questioned the discourse about the relocation of the provincial capital when she visited Masohi in March 2010.
Megawati said at the time that the relocation of provincial capital from Ambon to Masohi in Seram Island was urgent because of limited space in Ambon.
Meanwhile, Maluku Deputy Governor Said Assagaff said the relocation of the provincial capital was scheduled to be proclaimed on August 19, 2012, timed to coincide with the 67th anniversary of Maluku province.
"It has been ascertained that the province`s new capital will be proclaimed on August 19, 2012," Assagaff said at a regional coordination meeting of provincial leaders late in August 2011.
Assagaff also shared Siahaya`s idea that after the relocation, Ambon would serve as a city of trade and education in Maluku.
"Masohi has long been prepared to replace Ambon as the capital of Maluku," Assagaff said, adding that a number of infrastructures had been made ready to support Masohi as the provincial capital.
Other supporting facilities, according to him, were the availability of electricity, telecommunication, and public hospital that would be adjusted to provincial government demand.
(T.O001/HAJM/B003)
Reporter: by Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
