I love Haruku Island because it is just off the beaten track enough to be REALLY MOLUCCAN without being really remote or inaccessible. I have found wonderful people living everywhere about Haruku, but I think my best-loved village will always be Oma. I have many reasons for this. My close friend, Ama Uneputi, came from Oma. I loved to fish for yellofin from Oma. Indeed, Ama taught me the higher principles of fishing and canoe building in Oma. Some of the strongest and most loyal of Moluccans I have ever known were born in Oma. Many strikingly beautiful women can be seen in Oma. I love the singing in Oma. I love the food in Oma. The saltwater is crystal clear off Oma, and the shoreline has some of the most fantastic coral formations in the world.
But the largest village on Haruku is Pelau, where my close friend was Latuixan. I like his name because it means "Fish King," and it was precisely by fishing that I first got to know him in Wahai. But Pelau, although it has a very Pacific-island sounding name (probably the same as the Republic of Palau), sprawls under the dark cloud of Islam, which is a most meddlesome and stifling religion, and which makes men afraid to behave normally around outsiders. In fact Islam not only holds its votaries in invisible bonds of terror and isolation, but it stultifies the human psyche and keeps men from realizing their full human potential. So although I see that many people in Pelau would like to be my friend, I see also that they must remain within certain restrictions--restrictions that play straight into the hands of the Javanese overlords of Maluku.
And being Moslems, people from Pelau are apt the more to hate the Dutch. Many recall the battle of Alaka, which happened before Pelau had even embraced Islam.
But Islam notwithstanding, I was also personally acquainted with the old Raja Latukonsina of Pelau, and a clever little tailor named Wahab, who knew his share of old kapatas, and operated from a little kiosk or cubicle in the Ambon bazaar.
As it happens, the old Raja Usmani of Aboru was a personal friend of mine as well, and he had much to say about the real and mythical past. The people of Aboru recognize a pela with Kariu, Boi, and a village on Seram.
My old friend, Paul Mataheru, was born in Hunut, but his forebears came from Hulaliu, about which he once told me. He was nothing if not a soldier, and whenever I remember him, I shall always remember also his long Dutch sword. I think that in him was something of the steel of that sword.
The language of Wasuxu is similar to that of Oma, and Tante Suse Uneputi has given me a list of words. I have never been to Wasuxu, so even on tiny Haruku Island there are places still just waiting for me to explore!
I have also kept miscellaneous other writings about Haruku which may be of interest to you.