Kota Kapur Inscription Site in Kota Kapur Village, West Mendo Sub-district, Bangka District

The existence of Kota Kapur Inscription Site has close relations with the strait of Bangka, which was often crossed by a number of ships in the past. In the 1700s, Bangka Strait was a place where a number of sea-rovers coming from Kota Kapur Village robbed every ship crossing the strait. They plundered land from the sea without commission from Crivijaya Kingdom.

When Sultan Ratu Akhmad Badaruddin – the ruler of Crivijaya Kingdom – knew such a fact, he summoned his soldiers to eradicate those sea-rovers from Crivijaya‘s territories. Later on, Crivijaya successfully defeated them and established an agreement between the King of Crivijaya and an envoy of the sea-rovers. The agreement then now is known as Kota Kapur Inscription since was made in Kota Kapur Village.

Three clauses are written down on the inscription using Pallawa letters in Sanskrit language. First, Crivijaya‘s territories covered the regions in Bangka Island and neighbouring islands. Second, people settling those regions should admit the Crivijaya‘s authority by obeying the law and regulations established by the Kingdom. The last clause restricted any kind of robbery and rebellion against the Crivijaya‘s.

In 1892 A.D., a Dutchman named JK. Fander Meulend, who was also the administrative ruler in the Selan River, discovered the inscription‘s existence. Then in 1978 A.D., a local inhabitant of Kota Kapur Village found the inscription‘s pedestal that is 30 cm in length, 42 cm in width, and 7 kg in weight.

Kota Kapur Inscription Site reveals the old stories of Crivijaya‘s glory in the past. It is the right place for some archaeologists and historians who want to trace back memorial journey of Crivijaya in defeating sea-rovers damaging Crivijaya‘s authority. At least there are two archaeological researches on the inscription have ever been conducted by a team of French archaeologists in cooperation with a team of Indonesian archaeologists in 1994 and 1995.

In the site, you will see the remaining traces of a temple that was built at the era of Crivijaya Kingdom. Other Crivijaya‘s remnants are some ancient ceramics, three metres high castle, and moat surrounded by the castle. Likewise, a building resembling a Javanese mansion is a so-called museum that keeps many historical things and pieces of statues within.

Since you arrive at the location, you will see a 75 metres high stones resembling a gateway. The stone is a sign that the inscription was discovered by JK. Fender Meulend.

Kota Kapur Location

Kota Kapur Inscription Site lies in Kota Kapur Village, West Mendo Sub-district, Bangka District, Bangka-Belitung Province. The site is situated at the riverbank of the Mendo River flowing to Bangka Strait. To reach the location, you can take public transport from the heart of Bangka District to West Mendo Sub-district. Unfortunately, access to Kota Kapur Village via West Mendo Sub-district is hard to find. Therefore, we suggest you to drive your own private cars to reach the location. There is no inn as well as lodgement nearby the location where Kota Kapur Inscription is found. However, you can find some hotels in the heart of Bangka District. Thus, if you are undertaking research on this site, you can spend more days around the location by looking for hospitality services in the heart of Bangka City.

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Bone – Bone Village

Bone-bone is a cloistered village that is situated at an altitude of 2.500 meters, on the slope of Mount Latimonjong. 540 inhabitants, or 80 families, inhabit the village and occupy stage houses.

Since 2001, the village‘s inhabitants have not smoked cigarettes anymore. It started when a Muslim priest, from Java Island, who was designated as a village chief at the time. He began to summon his citizens not to smoke by establishing unwritten law banning his people from smoking. As the time goes by, all people settling the village obey the law hence, Bone-bone Village is now famous as an “Anti-nicotine Village.”

Since 2007, Health Promotion Center of South Sulawesi Province fixed the village as a “Healthy Village.” The first time entering the village‘s gateway, you will see a placard saying "Nikmati Indahnya Pemandangan Alam dan Segarnya Udara Dusun Kami” (Enjoy the magnificent nature scenery and fresh air of our village).

Since entering the village‘s gateway, you will be amazed by wonderful scenery of surrounding areas. The village offers the fresh air to everyone since no air pollutions either from gasoline or cigarette smokes. Since 2001, the village‘s local inhabitants have never been smoked cigarettes anymore since the existence of an unwritten law banning them from smoking cigarette at all times.

There is no punishment for those breaking the law but it comes from their self-awareness of smoke‘s bad impacts damaging their health. Amongst them, smoking is considered as taboo as well as discussing sex in the public.

The village‘s inhabitants are well-known as devout Muslims, who strictly ban conducting useless habit such as smoking. Therefore, the village is also famous as an Islamic village. All women wear Islamic costumes at daily lives. And female children are not allowed to play outside of home with male children who are not their mahram (husbands or siblings). When adhan is calling to prayer, they stop from activities for conducting shalat. They are back to their activities after that.

Bone-Bone Location

Bone-Bone Village is administratively located in Baraka Sub-district, Enrekang District, South Sulawesi Province. Bone-bone Village lies about 300 kilometres away from Makassar. It can be reached by taking public transport from Makassar City to Enrekang District spending approximately six hours. Then, you must continue the trip to Baraka Sub-district that is around 50 kilometres away.

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