The boat people
A quarter of a million passed through.
Masgatotkaca — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Annayu Maharani — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Annayu Maharani — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Annayu Maharani — CC BY-SA 4.0
A camp set up by the United Nations and Indonesia on Galang island in 1979 to shelter the boat people fleeing Vietnam and Cambodia after the war, who crossed the sea in small, crowded boats. Until it closed in 1996 some quarter of a million refugees passed through, most resettled in Western countries and some returned home. Today visitors wander the broad camp site in the forest: a museum of refugees' photographs, documents and name lists, a hospital, barracks and a school, original wooden boats they arrived in, a Buddhist temple and a church the refugees built, a cemetery for those who died here, and a Humanity monument in their memory. Entry is a token fee of about five thousand rupiah per person, with vehicle charges. The site is quiet and moving, visited also by former refugees and their children from around the world. The road crosses the six Barelang bridges, so combine them in half a day. Bring water and mosquito repellent, as the site is wooded and spread out.
A quarter of a million passed through.
The refugees arrived in.
The camp's memory.
Galang island, about 60 km south of central Batam
Yes: it is a quiet, open historic site that can explain refuge and compassion to children, though some museum photos are moving. Allow time to walk between the scattered buildings.