Papua- Inspector Made Ambo revived the traditional culture of breaking starch from sago tree trunks or nokok which is starting to be abandoned in cities, especially Jayapura, Papua. Now many young people and people are starting to smoke.
It is known that Inspector Made Ambo is a candidate for Hoegeng Corner 2023. Due to his dedication, he was proposed again by residents as a candidate for the 2024 Hoegeng Awards.
One of those who shared the story of Inspector Made Ambo was Levina Wandi (62). He, together with Inspector Made Ambo, reactivated the nokok culture.
Levina has sago trees around her house. Before being assisted by Inspector Made Ambo, the sago trees he owned were immediately sold, without processing them first.
Levina admitted that it was difficult to find young people or people who wanted to help the nokok. According to him, city residents are not interested in smoking.
“There’s no one (who wants to take a tree). Because people here, oh, it’s rare to find someone (who wants to invite). In the village, people are ready, just invite them, immediately cut them down. Here you have to look around people, because city people, it’s difficult,” he said.
Inspector Made Ambo and other police also came to help menokok. Then, they invited the community to get involved. So, it is now easy for Mama Levina to find people to help with the nokok.
“Yes, it’s easy to find someone to do something like that. We can sell it, share it with neighbors. Anything else is already flowering and we want to cut it down again,” he said.
This activity can also help the community’s economy. Sago from nokok is sold for IDR 300 thousand per sack.
“The sale of one sack is IDR 300 thousand, the size of the rice sack is 20 kg. Yesterday we produced around 20 sacks of sago. “Because the sago is dense, we get a lot,” he said.
