King of Gossip, King of Jazz, King of Larike, but A Village Boy at Heart

Other than the dive guides, probably the most remembered among Maluku Divers’ staff is Hafes Lausepa. Most guests know Hafes as the warm and charming Restaurant Manager at our restaurant who regularly serenades to them at dinner. Unbeknownst to many guests initially, Hafes is also a king. The word “Maluku” or “Moluccas” (old name of Maluku) has Arabic origin, Jazirat-al-Muluk, meaning “The Land of Many Kings”. Almost every village in Maluku has a king. Years ago, Hafes’ father gave up his kingship to set up a garment factory in Jakarta. After his father passed away, Hafes returned to his birthplace, Ambon, but it was not his original intention to assume kingship in his village, Larike (pronounced as la-ree-kay) in the year 2016; he had wanted to get away from the isolation and impersonality of city life and relive the charm of village life in his childhood. In 2009, when he married his wife, Elfa, he decided to make his home in her village, Laha, which, coincidentally, is where Maluku Divers relocated to in the same year. At that time, Laha was a quiet village that people pass through briefly to get to and from the airport. Employment was scarce and mainly limited to the airport industry. So when Hafes heard about a new resort in the village, he wasted no time in applying for a job with us. However, when Hafes was first recruited into MD, he was actually primed to be groomed into a dive guide because of his proficiency in English. Two years later, we can’t help but think what a waste of his many talents it would have been if he had become a dive guide—this is not to say that dive guides are less talented; in fact, dive guiding is only for a selected few—but just think of all that we would be missing out on if Hafes’ mouth were kept shut with a regulator!

The team at Maluku Divers jokingly refer to Hafes as “Raja Gossip” (meaning “King of Gossip”). If something out of the norm occurs in the village or at the resort, you would be sure to hear it from Hafes, and you would want to hear it from him, because no one tells it like Hafes. Like a stand-up comedian, he would be on his feet with his arms waving wildly in animation, his eyes wide with mischief, and voice breaking occasionally when he was equally tickled by the story he was telling. The audience – staff and guests – watch with a grin and more than a tinge of incredulity, ready to break out in laughter. Hafes’ presence as part of the Maluku Divers Team has indeed livened up the days of guests and staff alike.

Other than his comic eloquence, Hafes is also remembered for his renditions of classic jazz numbers by, among others, Michael Bublé, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong Although he had boasted about his past career as a singer in a band surrounded by old men at least twice his age performing in Jakarta, Ambon, and Ceram, and about having reached the top 10 in Ambon, top 50 in Indonesia, of the Indonesian Idol in 2008, we had taken it with a pinch of salt until we kept running into his ex-band members and strangers who recognized him from his gigs all over Ambon, who often sang praises of his vocal talent. No one sings like Hafes, at least in Ambon. His choice of musical genre also sets him apart from other local performers. Why would someone with a promising career in the entertainment industry give it up for a service job in a remote part of Ambon?

Family, he says. Hafes has a beautiful wife and two lovely daughters to support, and performing did not offer the financial stability he needed for his family. And although jazz has an established following in the Western world, in east Indonesia, people still prefer to listen to local music. So it was with a twist of fate that Hafes found a job at Maluku Divers where he can continue to pursue his passion in performing, and still provide a stable financial future for his family.

It was also owing to Hafes that his village, Larike, is now the most frequented tourist attraction by our guests—for its freshwater eels. Most people had only heard about the relatively few domesticated freshwater eels in Waai village in travel guide books. It was only when Hafes started bringing guests at Maluku Divers to the village of Larike, that ‘visiting eels’ took on a totally different perspective. Numbering more than twenty at any time, the eels of Larike live at the mouth of the river, and would slither up the shallow river alongside the village when they smell the fish that the villagers wash in the river. The villagers live in harmony with the eels, handling them like ‘pets’, because they wash, bath, do their laundry and play in the same river. Guests from Maluku Divers who have made the tour at Larike never fail to be amazed by the encounter. And how often do you get to have a King take you on a tour of his village?

So, come dive with us at Maluku Divers and remember to reserve a royal tour with King Hafes on your off-gassing day.