THE remote province of Southeast Maluku extends from Wetar, off the eastern tip of Timor, to the Aru Group, only 240 kilometers from the underbelly of Irian Jaya. The territorial waters of the region are immense, totaling 320,470 square kilometers, while its land area is only 28,000 square kilometers. In all there are 287 islands and islets, 199 inhabited, stretching in a long chain along the edge of the Arafura Sea between Australia and Pupua.

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