The island of Roti is located in the Timor Sea, southwest of Kupang, the capital of West Timor. It is the southernmost inhabited island of Indonesia. Administratively it is part of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timor (East Nusa Tenggara). The capital of Roti is Ba'a, which is located on the western side of the island. The village of Pepela is located on the northeastern end of Roti and on the southern side of a large sheltered bay (see Map 2-3). The bay is fringed by sandy beaches and mangroves, while coral reefs are located in its centre. At the settlement of Pepela, the sandy beach drops away steeply providing a deep-water anchorage close inshore. The bay is very attractive and provides year round shelter from the strong easterly and westerly monsoonal winds.

Dusun Pepela is officially part of Desa Londalusi, within Kecamatan Rote Timur, whose capital is Eahun (about 9 km inland from Pepela). In 1994, the total population of Londalusi was 2765 and the population of Pepela was approximately 800. The ethnic composition of Pepela is mixed, comprising native Christian Rotinese, descendants of Muslim Butonese immigrants from other islands (Fox 1998: 127), Bugis from Southeast Sulawesi, and Bajo from the Tukang Besi Islands. The economy of the inhabitants of Pepela is based on fishing in the Timor Sea and associated trade in marine products. Most land is owned by the native Rotinese, so the Muslim inhabitants are dependent on the sea for their income.

The native Christian population engages in agricultural activity, local strand collecting, and inshore fishing in small boats. They are ‘not noted for their open sea sailing traditions’ (Fox 1998: 126). The history of the settlement of Muslim maritime people at Pepela has not been documented, but Pepela was traditionally a port for the eastern part of Roti (ibid.: 127). Roti was important in the maritime trading network in the nineteenth century because the Rotinese produced cloth sails made from the gewang fan leaf palm (Corypha elata) for their own small boats and for sale (ibid.: 126). A sketch of a Macassan perahu off Raffles Bay in north Australia that was drawn by Le Breton in 1839 illustrates the traditional sails produced and traded by the Rotinese (see Macknight 1976, Plate 33). The Rotinese were also renowned for their cakes of crystallised sugar made from the juice of the lontar palm (Borassus sp.) (Fox 1977b). Bajo and Pepela residents state that, in the past, Binongko sailors from the Tukang Besi Islands regularly visited Pepela to purchase lontar palm sugar, which was then traded throughout the Indonesian archipelago. This trade continues to the present day, but vessels from Roti also sail to the Tukang Besi Islands to sell palm sugar directly to the Bajo.

This kind of maritime trading activity would account for some Muslim settlement in Pepela, possibly commencing in the early twentieth century but most probably after the 1920s. Subsequent settlement by other Muslim groups appears to be the result of fishing activity undertaken in the Timor Sea. Today the fishing population of Pepela is largely made up of migrants from other islands or their descendants, though many have intermarried with the local Rotinese population. The islands of origin most commonly mentioned by Pepela residents are Sulawesi, Buton, Binongko, Alor, Pantar, Flores and Java. ^[9]

The settlement of Pepela stretches inland from the coast for approximately one kilometre. A pier dominates the harbour and from here a road leads through the centre of the village up the hill. Most of the settlement is on the western side, but to the east of the main residential area is an area called Kampung Baru (New Village), which is a cluster of Bajo houses. Further to the east, and situated at the base of a ridge, is a coconut plantation and cemetery. The main Bajo settlement is located away from the main part of the village on Tanjung Pasir (Sand Spit/Point), called Tanjung for short. There is a handful of small shops along the main road. There are one or two wells in the village, but most water is collected in jerry cans from a small lake and well to the west (about 1 km from the pier) and then transported in wooden carts. Houses are mainly of brick construction although a few are made from thatched palm leaf panels.

On the other side of the bay is the Christian settlement of Suoi (Dusun Suoi, Desa Dai Ama). In recent years some of the males from Suoi have joined Pepela perahu in fishing activities in the Timor Sea. To the east of Pepela is a small Rotinese settlement, Dusun Haroe (Desa Hundi Hopo), the last point that boats pass by before sailing into the Timor Sea.

A passenger ferry operates daily between Kupang and Pantai Baru, a small mangrove fringed bay on the northwestern side of Roti. A motor boat also travels twice a week between Pepela and the village of Namosain in Kupang. The trip takes around six hours depending on the weather conditions.