Laskar Pelangi — Rainbow Troops in English — is one of the most popular Indonesian novels ever written, a semi-autobiographical story by Andrea Hirata about ten schoolchildren growing up poor in a tin-mining village on Belitung in the 1970s. The 2008 film adaptation became the highest-grossing Indonesian film of its time, and since then the island has been transformed into a literary pilgrimage destination.
The Laskar Pelangi Museum in Gantong, near the village where Hirata grew up, presents the story of the novel and the film with photographs, memorabilia, and the preserved school building that served as the film's central set. The museum is modest but clearly much-loved by Indonesian visitors, for whom the story carries deep emotional resonance. Even if you haven't read the book, the context it gives for understanding the island — and Indonesia's relationship with education, poverty, and aspiration — is genuinely valuable.