Tourism authorities in Indonesia have started a high-class campaign to bring back foreigners who are shying away from the country due to security concerns. Following the political and social unrest of 1998 and a spate of mysterious bomb blasts in Jakarta last year, Indonesia’s overseas image has taken a serious battering making their task a tough sell. The 1997 Asian currency crisis had already taken its toll on the nation’s economy that relies heavily on tourism revenue. Officials admit that Indonesia still has some problems in terms of security and safety, but are quick to point out the sheer geographical size of the country and inadequate information abroad about the many provinces and areas untouched by violence.
The fact that most people abroad do not know much about the physical whereabouts of Indonesia’s major tourist centers has caused lots of headache for the local tourism industry, especially when reports of political turmoil in Jakarta or ethnic and separatist violence in certain parts of the country grab media attention worldwide. “The distance to Bali from the troubled Aceh in the north is similar to that of between London and Warsaw. So people visiting Bali should not be much concerned about what is happening in the other end of the country,” said Youlis, an industry executive based in Bali.
Most regions of Indonesia are untouched by political disturbances in Jakarta or ethnic and religious riots elsewhere in the archipelago. But Bali still remains the winner of inbound tourism to the country. “Nearly one-third of all tourists who visited Indonesia last year came to Bali,” Youlis said, citing statistics released by the government.
Unlike Bali, Yogyakarta, an educational and business center in central Java, received only a little more than 70,000 visitors in 1999 — an 80 percent drop compared to 1995 when it received nearly 350,000 inbound tourists. “If the tourism industry in Yogya is still alive it is because of the domestic visitors who throng the city on weekends,” said a hotel manager.
“It is the media hype on the unrest that deters visitors,” said a Dutch Canadian hotelier in Yogyakarta. “Indonesians are a peace-loving people. I feel safer in Jakarta than I am in New York. In my 20 years in the hotel industry here, I never heard of a tourist being attacked,” he said. However, frequent travel advisories issued by major powers like the United States and Germany warning against visits to Indonesia have a ripple effect here, added a tour operator in Bandung, noting that her business has declined 50 percent since the crisis began.
Despite the abysmal state of the economy and the protracted political crisis, the streets of Jakarta remain relatively calm. Indonesians have learned to differentiate between business and politics. Families of those perished in the 1998 riots remembered their loved ones in solemn prayers two weeks ago. More than a thousand people were killed in an orgy of violence that paralyzed Jakarta between May 13 and 15 that year. Students of Jakarta’s Trisakti University marked the third anniversary of a fatal shooting on their campus that triggered the violence, which eventually led to the fall of the Suharto regime. According to a senior police official, the situation was peaceful throughout the capital during the commemoration. “The students had informed us of their plans beforehand,” he said. “The scale of violence was minimal even at the height of the crisis if you compare with situation in other countries,” said another officer. But billboards that proclaim, “Peace is beautiful,” put up by the army at strategic locations in the capital after the riots still serve as a satire on the country’s bickering political elite.
Tourism had been the No. 1 foreign exchange earner and the mainstay of economy after the oil and gas sector. Indonesia puts emphasis on community-based tourism, where every section of the society benefits. So restoring the country’s lost image is everybody’s concern. Cash-strapped Jakarta cannot spend much to promote tourism abroad. Its promotional budget for the year 2001 is just $5 million, a paltry sum compared to spending by regional competitors Thailand, which has a budget of $94 million, Singapore ($87 million) and Malaysia ($60 million).
“Though far from enough, the amount represents a 500 percent increase over last year. It shows that politicians have begun to grasp the severity of the situation. They want to bring back foreign tourists at any cost,” said a senior tourism promotion official.
Provincial governments are playing their part to encourage visitors. Addressing foreign delegates to the Java Barat Tourism Exchange 2001, the second annual fair hosted by the tourism promotion board of West Java early this month, Governor H.R. Nuriana pleaded for outsiders’ sympathy for his people. Nearly a hundred travel industry executives from Saudi Arabia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic attended the daylong event to interact with their local counterparts. The guests were taken on a quick tour of various tourism objects in Java and Sumatra, courtesy of Garuda Indonesia.
Rich cultural past: Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation after China, India and the United States, has a glorious past. The island of Java was home to one of mankind’s oldest ancestors — the Java man. The idea of a single state roughly across a distance equal to that between London and Moscow has its roots stretching back to hundreds of years. The country can stand proudly next to the great civilizations of Egypt, Greece, India and China in terms of its achievements in art, architecture and philosophy. The multitude of tropical islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago is possibly one of the most diverse collections of people and cultures on earth. With a population of over 220 million, Indonesia consists of 13,000 beautiful islands huddled around the equator, nearly two-thirds of them uninhabited. Stretching about 5,200 kilometers — as wide as the United States — the country boasts of high snow-capped mountains, lowland swamps, hundreds of volcanoes and almost 10 percent of all rain forests in the world. Each of its 992 inhabited islands has its own peculiar customs, traditions, dialects and architecture.
Bali, the most popular destination for tourists from abroad, has overgrown too fast. The authorities want to take away part of the burden on the island by promoting other interesting tourist centers. West Java, West and North Sumatra and Sulawesi are some of the destinations they say have huge potential.
Hidden spots: West Java with its wealth of natural beauty, cultural diversity, arts and handicrafts is already one of Indonesia’s premier destinations. But according to Memet Hamdan, executive director of West Java Government Tourism Office, in addition to the well-known tourist centers such as Bandung and the Puncak Pass, the province “has still many hidden spots waiting to be discovered.”
The Sundanese of West Java are the second largest ethnic group of Indonesia after the Javanese. Though they share some cultural similarities with the Javanese, the Sundanese have their own customs, traditions, language and literature, art and culture. The Sundanese smile which reflects the true hospitality of West Java is world famous. Located some 180 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung, the capital of West Java, was called the Paris of the East for its pleasant climate and beautiful landscape. The city, once the main hub of economic and social life in the Dutch East Indies, is proud of its rich heritage. Some of the city’s impressive Art Deco buildings have been restored to their former glory. Traces of the Indo-European architecture are even seen in a number of newer buildings. Bandung returned to the world stage in 1955 when it hosted the landmark Asia Africa Conference that culminated in the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Well-known to most visitors from the Kingdom is the mountain resort of Puncak. One hour’s journey by road south of Jakarta, it has been the traditional weekend retreat for generations of the capital’s residents. About 1,500 meters above the sea level, the Puncak Pass is famous for its many beautiful tea plantations, botanical gardens and the Taman Safari Park.
The historical city of Cirebon is just three hours away by train from Jakarta. Home to the West Javanese royalty, the city still retains some of its unique treasures and traditions of the past. Cirebon was a meeting place of many different cultures turning the city into a unique mix of Sundanese, Islamic, Chinese and Hindu traditions. The royal palaces of Sultan Kasepuhan and Sultan Kanoman which are converted into museums open to the public, the 15th century mosque Masjid Agung, the tomb of Sunan Gunung Jati or Sharif Hidayatullah, the charismatic Egyptian who arrived in Cirebon to spread the message of Islam in 1470, and the historic Sunyaragi Cave are some of the places worth visiting.
Seven kilometers from the center of Cerebon is the batik-making village of Trusmi. A mystical Sundanese sect of artisans, the Trusmi folk have been producing the traditional costume of batik for centuries. Even today almost 70 percent of the villagers are engaged in the industry. On way to Bandung from Cirebon is the regency of Sumedang, popular for its tasty soybean cake Tahu. Journeying along the mountainous, winding path — to build the road the Dutch occupants had sacrificed thousands of local lives — provides a scenic view of the deep valleys and water falls alongside.
Just two and a half hours from Jakarta by road are the seaside resorts of Anyer and Carita that border the Sunda Straits — the first wonder of West Java. The awe-inspiring Krakatau volcano which shook the world a century ago, the Ujung Kulon national park which is the famed home of single-horned rhino, and the ancient city of Banten with its historic mosques are some of the attractions for visitors in the Sunda Straits.
Sumatra: Lake Toba in North Sumatara is another high point for tourists. With the mystical island of Samosir at its center, the largest lake in Southeast Asia and perhaps the deepest in the world is the heart of the beautiful but often harsh Toba Batakland. The lake is believed to have formed some 75,000 years ago as a result of an enormous volcanic eruption. The Samosir Island, about the size of Singapore, is full of traditional Batak settlements.
North Sumatra with its colorful and ethnically mixed people is Indonesia’s most populous province outside Java. The Batak Toba tribe and their cousins Batak Simalungun are best known for their lively and sentimental love songs. About three hours’ drive from the Medan airport is the town of Parapat, a small and rocky peninsula jutting into Lake Toba. Speedboat trips to the island villages are available from Parapat.
Unlike the Sundanese of West Java, the Minangkabau of West Sumatra are rather reserved, though polite and benevolent. The matriarchal family setup and the relative economic prosperity have made life more secure for the religiously conservative people, said Muhammad Zamzami, a tour guide. Bukittinggi, a romantic resort town, is about three hours’ drive from Pedang airport.
The one-time capital of the Dutch colonialists, the city with its beautiful buildings has a historic past. There are 22 underground bunkers built by the Dutch in the area during the World War. Looming in the horizon is the volcano Mount Marapi belching smoke high into the sky. The Maninjau Lake, Anai Valley, the Sianok Canyon and Batusangkar, the ruins of the last palace of the Minangkabau Kingdom, are some of the many interesting tourist objects in West Sumatra.
Top-class tour operators provide one-stop programs and multi-destination packages to different parts of the country. Alternative products such as adventure trips to high mountains are also on offer, though at a higher cost.
The country is also ideal for those who seek back-to-nature adventure or who want to experience the true peacefulness of traditional village life. Food and accommodation are cheap and a weak rupiah made them even less expensive for the foreign tourists. Saudi Arabian Airlines and Garuda Indonesia have regular flights from Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam to Jakarta. Garuda, Merpati and a number of smaller airlines offer convenient connections to major cities.
Though time-consuming, overland trips along the narrow but well-maintained highways weaving through the beautiful plantations and winding up and down the hilly countryside will be a cherishing experience. Best time to visit is between May and October. For more information visit www.indonesia-tourism.com
