Jan. 14, p. 8
Every Indonesian child has been told the story of their beloved country being the emerald of the equator, with its breathtaking scenery and vast cultural diversity, and how others, from their lack of such grandeur, envy it.
The corollary, then, is that people from all around the world should be racing for a glimpse of the rich beauty here. But experience has told us otherwise.
There is no doubt that the archipelago is home to some of the world’s best diving sites, with beautiful beaches and a balmy tropical climate. It also hosts a great number of cultural heritage sites.
But even these are not enough to attract a large enough number of foreign visitors. At least not when compared to other countries in the region.
Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows the number of foreign visitors arriving here from January to October this year was 5.16 million, a slight increase from the 5.09 million recorded in the same period in 2008.
Your comments:
I have worked and lived in Jakarta for the past four years. The Indonesian people are polite and friendly, but you need to be prepared for a handout nearly every time. That’s life in a third world country. Like it or leave it.
There are only tourist destinations in Jakarta. Tourists need to travel a long way to move from one destination into another. Many attractions are dirty, there are not adequate English translations and there are constant throngs of street vendors.
Traffic signs are very poor so self-driving is out of the question. If Jakarta and Indonesia want to attract more tourists, first make better advertisements, make the visa process simpler, upgrade the airport, give staff proper training in international relations and smiling. Clean up the streets (near the tourist destinations, at least.)
Rupert
Jakarta
Recently, my 16-year-old son flew with friends from Sydney to Jakarta. I wanted to track the progress of his flight, given all the bad press Garuda has had over the past few years.
Three hours after the scheduled landing of his flight at Jakarta airport, the airport’s own flight tracking system listed his flight still as “en route”, explaining that it has either not landed yet, was diverted, or the system wasn’t updating.
I was relieved when my son rang me to say that all was well and he had landed on time.
After his call, his flight was still listed as “en route”. What is wrong with the people whose job is to enter data into the system, to update flight data, etc?
If their lack of work ethics is typical for people working in the Indonesian airline/tourism industry, I am not surprised, that would-be tourists stay away from Indonesia.
Wolf
Sydney
I visited Java and Bali last summer (after the bombings in Jakarta) with my teenage kids and although, for them, it was a serious culture shock, we all loved it and we loved the openness of the Indonesian people.
Yes, we Westerners have to pay more; we should, after having robbed these countries scrupulously in previous centuries. Even now, our Western companies are relocating their subsidiaries to these countries because people and labor are cheaper and because they don’t have to work under the same environmental rules as in the West. Get real, and measure all people with the same standards.
I read an interesting book about Asia from Kishore Mahbubani last year and there were some interesting passages about us Western people and our “rule of law” that we impose on other countries but by which we don’t act ourselves.
It’s the same kind of principle here, it is wrong to impose our standards on Indonesian society
and judge them according to these rules.
And yes, there is corruption and still a lot of poverty, and yes, there is a threat of fundamentalist Islam, but the country seems to invest a lot in education and health services and we all know that, mainly, education is the best cure for fundamentalism.
So go for it Indonesia, we were impressed by what we experienced and by your people.
Tania K
Belgium
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