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usinesspeople in the tourism sector in Medan, North Sumatra, deplored Wednesday’s murder of US citizen Samuel Hyein, saying that the crime could destroy the image of the province as a tourist destination if the police failed to arrest the killers and uncover the motive.

Chairman of Sumatera Promo, Henry Hutabarat, said the murder had been a hard blow for the industry, especially as it was intensively promoting tourism abroad.

“I’m worried that our tourism sector will collapse because of the murder that happened, which was beyond our control,” Hutabarat told The Jakarta Post in Medan, on Friday.

He urged the police to thoroughly investigate the case and arrest the perpetrators as soon as possible, and reveal the motive behind the murder.

“They have to move quickly to reveal the murder of the foreigner while at the same time improve security for foreigners,” he said.

So far, according to Hutabarat, the crime had not affected tourism in the region. However, he expressed fear that if the case were not investigated thoroughly, foreign tourists would think twice about visiting North Sumatra.

The National Police are also investigating the recent deaths of two foreign nationals in Medan and Bekasi, West Java.

Hutabarat said that North Sumatra was one of Indonesia’s biggest tourist destinations, especially for Dutch and Malaysians.

Anto of the North Sumatra promotional tourism agency, concurred that the there was a high rate of foreign tourist visits to the province, but added that the murder had not had an immediate impact on foreign tourist arrivals.

“As of this morning as I monitored Polonia airport, there were no changes in foreign tourist arrivals. I don’t know what will happen in the next few days,” Anto said.

North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Wisjnu Amat Sastro said that the police were in pursuit of the killer and had so far questioned witnesses and amassed CCTV footage from around Polonia airport in Medan. “Hopefully, we will be able to arrest the killers soon,” he told the Post on Friday.

He added that a provisional investigation revealed that Samuel Hyein was an American citizen residing in Korea. “We have yet to learn what his purpose in Medan was, as a tourist or what,” said Wisjnu, adding that he regretted that Hyein had taken a becak (pedicab) from Polonia airport to an inn.

Hyein, 28, died at Elisabeth Hospital in Medan while receiving medical treatment after being stabbed by two unidentified persons while he was riding in the pedicab. He had arrived at Polonia airport from Malaysia at 10:30 p.m.

As of Friday, his body was still at Pirngadi Hospital in Medan.