July 27, p9

The Thousand Islands regency administration has asked tourists, both locals and foreigners, who visit the island to '€œdress modestly'€.

Thousand Islands Tourism and Culture Agency head Irfal Guci said that more and more tourists had visited the islands over the years.

Thus, he said, the office felt the need to encourage tourists to dress appropriately to respect local residents.

Irfal said that he would continue disseminating the information to tourists to encourage them to wear appropriate outfits during their stay in the Thousand Islands.

He went on to say that appropriate outfits were needed so that local residents '€œare not negatively affected'€.

Your comments:

The majority of the time when there are requests for changes in what tourists can and can'€™t do, those request are formulated by local officials after receiving pressure from outside radical religious organizations.

Unfortunately, the article doesn'€™t go into the forces behind the request. In all likelihood, it came from outside the local area.

This is what people tire of, be they local or foreign.

If you were to wonder into the Thousand Islands areas where tourists are found you would find that the locals there are primarily there to support the tourist industry.

They really don'€™t care how the tourists are dressed as long as they have a pocket or purse to keep cash in. Where the water stops, well, they are beaches and one should be and is encouraged to dress as one pleases.

So, these complaints and pressure do not come from the local community. They come from outsiders.

X Simaging

I am Indonesian, female and the amount of shaming my friends and I have endured due to this official'€™s kind of mindset is appalling. Again, this is not Indonesian culture.

Indonesia is very diverse, and historically, there has been no shame in showing some skin. Please take a look at the Javanese traditional clothes, with open shoulders.

The traditional Papuans barely conceal their private parts. Women in Bali used to be able to bathe openly in rivers.

What this '€œadvice'€ is based on is not culture, but conservative religious values, which not everyone agrees with, and are illogical to boot. Preventing other people from receiving negative impacts?

Amanda

The article states appropriate clothing in '€œresidential areas and neighborhoods'€ and that '€œtourists may wear beach outfits in certain areas'€. Fair enough.

I for one understand how the demand may have come about. It is quite mind boggling to see tourist men walking through Kuta Square, back from the beach, in budgie smugglers only.

Little wonder rules have to be designed for those who on tour cannot show the same respect for locals that is demanded of them back home.

Noones

I am pretty sure that people don'€™t visit Indonesia just to wear bikinis and drink beer. That would be a very strange reason to travel anywhere in the world.

I personally wear a bikini or sunbathe nude and join a naked bike ride every year and drink beer in bars.

But I don'€™t go all the way to the other side of the planet, like Indonesia, only to do all these things that I do here at home (I live in the US).

Even if they ban alcohol and wearing bikinis in Indonesia I will for sure still visit that beautiful country, for sure, no doubt.

During my several visits (also I have lived in Indonesia for several years '€” Jakarta, Bandung and Bali '€” and have traveled to Sumatra, Sulawesi, Ambon and Lombok) I have witnessed and I would be a hypocrite to not admit that I have used my ignorant expat card as well.

It is the tourists (usually white tourists or visitors) that come and often force their Western thinking and behavior on Indonesians (also happening in any other countries where the populations are non-white) because we think we are cool, more educated and more civilized and think that Indonesians must adapt to us. That is backward thinking, guys, and also racist.

You live in or visit a place, learn about them. Learn the language and respect and understand their culture and norms. And Indonesians expecting you to not wear a bikini is not the same as Europeans asking Muslims to take off their hijab.

I am a liberal, feminist, well-traveled. I respect the customs of wherever it is I am. I take my shoes off when I enter a house in Japan, or even in my friends'€™ houses here who ask me to do so. I wore modest clothing (sometimes a head cover) when I was traveling in Morocco and the Middle East.

I do think that some sentences in the article sound funny, but as you live in Indonesia, you have to understand and respect their culture and their ways of communicating as well (which often sound absurd to us).

I can tell that you like this kind of news just to see it as another outlet to rant and act smarter than them. It'€™s rude and it'€™s immature.

So just follow his advice; wear your beach outfit at the beach, dress accordingly. Indonesians care about fashion and dressing appropriately.

Pickle

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