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Local advocate wants locals to benefit more from West Manggarai tourism
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A picturesque view of Komodo Island in East Nusa Tenggara.
(Shutterstock/-)
Ica Marta Muslin, 35, from Manggarai regency is quite an influential figure on the local tourism scene.
Working for the Wicked Diving foundation as community project manager, she has encouraged and assisted Labuan Bajo residents in West Manggarai regency to become dive masters. Up to six people have received funding from the foundation for the required training. Four of them have become dive masters and two are now working as adventure guides.
Ica is also an active advocate in West Manggarai. Alongside local communities, she has joined peaceful movements and campaigns that focus on tourism, such as fighting to keep Pede Beach a public space. Her statements could also be found in mass media, as she insisted that locals should get more benefits from the region's tourist industry.
"I have been working in tourism my whole life. I'm actually a law graduate [from Warmadewa University in Bali] who decided to enter the tourism scene. Learning from my previous experience in Bali, I think that locals should not be cast aside from the tourist industry; they should get more benefits from it," she recently told The Jakarta Post in Labuan Bajo.
Previously a restaurant manager in Karma Bali in 2009, Ica said she returned to Flores as she felt the need to aid in its development. Fortunately, there was a vacancy at a business-oriented independent foundation for international development cooperation Swisscontact in Flores. She later applied and was accepted.
Read also: Valentino Rossi holidays in Labuan Bajo
"I've also volunteered as a teacher at Tawatana catholic high school in Maumere regency in 2010 and conducted a tourist attraction assessment in Flores in 2012. I moved back to the Swisscontact Bali office and worked as an environmental program officer from 2013 to 2014."
Her parents' limited resources had motivated her to fund her own university studies by working in Bali. "I believe women should have the same capabilities as males, thus I work hard for success."
She shared how her parents encouraged her to enter a tourism-focused high school in Ruteng (SMIP Sadar Wisata), a town in Flores, as they saw the potential of the region, especially Labuan Bajo, as a tourist destination thanks to the komodo dragons. "I'm grateful that my parents had such a vision for their children's future."
While working for Wicked Diving, Icha has made a number of notable accomplishments, including earning the Best Practice Moring Buoy for WWF Indonesia title and Shorterm award scholarship in Australia.
As chairman of the Dive Association in West Manggarai and founder of the Bolo Lobo community, Icha said she was always on the lookout for locals to train. "Aside from training them, we also want to fund their education so that they can compete in the tourist industry in Labuan Bajo." (kes)
