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Jakarta Post

Raymond Timotius Lesmana: Dedicating life to marine tourism

The man who believes the archipelago can become a world marine-tourist destination rather than just a stopover.

P. J. Leo (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, October 3, 2017

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Raymond Timotius Lesmana: Dedicating life to marine tourism Hunting the view: Raymond Timotius Lesmana is not only a yacht rally organizer, but also a photography enthusiast. (JP/PJ Leo)

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 highly dedicated organizer of yacht rallies, Raymond Timotius Lesmana promotes the country’s marine tourism on the international stage through his Sail Indonesia events to introduce the natural wealth and coastal beauty of the archipelago.

He got his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Trisakti University in Jakarta in 1978 and later studied public policy and computing in Los Angeles, in the United States. Inspired by the cruising tourism success in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas, young Raymond dreamed of making it happen in Indonesia.

Born in Bandung, West Java, in 1954, Raymond first had to learn the many requirements for yacht rallies in Indonesia, including the rules on clearance approval for entering Indonesian territory from the Foreign Ministry, security clearance from the Indonesian Military, sailing permits from the Transportation Ministry, customs and immigration clearance and tourist visas.

After working in different fields, Raymond joined the Indonesian Marine Tourism Business Association (Gahawisri) in 2001. The opportunity was beginning to open for him to organize yacht rallies. To enliven his events, Raymond approached coastal people, community chiefs, regents or governors for their support.

In 2003, he started the program he had longed for, the Darwin-Kupang Rally, which saw 24 participating yachts sailing from Darwin, Australia, to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Bali, Batam and Riau in Sumatra.

In 2005, Raymond changed the name of the program into Sail Indonesia and in that year, the event attracted 70 yachts. More and more yachts began joining the program, which had some additional destinations before reaching Batam in the following years.

Along the way: Raymond walks with participants in the yacht rally in Sambas Palace in West Kalimantan.
Along the way: Raymond walks with participants in the yacht rally in Sambas Palace in West Kalimantan. (Raymond Lesmana/File)

Foreign yachtsmen enthusiastically followed Sail Indonesia, which offers three months of exploration of Indonesian waters, including stopping at more than 15 spots. Each destination has its own agenda arranged by the local administrations and communities. Regional authorities are requested to facilitate the coastal people with economic empowerment activities.

“The number of Sail Indonesia participants increased annually despite bureaucratic bottlenecks, from 80 yachts in 2006 to 100 in 2007 and 120 in 2008. Sail Indonesia 2008 was dubbed ‘The Largest Sailing Event in Indonesia’,” Raymond said.

Sail Indonesia also inspired the government to organize other sailing events such as Sail Bunaken in 2009, Sail Banda in 2010 and Sail Wakatobi-Belitong in 2011.

Participants of Sail Indonesia are also introduced to those events.

Citing unsettled business, Raymond was absent in 2013, and the program was handled by the Indonesian Sail and Tourism Association (ASWINDO).

Raymond came back to the program in 2014 with the Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally 2014. Launched in cooperation with the Island Cruising Association in New Zealand, this program had 32 yachts and 17 destinations starting from Debut in Southeast Maluku. This year’s Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally 2017 is still in progress with 70 participating yachts.

In addition, Raymond has opened Wonderful Sail Anambas to Natuna, with the aim of persuading foreign participants to remain in Indonesian waters after sailing from the eastern to the western Indonesian seas. He also gets creative in arranging the route.

“As requested by rally participants bound for their homes in Australia and New Zealand, I’ve made a route for them to return after touring such neighboring countries as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. It’s called the Back to Down Under Rally with Tarakan, East Kalimantan as the entry point,” Raymond said. He said he was raising funds himself for Indonesia’s maritime promotion. “There’s been no government support. I’m a volunteer, it’s fortunate to get enough funds to run the events,” Raymond said. Previously, bureaucratic red tape posed difficulties for foreign yachts entering Indonesia, making the archipelago less visited by yachts compared with other neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. During the past two years, foreign yachts have eventually been able to enter the country’s waters more easily by using electronic yacht registration.

Minimal infrastructure also hampers marine tourism, as the number of marinas is limited. That was why the 2007 event was limited to only 100 yachts while 300 applications had been submitted.

Raymond hopes the government can overcome challenges in developing marine tourism.

“I want Indonesia to become the largest marine-tourism zone in the world and Indonesian people to enjoy the position,” he said.

The photography enthusiast, who is also a member of the Tourism Ministry’s marine tourism development acceleration team under Indroyono Soesilo, emphasized the need for Indonesia to have more than 100 development spots to allow the country to maximize its potential as a world cruising-tourism destination.

“Indonesia has the potential to earn golden cruising passage status for being on the equator and having a stable climate with no typhoons and extreme waves or winds and with predictable current and wind patterns.

“Indonesia’s natural beauty, coastal waters, islands and their undersea biodiversity are also amazing,” Raymond said.

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