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ormer Vietnamese refugees have expressed their readiness to develop Galang Island in Batam as a prime tourist attraction of the Riau Islands province.

The Vietnam war refugees, who have now settled in countries around the world, are set to promote the tourist attraction internationally.

Riau Islands Culture and Tourism Office head Robert Iwan Loriaux told The Jakarta Post recently that five former Vietnamese refugees, who had once been residents of Galang Island, met him at his office on Oct. 14 to discuss the proposal.

Members of the former Vietnamese refugee community, headed by Dong Tran, director of the Archives of Vietnamese Boat People, based in Australia, have expressed interest in working together with the Riau Islands tourism office to promote the former Vietnamese refugee camp on Galang Island as a museum that their children, grandchildren and wider communities can visit and learn about their past.

"We warmly welcome their wish to promote the Galang Island tourist attraction to the international world because it is the only former refugee facility that has been well maintained.

We have also prepared measures to turn the area into a major tourist attraction," said Robert.

According to Robert, 1,864 former Vietnamese boat people have some sort of emotional ties with Galang Island.

The number is quite potential to promote Batam Island and Riau Islands province as a tourist and investment destination, given their current status and potential tourist dollars they could bring from countries where they have settled, such as Australia, the United States and France.

"Galang Island is currently ranked as the third most visited natural tourist attraction, bringing domestic and foreign visitors to Batam. We have long-term plans to restore the area," said Robert.

According to Robert, this year the Culture and Tourism Ministry has allocated Rp 139 million (US$13,900) from the state budget to build a library at the former refugee complex and will set aside Rp 100 million next year for the cost of detail engineering design on Galang Island, and Rp 1 billion to restore important facilities.

"The tourism ministry is also concerned about helping us finance the upkeep of the former Vietnamese refugee camp because it has historical heritage value that must be preserved," said Robert.

Restoration of the former refugee camp on Galang Island, according to Robert, is also in the framework for plans to meet projected tourist arrivals in Riau Islands. Last year, 1.7 million tourists visited Riau Islands province and this year numbers are estimated to increase to 1.8 million and 1.9 million by 2010.

"Riau Islands province severely lacks tourist attractions, so the former refugee camp will be an interesting place for foreign and domestic visitors to visit," said Robert.

The former Vietnamese and Cambodian refugee camp on Galang Island is almost 30 years old and most of its facilities, including a barracks, a church, a hospital and detention cells are still well maintained as it is one of the main tourist objects in Batam.

The camp, which had once accommodated 250,000 refugees, is located around 50 kilometers southeast of Batam.