Reflection on Tourism in Indonesia

Indonesia is a big country, rich in natural resources, cultures, and natural wonders.

in one of the slogan seen in Singapore public buses, it is written there that Indonesia has the most varied destinations. The question is, why tourism in Indonesia seems to be confined to Bali and maybe surrounding areas and not to the rest of the region?

My recent trip to Korea taught me a lesson. In order for a place or a country to attract tourist, it takes much more than having the object of attraction, be it an ancient temple (e.g. Borobudur), mountains, lakes with wonderful scenery. All these are essential, but countries without them can fabricate object attraction out of nothing (casino, fake mountain, fake folklore, fake stories) to make the place interesting.

Apart from the objects of attraction, there are other elements required to encourage local tourism:
1. availability of materials/brochures in language understood by tourists (English, Indonesian, Chinese?)
2. availability of clean public toilets
3. accessibility to the places
4. last but not least, security

Indonesia Tourism Board, if there is such a board, should look carefully into those areas if they really want to attract foreign dollars into Indonesia. Indonesia as a whole, need to pump in money into this field, if they want serious income in this area.

Korea, suffered a lot, as many other countries did during the 1998 monetary crisis. While all ministers have nothing to offer, the tourism minister took up the challenge, build up sites, promote korean dramas and movies, in order to attract tourists to come to Korea. And it was a major success!

Can Indonesia do that too?

When I return to my hometown a few years ago, I visited the palace and the tomb of the late King of the Riau Malay Kingdom. There is nothing there except for an oldman smoking in a corner. There are more people coming to Tanjung Pinang for the Vices.

Tourism is a serious business and can offer serious income to Indonesia. With Singapore as a hub, surely Indonesia can think of something to do to attract a fraction of tourists visiting Singapore.

Or even if Indonesia choose not to rely on foreign tourists, the economy can still be greatly increased if local tourism is encouraged. China rely a lot on local tourism as well for their economy. But even if you want to do that, accessibility, security and other conveniences have to be taken care of.

As an Indonesian for the first 30 years of my life, I have to confess, apart from visiting Batam, and other places with escorts of local friends, it has never occurred in my mind to visit places for pure tourism purpose. Why? because of perceived fear, for Indonesia is still regarded as a place not safe for 'outsiders'.

Indonesia has a lot to offer, there are many who wants to take the offer, can the authorities help to establish the link between the two is the key to success.

Give Thanks or Complains

Give Thanks

In one of the advertisement for the TV Show – We Are Singaporean, the host Hossan Leong candidly pointed out, and “double-confirmed” that what most Singaporeans like to do during their spare time is to “complain”

While it is difficult to prove how prevalence is this “complaining” tendencies among Singaporeans, the opposite attitude can be observed: Do we often see people giving thanks for the things that are happening around us? Sometimes, but probably not as many times as we would like to see.

Complaining seems to be part of the human nature, because it is so easy to find negative things to say about anything: the weather is too hot, too wet, too dry; the food is too bland, too salty, too expensive; the park is too quiet, too noisy, too dirty; the mall is too far, too crowded, too small, etc. By being negative, it will be hard for us to give thanks and look at the bright side of this blessed life.

Sometimes we refused to give thanks even when things are going in our favor:
My wife was going for lunch with her colleagues. The sky was dark and the rain seemed ominous, but the rain did not happen until they reached the food court. It would be difficult for a group of 7 to find a seat in the food court during lunch hour, but when they arrived, a big table was cleared to accommodate them. The best part is that when they finished their lunch, and were going to walk back to the office, the rain stopped. Others may take it for granted but she gave thanks to God for these little things.

Coincidences? Maybe. Trivial? Maybe. The thing is this: Paul in 1Thess 5:18 says: “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” If we were to give thanks only when God split the Red Sea in our lives, chances are we will never give thanks to Him.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if life is difficult and full of stress and challenges, why embitter it with more complaints which do us no good and will only make others unhappy? Why not season your life with more thanksgiving and spread the smiles and love and hope to those around us?

If you have to complain, remember this: The Bible records 75 occurrences of thanksgiving and 25 occurrences of complaints. Before you complaint about anything or anyone, think about three good things to give thanks about. May God bless you.