Obama to Show Family His Indonesian Past on Visit

Selasa, 2 Februari 2010

AFP

Barack Obama

By NINIEK KARMINI

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — President Barack Obama will take his family on a journey back to his boyhood in Indonesia, where he played games on the sweltering tropical streets of the capital and learned a foreign language. Details are still being finalized for the trip in late March, but Obama will spend more time in Indonesia than any other American leader, presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told reporters in Jakarta Tuesday.

Indonesia, where terrorists have carried out five major strikes since 2002, is a key U.S. ally in the fight against Islamist extremism. Obama will have discussions with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected in July. While on his first overseas travel this year, Obama also will head to Australia for talks with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and stop in the U.S. territory of Guam to meet U.S. military personnel on the island.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush stopped over for a night in Indonesia in November 2006, when hundreds of protesters denounced U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. Like in many countries, Obama enjoys widespread popularity in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population.

Many Indonesians believe Obama will mend ties between the West and the Middle East strained by unpopular wars. Obama, whose mother married an Indonesian, went to elementary school in the capital from 1967 to 1971.

Former classmates and teachers hope to hold a reunion for the man they remember from nearly four decades ago as a chubby, active kid they called “Barry”. “It certainly is an honor for us that there was a student in this school who is now the American president and will motivate our students to study harder and be a leader,” said Hasimah, the principal of the Menteng 1 public school.

Like many Indonesians she has one name. Obama’s sister, Maya, was born in Indonesia, where they first lived in a humble home with chickens and ducks in the backyard before moving up to a Dutch colonial-style house in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Jakarta.

source: kompas.com

Read more...

Attraction and Threat That Singapore Offers to Indonesia

Kamis, 28 Januari 2010

C17-09

Artist's rendering of the Marina Bay Sands. The Lotus or hand like structure on the left side is expected to be an icon, tentatively dubbed "The Welcoming Hand of Singapore"

Artists rendering of the "Welcoming Hand of Singapore", the museum which is part of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resorts.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - There is an optimism for Singapore to absorb more Indonesian visitors through its project, Marina Bay Sands. Thomas Arasi, CEO of Marina Bay Sands, during a press conference, Thursday, at Balai Kartini, Jakarta, voiced this by stating that it will be a grand attraction, especially for Indonesian tourists to visit Singapore, once it's accomplished.

According to Arasi, the majority of tourists in Singapore are indeed from Indonesia. He estimated that around one million Indonesians visit the Merlion country every year.

This number is even higher, at 1.7 million per year, according to Singapore Tourism Board (STB) manager, according to Hassan Kassim in a previous report to Kompas.com in November 2009. But both sources agree that the number will increase in the future.

So, it's only natural to make Indonesia the prime marketing target. In his press release, Arasi admits that, "Indonesia will be the main market for Marina Bay Sands."

For travellers from Indonesia

Well, if you're the travelling type, then the Marina Bay Sands will indeed be a magnificent tourism magnet, among which it boasts: a casino; three hotel towers topped by a single giant roof, the Sands Skypark, that gives you a 360 degree view of Singapore and even glimpses of its neighboring countries; lots of premium brand stores and world class restaurants; two glass pavillions built off-shores to look like floating icebergs; and a convention center with the capacity of 45,000 people.

Sheldon Adelson, president director of Las Vegas Sands, the developer of Marina Bay Sands, expects a gross profit of one billion USD per year. This coming April, the first stage of the Marina Bay Sands will be open, which covers 50 percent of the total project.

For travel agents

For Indonesian travel agents, this could be an opportunity. According to Sapta Nirwanda, marketing director general of the Department of Culture and Tourism, on January 22, 2010, with the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, Indonesian travel agents must be more daring in promoting foreign tourism spots. He believes that so far Indonesian travel agents only focus on domestic tourism. "We only take care of the domestic ones, the foreign ones are still limited."

So the Marina Bay Sands is another good spot to attract customers with, especially since travelling to Singapore is generally cheap for Indonesians. No extra cost for visa, with NPWP (tax register number) we don't have to pay the fiscal tax, and the plane ticket is relatively cheap, on AirAsia's website today there's even an offer of Rp. 99,000 for a Jakarta-Singapore flight.

For domestic tourism

But the Indonesian domestic tourism might have a harder time to compete. The most famous tourism spot in Indonesia is Bali, but, as reported previously, according to Al Purwa, chairman of the Indonesian Tour and Travel Agent Association, Indonesian travel agents are urged to promote other tourism spots on the northern part of Indonesia so that tourists aren't bored with Bali.

Besides Bali, Indonesia has other great potential places for tourism. Some are quite well developed, take for example the three isles, Gili Meno, Gili Air, and Gili Trawangan, on Pemenang district, north Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara. Kompas recently did a coverage, praising this area for having good and cheap accomodations and facilities, and also recommending people to go snorkling there.

The Bunaken Island National Park in Menado is also one rising star. Its marine biodiversity is known world-wide and is a wonderful snorkling site.

But not all national tourism spots are doing so well. One random example is the Selarong cave, Yogyakarta. The cave and water fall there used to shelter a national hero, Prince Diponegoro, while struggling for independence. This intriguing tourism spot, as Kompas.com observed, is rather abandoned and has even been vandalized.

Just for your information, according to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2009, regarding international tourism for ASEAN countries, Singapore is on the first rank, while Indonesia is on the 81st.

The Indonesian Department of Culture and Tourism has set the year 2010 as the 'Year to Visit Museums', which is a noble vision, but which museum to visit? One of the Marina Bay Sands' iconic structure is also a museum: the 'Welcoming Hand of Singapore'. (C17-09)

Read more...