Much Still Needs to Be Done to Further Improve Indonesia’s Tourism Sector

Indonesia took in a total 8.7 million foreign tourists in 2013, and this year it aims to attract 9.2 million international tourists. (AFP Photo/Conservation International/Sterling Zumbrunn)

Jakarta Globe – With more than 17,000 islands stretching across the nation, from Sabang to Merauke, Indonesia is an archipelago that boasts endless natural beauty and places to explore.

Bali and its popular neighboring island Lombok have experienced a significant boost in tourism in the past several years, and they are just a few of the myriad of Indonesian holiday sites that lure repeat visitors to the country.

While the tourism industry continues to make a name for itself, and with many optimistic about the nation’s potential, concerns remain over destinations that have not been sufficiently optimized to attract travelers.

Data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy showed Indonesia took in a total 8.7 million foreign tourists in 2013, while this year it aims to attract 9.2 million international tourists, in addition to 255 million domestic tourists.

Few tourist destinations, few tourists

Popular Indonesian travel blogger and writer Trinity, however, doubted that the number of international tourist arrivals in Indonesia had even reached 8.2 million.

“The number could be lower than what was reported. I fully doubt the statistics,” she insisted.

Trinity explained her disbelief by comparing Indonesia to its neighbors, including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

“I’m not saying [Indonesian tourism] is bad, but those countries have been well-managed for decades; they take tourism very seriously. They provide comfort and safety to foreign tourists. Singapore has great infrastructure with almost zero flight delays; there are many connecting flights there. They prepare everything thoroughly to make guest feel entertained,” she said.

“Thailand has been known as a tourist destination for a longer period of time compared to other Asian countries, especially for Europeans. They have crafted sophisticated management techniques for the tourism sectors,” she added. “Thailand is not just about temples, statues and ecotourism; they have also made further advancements in luxury tourism,” she said.

Trinity also lamented on the government’s visa-on-arrival (VOA) policy, which requires tourists from certain countries to pay an amount of money to enter the country, and then a second fee in order to extend their stay in Indonesia. The regulation, she said, only restricts tourists from exploring the country’s vastness. [Click here for full article…]

Youth vote a game changer in general election

Jakarta Post – Young and first-time voters are like untapped resources in a general election. Their huge potential — about 29 million in number — is the target of the 12 political parties contesting this year’s general election. The Jakarta Post’s Hasyim Widhiarto provides an overview of this phenomenon and on young legislative candidates, while Hans David Tampubolon provides a sidebar in support of the main story.

When his party turned six-years-old on Feb. 6, 24-year-old Angga Raka Prabowo, the head of the Gerindra Party’s social media department, rolled up his sleeves to deal with the heavy workload in his office.

Leading a team of 45 media-savvy Gerindra supporters, most of whom are students, Angga is in charge of managing the party’s presence on various social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. His team has also supported handling the social media accounts of Gerindra chief patron and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.

The team is running its activities 24 hours a day, mainly from an office located on the third floor of the party’s headquarters in Ragunan, South Jakarta.

“We divide our team into three different work shifts to ensure that those [Gerindra supporters] living in the US, for example, always receive updates about the party despite our time difference. We also need to help Pak Prabowo reply to mentions [on Twitter] and Facebook posts as he can go online for a limited time only, mostly during breakfast or before sleeping,” said Angga, who has a degree in international relations.

With support from an army of social media enthusiasts, Gerindra, which finished eighth in the 2009 legislative election, has become one of the most popular parties in the cyberspace, something that Gerindra chairman Suhardi proudly cited in his political speech at the party’s sixth anniversary. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia’s Religious Tolerance Problem

Wall Street Journal – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono leaves office this year, and already assessments of his legacy are ramping up. He has most often been described as, among other things, a force for religious moderation in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority democracy. The reality is different, however. He has presided over a steady erosion of freedom of religion for a decade. As a result, his successor will face a major challenge: stopping the rise of extremist Islamism and tackling increasing religious intolerance. [Click here for full article…]

 

Jokowi dips in popularity, Prabowo on the rise: Poll

Jakarta Post – A new public opinion poll has found that Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s electability rating is sliding while that of his strongest rival, Gerindra Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto, is on the up.

The latest survey conducted by the United Data Center (PDB) said Jokowi’s electability rating for the 2014 presidential election was 31.8 percent, Prabowo’s was 12.8 percent.

Although Jokowi remains on top of the polls, his electability rating decreased by 4.2 percent from 36 percent since the survey was first conducted in October, 2013.

Prabowo’s electability rating, on the other hand, has increased by 6.2 percent from 6.6 percent.

For its latest survey, the PDB interviewed 1,200 respondents by phone between Feb. 7 and 10 in 15 large cities in Indonesia: Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Medan, Palembang, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Mataram, Kupang, Makassar, Ambon and Jayapura.

The survey, however, only asked for a straight-forward preference without requesting them to elaborate on their preferences.

“The survey we conducted did not include why the candidate was deemed electable or not,” PDB researcher, Agus Herta Sumarto told a press briefing Friday.

PDB cofounder Peter F. Gontha said that Jokowi and Prabowo had benefitted from heavy media coverage.

“Jokowi is the media darling. The press write about him every day, whereas Prabowo is putting a lot of money and effort into television exposure,” he said.

The survey found that State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan came in third place with an electability rate of 5.8 percent.

Hanura Party chairman Wiranto came in fourth with 5.6 percent.

The survey also found that 27 percent of respondents were still undecided.

“We should pay close attention to this 27 percent. They will be our swing voters in the upcoming elections and ultimately decide the results,” Peter added.

The survey, conducted between Feb. 7 and Feb. 10, mostly targeted middle- to upper-class respondents
because people from the low-income bracket had no access to land-line telephones, Agus said.

The PDB will conduct their next survey in March, this one will include people from the lower classes to gleam a more accurate interpretation of who might win the 2014 presidential election in July.

Responding to the survey’s findings NasDem party executive, Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, said that it was not a true representation of the current political condition. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia Launches World’s Biggest Manta Sanctuary

Environmentalists on Feb. 20 welcomed the creation of the 46,000-square-kilometre protection zone in Raja Ampat, an area at risk from both overfishing and climate change. (AFP Photo)

Jakarta Globe – Indonesia on Friday became home to the world’s biggest manta ray sanctuary covering millions of square kilometres, as it seeks to protect the huge winged fish and draw more tourists to the sprawling archipelago.

New legislation gives full protection to the creatures across all the waters surrounding Southeast Asia’s biggest country, which for years has been the world’s largest shark and ray fishery.

Protection group Conservation International hailed the “bold” move and said it was influenced by a recent government-backed review that showed a single manta ray was worth one million dollars in tourism revenue over its lifetime.

This compares to between $40 and $500 if caught and killed, the group said.

Many foreign tourists come to Indonesia every year to dive in some of the world’s most biodiverse waters and manta rays are a favorite sight.

The gentle beasts have wingspans up to 25 feet, which they flap to propel themselves through the water.

“Indonesia now has the second-largest manta ray tourism industry in the world, with an estimated annual turnover of $15 million,” said Agus Dermawan, a senior official from the ministry of marine affairs and fisheries.

“Given the huge area of reefs and islands in our country, if managed properly, Indonesia could become the top manta tourism destination on the planet.” [Click here for full article…]

US Poised to Help Modernize TNI as China Sea Simmers

US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake Jr. (EPA Photo/Pushpa Kumara)

Jakarta Globe – The United States plans to help modernize Indonesia’s military, including provisions for training and equipment, amid heightened tensions in the South China Sea, where China is laying claims to disputed waters.

US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake Jr., at a press conference hosted by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club on Thursday, said that the US government would continue to assist the Indonesian Military (TNI) with bilateral exercises and supply it with modern equipment.

“We’ve had a growing scope of bilateral exercise with the Indonesian military, and we’re very pleased with that,” Blake said, in response to a question about what the US is doing to help Indonesia’s security. “We have excellent security cooperation now between our two countries. We’re working to help Indonesia modernize its military, helping Indonesia with all kinds of training and other equipment needs, and we’re excited about the prospects.”

Indonesia has been making plans to increase its purchases of military hardware from abroad, including submarines from Russia and South Korea. It will also buy equipment from France and Britain, and eight Apache attack helicopters valued at $600 million from the United States. Those will arrive in separate shipments through 2017, according to Antara.

China has been exerting its influence beyond its shores, with warships patrolling the South China Sea, in areas that it believes are part of its territory and not those of neighboring nations such as Vietnam and the Philippines. The South China Sea potentially has vast crude oil and natural gas deposits.

Some leaders across the region have been alarmed by the increase in China’s activity in disputed waters. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia, South Africa urge US clarity at G20

Indonesia Finance Minister Muhamad Chatib Basri attends a World Bank/IMF meeting at the World Bank in Washington, DC, on October 11, 2013 (AFP/File, Mandel Ngan)

AFP – Indonesia and South Africa on Friday stepped up pressure on US monetary policy, urging more clarity and better communication so emerging economies are not caught out by Federal Reserve action.

Countries including Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina, Turkey, and India have suffered sharp capital outflows and losses to their currencies as a by-product of the Fed’s “taper” — the winding-back of its mammoth stimulus programme.

Indonesian Finance Minister Muhamad Chatib Basri said it was critical that this weekend’s G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Sydney creates certainty about where the United States’ policy is heading.

“I do understand the normal world is the world without QE (quantitative easing), so emerging markets should be ready for a world without QE,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“But I think when we move from one equilibrium into another equilibrium it is very important to continue to communicate to discuss about the roadmap so that we in the emerging markets can prepare.

“I think it is not just Indonesia,” he added.

“Other emerging markets including India, including South Africa, including Brazil also raised this same issue of the need for coordination.”

New Fed chief Janet Yellen is attending her first G20 as Ben Bernanke’s successor, just weeks after her inaugural testimony to Congress painted a steady-as-she-goes course for Fed policy.

This includes the wind-down of the post-2008 policies that flooded capital markets with cheap cash, with the monthly stimulus reduced by $10 billion to $65 billion and further “measured” reductions at future meetings as long as economic conditions hold up. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia new haven in emerging rout

Banknotes business: An employee arranges banknotes at a Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) cash center in Jakarta on Monday. The rupiah strengthened to 11,720 per US dollar. The government and Bank Indonesia (BI) have implemented fiscal and monetary tightening policy to guard the rupiah exchange rate. JP/Nurhayati

Jakarta Post – A country that was cruelly dumped by foreign investors last year has now surfaced as an unlikely safe haven amid the rout in emerging markets.

Foreign funds have returned onshore, following reforms that helped improve macroeconomic fundamentals.

This year, Indonesia was the only Asian nation among eight tracked by Bloomberg where foreign investors bought more stocks than they sold, with fund managers dumping US$2.3 billion of South Korean equities and shares worth $1.4 billion in Taiwan, according to data released on Feb. 10.

As of Friday last week, foreign investors have poured at least $1 billion in Indonesian assets into stocks and bonds throughout 2014, propelling the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) to advance 5.5 percent year-to-date.

It was the strongest performance among 13 countries tracked by the Indonesia Stock Exchange.

Foreign inflows have propped up the rupiah, which has transformed from Asia’s worst to best performer in 2014. The rupiah has appreciated 4.3 percent year-to-date to touch 11,716 per dollar on Monday, according to data from the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR).

Meanwhile, most of Indonesia’s emerging peers are seeing fund outflows and currency depreciation as ongoing financial crises in Turkey and Argentina have triggered broad-based outflows in high-risk assets. [Click here for full article…]

Issues aplenty in Indonesian polls

New Straits Times – The presidential election in Indonesia this July is an event  that will be eagerly watched by many in the region.

 

By the large number of candidates who will be fielded, of which there are many, there are yet no clear favourites. The pack is now led by Prabowo (Subianto) and Jokowi (Joko Widodo), joined by a host of other “possibles”, including former vice-president Megawati (Sukarnoputri).

 

Observers believe a coalition is the best bet of an outcome, given the larger number of candidates who are said to have designs for politics as a way to improve their economic situation.

 

This election, compared with the previous ones, will have a paucity of issues. These include job creation, business growth and governance.

 

Democracy and governance have hit the headlines with the aggressive efforts mounted by the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) government to rid the country of corruption, malpractice and other human rights issues.

 

This has been compounded by the gap between the “centre” and the provincial peripheries, which have been clamouring to hold back on some of the receipts yielded from taxes collected and revenues gained. The consequences of this, many fear, will lead to a fragmentation between the powerful governors in the provinces and Jakarta. [Click here for full article…]

SKK Migas: Indonesia Not an Oily Country

TEMPO/Subekti

Tempo.co – The Special Taks Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas) stated that Indonesia does not have an abundant stock of oil and gas. “Indonesia’s oil reserve is only 0.5 percent of the world’s reserve,” said SKK Migas Secretary Gde Pradnyana. “We were a member of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) not because we were rich in oil, but because we had lesser consumption.”

Pradnyana mentioned that Indonesia was once a liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, back in the glorious days of the Bontang and Arun Oilrig. On the other hand, he added that daily oil lifting has reduced significantly in the last 40 to 50 years, from 23 billion barrel per day to 4 billion barrel per day.

“We have been deceived by the policy and consumption pattern for years, particularly in the New Order regime,” he said. [Click here for full article…]

Scholars, intellectuals endorse Prabowo’s bid

The Jakarta Globe – A group of university professors and intellectuals announced on Wednesday its collective endorsement of Gerindra Party presidential candidate and chief patron Prabowo Subianto, giving the retired army general another moral boost ahead of the upcoming presidential election. Former Bandung-based Padjadjaran University rector Yuyun Wirasasmita, who read the group’s endorsement during a gathering […]