Archive for August, 2008
Garuda’s inaugural flight GA725 ex PERTH to Denpasar departed on Monday (18 August) with a seat load factor of 98.7% ie only two empty seats. “This is a fantastic result with forward bookings looking very strong for this service,” said Mr Iskandar Basro - General Manager Western Australia Garuda Indonesia.
Garuda Indonesia responds to Western Australia’s demand for Bali by adding new aircraft to the route
Garuda Indonesia will place the newly delivered Boeing 737-800 Next Generation series aircraft on the Perth Bali route from 18 August, 2008.
This move is in direct response to the resurgence in tourism to Bali from Western Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the state recorded a 75% growth in holiday makers travelling to Indonesia in the first quarter of 2008.
From 18 August, Garuda Indonesia will add another daily service to the two flights that are currently operating daily (except Wednesday). And, from 3rd September, an additional Wednesday service will bring the total operation from Perth to Bali to triple daily, providing a growth in capacity of 61.5%.
This is in addition to four direct flights per week to Jakarta from Perth.
The daily flight commencing 18 August, GA725, will depart Perth at 1425 arriving in Bali at 1810. This will give West Australians the option of a mid afternoon flight to add to the daily morning flight which departs at 0715 (GA727), and the six times weekly evening flight GA729 departing at 1715.
Garuda Indonesia’s General Manager WA, Mr. Iskandar Basro said, “Western Australians have had an ongoing love affair with Bali for years, prompted by great value packages and a strengthening Australian dollar. The word is out that there is no other place in the world where you can holiday in luxury for such great prices.”
“The addition of a further 1248 seats by 3 September should go a long way to ensuring that Western Australians can continue this romance. “
The capacity increase from the West Coast follows Garuda Indonesia’s announcement last month of an additional 1013 seats per week being added to East Coast Australian routes to Bali by 3 September.
For further details Garuda Indonesia reservations can be contacted on 1300 365 330.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/
August 20th, 2008
Miss Universe Dayana Mendonza (22) in her current tour of Indonesia paid a visit to the well known Buddhist temple of Borobudur in Magelang district, Central Java, on Monday.
Accompanied by Miss Indonesia 2008, Zivanna Lestisha Siregar, Mendonza arrived at the temple at around 8.30 am.
Director for Operation and Development of Borobudur and Prambanan Temples, Guntur Puronomo Adi received the Miss Universe in the Borobudur temple yard. Purnomo Adi when receiving the Miss Universe was accompanied by Retno Hardiasiwi, head of the Borobudur Tourism Park unit.
Guntur handed over a gift in the form of a book titled “Borobudur Prayer in Stone” to Mendonza. Besides, the book, the Miss Universe also received a traditional `batik` cloth with a motive of the Borobudur temple.
Mendonza had an observation tour of the temple, and walked around the stupa in the temple peak. She happened to try to reach one of the Buddhist statue named “Kunto Bimo” by Javanese people.
Javanese believed that whoever was able to touch the legs of the statue would be awarded with welfare and have his or her prayers answered.
Mendonze left the temple at 9.10 am after taking a picture in the temple`s yard.
Source: www.antara.co.id/en
August 19th, 2008
Indonesian Ambassador to the UAE M. Wahid Supriyadi has said he would invite businessmen in his country to visit the UAE, the second biggest economy in the GCC.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on the occasion of 63rd Independence Day of Indonesia on Sunday, Supriyadi said many Indonesian businessmen have not yet seen the potential of the UAE. ‘We will hold a series of activities to increase exports to the UAE and take businessmen from the emirates to Indonesia to attend the Trade Expo in Jakarta in October.
‘Significantly, investment from the UAE in Indonesia has just started. It is estimated to reach up to $6 billion by the end of this year. Indonesia, on the other hand, has achieved a 6.2 per cent growth in the first quarter of this year.’
He said the UAE has emerged as the second biggest economy in the GCC and has become a significant player in the region, while Indonesia has the highest Muslim population in the world.
‘Our bilateral trade with the UAE has grown to $1.5 billion in 2007. Indonesia believes that the bilateral relations with the UAE are very important not only due to the close cultural links between us but also because of the great potentials of the two countries that have not been widely explored so far, particularly in the field of trade, investment and tourism,’ Supriyadi said.
The Indonesian Embassy will organise an Indonesian festival next year to integrate trade expo, investment forum and cultural exchanges. Indonesian expatriates celebrated the Independence Day with patriotic zeal and fervour on the embassy premises in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Supriyadi and his wife, Murgiyati, cut the traditional rice called ‘Tumpeng Rice’. Traditional activities like singing of patriotic songs and other functions like diplomatic reception were held. In Dubai, Consul-General Faisal Harun led the celebrations in which over 100 Indonesian expatriates participated. Harun hoisted the Indonesian flag at the consulate in Hubaiba.
Source: http://www.menafn.com/
August 19th, 2008
Niken Prathivi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Asia’s best golfers, including Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and Lu Wen-teh of Taiwan, will participate in the second annual Pertamina Indonesia President Invitational tourney next week.
The Asian Tour-sanctioned event, to be held at the Damai Indah Golf and Country Club course in western Jakarta Aug. 28-31, offers US$400,000 in prize money.
Some 112 Asian Tour members and 28 Indonesian golfers are scheduled to join the tourney. Other notable golfers include Jeev Milkha Singh of India and Mark Brown of New Zealand.
Last year’s champion Juvic Pagunsan of the Philippines is also coming back.
Asian Tour tournament director David Parkin said the event was a good opportunity for Indonesian golfers to compete against Asian stars.
“Indonesia has developing players such as Maan Nasim and Benny Kasiadi. And it’s good for them to contend with, for example, Juvic, who defeated Lee Westwood in last year’s event.
“Besides, we are looking for new local talents” Parkin said.
Indonesian Professional Golf Association (PGPI) secretary-general Agus Triyono said 20 local professional golfers and eight amateurs would join the event.
“We hope our players can perform better than last year when three golfers made the cut. At least they can score better,” Agus said.
PGPI’s top player Agusnam, participating for the first time, said he would play his best.
“I’m not nervous but the strong wind at the 18th hole will challenge me,” he said, adding he would aim to score below the cut.
Patrick Young, chief executive of promoter Ancora Sports International, said the event was a highlight on the golf calendar in Indonesia and Asia which aimed to promote Indonesia as a sports, tourism and business destination.
Source: The Jakarta Post
August 15th, 2008
Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Although tourist arrivals in Indonesia increased by a respectable rate of almost 12 percent in the first half of the year to 2.9 million, that record is still far from the target of 7 million visitors set for the Visit Indonesia 2008 campaign.
The performance is even poorer compared with our neighbors: Singapore last year welcomed 10.3 million tourists, Thailand 14.5 million and Malaysia nearly 21 million.
Even Vietnam, a relatively new player in the international travel and tourism industry, has already received more than 4 million arrivals, compared with Indonesia’s 5.5 million last year.
Our record is even more miserable if it is set against the fact that our country, the world’s largest archipelago, is richer in terms of culture, natural attractions and historical heritage than most other ASEAN countries.
Richly endowed with a vast variety of natural resources, several World Heritage listed natural sites and varied fauna, and supplemented with strong price competitiveness, Indonesia should be a major destination for tourists from around the world, offering a lot of incentives for repeat visits.
Travelers can visit Indonesia every year without having to return to the same destination because there are dozens of accessible tourist attractions in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands and Papua, in addition to the world-famous Bali.
But these strengths, although considered the main pillars of the travel and tourism industry, are not enough to woo tourists.
In fact, as our tourist arrival records have testified, those advantages have been held back by major weaknesses in other pillars — regulatory and basic infrastructure, including air and ground transport.
Our regulatory infrastructure worsened after the government, displaying tragic ignorance of the vital role the tourism industry has for our economy, sharply cut the number of countries entitled to visa-free entry for the sake of national interest and national pride.
But it is hard to understand how our national pride is served by restricting foreign tourists from spending their money in our country. This measure has instead hindered inbound visitors.
What a loss to our economic development.
As a nature and culture-based industry, tourism is one of the most suitable businesses for Indonesia to develop because of the multiplier effect and labor-intensive nature of its operations. Travel-related businesses such as hotels, restaurants, transportation, and handicraft and cultural shows are all labor-intensive, exactly the kind of businesses needed to absorb the huge pool of job seekers.
And as for the risk of the visa-free privilege being abused for — drug trafficking and illegal employment here– are not so big yet that it hardly warranted that drastic, sweeping measure to abolish the privilege for citizens of so many countries.
We should magnanimously acknowledge that our immigration officials, like most other civil servants in the country, are not known for providing swift services such as the processing of visa-on-arrival.
We also perform poorly with regard to the other pillar of the tourism industry — basic infrastructure. Our airplanes are still banned from European skies and our road safety standards are infamously low.
Even though our security has significantly improved, the other components of our infrastructure — health and hygiene — are in a poorer condition than in neighboring countries because of the inadequate supply of hospital beds and physicians in most cities and poor access to good sanitation and drinking water.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry said it had allocated US$108 million for tourism promotion during the Visit Indonesia 2008 program. That is good. Promotion is one of the most effective tools to market our tourist attractions.
However, as the experiences of most popular tourist destinations have shown, tourism promotion should be supported by a conducive business and regulatory framework as well as international-standard transport infrastructure and bureaucratic services related to foreign visitors.
Just a simple example. Smooth, expedient visa processing and customs inspection services at the airport are more effective in wooing tourists than the distribution of tourist booklets. But these services are not under the jurisdiction of the tourism ministry.
In fact, the Culture and Tourism Ministry handles only one aspect of tourist development and marketing and, unfortunately, not the most important one.
The more important pillars of the travel and tourism industry such as transport infrastructure, health and hygiene, security and regulatory requirements are completely beyond its control as they lie under the jurisdiction of other ministries.
Source: The Jakarta Post
August 15th, 2008
Banjarmasin, (ANTARA News) - As many as 250 Chinese tourists who had planned to visit Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan last August 14 for the region`s 58th anniversary have cancelled their plan, a local official said.
The head of South Kalimantan`s Culture and Tourism office, H.Bihman Muliansyah, confirmed the cancellation here on Wednesday, saying the Chinese tourists did come to Indonesia but with Bali as their destination.
“We made preparations to welcome and entertain them but they cancelled their plan. They promised to come to South Kalimantan another time,” Bihman told ANTARA.
He said the Chinese tourists were former students of “Ma Wahoa” , an educational institution in Banjarmasin for Chinese people until the early 1960s.
“They left Banjarmasin because of Government Regulation (PP) No.10 of 1960 which made it impossible for ethnic Chinese residents who were not Indonesian citizens to remain in Indonesia,” he said.
Bihman said he did not know why the Chinese tourists had cancelled their plan to visit Banjarmasin.
South Kalimantan has several tourism objects of natural, historical or cultural interest.
“Had they come to South Kalimantan, they would have enjoyed nostalgic moments at the former Ma Wahoa building or places where they were born or raised,” said Bihman.
Located near the Martapura river, the Wa Mahoa institute comprised a kindergarten, an elementary school, a junior high school, and a senior high school.
After 1960, Wa Mahoa changed into a junior high school named SMP Negeri Dahlia and now it housed SMP Negeri 6 Banjarmasin (State Junior High School 6 of Banjarmasin).
Separately, the former rector of the Banjarmasin-based Lambung Amangkurat University (Unlam), Prof.H.M. Kustan Basri, said in 1960, all ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, including those in Banjarmasin, had to leave the country under Government Regulation No 10 of 1960.
The regulation did explicitly order ethnic Chinese to leave the country but required them to choose either Chinese or Indonesian citizenship.
However, the regulation was not imposed on Indonesians of Chinese descent who had been living in South Kalimantan for generations or since the Dutch colonial era such as those in Tanah Laut district. In fact, a number of Tanah Laut people of Chinese descent joined Indonesia`s armed struggle for independence, Basri said. (*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
August 14th, 2008
My favorite Indonesian album? Thanks for asking. That would be
Music From the Outskirts of Jakarta: Gambang, Komong, part three of ethnomusicologist Philip Yampolsky’s marvelous 20-volume Smithsonian Folkways series dedicated to the country’s music. Another fave is the series’ final installment,
Indonesian Guitars, whose gorgeous seven-minute closer, Suarasama’s “Fajar di Atas Awan” (”Dawn Over the Clouds”), happened to kick off the ensemble’s 1998 Radio France Internationale debut, which Yampolsky recorded and Drag City is releasing here for the first time.
There’s no such thing as purely “Indonesian” music, insofar as the world’s fourth most populous nation consists of some 300 ethnic groups inhabiting 3,000 islands spread across a vast archipelago. Ethnomusicologists Irwansyah Harahap and Rithaony Hutajulu founded Suarasama, whose name unpromisingly signifies “equal sounds,” in 1995. Ethnically Batak, the husband and wife mix the Middle Eastern–inspired sounds of northern Sumatra with coastal Malaysian influences—along with the Pakistani
qawwali-singing, Indian percussion, jazz improvisation, folk guitar, and various pop idioms they picked up while studying at the University of Washington. While the notion of an ethnomusicologist producing music by ethnomusicologists sounds like about as much fun as reading Harold Bloom’s fiction,
Fajar di Atas Awan turns out to be an engaging, original, and surprisingly organic blend of Asia, Arabia, and Indonesia. In addition to writing the group’s (Islam-influenced) material, Harahap plays the
gambus (fretless lute) and guitar, while Hutajulu sings lead and backing vocals, like Sandy Denny to his Richard Thompson, only criss-crossing cultures.What Western listeners (myself included) may find most appealing here is the grace with which Harahap de-rusticates styles, such as the album’s two
zapin dances echoing rural Sumatra, without dumbing them down. While not quite virtuosos themselves (as Harahap’s “Playing Gambus” solo suggests), they are master musical chemists. The title track, while clearly beholden to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, transforms
qawwali into honey. “Sang Hyang Guru” and “Ghazal Ingatan Diri” eventually add Indian tablas to beautiful chanting, moaning, and other species of devotional vocalizing. It all comes together in
Fajar’s nearly 15-minute finale, “Merangkai Warna” (”Coloring Colors”), a softly extended montage of everything that comes before. At a time when it sometimes seems as though all musics have become one—which is to say, none—Suarasama neatly bridges the gap between being and nothingness.
Source: http://www.villagevoice.com/
August 13th, 2008
Bisnis.com reports that the Government will create a coordinated system for handling foreign yacht visits to Indonesia following the recent seizure and placement under “custom seal” of a large number of yachts participant in “Sail Indonesia” – a sailing regatta traveling from Darwin to Ambon.
The Director General of Destination Development for the Department of Culture and Tourism, Firmansyah Rahim, said a number of issues will be addressed in the new system including the designation of ports for entry and departure of yachts and the appointment of agents empowered to handle “Sail Indonesia.”
Firmansyah said the recent “custom sealing” of 106 foreign yachts by the Customs and Excise Department in Kupang (West Timor) was the result of a failure to present a required written guarantee. In fact, an agreement for “Sail Indonesia 2008″ was already in place stipulating that written guarantees would not be required.
Explaining the current imbroglio, Firmansyah said that “Sail Indonesia” would use an insurance program or the intervention of a local agent to meet custom department requirements. “Unfortunately the organizing team, in this case the Foundation Cinta Bahari Indonesia, did not undertake cooperation with a local agent to meet the demands of Customs,” explained Firmansyah.
Last Saturday, August 2, 2008, the Customs and Excise Department in Kupang sealed the 106 yachts for failing to have the required entry permits. To avoid a future repetition of this unfortunate occurrence the Government will appoint special agents to handle yacht visits.
Source: www.balidiscovery.com
August 12th, 2008
By Karlon N. Rama
Stage Five
AFTER two workweeks in the Indonesian capital, I’m finally back home; back in the loving embrace of my wife, back to eating home-cooked meals, back to sniffing bore cleaner and gun-smoke.
My Indonesian experience was great, thanks to three local journalist-friends—Ikram Putra, Hendrawan Setiawan and Tutut Handayani—who took time to bring me and the other journalists around to good watering holes, great eating joints and places where we could get stuff we needed at a bargain after class.
The Indonesian populace is predominantly Islamic. So one can hardly find food considered haraam by the faith. But this is of no concern since Indonesian cooking does miraculous things to mutton and beef, as well as to fish and vegetables.
Food in Indonesia is priced just about the same as food in the Philippines, though because of the currency exchange, the actual figures can be mind-blowing. I’ve never bought bottled tea for 3,000 before. But, then again, I’ve never had the pleasure of being advised to always keep a 10 thousand paper bill handy as “loose change.” A hundred pesos is about 20,000 rupiah.
But being an out-of-towner and in training, one has to live by a budget and a tight one at that. And visits to mom-and-pop restaurants helped made sure I didn’t have to write home and ask for money.
In Padang places, guests are proudly served helpings of all the food in the menu, be it sate, soto, sop or bakar. One is literally served a feast, capped with a nice hot cup of tea.
The trainers from InWent’s International Institute of Journalism were tough, making our after-class excursions all the more necessary and appreciated.
Professor Martin Loeffelholtz’s inside knowledge of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), its institutions, processes and programs was comprehensive.
And the brief—which he presented in seven-hour classes over the next five days—gave journalists an inside look at how Asean operates so we could put into context our coverage of the Asean region.
Andrea Thalemann, who took over during the second week, put our theoretical understanding of the issue to the test and had us interview the charges de affairs of the Eurpoean Commission to Indonesia and other ranking European Union officials, as well as the Asean Secretary General himself, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand.
We wrote a lot, presented our stories and go through critiquing. Many participants working for publications in their mother tongue found it particularly laborious. But in the end we all learned a lot and were quite thankful for it.
Asean is under-reported among Asean states, a survey among all the participants bore out early during the training. In the Philippines, it is taught as a subject in school but the presentation is mostly centered on the contributions of the Philippines to the formation of the 41-year-old regional grouping.
And while we take part in the Southeast Asian Games, inter-cultural exchange doesn’t really happen in basketball courts and track fields.
One has to experience Asean.
This is why an existing agreement over the relaxation of travel restrictions between member states is so great. For us in the Philippines, we can travel to any Asean state with only a passport and boarding passes in hand. And, just as easily, can people from other Asean states fly over.
And the folks of the Asean Secretariat are trying to get people among member states become more aware of diversely beautiful community it is a part of.
I got to meet Dr. Filemon Uriarte Jr., chairman of the Asean Foundation when we went to the Asean Secretariat Office on Friday to interview Secretary General Surin, and his team has embarked on a very interesting way of doing this. The Asean Foundation is a group tasked to promote Asean awareness.
They have launched a role playing game called Asean Quest, whereby people could create characters and complete missions carried out within the 10 member states.
I’ve yet to get a copy of the video game but it has already in launched in Manila with a competition that was won by two teens from Indonesia.
(knrama@gmail.com)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/
August 11th, 2008
CANBERRA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will pay a three-day visit to Indonesia, starting from Monday aimed at further cementing strong ties between the two countries.
Smith will meet his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda as well as other senior Indonesian ministers, officials and MPs to discuss wide-ranging elements of the two countries’ bilateral ties, according to a report by the Australian Associated Press.
The meeting will be the fourth between Smith and Wirajuda since Labor won government last year.
Smith is expected to visit a number of schools built with Australian aid money during a trip to regional areas, the report said.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/
August 11th, 2008
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