Indonesia's Tourism Malfunction
Indonesian grievances over alleged theft of its songs and dances to promote Malaysian tourism may have some basis in fact. Given the way Malaysia treats its Hindu minority and obliterates its own Hindu past, it can scarcely claim the pendet dance from Bali.
But Indonesia really has only itself to blame for the fact that its vast and diverse culture is so little known in the outside world that Malaysia can appropriate it without anyone other than Indonesians noticing. While Malaysia has been remarkably successful in selling itself as a tourism destination, Indonesia has been an abject failure.
Malaysia's "Truly Asia" sales pitch showing a happy multi-ethnic community enjoying an all-Asian mix of food, language, religion and skin tones, songs and dances may be a myth. It is certainly not the Malaysia of ethnic privilege, caning for drinking beer, forced acceptance of Islam for Malays and appalling treatment of fellow-Asian workers from Indonesia, Philippines etc. Malaysia is indeed an intolerant society compared with its bigger but poorer neighbour. But for a country which can boast little more for tourists than some beaches and the TwinTowers, it has been amazingly successful.
Indonesia has a wealth of attractions but its promotion efforts are pitiful. A visit to Indonesian tourist destinations gives some idea of the failure of the nation to capitalise on its history and diversity. For most visitors Indonesian tourism is Bali, nothing more. Indeed, a study of bookshops reveals a plethora of English-language guides to Bali yet seldom more than one on Indonesia as a whole. Frommer's guide to Southeast Asia, which is given top billing by Amazon, mentions nowhere in Indonesia except Bali and Lombok.
Guides to Sumatra, Java etc do exist but are hard to find. The situation in other languages is even worse. Yes, the Bali flood has spilled over into Lombok. Komodo attracts some dragon-watchers. A few hardy Aussie windsurfers make it to Nias and the Mentawai islands and Lake Toba gets some Singaporeans. But that's about it other than Java.
And Java itself is a massive missed opportunity which makes it pleasant for those who do travel but a missed opportunity as well for those who think Indonesia should earn a lot more than any of its ASEAN neighbours from tourism.
Compared with Angkor Wat, Borodur attracts tiny numbers of foreign visitors, even though it is in easy reach of Yogyakarta, a major attraction in its own right and is now served by flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. This despite being the largest single Buddhist monument in the entire world, a World Heritage site restored at great expense by UNESCO in the 1970s and 80s. Printed information available at the site is, though pleasant, not very well informed. The nearby Museum is a disgrace. Exhibits sit in cases which have not been cleaned in years and wilting, dog-eared captions are written only in Bahasa Indonesia, fine for locals but rudimentary and the guides themselves
Next door to the temple museum is the Borobudur ship museum which holds the replica vessel modelled after a ship shown in one of 9th Borobudur's temple carvings. Built in Madura in 2002, the original double-outrigger, 18 meter-long ship sailed from Java to Ghana in West Africa, including crossing the Indian Ocean from Jakarta to the Seychelles in less than a month. This ship is a reminder of the huge role that Indonesia played in Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian shipping at that time, including the settlement of Madagascar (which still shares an Austronesian language and 50 percent of its gene pool with Indonesians) and probably left cultural influence – most notably musical instruments – on Africa.
The ship museum should be at least as much a symbol of Indonesia's past naval achievements as China's Admiral Zheng He, who sailed those seas 500 years later. But few visitors to the temple complex seem to know of the ship museum's existence, let alone its significance.
Java's Hindu temples also receive far fewer visitors than they deserve. The great temple complex at Prambanan, just a few miles east of Yogyakarta, suffers from the same poor quality of printed information as Borobudur. The lesser ones which dot central and east Java get only the most determined of visitors.
The lack of mass tourism suits most that do go to these sites just fine. Likewise the Sultans of Yogyakarta and Solo may prefer to leave their Kratons (palaces) looking a little in need of attention than tart them up for the benefit of the camera-wielding hordes. Maybe the Botanical Gardens at Bogor should be left mainly to locals to enjoy.
But the promotion of Bali hardly suggests that the nation does not want tourism. Of course there are some legitimate reasons for failure. The Bali and Jakarta bombings are one. Another is that travel by road or train is slow. Some delightful hotels ranging from small, beautiful, super expensive Amanjiwo overlooking Borobudur to the homely Javanese Roemahkoe in Solo and the colonial splendour of the Majapahit in Surabaya are more geared to the individual traveller than the mass market. The abysmal reputation of most of the nation's airlines is another. Jakarta's lack of tourist appeal yet another.
But Borobudur alone is evidence enough that official Indonesia takes scant interest in cultural issues and prefers spending money on grandiose new buildings in Jakarta to protecting its heritage and drumming up cheap nationalism vis-a-vis Malaysia than promoting knowledge of its own history and culture.
But Indonesia really has only itself to blame for the fact that its vast and diverse culture is so little known in the outside world that Malaysia can appropriate it without anyone other than Indonesians noticing. While Malaysia has been remarkably successful in selling itself as a tourism destination, Indonesia has been an abject failure.
Malaysia's "Truly Asia" sales pitch showing a happy multi-ethnic community enjoying an all-Asian mix of food, language, religion and skin tones, songs and dances may be a myth. It is certainly not the Malaysia of ethnic privilege, caning for drinking beer, forced acceptance of Islam for Malays and appalling treatment of fellow-Asian workers from Indonesia, Philippines etc. Malaysia is indeed an intolerant society compared with its bigger but poorer neighbour. But for a country which can boast little more for tourists than some beaches and the TwinTowers, it has been amazingly successful.
Indonesia has a wealth of attractions but its promotion efforts are pitiful. A visit to Indonesian tourist destinations gives some idea of the failure of the nation to capitalise on its history and diversity. For most visitors Indonesian tourism is Bali, nothing more. Indeed, a study of bookshops reveals a plethora of English-language guides to Bali yet seldom more than one on Indonesia as a whole. Frommer's guide to Southeast Asia, which is given top billing by Amazon, mentions nowhere in Indonesia except Bali and Lombok.
Guides to Sumatra, Java etc do exist but are hard to find. The situation in other languages is even worse. Yes, the Bali flood has spilled over into Lombok. Komodo attracts some dragon-watchers. A few hardy Aussie windsurfers make it to Nias and the Mentawai islands and Lake Toba gets some Singaporeans. But that's about it other than Java.
And Java itself is a massive missed opportunity which makes it pleasant for those who do travel but a missed opportunity as well for those who think Indonesia should earn a lot more than any of its ASEAN neighbours from tourism.
Compared with Angkor Wat, Borodur attracts tiny numbers of foreign visitors, even though it is in easy reach of Yogyakarta, a major attraction in its own right and is now served by flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. This despite being the largest single Buddhist monument in the entire world, a World Heritage site restored at great expense by UNESCO in the 1970s and 80s. Printed information available at the site is, though pleasant, not very well informed. The nearby Museum is a disgrace. Exhibits sit in cases which have not been cleaned in years and wilting, dog-eared captions are written only in Bahasa Indonesia, fine for locals but rudimentary and the guides themselves
Next door to the temple museum is the Borobudur ship museum which holds the replica vessel modelled after a ship shown in one of 9th Borobudur's temple carvings. Built in Madura in 2002, the original double-outrigger, 18 meter-long ship sailed from Java to Ghana in West Africa, including crossing the Indian Ocean from Jakarta to the Seychelles in less than a month. This ship is a reminder of the huge role that Indonesia played in Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian shipping at that time, including the settlement of Madagascar (which still shares an Austronesian language and 50 percent of its gene pool with Indonesians) and probably left cultural influence – most notably musical instruments – on Africa.
The ship museum should be at least as much a symbol of Indonesia's past naval achievements as China's Admiral Zheng He, who sailed those seas 500 years later. But few visitors to the temple complex seem to know of the ship museum's existence, let alone its significance.
Java's Hindu temples also receive far fewer visitors than they deserve. The great temple complex at Prambanan, just a few miles east of Yogyakarta, suffers from the same poor quality of printed information as Borobudur. The lesser ones which dot central and east Java get only the most determined of visitors.
The lack of mass tourism suits most that do go to these sites just fine. Likewise the Sultans of Yogyakarta and Solo may prefer to leave their Kratons (palaces) looking a little in need of attention than tart them up for the benefit of the camera-wielding hordes. Maybe the Botanical Gardens at Bogor should be left mainly to locals to enjoy.
But the promotion of Bali hardly suggests that the nation does not want tourism. Of course there are some legitimate reasons for failure. The Bali and Jakarta bombings are one. Another is that travel by road or train is slow. Some delightful hotels ranging from small, beautiful, super expensive Amanjiwo overlooking Borobudur to the homely Javanese Roemahkoe in Solo and the colonial splendour of the Majapahit in Surabaya are more geared to the individual traveller than the mass market. The abysmal reputation of most of the nation's airlines is another. Jakarta's lack of tourist appeal yet another.
But Borobudur alone is evidence enough that official Indonesia takes scant interest in cultural issues and prefers spending money on grandiose new buildings in Jakarta to protecting its heritage and drumming up cheap nationalism vis-a-vis Malaysia than promoting knowledge of its own history and culture.