Puncak still off list of 10 favorite tourist spots

Puncak still off list of 10 favorite tourist spots

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Puncak, West Java

For two years now, Puncak, a high-altitude tourist resort in West
Java, has been off the Association of Indonesian Travel Agents'
(ASITA's) list of 10 favorite tourist spots in Indonesia.

The association says Puncak is now a dirty, congested area,
which is no longer attractive to foreign tourists.

In the past, the region, which one drives through on the way
to Bandung, was neatly planned, with roads lined on both sides
with colorful kana flowers (Canna orientalis). Today the flowers
have given way to hundreds of street vendors with blue tents.

The removal of Puncak from the list has brought great
embarrassment to the Bogor regental administration, which says it
is still trying to deal with the vendors. The administration
argues, however, that despite the vendors, Puncak is still a
prime tourist spot. Attractions still worth going to included
the pretty tea plantation owned by PTPN VIII/Agro Gunung Mas,
along with the Indonesian Safari Park and Telaga Warna nature
reserve, it said.

To deal with the vendors, the administration says it has
intensified its raids on some 500 small businesses in the area.
However, the vendors, who say they regularly pay fees to local
administrations, have successfully lobbied the Bogor regental
legislative assembly to let them stay put.

Despite the administration's claims that there are still
tourist spots in the regency worth visiting, when The Jakarta
Post went to tourist attractions in the area, it noticed that
most were in poor condition.

The Telaga Warna nature reserve, perched on the slope of Mount
Mas and surrounded by a tea plantation has a lake that is now
shallow and polluted, with many of its toilets blocked or
unusable.

The reserve does have many drawcards, however. Measuring a
total of 373.25 hectares, it boasts an impressive collection of
native flora and fauna, including the fragrant puspa flower
(Schima walichii) and the sanginten plant, (Castanopsis
argantea).

The site is also home to a rare kind of porcupine (Hystrix
javanica), "king shrimp birds" (Halcyn chloris) and long-tailed
macacque monkeys.

The administration's head of tourism, Arry Sunardi, agreed
that Puncak was now in a bad state. The vendors meant traffic
congestion was common in the area and this was a big turn-off for
tourists, he said.

"Obviously we were embarrassed to learn that the area had been
removed from the list of top tourist spots in Indonesia. It is a
shame because Puncak has always been a prime tourist spot in the
Bogor regency.

"Early in April we discussed the matter with the local
legislature and executive to find a solution so that Puncak could
again be included on the list," Arry said.

One item discussed was the establishment of a trading area for
the street vendors. A request had been made to tea plantation
owners PT Ciliwung and PTPN VIII Gunung Mas to set aside part of
their land for the vendors, he said.

While Ciliwung had agreed to the idea, Gunung Mas later
objected because it said part of the land bordering the road was
fertile and feared its tea production would decline, Arry said.

A planned raid to evict the street vendors on April 9 was
later abandoned after the vendors went to the regental
legislative assembly for protection, he said. They were given
until April 20 to relocate their stalls, but had ignored the
deadline and now insisted they would not move until a trading
area was created for them, he said.

Street vendors began to move into the area in 1997 when
regional council officers turned a blind eye to their presence,
Arry said. He claimed the vendors normally paid no levies to the
Bogor regental administration but had offered to start paying
when they were given land to trade on.

Arry said that foreign tourists visiting Puncak usually came
from the Netherlands, Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
The greatest number were from Holland because many had some kind
of historical connection with Indonesia, particularly Bogor, he
said.

Many of the elderly Dutch tourists had once been in the
colonial administration or later in the Dutch army guarding the
area, when the Dutch returned to Indonesia after World War II.

Young Dutch tourists usually visited Puncak to trace the
places that their grandparents or great-grandparents had been or
because they wanted to visit relatives who still lived here, he
said.

Before the Puncak was removed from the ASITA list, about
10,000 foreign tourists visited the area annually. Since it was
dropped, only about 5,000 foreigner were recorded a year. Today,
Arry said, most preferred to visit the Gunung Salak Endah tourist
resort in Pamijahan, Bogor.

"We have been trying to reorganize Puncak and take over the
management of the historic Att'awun Mosque from the West Java
provincial administration," Arry said.

Many street vendors run their businesses in the mosque's yard
and have obtained operating permits from the provincial
administration's DKM (mosque management council), which argues
the presence of the businesses would help raise funds to maintain
the mosque.

Gati Jumanawati of ASITA's Bogor chapter said until the
quality of facilities in Puncak had been improved it would stay
off the association's list.

"(The problems) should be exposed now. Puncak is indeed a
messy place and we feel ashamed to take tourists there," Gati
said.

From 1998 to 1999, she said, ASITA's city tour program to
Puncak was popular but later traffic congestion put an end to it.

However, Gati admitted there were still other better places to
go in Bogor, with the region boasting many unspoiled waterfalls
and camping grounds that could be developed for international
tourism.

"The tourism service of the Bogor regency administration has
asked us to start selling tourist attractions in Bogor. We have
agreed, on condition that all the current spots are restored and
made neat and attractive," she said.

Andre, a worker at the Permata Alam Hotel on Jl. Raya Puncak,
said street vendors were the main problem for the area.

However, a vendor on a Bogor street insisted on the right to
be able to earn a living. Most of the vendors were not illegal,
but had obtained some form or permit and paid regular rates to
the regional administration, he said.

"It is true that our presence here makes this place less
comfortable and beautiful," Sasam Samsudin, who sells roasted
corn, said.

"But we must earn a living. We pay taxes and levies to the
Cipta Karya (housing, planning and urban development) service of
the Bogor regental administration."

About 500 street vendors also paid a tax of between Rp 50,000
and Rp 100,000 a year to the Tugu Utara village administration
office, Sasam said.

Every month, they also paid a levy to the region for garbage
collection amounting to Rp 12,500, something that had gone on
since 1997, he said.

"We do not conduct our businesses for free here -- we have
spent a lot of money. We are ready to be relocated to a vendor
area but, please, don't forget the money that we have spent,"
Sasam said.