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.