Yogyakarta safe for foreign tourists
Yogyakarta safe for foreign tourists
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Despite the recent anti-U.S. sentiment, Yogyakarta is still a safe place to visit for foreign tourists, observers said here on Thursday.
Speaking in a dialog held here at Yogyakarta Hyatt Regency Hotel, Comr. Richard Nainggolan of the Yogyakarta Police detective unit convinced the meeting's participants that the province was still safe for foreign tourists.
"There have been no major incidents that have disturbed foreign tourists in the province," he said.
Some 150 participants, including 13 diplomats from 11 embassies in Jakarta, attended the two-day seminar on the recovery of the Indonesian tourist industry which was organized by the Office of the State Minister of Culture and Tourism.
Keynote speaker Ichlasul Amal, who is also Rector of Gadjah Mada University, shared the same view, saying that Yogyakarta was quite different from Jakarta. He said it was true that there were many student demonstrations in the city, but they were quite different from those in other cities.
"Many of our foreign students have told me that they enjoy Yogyakarta's style of street demonstrations and that some of them even took part in some of the activities," Amal said.
Amal also said that he had tried many times to explain the true situation in Yogyakarta to foreigners including ambassadors in Jakarta. Yet, he always found it difficult to explain as most of them could not make a distinction between Yogyakarta and Jakarta.
"They think Yogjakarta is the same as Jakarta," he said, adding that it was the task of all Indonesians to tell the truth about the city to help the country's ailing tourist industry.
A similar view was aired by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leader Mochtar Mas'oed. Mochtar said that Yogyakartans were accustomed to balancing differences.
"Yogyakartans live with the myth of two contrasting spirits living on top of Mt. Merapi and the southern sea. They believe they are required to maintain the two spirits so that they are always in a state of balance," Mochtar said, adding that this has made Yogyakartans used to living amid differences, including alongside foreigners.
"Even Ja'far Umar, commander of Laskar Jihad of Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah, once told me that he and his group were against any form of sweeping against foreign tourists," he said.
The number of foreign visitors has decreased slightly following recent anti-U.S. demonstrations by local Muslim organizations in protest over the attack on Afghanistan by the U.S. and its allies.