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.