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Aceh Road Work is Making Progress, USAID Says

We read with interest the Dec. 26, 2009, article “Reconstruction Spurred Growth” by Nurdin Hasan about reconstruction efforts in Aceh, specifically the comments about the road we are constructing from Banda Aceh to Calang.

A villager was quoted as calling it a “road of curses and prayers.” We share that sentiment. Construction has not been easy. If we had been asked, we would have reported that most of the bridges along the road have been completed and about half of the “right of way” has been paved.

Thankfully, with support from the government and local communities, we look forward to completing the road in 2011. We remain confident that the reconstruction of the Banda Aceh West Coast Highway will ensure mobility, improve communications and create local jobs, bringing much-needed trade to the tsunami-affected North Sumatra region.

Walter E. North
Director, USAID Indonesia

Tourism Ministry Defends Industry

In regards to Taufik Darusman’s opinion article of Nov. 8, 2009, “Tourism’s Unfulfilled Potential,” we would like to clarify several points.

We all know that Indonesia is in the process of strengthening regional autonomy, which includes development of tourism, and that therefore the central and regional governments can have different structures. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, regulation is one of the criteria for assessing a country’s competitiveness. Indonesia ranks 81 on the body’s rankings, while Malaysia is 32.

Given such circumstances, Indonesia is still in the process of improving its regulation performance in accord with the UNWTO’s criteria.

Malaysian tourism representative offices now number 32 in 32 countries, while Indonesia only has nine Visit Indonesia Tourism Offices, and these serve solely as marketing agencies, not representative offices. Given their role as promotional agents, VITOs have a different scope of duties than Malaysia’s offices, and it follows that we cannot expect VITOs alone to attract the highest possible number of foreign tourists to Indonesia.

In addition to the limitations of our tourism marketing budget and the numbers of VITOs, Indonesia’s flight seat capacity in 2008 was 9.8 million while Malaysia’s was 19.7 million. And of Indonesia’s available seats, not all were occupied by foreign visitors. Also, Indonesia does not have a national flag carrier currently flying to Europe and the United States, unlike Malaysia, although services from Indonesia to Amsterdam are scheduled to resume this year.

Currently, Indonesian branding isn’t as strong as that of Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, leaving tourism operators feeling like they lack the support to strengthen Indonesia’s image around the world and attract more foreign vacationers. Indonesia’s image has further been weakened by frequent natural disasters across the archipelago.

In terms of marketing budgets in 2009, Malaysia allocated $111 million while Indonesia had only $28 million. According to a report by MarkPlus Consulting Marketing and Strategy in November 2009, Malaysia spends about $9.60 in attracting each foreign tourist, while Indonesia only spends $3.40. The figures tell us how Indonesia’s promotional budget is more productive than Malaysia’s.

The disbursement of Indonesia’s tourism marketing budget is not merely used to attract foreign visitors, but also for domestic vacationers. In 2008, the economic impact of domestic tourism was Rp 123 trillion ($13.28 billion), or twice as much as the Rp 73 trillion in revenue generated from foreign tourists.

Surya Dharma
Head of information and public relations, Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Asean Should Take Stock of EU Woes

Ashish Mishra is risible in his simplistic analysis of the history and current condition of the European Union (“Region Must Follow Europe’s Lead Down the Rocky Road to Union,” Dec. 16).

It is absurd to say “It has taken over 50 years of deal-busting, concession wrangling, regulation building diplomacy for the European Union to finally come to its senses and set itself on a trajectory that enables its global neighbors, partners and antagonists to start taking Europe seriously.” The EU has not “come to its senses,” but has cheerfully trampled over both its member states’ and its citizens’ rights.

Their European Project has resulted in a corrupt and authoritarian regime in Brussels which fears and lashes out at dissent. When Austrians voted in a coalition government of which the EU in-crowd disapproved, the poor Austrians’ so-called partners applied diplomatic sanctions against Vienna.

The EU elite talk down to mere citizens and do all in their power to thwart expressions of democratic opinion; when French and Dutch voters rejected the Lisbon “Con-Trick,” they were simply sidelined by the ruling class. Ireland’s people got a referendum, won it and were then forced to re-vote to reverse the clear decision already made. Brits were given cast-iron pledges of a referendum, then cheated of a say.

So Asean nations ought to go down the same Gadarene slope? God forbid Asian countries should imitate such folly.

Ross McKay, Jakarta