Bulukumba shipyard launches another impressive Phinisi Schooner

“This is an important moment “, explained Nazaruddin, Head of the Culture and Tourism Office of Bulukumba ,”since this is the largest phinisi ever built here in the history of Bulukumba, and was ordered from Poland”. Construction on the schooner’s hull took place at Tanjung Bira under master builder, Haji Muslim Baso, from the village of Ara, of Bonto Bahari. “The building of the entire phinisi’s hull took 9 months. At its completion, the boat will be towed to Semarang in Central Java, for finishing and interior fitting.” added Nazarudin.

The schooner, estimated to cost around IDR 4 Billion has a frame measuring 50 meters in length and at its widest part measures almost 10 meters. The finishing process in Semarang will probably cost triple its construction. The local government of Bulukumba through the Office of Culture and Tourism intends to preserve Tanjung Bira, Bulukumba, as the traditional site for the construction of the Phinisi Schooners.

These impressive schooners that can be seen at full sail all around the Indonesian seas have for centuries been made by master craft builders here in the south eastern corner of Sulawesi by the beautiful white beaches of Tanjung Bira. Shipbuilding here is a long tradition that has been handed down through generations. The sturdiness and sailworthiness of the phinisi have long gained worldwide reputation.

“Our biggest threat is that these phinisi builders may move to other provinces to obtain easier access to materials. Therefore, this has today become an issue of national importance that needs to be discussed” said Nazarudin as he showed off the beauty of the Pasir Putih Beach of Tanjung Bira. If the problem persists, then Tanjung Bira will face the threat to be scrapped from the tourism and cultural map of Indonesia altogether”, he said.

The launching ceremony of the Phinisi that was built by 100 of men was attended by the Deputy Mayor of Bulukumba, Samsudin and officials of the Culture and Tourism Office. All workers and builders also joined the traditional ceremony.

From the first shifting of the boat on Tuesday evening November 8^th, it will take approximately 3 weeks before the ship finally reaches the water to be towed to Semarang. “The ship’s hull is about 3 meters deep, so I chose this place, since its depth is appropriate” said Baso as he commanded the workers in the shifting of the schooner which can only be moved 15 to 20 meters a day.

For the people of Tanjung Bira, building this Phinisi Schooner may have meant only a collective project for the year. However, Tanjung Bira’s fame is actually being carried far beyond that for its achievements in the production of world class schooners, while at the same time preserving its proud identity as a creative and persistent society.

Master builder Haji M.Baso has built over 200 schooners and boats of various types and sizes in his lifetime.” This is , however, the largest tourism ship that I have ever built in Bonto Bahari since 1991” Baso explained as he answered some of the questions from the media who covered the launching ceremony.

The schooner is not the only boat being built here. There are other types of boats being constructed by Haji Muslim Baso at the moment.

Near the Phinisi schooner, there was also a smaller boat in construction orderd by a Belgian businessman.There were also 12 other boats and tables ordered from Colombia. Clearly, the skills and knowledge of the local genius of Tanjung Bira are well recognized by the international seafaring community.

Source : http://www.indonesia.travel/en/news/detail/540/bulukumba-shipyard-launches-another-impressive-phinisi-schooner

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Javanese gear up for New Year rituals

The eve of the first day of Sura, the first month of the Javanese calendar, is a sacred night for members of the nation’s Javanese community.

This was true in Yogyakarta, the center of Javanese culture, where people were seen preparing for New Year rituals on Friday.

Residents of Samas beach in Bantul regency, for instance, were preparing for the Mahesa Sura procession for the Javanese New Year, which falls on Nov. 27 this year.

The procession will include the parading of a buffalo head that will eventually be cast into the Indian Ocean south of Java.

“This is a form of our gratitude for the fortune and blessings that God has given us and to ward off bad luck,” a local elder said.

The practice of casting offerings into the sea (labuhan) is a popular Javanese ritual performed to dispel bad luck. Other beaches popular for labuhan rituals are Parangkusumo and Parangtritis Beaches in Kretek, Bantul.

Meanwhile, Kamijan, a resident of Tegalrejo, Bantul, was seen preparing for an individual cleansing rite, blessing several ancestral heirlooms with flower water and fragrance.

Others conduct personal cleansing rituals by praying or burning incense.

Bambang Legowo, the head of the Bantul Tourism Agency, said tourists would flock to the various traditions ceremonies and cultural performances that would be held to greet the Javanese New Year.

Events on the beaches in the south of Bantul might generate Rp 30 million (US$3,300) in ticket sales alone on the eve of Sura, he said.

“We hope and pray for a high turnout and sunny weather so visitors will not be troubled.”

To secure celebrations along the coast, the Bantul Police have deployed 350 officers to strategic places and congestion-prone areas.

“We will step up safety to prevent accidents due to tourists swimming in the sea,” Taufik M. Faki, a member of the National Search and Rescue Agency’s Parangtritis unit, said.

Residents living on the slopes of Mount Merapi in Kaliurang, Sleman, Yogyakarta, will commemorate Sura Eve by marching in silence with offerings. The same silent march, known as the tapa bisu, will be held around the fortress of the Yogyakarta Palace.

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/11/26/javanese-gear-new-year-rituals.html

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Retirement Islands for Orangutans

An innovative plan to create man-made islands for sick and injured orangutans in Indonesia is offering hope of a better life for animals who have previously been destined to spend their remaining days in cages.

While much of the fight to save the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan focuses on protecting their natural habitat, for some orangutans it is already too late.

Environmentalists say they are rescuing a growing number of orangutans that are unable to return to the wild because they are too ill or injured, often the result of coming into contact with humans.

Now, Australian zoo keepers, the Australian Orangutan Project and an eco-tourism company are partnering with an orangutan conservation group in Indonesia to raise money to buy land in Sumatra to create four “islands” where sick and injured orangutans could live in an environment more akin to their natural habitat, with staff on hand to care for them.

The plan is to dig moats around the land, which would prevent the orangutans, which cannot swim, from escaping. The animals can live for up to 50 years.

Four orangutans being cared for by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program have already been identified as possible residents of the planned islands, said Jessica McKelson, supervisor of the primates department at Melbourne Zoo and founder of Raw WildLife Encounters, the eco-tourism company involved in the project.

Ms. McKelson said one orangutan who could benefit from the project had been shot 62 times after wandering past a village on the edge of a forest. He was left blind after being shot in both eyes, and cannot return to the wild.

“He’s becoming large and mature and he really needs to get out of the cage,” said Ms. McKelson. Another orangutan the organizers hope to relocate has been diagnosed with the human strain of hepatitis B.

But first the organizers must find suitable land for the orangutans and raise money to lease the land.

Ms. McKelson said they hoped to raise 80,000 Australian dollars ($77,432) to lease about three hectares of land near the city of Medan, in north Sumatra. A clean water supply for the orangutans would be crucial.

There are also plans to establish an education center near the site to help teach locals about how they can live in harmony with orangutans, which is Indonesian for “man of the forest”.

Environmental groups blame palm oil and logging companies for encroaching on the animals’ natural habitat, and Ms. McKelson said villagers were increasingly coming into contact with orangutans as a result of deforestation. She said the animals sometimes approached villagers’ fruit trees, which could lead to conflict.

“We will be able to use this as a key education center to educate locals with the orangutans and also educate them about human-animal contact,” said Ms. McKelson, adding that there were an estimated 6,000 Sumatran orangutans left in the wild.

Source : http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/retirement-islands-for-orangutans/

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Budget carrier to launch ‘unique’ routes in Indonesia

Budget airline Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) says it will open new routes linking several Indonesian tourist destinations to major ASEAN cities to support tourism in the country.

IAA spokeswoman Audrey Progastama Petriny said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the airline would soon link destinations such Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara to major cities in ASEAN such as Singapore, and Bangkok, Thailand.

“New, ‘unique’ routes will be launched very soon because Indonesia and ASEAN are a huge potential market for growth,” she told The Jakarta Post.

She said that 45 percent of the Air Asia Group’s routes were ‘unique’ routes that linked one city to another city that no other airline served.

In Indonesia, the unique routes that IAA has offered for several years include service between Bandung, West Java; and Singapore; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Yogyakarta and Singapore; Kuala Lumpur, Surabaya, East Java, Penang, Malaysia, and Bangkok; and Medan, North Sumatra, and Bangkok.

IAA would open new international and domestic routes in anticipation of the arrival of five new Airbus A320 aircraft in 2012, Audrey said.

The airline currently operates 16 Airbus aircraft.

Audrey added that IAA was not afraid of emerging low-cost carriers such as Citilink, flag airline Garuda Indonesia’s budget division, as IAA was leading the push to connect ASEAN member nations.

“Our flights connect all 10 ASEAN countries and our next step is enhancing route connectivity and flight frequency,” she said.

One potentially successful route for tourism and business was service between Jakarta; Denpasar, Bali; and Phuket, Thailand, she said.

IAA transported 4 million Indonesians to domestic and international destinations as of October and was optimistic that it could meet or exceed a target of 4.5 million passengers by December, Audrey added.

“Looking at current demand, I think we can reach up to 5 million passengers by the end of this year,” she added.

AirAsia now has five hubs in Indonesia: Jakarta, Denpasar, Medan, Bandung and Surabaya.

Based on recent data from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), international visitor arrivals to Southeast Asia topped 72.9 million in 2010, up 12.4 percent from 2009.

Audrey said that Indonesia AirAsia would expand its market by promoting ASEAN’s brand to the international market next year, focusing on promoting the “four pillars” of culture, cuisine, eco-tourism and business.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia as of September reached 5.61 million, up 8.26 percent from the same period last year.

The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry is expecting 7.7 million people to visit Indonesia in 2011, up 10 percent from 7 million people in 2010.

Meanwhile, Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia, IAA’s parent company, said its net profits slumped by more than half in the third quarter as fuel prices surged, warning that the next four months would be challenging.

AirAsia said in a statement released late Tuesday that its net profits fell 53 percent to 152.3 million Malaysian ringgit (US$47.8 million) from 327.3 million ringgit in the same period last year.

Based on forward booking trends, AirAsia said the outlook for its Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian operations for the 3-month run up to December was positive, warning that the outlook “should be seen in the context of the current high price of oil and aviation fuel.” (nfo)

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/11/24/budget-carrier-launch-unique-routes-indonesia.html

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Traditional foods have export potential

The government expects to export some US$6 billion in food and beverages this year, an increase of about 6 percent from 2010’s figure.

To increase the value, the government will focus on promoting traditional culinary specialties because they combine the possibilities of obtaining more revenue and creating both jobs and a sense of national identity, a top trade official says.

Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said Sunday that exposing traditional foods to foreign markets would result in thousands of Indonesians being employed within export-oriented traditional culinary industries.

“At the same time, we have a very large captive market, following the success of a growing number of Indonesian restaurants abroad, as well as supermarkets selling Indonesian spices,” he told The Jakarta Post via text message.

Bayu said currently, traditional culinary exports were minimal, especially in comparison to other Asian countries, whose culinary diversity was not as varied as Indonesia’s, such as Japan, Thailand and South Korea, to name a few.

He added that it would be possible to start exporting by displaying traditional cuisine during bilateral and multilateral occasions abroad.

“We have collaborated with the Foreign Ministry as well as several of Indonesia’s embassies abroad,” he said.

The Foreign Ministry’s director general for American and European affairs, Retno L.P. Marsudi, said a focus group discussion was held two weeks ago in Jakarta to find ways to promote traditional foods abroad.

A string of local, well-known chefs, restaurateurs and representatives from trade, industry and tourism and the creative industries attended the discussion.

“Our culinary promotion is not yet well developed. Therefore, we gathered here [in Jakarta] and talked,” Retno said over the phone.

She said that early next year, participants would gather again and draw up a road map with traditional culinary strategies. Among them are food choices, promotion methods and taste standardization.

She said Thai dish tom yam gung had a similar taste across the globe because the Thai government had been involved in standardizing its taste, adding the government would standardize the taste of local foods, such as sate ayam and rendang.

A week ago, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said food would be added to the creative sector, bringing the total number of sub-sectors to 15.

“We chose food because it is closely related to tourism,” she said.

The creative economy contributed 9.25 percent of a total Rp 131.3 trillion (US$14.4 billion) of exports in 2010.

Meanwhile, the amount of imported food and beverages from Malaysia has continued to increase during recent months, inundating the local market, which is already overwhelmed with imported products.

The Indonesian Food and Beverage Association revealed that imports of Malaysian food and beverages accounted for US$48.8 million in the first eight months of this year.

“They made up 24.7 percent of Indonesia’s total food and beverage imports up until October, increasing from 18.5 percent by April,” the association’s secretary-general, Franky Sibarani, said in a written statement.

The association also revealed that imported food from ASEAN countries reached $96.5 million in the same period. (fem/rcf)

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/11/28/traditional-foods-have-export-potential.html

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Destinations - Bali in a new light

When it comes to travel, popular imagination can sometimes be as misleading as tourism over-drive. Nothing can be truer than the case of the archipelago of Indonesia which many view as a one-stop destination. In an attempt to dispel the stereotype, the Indonesian Tourism Board invited some of us to explore the idea that there is more to Indonesia than Bali and that, indeed, there is more to Bali than sun-bleached beaches and a hectic night life. Perhaps, it is taking a cue from Thailand — the Big Daddy of tourism in South Asia — which keeps unleashing newer and newer tourist destinations upon an insatiable world. Beach-combers and back-packers flock to lesser-known travel hot-spots in this part of the world along with high-end tourists seeking nirvana in exclusive spas and resorts and rambunctious families on a jolly good outing. Increasingly, the focus of the travel industry is shifting towards inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness, towards affordable luxury rather than en masse shoestring budget travellers. The idea, everywhere, seems to be to promote a place where a good time can be had by people of different age groups and diverse interests.

There being no direct flights from India, we travel via Kuala Lumpur. From Jakarta we head to Bandung, Indonesia's third largest city and capital of the province of West Java. Situated atop volcanic mountains, Bandung caught the eye of the Dutch colonialists for its temperate weather. Tea was brought from China and when that failed to take root, the Assam variety was introduced. Soon it proved to be so profitable and prolific that the city of Bandung was ‘developed' as a resort city for the plantation owners and dubbed the ‘Paris of the East'. The European influence lingers in the art deco architecture, the elongated spires of the Dutch-style cathedral, the canals and the wind-mills atop a popular bakery chain. An entire street devoted to jeans and rows upon rows of ‘ factory outlets' make this a shopping haven for those looking for near-similar clones of popular high-end brands at bargain prices. However, of greater interest to me is the Afro-Asia Avenue, named after the first Afro-Asian Conference held here in 1955 which brought together leaders from 29 countries including the noted Urdu writers Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Sajjad Zaheer.

Heady highs

A visit to Bandung includes a short detour to a volcano that last erupted in 1954, Mount Tangkuban Perahu, takes you along winding mountain roads past tea, rubber, banana and coffee plantations to a crater that spews boiling mud and clouds of steam. A vantage point on a small bridge allows you to take pictures of the plume of smoke that hangs low over the crater and sniff the acrid smell of sulphur. At the nearby hot spring, Sari Ater, you can sit in a pool of warm sulphur water along with rambunctious locals enjoying a family outing or a weekend getaway from Jakarta. Roadside shacks sell a concoction of dried fern roots that cure everything from arthritis to cancer to diabetes and a local delicacy made from the rabbits that breed in great abundance on these wooded slopes.

We return to Jakarta for a quick tour of the chief attractions of this bustling capital city prone to the most mind-numbing traffic jams, before flying off to Bali. Home to the majority of Indonesia's Hindu population, the island is synonymous with sun, sand and tourists, especially the Australians who are everywhere, given the strong Australian dollar and the geographical proximity. Once accustomed to the booming Aussie drawl, ubiquitous kangaroos and blue-white-and red buntings set out to woo these visitors from down-under, you will find plenty in Bali to entice you. While the sea-facing night-spot Ku De Ta (possibly a Balinese spelling of coup d'état!) and the Hanging Rock Café are popular hangouts at night, the beaches, especially the ones at Kuta and Nusa Dua draw all the crowds. The first-floor lounge of the Anantara at Seminyak is a great place to watch the sun go down as are the extensive grounds of the golf course at the Pan Pacific Nirvana Resort at Tanah Lot. In fact, you might do well to time your arrival at Tanah Lot so that you arrive at the Pan Pacific and take the short cut to the temple carved onto a rocky outcrop before settling for a sun downer. This fantastic sea temple, among the holiest sites for the island's Hindu population, was built in the 16th century and is dedicated to protecting the island from the wrath of the sea. One of seven sea temples that encircle the coast of Bali like a protective girdle, its guardians are the mythical sea snakes said to inhabit the caves below. The sea pounding at the rocky shore below, the wind tearing at your clothes and jostling crowds posing precipitously close to the cliff's edge make a visit to Tanah Lot a truly ‘hair-raising' experience.

Heart of Bali

While the area near the temples offers a variety of Balinese mementoes, the serious shoppers head for Ubud. A far cry from the boisterous beaches, the town of Ubud in the middle of the island offers a glimpse into the heart of Bali. The road from Kuta takes you past orchards groaning with fruit and fields glimmering with the emerald of paddy. We stop at the village of Celuk to watch master craftsmen at work, chiselling objects of incredible beauty from all kinds of wood — the sturdy mahogany and the flimsy driftwood that washes up on the island's shores. Everywhere, there are signs of painstaking labour and creativity. All along the road, we see samples of the industry and ingenuity of the local people who have festooned their shop fronts and homes with temples, altars and decorations fashioned from flowers, leaves, bamboo and bits of cloth. Girls carrying baskets of flowers walk to village temples and the streets wear a festive look; every day in Bali, we gather, is a special day to worship the gods and the rituals of prayer are celebrated, not merely observed.

Indian tourists are known to visit Ubud to buy container-loads of home decorations, objects d'art and wooden furniture, though few bother to explore this quaint town. The main thoroughfare has cafes, museums, art galleries, gemstone and jewellery boutiques and a warren of shacks selling batik, metal ware and wood bric-a-brac including side tables designed like jungle drums to Buddha figurines and ritual masks. Lunch at any one of the scenic cafes overlooking the dramatic valleys gouged out by the Wos river can be interspersed with a browse through the many interesting nooks and crannies at the Temple of Bubbling Waters (Tirta Empul) and the royal palace followed by high tea at the scenic Ali La, a boutique resort situated in the midst of terraced rice fields. At Tirta Empul, remember to borrow a sash from a desk piled high with scraps of coloured fabric, to tie around the waist as a symbol of respect before venturing near the sacred springs that still bubble near the central courtyard.

Quite apart from shopping for a range of imaginative handicrafts for which Bali is justly renowned, there is the island's cultural life waiting to be explored. The Barong dance, the most popular of Bali's many dance forms, is a spectacular fight between good and evil with many moments of light relief thrown in. Language ceases to be barrier in the episode involving Ketaki and Sahdeva as colour and movement crowd the open-air stage. You sit on stone steps padded with rush matting with a live orchestra occupying one side of the tiny stage, and watch engrossed. Swaying coconut palms provide a fitting backdrop for this vignette culled from the Ramayana. When Barong, the king of the spirits, vanquishes the forces of evil, you rejoice not merely because order and harmony have been restored but because of the seamless manner in which religion and drama have come together.

Rakhshanda Jalil writes on culture, literature and society. She blogs at www.hindustaniawaaz-rakhshanda.blogspot.com.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article2659407.ece

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Tourism Islands To Get Rp 210t For Development

Denpasar. The government announced it would allocate Rp 210 trillion ($23.3 billion) toward economic development in eastern Indonesia.

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, who is also the coordinator of the master plan to accelerate development in the country’s Economic Corridor V (Bali and Nusa Tenggara), said on Sunday in Denpasar that the money would be spent on 136 projects in the area.

The tourism sector, which Mari singled out as a main driver for growth in eastern Indonesia, would receive 28 percent of the investment, she said, mainly through infrastructure projects.

“Investing heavily in infrastructure will allow us to rapidly develop tourism,” Mari said, adding that the government aimed to increase tourist arrivals to 8 million next year from 7.7 million this year.

To ensure it meets the target, the government is looking to attract visitors from countries that have emerged relatively unscathed from the credit crisis including China, India and Australia.

“Apart from Bali, another tourism magnet in the area is East Nusa Tenggara’s Komodo Island,” Mari said.

Komodo National Park’s win in the New7Wonders of Nature global poll could bring an end to widespread poverty in East Nusa Tenggara, said former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who campaigned for Komodo’s bid.

“Growth in tourism in East Nusa Tenggara will lead to increased economic opportunities,” Kalla said at a seminar at the Islamic University of Indonesia in Yogyakarta on Sunday. “Komodo is the key to improving the welfare of the people in the province.

“Uniting all Indonesians is easy as long as there is a clear cause, and what better cause than to create prosperity for an impoverished region.”

Abraham Paul Liyanto, the chairman of the East Nusa Tenggara branch of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), agreed that growth in the region’s tourism industry would expand on the back of infrastructure improvements there.

Abraham added that direct international flights to Labuan Bajo, the main city of Flores island and the closest town to Komodo, would mean tourists coming for a visit would not need to stop over in Jakarta, Bali or Surabaya.

Source :http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/tourism-islands-to-get-rp-210t-for-development/479721

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