Bad Press and Tourism

As some of you already know, I plan to visit Java some time this year. A few weeks ago, I went to the Kinokuniya Bookstore in KLCC, where I bought a Lonely Planet guide for Indonesia. I also browsed the Chinese section. To my surprise, with the exception of a few books on Bali, I didn’t see a single title for Indonesia.

Indonesia is a beautiful country full of adventures, yet most Malaysian tourists only go to Bali and Danau Toba. I doubt many Taiwanese tourists have ventured out of the Hindu enclave. Why hasn’t the island nation become a popular tourist destination?

While there are many factors which explain the lack of interest in Indonesia, I think bad press partially contributes to it. Ethnic and religious conflicts, bombings in Bali and Jakarta, corruption, Syaria law in Aceh – you name it. All these, coupled with natural calamities, have had a negative impact on tourism.

Worse yet, probably because of poverty, some Indonesians like to cheat foreigners. This is how a member of Virtual Tourist describes the Javanese:

BE CAREFUL on the Probolinggo bus station. The [most unfriendly] people in the world live in Java and particularly in this town.

(source)

Back to my own country. Malaysia is also plagued by bad press. There have also been quite a few ethnic and religious conflicts, such as the arson attack on churches recently. The state of Kelantan has for years banned the sale of alcohol, and imposed gender segregation in shops. A few years ago, a religious enforcement team raided a hotel to search for people who committed the khalwat offence, and in the process they harassed foreign tourists.

Of course, Malaysia still enjoys a better image than Indonesia, but can we be complacent?

Khalwat = proximity, where intimate contact is possible, between a male and female who have no marriage or kin relationship