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Vol. V No. 11, 2010Your ultimate lifestyle retreat in paradise

www.ultimoparadiso.com - Indonesia Tourism News

Wulla PodduLocal Wisdom of Sumba People

BOARD of Dewantoro Umbu JokaDIRECTOR Tonny Wijadjanto tonny@ultimoparadiso.com

CHIEF EDITOR Igo Kleden igo@ultimoparadiso.com

REPORTER Tri Wibowo bowo@ultimoparadiso.com Christovao Vinhas christi_ani09@yahoo.com

MEDIA CONSULTANT Maria Dominique maria_dmnq@yahoo.com

MARKETING Ben Sisko sales@ultimoparadiso.com GRAPHIC Dicky Da SilvaDESIGNER design@ultimoparadiso.com

ACCOUNTING Komang accounting@ultimoparadiso.com

TRANSLATOR Indira Sari Paputungan

CONTRIBUTOR Maria Sadipun

BANK ACCOUNT 580 129 3435, Permata Bank Jl. Dewi Sartika - Denpasar

DISTRIBUTIONDOMESTIC: BALI - Kuta, Ngurah Rai Airport, Nusa Dua, Sanur, Denpasar and Ubud Area. JAKARTA - Ahmad Sufyani - Jl. Tomang Raya No. 63 - Ja-karta 11440. SURABAyA - Jl.Jend.Basuki Rahmat 129-137, Surabaya 60271, Ph : 031 – 5316364, Fax: 031 – 5315435. yogyAKARTA - Jl.Rumah Makan gudeg 60 Citro, Laksda Adisucipto Km 9, yogyakarta 55281, Ph.0274-488663. MANADo - Resort Scuba Diving-Liveboard. Manado, Hp. 08114303655 / 081 340 247 788 Fax. 656720685, LoMBoK - Lombok Eksotis, Jl. Adi Sucipto No. 43, Ampenan - Lombok 83234, Ph. (0370) 643014, Fax (0370) 646840. KUPANg - Jl. Perintis Ke-merdekaan III/38 - Walikota Kupang Phone: 0380 822102 SUMBA BARAT - Jl. Sudirman No. 5 Wai-kabubak - Sumba Barat. SUMBA TIMUR - Melan-thon, Jl. Eltari No. 41 Matawai - Sumba Timur, Ph. 081353977788, 085239118181. LABUAN BAJo - Martin Meotoda, Ph. 081338151744

OvERSEAS: MALAySIA - maxiINFo, 32-3-1, Ja-lan Medan Putra 4 Medan Putra Business Centre. off Jalan Damansara, 52200 Kuala Lumpur. AUS-TRALIA - Mr. Andre Wecklif Antonio. T, D/a 262 Wardel rd, Dulwich Hill-Sydney – NSW – 2203. Australia. THAILAND - Andrea Capucci, 94/23 Wichitsongkram Rd. Kathu, Phuket 83120, Ph. 076 249 688. WASHINgToN DC - Aria Salaka 19233 - Wheatfield Terrace - Gaitthersburg, MD 20879. CANADA - Johanne Dube, 152, rue Notre-Dame est, 8 etage, Montreal, Qc, Canada H2y 3p6. NETHERLAND - Vrijburglaan 72051 LA overveen +31 235253619. ITALy - Viaggi del Mappamondo, Viale Regina Margherita 270 - 00198, Rome, Ph. +39 06 48789200, Fax. +39 06 4815506. FRANCE - Europasia Commercial Agency, 15, rue Vallete 75005, Paris. gERMANy - Hattersheimerstr, 19, Frankfurt 60326. CZECH REPUBLIC - Mr. Miroslav Radakovic, Na Zamecke 6/409 140 000 Prague Czech Republic, Ph. +420 261219316 - 19, Fax. +261 219320. CUBA - Viaggi del mappamondo - Cuba, c/o Hotel Sevilla, Trocadero y Zuleta y Prado, 55, La Habana, Ph./Fax. +53 07 8669767. SLoVENIA - Miss. Polona Pirnat, c/o Kompas D.D, Prazakova 4, 1514, Ljubyana, Slovenia.

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CV. Paradiso Timur RayaJl. By Pass Ngurah Rai No. 620

Suwung, Denpasar-Bali-IndonesiaP/F: +62 361 - 727010

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2010

From the end of october until mid Novem-ber, L ‘Ultimo Paradiso’s team explored the beauty of Sumba island. When natural di-

sasters struck several areas in our beloved coun-try, we were in one of the safest spot in Indonesia. The beaches on the island of Sumba do not have tsunami potential, and the island has no moun-tains as well. The island offers stunning panorama of the hills, savannahs, forests and beaches. More importantly, some of those places are still untouchable. Amazing!

Sumba is an island in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia with an area of 10,710 sq km, bordering Sumbawa in the northwest, Flores in the northeast, Timor in the east, and Australia in the south and southeast. one of the beaches is overlooking the Strait of Sumba, located on the north part of the island. In the east lies the Sawu Sea and the Indian ocean in the south and west.

The island itself consists of four districts: West Sumba, Southwest Sumba, Central Sumba and East Sumba district. This time we’d like to write about Wulla Poddu ceremony that lasted for a month, which is also the holy month for Marapu believers who live in West Sumba.

Marapu is a local religion of people on the island of Sumba. This religion is a belief that wor-ships the ancestors. More than half of Sumba population embraces this religion.

Marapu is a belief system based on the worship of the ancestral spirit. In Sumba language, the ancestral spirits is called Marapu, which means “lordship” or “glorified”. Therefore, their religion is called Marapu as well.

There are many Marapu, and there is a hi-erarchical structure which can be divided into two groups, namely Marapu and Marapu Ratu.

Marapu is the deified ancestral spirits and is considered a ancestor of a kabihu (extended fam-ily, clan), while Marapu Ratu is considered to be came down from the sky and is the ancestor for the other marapu, thus it has the highest position.

The presence of the marapu in the real world is represented and symbolized by the sacred symbols in the form of gold or silver jewelry (there is also a statue or urn) called Tanggu Marapu. Those sacred symbols are kept in Pangiangu Marapu, which is located at the top of the uma bokulu (big house, main house) tower in a kabihu. Although the people of West Sumba has many Marapu whose names often called, revered and sought for help, but it does not make them deny the existence of the Creator. The main purpose of ceremony is not merely dedicated to the spirits of the ancestors, but also to Mawulu Tau- Majii Tau (Creator and the creator of human being), god Almighty.

Recognition of the existence of the Creator is usually expressed in words or figurative phrase, but only in certain ceremonies or important events. In Marapu belief, the Creator does not intervene in world affairs and is considered to be virtually unknown even mentioning His name is forbidden. While the Marapu themselves are regarded as medium or intermediary to connect people with the Creator. The position and role of the Marapu is glorified and trusted as lindie papakalangu - Ketu papajolangu (bridge that func-tioned as intermediary) between man and god.

Besides worshipping ancestral spirits, Marapu also believes that there will be a variety of spirits in around human habitation so that should also be worshipped, believes that the objects and plants around have soul and feeling just like humans, and believes about the existence of supernatural powers.

To make contact with the spirits of ancestors and other spirits, Sumba people perform various religious ceremonies led by Rato (priest) based on a traditional calendar, called Tanda Wulangu. The custom calendar should not be changed or abolished because it has been determined based on nuku-hara (laws and customs) of the ances-tors. Changing the calendar is considered to make the ancestors furious and this is not good for human life.

Almost all aspects of community life in Sumba are affected by a sense of religious. It can be said that Marapu religion is the core of their culture, a source of life values and principle which has ma-jor impact on the life of the people concerned.

Sumba culture does not recognize written lan-guage. Thus, the sacred literature of Sumba has lived in the memories of experts or their religious leaders. This sacred literature is called Lii Ndai or Lii Marapu that is spoken or told during religious ceremonies accompanied by traditional singing. The sacred literature is regarded to be auspicious and can bring prosperity to the community and fertility to the crops and livestock.

Similarly, at Wulla Poddu ceremony, various forms of art are displayed. The Marapu are wor-shipped among others is in the houses inhabited by residents of a kabihu especially at home, called uma bokulu or uma bungguru (home of fellowship). Religious ceremonies related to the interest of kabihu community are held inside the house.

Places of worshipping ceremony to the Marapu are not only held indoors but also outdoors. It is also held in the pamali cave, at sacred springs, and so forth.

WEST SUMBA,The Island Of Marapu

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UP

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announces the debut of St. Regis' first resort in China and first-ever luxury resort in Tibet, with the opening of The St. Regis

Lhasa Resort. Standing on the "Roof of the World" at 12,000 feet above sea level, The St. Regis Lhasa Resort offers refined luxury and superlative service in a storied city. The resort boasts awe-inspiring views of the Himalayas and the Lhasa Valley from each of the 162 guest rooms, suites and villas which feature distinctive architectural details and decor that entwine modern luxury with traditional Tibetan elements.

The spectacular resort embraces the enchanting natural surroundings and breathtaking mountainous views of Lhasa and is destined to set new standards of service and luxury for Tibet. The magnificent resort offers the signature St. Regis Butler Service and features three world class restaurants to please any epicurean taste, a signature tea room, wine bar and an expansive 11,700 square foot Iridium Spa with an ornate gold-tiled pool and Meditation garden for yoga, Pilates or meditation.

"We are proud to debut the first St. Regis Resort in China with the opening of The St. Regis Lhasa Resort, offering our discerning guests access to the distinguished St. Regis legacy with the highest expression of personalization, refined elegance and uncompromised guest experiences," said Paul James, global Brand Leader, St. Regis and The Luxury Col-lection Hotels & Resorts. "With the region's unrivaled natural beauty and enchanting cultural heritage, Lhasa is one of the world's most coveted destinations for global travelers, and The St. Regis Lhasa Resort is destined to be an unparalleled way to discover Tibet."

"Lhasa is one of the most intriguing and beautiful cities in the world," said Magdy Anis, general Manager of The St. Regis Lhasa Resort. "We are honored to be opening Tibet's first luxury resort, offering global St. Regis guests the opportunity to experience Tibet's mysterious traditions and stunning beauty while enjoying St. Regis signature amenities and services."

The St. Regis Lhasa Resort boasts 150 luxuriously appoint-ed guest rooms and 12 spacious villas and suites, including the Presidential Suite. Seamlessly blending Tibet's rich culture and exotic natural surroundings, the resort has been designed from the ground up with sustainable features including solar panels, locally-sourced produce and herbs for the resort's restaurants and an underground water recycling system. guest accommo-dations feature beautiful residential interiors, custom-designed furniture and spacious marble bathrooms in addition to

luxurious linens and amenities such as high-speed internet and plasma televisions in room.

St. Regis will also premiere its new spa brand, the Iridium Spa at The St. Regis Lhasa Resort. Poised to be the world's highest luxury spa, Iridium Spa allows guests to renew and refresh mind, body and spirit with a completely customized experience including traditional Tibetan herbal treatments and aromatherapy services using locally cultivated herbs and plants such as cypress and azalea leaves. Five-star luxury meets mystical Tibetan spiritual wellness at the Iridium Room with its ornate gold-tiled heated swimming pool and stunning Meditation garden for yoga, Pilates or meditation.

The St. Regis Lhasa Resort offers an array of epicurean taste and experiences in a variety of culturally designed settings. guests can enjoy convenient, all-day dining at the resort's signature restaurant, Social, featuring with a wide selection of international cuisine or dine at Si Zi Kang, the first gastronomic Tibetan restaurant to savor authentic Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine in a sophisticated and relaxed setting. For Cantonese and Sichuanese cuisine, guests are invited to yan Ting with six private dining rooms and a diverse menu.

As the first luxury resort in Tibet, The St. Regis Lhasa Resort is also proud to present Decanter by Haut-Brisson, the first wine bar in the region serving over 140 labels of wine, liquors and aged cigars. Also the first of its kind, the Tea Room will offer guests a relaxing afternoon with different blends of local and imported teas, and serving vintage teas aged from 10-25 years.

Lhasa, christened "Place of the gods" by ancient Tibetans, is the spiritual and political center of Tibet. With its ideal loca-tion in the ancient Barkhor area, The St. Regis Lhasa Resort is close to the city's most important cultural landmarks allowing guests to explore all of the city's treasures. The resort is only a short walk from the Jokhang Temple or guests can rent a hybrid vehicle from the hotel for a short drive to the stunning Potala Palace, Sera Monastery, Norbulinka and the Drepung Monastery. other scenic Himalayan destinations such as the Heavenly Lake Namtso and yandra yumtso Lake also sur-round The St. Regis Lhasa Resort. Combining Tibet's natural beauty and rich heritage with St. Regis' timeless sophistica-tion, bespoke service and modern luxury, The St. Regis Lhasa Resort's arrival to China will forever change the landscape of luxury travel in the region.

As soon as Thanksgiving Day is over, the Christmas season begins. Although it is hard to imagine Santa Claus in

T-shirts and shorts and Christmas without snow, they exist in the tropics – together with the Christmas tree among the palm trees.

on the small tropical island of Saipan, the winter season is one of the most festive of the year. It is not only because family tradi-tions are so strong among the local people, but it’s also due to the fact that the winter holidays are the busiest time of the year for the only industry on the small island... tour-ism.

As most cities around the world at this time of the year, Saipan is also dressed in Christ-mas lights, and one can view Christmas

trees in offices and many private homes. The stores are full of holiday-related items, and there are several community events devoted to it, such as the Jingle Bell Run, Christmas Island Relay, and a competition among the schools for the best Christmas tree decora-tion using recycled materials, etc. on Saipan, many organizations and private citizens work hard to help people in need with the Christmas Toy Drive and Christmas dinner deliveries for those struggling families who are less fortunate.

The Saipan hotels are also preparing for the two big nights of December: Christmas Eve and New year’s Eve. Each major hotel customarily prepares a gala dinner and live entertainment with a final countdown for their guests. But there is a resort where the sea-son’s celebration is unique and much longer than at any other hotel. Pacific Islands Club Saipan (PIC) celebrates Christmas and New year with parties twice within a month’s time! At first, the hotel creates festive activities and special dining experiences for its Asian customers and local patrons. The second set of holidays is repeated as PIC celebrates the orthodox Christmas on January 7 and ortho-dox Russian New year’s Eve on January 13.

PIC prepares first for Christmas Eve with a special dinner, caroling, and a champagne

toast for its in-house guests. on Christmas morning, all hotel rooms with kids arise to find a small stocking hung on the door. The resort animators (called Clubmates) organize holiday activities for both kids and adults such as Christmas tree ornaments decorat-ing, candy cane relay, wreath toss at the hotel’s waterpark, and even a Christmas cake eating contest. As the hotel’s ambas-sadors of fun, the Clubmates also perform a special Christmas dance show free for PIC guests. Then, the following week is New year’s Eve where this year’s theme, Mardi gras, will welcome 2011. The cold winter season in the Russian Far East attracts the greatest number of visitors who typically stay a minimum of two weeks and comprise 30% of the hotels’ market mix. PIC’s valued Rus-sian guests receive small holiday gifts to feel welcome upon arrival, as well as a private luxury Christmas dinner party to celebrate Christmas in their own style far away from home. Similar to the celebration on Decem-ber 31, PIC prepares a new theme party for the Russian New year’s Eve on January 13. Last year, the hotel built an ancient Chamor-ro village, which featured local artisans and craftsmen, dance groups and musicians, and traditional Chamorro and Carolinian food. In 2011, there will be a new theme, which re-mains a secret in order to surprise the hotel’s loyal repeater guests who visit annually.

Christmas in the tropics

4 global news 5my indonesia

Kemenbudpar stated that the solidity and toughness of Thailand in recovering tour-ism sector in the country after the politi-

cal riot should be taken as example.

“The post-crisis quick recovery carried out by Thailand that can be followed is the way it directs its stakeholders to make sacrifices,” said Secretary of Director general Marketing for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Ke-

menbudpar), Noviendi Makalam, in Jakarta, recently.

He said, in the period from January to August 2010, Thailand’s tourism growth was recorded as having reached 14 percent. This figure is under the estimation made by parties consider-ing that the country has been recently experi-encing an internal political crisis. In the same period, Indonesia’s tourism growth was slightly lower that Thailand’s, which was 12.12 percent.

“Thailand knows very well how to direct tour-ists coming to the country. When Bangkok was not in secured situation, most travel then trans-ferred to another city in the country,” he said. This matter, according to Noviendi, can work well because of all the stakeholders in the country were very solid and worked hand-in-hand under one goal, which is to revitalize the tourism sector.

Transfer of travel was possible because it was done through various proactive tourism promotion followed by offering various appeal-ing incentives to foreign tourists visiting the country.

“For example, if there is an event orga-nizer that organizes MICE events in Thailand, the government will provide an incentive of USD100 per participant,” he said. Such incentives cannot be applied in Indonesia since the regulation in this country prohibits that.

“The success of Thailand’s tourism sector to recover is because all the stakeholders there are ready,” he said. According to him, all the stakeholders in Indo-nesia should learn about team-work in develop-ing the tourism sector just like Thailand. (*)

Thailand’s Strategy toRevitalize Tourism Sector

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Regional Tourism Bureau, the Associa-tion of Tourism and Tourism Industry took

part in “World Travel Market (WTM)” 2010 in Exccel exhibition hall, London, England, 8-11 November.

London WTM is the world’s second biggest international tourism expo presenting trade and consumer show after the Berlin ITB. Therefore, the European Head of Sub Region, Directorate for overseas Promotion, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Republic of Indonesia, Jordi Pa-liama in his press conference, recently.

Jordi Paliama mentioned, in 2009, the WTM in London celebrated its 30th anniversary, and it was visited by over 50,000 travel profession-als from 187 countries. “The UK is one of the main markets of Indonesian tourism because most foreign tourists from Europe came from England,” said Jordi. Jordi explained that the purpose of Indonesia’s participation in this event is to increase the number of foreign tour-

ists visit from the UK to Indonesia. In 2009, British tourists visiting Indonesia were as many as 160,036 people. This year’s target is 210,000 tourists from the UK. British tourists who have visited Indone-sia in January-July 2010 period amounted to 107,487 people.

Based on the results of the Passenger Exit Survey in 2009, the average length of stay of tourists from Britain in Indonesia is 11.85 days, while the average expenditure amounted to USD 118.66 per person per day or USD 1,405.95 per person per visit. The most visited destinations of British tourists are Bali and Ja-karta.

The opening ceremony and press confer-ence with Director general of Tourism Market-ing (Sapta Nirwandar) and Indonesia’s Ambas-sador in London (yuri Thamrin) was held in the Indonesian pavilion.

Vote for Komodo stand can also be found in this event. Komodo National Park (KNP) has become one of the 28 finalists of “New 7 Won-ders of Nature”. Komodo is the only world’s largest lizard that can only be found in Indone-sia, namely Komodo National Park (East Nusa Tenggara). (*)

Indonesia to Join Tourism Martin London WTM

For the first time, the Ministry of Communications Republic of Indonesia, Freddy Numberi gave an award to White Horse group (PT Panorama

Transportasi, Tbk.) as tourism transport with the best service 2010. Freddy Numberi award was given to the President Director of PT. Panorama Transportasi, Satri-janto Tirtawisata in Jakarta on october 19, 2010.

The award was given to the White Horse group based on the assessment on several aspects such as Fleet, Pool, Documents, Labor, Employees’ housing, and the Environment of White Horse. The assessment was made by the jury from the ministries of transporta-tion.

Uli Hutabarat as the general Manager of White Horse Deluxe Coach says, “The assessment team was very detailed in examining the documents and licenses of White Horse, and we successfully meet the require-ments. In addition to the licensing, the assessment team also conducted field surveys to White Horse Pool in Rawa Bokor. White Horse Pool clean and friendly environment seems to steal the hearts of the board of assessors. With the management of waste oil, tires, and other tools, White horse shows its concern on the envi-ronment, “he said

White Horse Chosen AsBest Tourism Transport 2010

The big event of Travel & Holiday Fair (ITHF) 2010 was held from october 28 to 31 at grand Indone-sia Shopping Town with the theme of the World on

Sale. ITHF 2010 was held for the fifth times and started with a special Preview Sale for Credit Cardholders of BCA at 11:00 to 14:00 pm Thursday, october 28.

Panca R. Sarungu, Chief organizer ITHF 2010 said, “We want to educate people to do early booking for the Christmas holiday season, New year, and Chinese New year with special prices on both foreign and domestic destinations. Garuda Indonesia, Cathay Pacific, Malay-sia Airlines, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines, and Mandala Air participated in this event. Star hotels in Bali, Lombok and other tourist destinations in Indonesia provide dis-counts up to 70% for four days only.”

Bookkeeping transaction is targeted to reach USD 40 billion. The event is offering more than 170 destinations worldwide with the lowest prices throughout the year. Mira Wibowo, Chief Manager Marketing of BCA Credit Cards expects the wider community, particularly the BCA Credit Card holders can enjoy the holiday at afford-able prices for any destination by utilizing the best deals like 0% Installment for six months and many more. (*)

Promo Price Sale in ITHF 2010

Lombok, NTB - The organizing committee has officially announced the results of the total transactions made after the closing

process ended in Tourism Market event or the Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) 2010 on Friday (15/10). The value of transactions recorded reached USD 18.9 million or about Rp189 billion.

According Ressy T Salim from Titan Convex in a press conference for the event closing at Senggigi, West Lombok said that the result was up by 8% compared to TIME 2009, and this value is a combination of transactions reported by all sellers and buyers.

“TIME 2009 is a joint cooperation between central and local government, the committee of TIME 2010, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Culture and Tourism Bureau, ASITA as well as all components of the tourism industry and as-sociations in NTB,” said Salim Ressy.

However, there is a decrease in 2010’s TIME that is in terms of the number of buyers par-ticipating, which are only 118 people from 22 countries. The top five buyers are from South Korea, India, Singapore, and Indonesia. While the top five sellers are NTB, Jakarta, Bali, North Sumatra and Central Java.

In line with Ressy T. Salim, Chairman of the organizing Committee TIME 2010, Awanadi Aswinabawa, this year’s event is still aiming to promote Lombok-Sumbawa as a world tourism destination to international markets, but these efforts is to accelerate the improvement of in-frastructure, facilities and attractions available. “This event ran successfully as a result of co-operation between the central committee, the committee of TIME 2010 and the regional com-mittee consisting of the Provincial government of NTB, NTB Disbudpar, Regional Tourism Promotion Board (BPPD) NTB and supported by all components of the tourism industry and

associations in Lombok, Sumbawa and NTB, “he said.

Moreover, he said that there are a lot of posi-tive feedback saying that Lombok-Sumbawa has great potential to become one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, espe-cially following the development of international airport which will be completed in early 2011 and the construction of convention hall which is later expected to boost tourism to Lombok. However, the important thing is that after TIME 2010 there will be more tourism agendas that must be followed by participating in the events of ASEAN Travel Mart, ITB Asia as well as creating tour packages Lombok-Sumbawa and others, “said Awanadi.

“With the new international airport in Lom-bok, then this will encourage the presence of new airlines and investors in NTB area,” he said. (*)

TIME 2010 to Earn USD 18.9 Million

South Africa tour operator has agreed to create a package tour to Lombok and Bali and the combination of both in part-

nership with Indonesia. The deal was the result of the introductory visit to Lombok by famtrip from South Africa as the first phase of the part-nership.

Secretary III of Indonesian Embassy in Pre-toria Aulia Rinaldi Ahza in his press conference said Lombok will become a new tourism desti-nation of tourists from South Africa. While the Marketing Coordinator of Club Travel from South Africa, Stacey-Lee Stewart, who followed famtrip to Bali and Lombok said tour operators agreed to create tour package offer-ing four days in Bali and three days in Lombok. Similarly, Carla Joao, Supervisor for the Far East Department of the Travel Vision, another

famtrip participant, commented that joining famtrip in Indonesia is much different from famtrip to other tourism destinations she has joined before. Many new things are found, es-pecially new product knowledge.

A total of 10 outbound tour operators and a travel journalist from South Africa followed the famtrip activities for a week to Bali and Lom-bok. The event arranged by the Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria was successfully bring together a group from South African and Indo-nesian tourism industry to seek other opportu-nities for Indonesian tourism market for South African tourists who are currently still unfamiliar with Lombok.

They agreed that Lombok will be a popular tourist destination for tourists from South Africa.

Meanwhile, in a presentation of the Ambas-sador which was delivered by Embassy staff in Pretoria, conveyed that the tour operators and travel agents have an important role in market-ing tourism potentials of Indonesia.

This is considering that 76% of outbound travelers from South Africa use the services of tour operators and travel agents before travel-ing. Indonesia has many strong points in tour-ism sector, compared to other countries, he said.

The famtrip participants also followed site inspection to eight hotels in Bali and attended business gathering with tourism industry com-munities in Bali. The group also visited other sites related to tourism in Bali and Lombok. (*)

South Africa to CreateBali -Lombok Tour Package

Tsunami in Mentawai and the eruption of Mount Merapi have negative effects on tourism industry in Indonesia. It can be seen from the declining

number of tourists visiting the country. Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik explained, so far the ministry has done the checking of tourist ar-rival to a number of main tourist destinations via the airport of Ngurah Rai (Bali), Soekarno Hatta (Jakarta), and Polonia (Medan). The result reveals that natural disasters occurred in several areas in Indonesia do not significantly decrease the number of tourist arrival to Indonesia.

“No negative impacts so far,” he said during the open-

ing of Aston Paramount Serpong Hotel in Tangerang, Banten, recently. Even so, for now he suggested not to visit Borobudur Temple considering that the temple which is located in Magelang, Central Java is still covered by dust from the eruption of Mount Merapi. “For tourists who want to surf in Mentawai can choose other beaches in Indonesia, which are quite a lot,” he advised.

Wacik added, the ministry will strive constantly to convince the international community that there are hundreds of national tourist destinations owned by Indo-nesia. So when a disaster occurs in one area and bring certain effect to tourist destinations in that area, there are more places to go in other areas. (*)

Post-disaster : Tourist Arrival back to normal

Indonesia is expected to attract more Chinese tourists through active tourism promotion in China, such as the 12th

China International Travel Mart (CITM) and the World Expo Shanghai China (WESC) 2010.

Chinese tourists are the fifth largest in Indonesia after Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia. Last year, as many as 356,000 Chinese tourists visited Indonesia out of total 6.5 million of foreign tourist.

However, a majority of Chinese tourists have selected Bali province as their main destination in Indonesia, as Bali is so famous compared with other parts of Indonesia.

This posts a challenge for the central government, especially for local ones to pro-mote other regions of the country to attract Chinese tourists as these regions have many attractive destinations with various cultures, arts and landscape beauties.

In fact, Indonesia has a chance to attract more Chinese tourists as both countries have a characteristic proximity. "Chinese people like Chinese-friendly things, such as culinary and tradition," Counsel of Social and Culture in the Indonesian Embassy for China Rosmalawati Chalid said on the sideline of the China International Travel Mart in Shang-hai recently.

Chalid said that since an open economy policy adopted in 1978, China's tourism has been growing rapidly. The fast economy

growth promotes the increase of Chinese tourists.

In 1998, the number of Chinese tourists was only 5.32 million with six favorite coun-tries as their tourism destination.

This year, the number could increase to 50 million to all over the world.

However, Chalid said that not much infor-mation could be obtained by the Chinese about Indonesia's tourism. "80 percent of them know Indonesia's tourism via the Internet whereas tourism information in the Internet is dominated by Bali," she said.

Therefore, Indonesia needs to be more ac-tive in promoting tourism destination besides

of Bali, Chalid said.

Promotion Director of the Tourism Ministry Esthy Reko Astuty also admitted that tourism promotion in China is not enough. "Most of them only know Bali. Now, we want to invite them to see other regions like Manado (of North Sulawesi province)," she said.

Chinese tourists' favorite of beach tour-ism should be responded by introducing alternative destinations such as Wakatobi of Southeast Sulawesi province, Bunaken of North Sulawesi province and Raja Ampat of West Papua province.

Titien Maryatin Soekarya, an official of the Tourism Ministry, said that China is expected to be the largest tourist supplier in the world in near term. "At least there will be 100 mil-lion Chinese tourists going abroad in 2015 and Indonesia is ready to welcome them," she said at the St. Ragis Hotel of Shanghai recently in a table-top that was a part of a series of programs made by the ministry in the 12th China International Travel Mart.

on the occasion, as many as 30 sellers from Indonesia made a direct transaction with more than 70 Chinese buyers.

In order to attract more foreign tourists, the Indonesian government has been improving security and providing comfort for foreign tourists. Supporting infrastructures such as transportation, especially direct international flight to Indonesia, has been improved and increased.

Indonesia aims to attractmore Chinese tourists

Citibank and Visa today announced the launch of the Citibank World Money Visa Platinum Card, the world’s first

Visa Platinum Travel Prepaid card, bringing together the benefits of both Citibank’s best-in-class Travel Prepaid cards platform and Visa Platinum cards, for the first time. Avail-able in six foreign currencies - USD, Euro, Pound, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar and Singapore Dollar - at select Citibank branches and authorized money changers, the Citibank World Money Visa Platinum Card offers cus-tomers a host of privileges, ranging from dis-counted shopping at luxury brand outlets to exclusive offers at luxury hotels.

Designed to address the needs of leisure travelers as well as of those travelling abroad for medical, educational, or busi-ness purposes, the Card offers customers a smart, secure and convenient way of carry-

ing foreign currency. Further differentiating the Card are benefits such as industry-best foreign exchange rates, complimentary fraud protection insurance, complimentary interna-tional calling card and a 24X7 international toll-free customer care helpline.

Uttam Nayak, Country Manager, South Asia, Visa, said, “over the years Visa has introduced a series of cards to help Indian consumers enjoy the convenience of elec-tronic payments. In 2002, we partnered with Citibank to launch the Visa Travel Prepaid card in India, creating a new segment at the time. Now, we are pleased to announce the launch of the world’s first Visa Platinum Trav-el Prepaid card – the Citibank World Money Visa Platinum card, offering a single card to Indian travelers with the benefits of a travel prepaid card as well as the luxury benefits that come along with a Visa Platinum card.

Keeping in mind the growing Indian traveler segment, Visa is confident that this card will open up yet another new segment as well as provide Indian travelers with some unique benefits they have been looking for.”

Sandeep Bhalla, Business Head, Credit Payment Products, Citibank India, said, “We take great pride in having been the first to launch a foreign currency denominated prepaid card in India in 2002 and are very pleased to build on its success with the launch of the Citibank World Money Visa Platinum Card. Travel is a focus area for Citi Cards and this new launch strength-ens our end-to-end solution for the global Indian. With its enhanced features, the Card will not only provide customers a safe and hassle-free alternative to cash and travel-ers’ cheques; it will also delight the overseas traveler with its choice of lifestyle benefits.”

Citibank And Visa launch the world’sfirst Visa Platinum Travel Prepaid Card

St. Regis Hotels & Resorts debuts first St. RegisResort in China

While its trade with a number of countries were declining due to the global econom-ic crisis, Bali was still able to increase its

exports to Japan, amounting to US$69.7 million in the January-September 2010 period.

"Bali's exports of US$69.7 million increased

16.3 percent from US$59.9 million in the same period in 2009," Putu Bagiada of the Trade and Industry Office of Denpasar, said.

He said the increase in the exports to Japan indicated that Bali's entrepreneurs were able to meet demands by Japanese consumers for good quality goods.

"This means that Bali's handicraftsmen are increasingly able to meet Japanese consumers' demand for good quality commodities," he said.

The increase in the exports of Bali's goods to Japan placed Japan in the second position of Ba-li's biggest importers' list, after the United States which in the same period imported US$72.1 mil-lion worth of goods from Bali.(*)Minister of Marine and Fisheries Affairs

Fadel Muhhamad, in the company of US Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Mar-

ciel and Bali governor I Made Mangku Pastika, has officially declared the Marine Conservation Area (KKP), Nusa Penida subdistrict, Klungkung regency, Bali.

Fadel also flanked by his wife arrived on Sun-day at 10 am along with Scot Marciel and Made Mangku Pastika.

Fadel had been warmy welcomed by hundreds of students of Nusa Penida subdistrict.

gubernur Pastika said the conservation was in line with the Bali Clean and Bali green program in anticipation of global warming.

Pastika hoped the conservation would not merely protect the local habitat, but it will eventu-ally increase the welfare of the local population.

He hoped the regent follows up the conserva-tion with management details, adding that the konservasi area covers more than 20 thousand hectares.

And to follow up on the program, the Klungkung regency administration will hold a Nusa Penida sale in 2012.(*)

Visa Indonesia expands the network of credit card payment to facilitate the transaction made by foreign tourists

visiting Indonesia. Visa Indonesia Country Manager, Fuad Ellyana stated that the interest

of inbound tourists in using credit cards as a means of transaction is quite high, nearly equivalent to cash payment.

According to Visa survey, he explained, as much as 44% of tourists visiting Indonesia prefer to pay by credit card. There is only a slight difference with tourists who use cash as much as 48%.

The survey involved more than 6714 respondents from 13 countries who said that they would visit Indonesia.

"Cash is generally chosen by those who will visit Indonesia for the first time. While those who have visited the country for few times are more likely to use a credit card, "he explained during Visa’s Media Briefing for Visit Interest Survey, this afternoon.

He explained that tourists are generally interested in paying by credit card as it is considered safe and under control. Besides that, various discounts offered by credit card

provides have attracted many people to use credit card for their transaction.

"Credit cards are widely used when booking travel tickets and accommodation. It was be-cause of personal travel planning is the most popular style of travelling today."

Visa survey also mentioned an average of foreign respondents plan to spend more than USD 1,500 for the cost of a holiday in Indone-sia, it has increased from the current average of USD 1,300 per person per visit.

"In fact, most respondents are willing to pay more for good food, exotic destinations, and the opportunity to enjoy new culture," he said.

To support the tourism industry in Indonesia, Visa offers a number of discounts to holders of international cards at various merchants through Visa Preferred Merchant program. Visa also recently launched the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection for Visa Signature and Visa Infinite cardholders. (*)

Visa to Expand Network in Indonesia

6 my indonesia 7bali destination

The local government of Makassar is targeting to hold 70 tourism events in order to attract foreign and domestic tourists welcoming “ Visit Makassar

year 2011.” Visit Makassar year 2011 was highlighted by various activities, such as cultural performances, sport-ing events, arts, traditional culinary tour, as well as other activities that refer to characteristics of Makassar. Head of Makassar Culture and Tourism Bureau, Rusma-yani Madjid, said that the bureau has prepared all things concerning tourism. “We’re preparing these seventy events well, because we do not want it to be just a cer-emonial,” she said.

Makassar Mayor Ilham Arif Sirajuddin is also targeting to hold international-scale events every month during the year 2011. one international event that attracts tourists is Sail Makassar in August 2011.

“This is a great opportunity for us in Makassar to be able to gain as many tourists to come to Makassar,” he said. Department of Culture and Tourism (Disbudpar) has previously learned the strategies applied by Australian government to attract foreign tourists.

Placing tourist information centre in crowded places will provide tourists with any information related to tour-ism such as transportation and accommodation. (*)

Tourists can visit the Special Region of yogyakarta (DIy) because the province is generally safe to visit after the eruption of Mount Merapi on october 26,

2010. This was stated by the government of yogyakarta Special Region.

“We confirm that Yogyakarta as a whole is in condi-tions that are safe to visit,” said Provincial Secretary for Provincial government of yogyakarta Special Region, Tri Harjun Ismaji in a press statement in Jakarta, recently. He stated that the eruption of Mount Merapi on october 26, 2010 does not make DIy Province closed for tour-ist visits. He said that the report from the observation staff mentioned that the locations affected by pyroclastic eruption of Mount Merapi, just achieve a radius of about 10 kilometers from the center of volcanic eruptions.

Some areas that have been affected by hot clouds are closed for the visit. This area includes the District of Pak-em Kaliurang, and Sleman. But according to Ismaji, the areas affected are only smallpart of the province of DIy. Provincial government of DIy is now continue to try to restore the condition of the economy including the tour-ism sector to be able to operate normally again. (*)

The local government of Bogor Regency, West Java, is optimistic that Visit Bogor year 2011 will run suc-cessfully according to expectations and targets.

According to Regional Assistant for Development of Bogor regency, Dandan Mulyadi, in Cibinong Visit Bogor 2011 is one of the major programs of Bogor regency, which is expected to bring significant impact on regional development.

Visit Bogor 2011 is targeting 2.7 million people visit both domestic and foreign tourists. "2.7 million tour-ist arrival is expected to bring significant impact on the development of Bogor Regency in the future, especially tourism sector, "he said.

The growth in tourism sector will have implications on other sectors. A number of sectors that will be positively affected are small and medium enterprises, and the economy. The success of the tourism sector will contrib-ute positively to other sectors, particularly those related to people’s welfare and economy.

He added, therefore, the local government asked all local stakeholders and citizens to participate in bringing success to Visit Bogor 2011 agenda for economic revival in the future. (*)

PNPM Tourism Fund to be disbursed in 2011 reached Rp122 billion. It increased sharply compared to this year. This

significant increase in funding for rural tourism is because community empowerment through tourism sector is considered to be effective way to resolve poverty problem.

According to Firman Rahim, Director gen-eral of Tourism Destination Development for Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Kemenbud-par) this year Tourism PNPM funds of Rp20 billion is being distributed to 200 tourist vil-lages in various provinces. The program that was started in 2009 and has been running for 1.5 years is considered effective in reducing poverty and developing tourist destinations.

"With the increased PNPM tourism funds, for next year at least 650 villages may be

empowered as tourist villages mainly located at the main destinations in the provinces. Ke-menbudpar is targeting at least 2,000 tourist villages can be developed until 2014, "he said.

The development of tourist village is priori-tized in those located in main tourist destina-tions, but it also depends on the initiative of local authorities respectively. If there are villages having potentials to be developed as tourist village, the local government should be proactive to propose it to the central govern-ment.

"of course there are a set of criteria for developing tourist village and Tourism PNPM funds will be given for two years. In the third year we expect the tourism practitioners who have received assistance can be independent, "said Firman. (*)

After has been stopped for several years, youth Theatre Festival is held again this year with the name of the National

Festival of youth Arts Theatre 2010. Festival that was held from November 1 to 4 in Sasono Langen Budoyo Building, TMII carried out the theme of “From local to global”. This festival was fully supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Indonesia and was attended by 25 art teams from 24 provinces in Indonesia.

"Ideally, each province sends 1 team. But, only 24 provinces participated due to cost is-sue. As for the West Kalimantan Province that set up two teams, one of them became exhibi-tor," said Kasubdit Performing Arts, oneng Setiaharini.

According to Art Director Kemenbudpar Sulistyo Tirtokusumo, theatrical arts taught to perform various roles well. The roles were commonly encountered in everyday social life.

Theatrical arts can serve as a nation charac-

ter building through the choice of stories and characters that evoke a sense of love of nation and state. It also could foster a spirit of uphold-ing the unity and diversity, democratic values and social justice. By supporting traditional and contemporary arts, theater is expected to grow and bring forward the local themes as attractive as possible.

"The young generation can be stimulated to develop themselves within the ethical aspects as well as competing to express creativity in theater," said Sulistyo Tirokusumo, in his speech representing the Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik when opening the National Festival of youth Arts Theatre 2010, Monday (1 / 11 / 2010) in Sasono Langen Budoyo, TMII, Jakarta.

"By being able to appreciate the role since a young age, someone will easily live in the soci-ety wisely and in a matured manner," he said.

Theater presented was reflecting the char-acteristics of each region, among them the

story titled 'Nganyang' from West Nusa Teng-gara Province, directed by M Ikraman. The festival also presented 'Arang Keranjan' from Central Java and 'Si Aruk' by the team of SMA Negeri 9 Lampung.

other performances included Tanah Ibu (West Sumatra), Makota yang Retak (West Kalimantan), Bujang Nak Kawin (Jambi), Hanyut (East Java), gadis Ambai (Bengkulu), and Pagi Bening (East Kalimantan).

The show was started every evening at 10:00 until dusk. It can be seen free of charge to every visitor of TMII. The performance of each team was assessed by the jury that consisted of Wisran Hadi, Jose Rizal Manua, Niniek L. Karim, Franky Raden, and Benny Johannes. According to one of the jury, Jose Rizal Manua, the jury assessed the directing side, team work and music arrangement. "We expect the participants are able to explore the local potentials in the story," said Jose Rizal.

The government will provide reasonable reward and in accordance with the value of the goods for the founder of objects of

cultural heritage in Indonesia. During this time many Indonesian cultural heritage objects are traded illegally by some people because the government did not provide adequate compen-sation. Rewards for those who contributed to maintain the existence of cultural heritage are needed. This includes people who discovered, nurtured, and reported the existence of cultural heritage to the government.

These incentives are contained in the Cultural Conservation Act which was passed in Parliament plenary meeting, Tuesday (26/10). Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik ex-plained that the compensation is to protect the

historical heritage objects. He said so far there are no specific rules to provide such compen-sation. As a result, he said, the government could not provide a decent return. "So far, the reward was just a thank you and some money which is considered to be inadequate," said Jero Wacik.

Since there is no decent reward, people would rather sell it to outside parties and this has increased the case of cultural heritage burglary. In addition, many people choose to destroy cultural heritage for the sake of development. "I often got a call at two in the morning because of the destruction of cultural heritage," said Wacik.

However, the Act does not regulate how

much a decent reward for those who protect that heritage is. Later, the government will make separate regulation to clarify this matter of compensation.

"The problem with this cultural conservation always wake me up at midnight, because of reports of this cultural heritage is always in the middle of the night," said Wacik.

When the bill becomes law, Jero Wacik will feel good and happy. According to him, violation of cultural heritage is an extraordinary crime, and the perpetrators should get severe punishment.

"For that I will implement this law after the House of representative ratified it," he said. (*)

2011 PNPM Tourism Fundto increase Rp. 122 Billion

Building Nation Character ThroughYouth Theatre Festival

Appropriate Rewards for discoveringcultural heritage objects

70 Events to Prepare for Visit Makassar Year 2011

Yogyakarta is safe to visit

Visit Bogor to Target 2.7 Million Tourists in 2011

Around Lake Batur shores there is one unique and well-known site called Trunyan. Legend testifies the aromatic smell of Trunyan so exciting. Until now, this scented little place still

holds its reputation. MEPASAH The name of Trunyan derives from the words teru (tree) and me-

nyan (fragrance or scent). It is a remote village on the side of Lake Batur, Kintamani, Bangli Regency. This village is counted as Bali Aga village (mountainous Bali) and Bali Mula village (the original Balinese).

One of the privileges Trunyan people’s belief that we can still find

is the unique funeral tradition service. It is called Mepasah or putting the dead body on earth and under the earth. In front of this rural community there is a huge Teru Menyan, the tree of fragrance. The aromatic smell comes out from its roots on which a dead body is located. The scent deriving from the roots makes the rotten corpse not smelly. Thus, corpse will be decayed by itself and amazingly animals are reluctant to eat the unburied corpse.

This Mepasah ritual only applies to some certain class of Trunya-

nese, such as pedande (religious and traditional holders), married people, unmarried people and young children whose little teeth already fell out.

There are still other conditions, people who might be buried here

must have died normally, with intact body, and not because of ac-cident. However, those who died with broken body, or still having wounds, as well as those who died unnaturally (killed or committed suicide), are buried under earth.

Visiting Trunyan Village is not difficult. It is possible to travel

overland from Penelokan, Kintamani, up to Kedisan village. Then, from the Kedisan, we have to go across the Lake. It takes forty-five minutes by boat or two hours by paddle-driven boat. But, if cross-ing the lake is terrifying, then we can step on the road through the Buahan village and Abang village.

Legend of Ratu Ayu Pingit Dalem Dasar Hundreds of years ago, the noble children of Surakarta Kingdom

were "amazed" by the strange fragrant smell so that they were so curious. These king’s children, three princes and one princess,

asked their father to wander in search of the origins of the aroma. After having permission from their father, they traveled through many countries until they reached the island of Bali.

At the time they arrived at the foot of Mount Batur, that strange

fragrance they were looking for became stronger. After resting for a while at Pura Batura, the only princess in this group, " fell in love” to the local landscapes, and she chose to remain there, instead of carrying on the journey. She asked for her eldest brother’s blessings and the prince allowed her to stay. Later, she was titled as Ratu Ayu Mas Maketeg.

The three princes were still holding their origin spirits, looking for

the source of the strange aroma. Walking along the shores of Lake Batur, they had reached a plateau in the South-western part of the lake, and hear the melodious sound of birds. That kind of bird is described as kedis in Bali native language. Therefore, the village is called Kedisan village.

Stunning to the sounds of those birds, the youngest prince was so

joyous that he, then, shouted excitedly. It disturbed the eldest prince and made him angry so bad. Then the eldest prince punished the youngest by disallowing him to continue the journey. The youngest prince was so persisted to keep on the traveling. getting very mad to know it, the eldest prince kicked him. The youngest prince then, fell over to the ground in cross-legged position. Later, in the Kedisan village there is a stone statue in cross-legged position. The statue was awarded the title of Ratu Sakti Sang Hyang Jero. Right now, the statue is stored in one part of Pura Dejlem Pingit Kedisan.

The rest two princes continued the journey and arrived at the

eastern side of Lake Batur. Here they met two girls who are looking for lice. The second prince was so happy to meet these girls, and said hello to them. Being angry to him, the eldest prince prohibited the second prince to continue the expedition. When the second prince insisted to keep on walking, his eldest brother kicked him. He fell facedown to the ground (melingkuh- in Bali language). Later in that place there is a statue of god in melingkuh position, with title of Ratu Sakti Dukuh. This site is known as Desa Abang Dukuh where the statue was still there until 1963. While the eruption of Mount Agung happened, this statue was covered with sands. So, right now we can not see it anymore.

The eldest prince proceeded to the north. Tracing down the edge

of the lake, he, afterward, reached a plateau. At this point, he met a

very pretty princess kneeling under a Taru Manyan tree by herself. Apparently, this is where the origin of fragrant smell comes out. Its scent was already wafted up to the island of Java. The eldest prince, then, was in love with the pretty princess. He proposed to the princess’ brother to marry her. The princess’ brother accepted the proposal under one condition, that the prince was willing to be pancer jagad (peg of the universe). This meant that the prince became the leader of the village (the Trunyan Village).

The prince was willing and afterward he was bestowed the title of

Ratu Sakti Pancering Jagad, while the beautiful girl who became his queen was given the title of Ratu Ayu Pingit Dalem Dasar. (*)

TRUNYAN, The Tree Of Fragrance

Bali governor Mangku Made Pastika said Bali-China trade relations have been increasing marked with a plan of big in-vestors wishing to operate in the island paradise in the power

sector.

A Chinese company Chen Zhen wished to turn Bali into a green Province, the governor said when meeting Chinese Parliament speaker Wu Bangguo in Nusa Dua, head of the Bali provincial administration public relations Ketut Teneng said.

Pastika also told his guest that Bali also expected to learn from China on development of infrastructure, transportation and agricul-ture which are very potential in the island paradise.

Trade between the Bali and China had already been going on fruitfully as apparent in the exports and imports between the two countries but this year Bali suffered a deficit in its trade with China.

Bali's exports included handicraft articles, products of small indus-tries, canned fish, garments, and sea fish products, worth only 1.3 million US dollars in the January-September 2010 period.

Chinese imports in the third quarter of this year reached 22.6 million dollars of the 64.9 million dollars of the total imports in that period, and the imports from China increased 266 pct compared to that in the second quarter of the same year worth only 6.1 million US dollars.

Chinese trade activities to Bali in the last three months reached 34.9 pct, Singapore 12.2 pct, and Australia 11.1 pct, and then some other parts of the world including Europe.

In the second quarter of this year, Bali's imports reached 91.3 million dollars, which included 30.2 million dollars by the UK, Singa-pore 15.4 million dollars, and China 6.1 million dollars.

The main import commodities in Bali's economic development include ships, floating structures, mechanical machinery, electrical equipment, jewelry, and iron and steel products. Bali is not always making a problem of the increasing imports, because the commodi-ties are products with a positive effect to increased welfare of the people.(*)

Bali-China Trade Relations Increasing

Minister Fadel, US Ambassador Inaugurate KKP

Bali's Exports to Japan Worth US$69 Million

visit BOROBUDUR

A vast Mahayana Budhhist monument in the form of a pyramid-shaped mandala, it was built in the heartJ ava around 800 AD by the Sailendra dynasty and abandoned shortly after completion. It covers an area of al-most one and half hectares, with a central dome almost 35 meters above the base. It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric sguare terraces, then three circuler platforms of 72 openwork stupas and, at the top, a monumental stupa. The walss and balustrades are decorated with 1,400 bas- reliefs and 432 statues of Buddha. (source : UNESCo )

The shapes of Borobudur have full of philosophical ornaments which sym-bolizing the unity in diversity of path to reach the unlimate aim of life. With all its long history and natural surroundings, Borobudur is undeniably a cultural masterpiece. Borobudur is amonument like no other, itcontains of a series of concentric terrace of decreasing size that rise like steps to a central peak. It has not roof, no vault, no cnamber; its masonary was laid without mortar. Thus Basic simplicity of form is counterbalanced by extraordinary rich and complex decoration. Most striking of all, perhaps, are the beautiful bas-relief, in all some 1400 carved stone panels covering a total area of about 1900 square meter, with another 600 squareme-ters of decorative carving surroundings. Beside being the symbol of the Buddhism, Borobudur is also a replice of the universe. Accourding the Buddhist cosmology, the universe is divided into three major devisors, Ka-madhatu, Rupadhatu, and Arupadhatu. Khamadhatu is the phenomenal world for the common people. The base of the Borobudur represents this phenomenal world. on the original base area 160 relief’s depicting scenes of karmawibangga, the law of cause and effect.

The Borobudur sanctuary is one of the jewels of the world cultural heritage.

PASOLA FESTIVAL

2014

visit

J. P. PANDANGO, S. Pd, M.SiRegent of West Sumba

Lamboya, Wanokaka and Gaura Village on February and March 2011

SUMBA, the Land of Marapu, the Paradise of Sandelwood

9visit indonesia

The glory of Borobudur is believed to last for 150 years, and after that it gradually faded and tended to collapse as the collapse of the triumph of Syailendra dynasty, which was

replaced by the kingdom of Mataram in the year 930 (around the 10th century.)

This change had an impact on the shifting of the center of culture and life of the community to the east, which is in Jogjakarta. Another impact of this change of power is the damage to Borobudur temple, and eventually forgotten and lost in time. Someone whose work on the restoration of Borobudur Temple in 1814 shall not be forgotten is Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles. Raffles was a Lieutenant governor general of British colonial when Indone-sia was colonized by the British in 1811 AD - 1816 AD. Raffles’ work was continued by a Kedu resident named Hartman. He cleaned Borobudur from soil and mud. Soil and mud were believed to be a remnant of the lava erupting from one of the volcanoes that existed at that time.

volcanic eruption in 1000 AD

We currently see Borobudur temple one of the world’s seven wonders, and it seems absurd to know that the temple lay hidden for centuries under layers of volcanic ash and jungle growth. By the shifting of the center of Javanese culture and life to the east, Borobudur was abandoned and left unmaintained. Wild plants and dust covered the temple, which made the temple forgotten until around the 10th century.

Thanks to the efforts of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Borobudur emerged from the darkness of the past. In 1835 AD the temple was finally cleared from volcanic ash and wild plants. The further cleaning was carried out by Hartman who had high interest on the temple.

This big cleaning project was started with the making of pictures and photos of Borobudur’s relief. The restoration of Borobudur temple began in 1907 AD - 1911 AD and led by Th Van Erp. Those years when Borobudur buried under the bushes was indirectly protected the temple from bad weather that might damage the construction.

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur was built using 55,000 m3 adhesit stone. The pyramid-shaped temple has terraces - steps with stairways on all four sides (north, south, east, and west). In this temple, there is not any room that could be entered by visitors. The size of the Borobudur Temple building is 123m wide, 123m long, at the turning point of 113m and

30.5m high.The foot of the temple is covered by as many as 12,750 m3 of Adhesit stone. Borobudur symbolizes the three levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely Kāmadhātu, Rupadhatu and Arupadhatu:

1. Kāmadhātu: is the world of desire. In this world, man is bound and even controlled by his desire. The relief panels that depict Kar-mawibangga representing the law of cause and effect can be found on the foot of the temple.

2. Rupadhatu: is the world of forms. In this world human has left all worldly affairs, desire and willingness. The relief panels depicting this story can be found in corridor one to four.

3. Arupadhatu: is the world of formlessness. This is the world of the gods and this section is located on a circular terrace level I, II, and III and on the main stupa.

Inside the temple there are 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Bud-dha statues seated inside perforated stupa.

Below is the composition of Buddha statues in Borobudur temple:

1. Step I : 104 Buddha Statues 2. Step II : 104 Buddha Statues 3. Step III : 88 Buddha Statues 4. Step IV : 22 Buddha Statues 5. Step V : 64 Buddha Statues 6. Circular platform I : 32 Buddha Statues 7. Circular platform II : 24 Buddha Statues 8. Circular platform III : 16 Buddha Statues

At first glance those Buddha statues look similar, but actually there are some differences. one of the most obvious differences is the hands position called Mudra.

There are six different hand position of Buddha statue, namely: Bhumispara - Wara Mudra - Mudra, Dhayana - Mudra, Abhaya - Mudra, Dharma Chakra - Mudra.

In this temple there is also a lion statue. There should be not be less than 32 pieces, but due to various reasons the number is less than 32 now. one of the lion statues, a big one, is located on the western side of the yard. This statue faces west as if it guards the magnificent Borobudur temple. There are various types of stupa in Borobudur temple. There is one main dome at the center; the top of which is the highest point of the monument (35 meters above ground level) and the diameters of 9.90m. The highest point is

called pinakel / yasti Cikkara, located above Padmaganda and Harmika line.

Terawang or stupa with holes can be found in platform I, II and III. There is a Buddha statue inside each stupa. There are a total of 72 terawang in Borobudur temple, and they are located in Arupadhatu level.

Platform I : 32 stupaPlatform II : 24 stupaPlatform III : 16 stupa

The small stupas in Borobudur temple are quite similar with the other stupas. They look like little ornaments that decorate the temple. These stupas can be found in platform I to V, and there are 1472 of them.

The current relief panel of Karmawibhangga is not the original one. Due to technical reason, an additional stone was made to cover the relief. Karmawibhanga relief panel in Kamadhatu section has the total of 160 panels. Those panels display clearly the pic-tures of desires and the consequences of making sinful action and its punishment, and good deed and its reward.

The relief overviews the pictures of people who like to get drunk, and other behaviors that create sin, good deeds, and the picture of people who like to help others, pilgrimage, and other good deeds that provide tranquility and comfort to other people. (*)

The Magnificent Borobudur Temple

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10 food for thought

An Intimate venue for relaxing, enhanced by Balinese ethnic style ambience. offer-ing wines, cocktails, cigars from around

the world and daily afternoon tea with variety of pastries to choose from our buffet table from 15.00 – 17.30 hrs. Let’s take your pick of healthy choices of teas such as: Camomile, Earl grey, English breakfast, Peppermint, Darjeeling and wide selection of homemade fine pastries created by our talented pastry chef. gT Lounge open daily from 14.00 – 01.00. Entertained by live cool and smooth jazzy music from 21.00 – 01.00.

GT LOUNGEAt 2nd floor ofGabah Restaurant

on this november, Aston at grand Kuta Hotel and Residence still continue promote Indonesian food start from IDR

27.000 net and western food start from IDR 34.000 net. Special Indonesian food which we promote and recommend are Nasi goreng Mawut (mixed fried rice and noodles), Ayam goreng Kremes (an exotic crispy fried chicken blended in village spiced served with rice), Bebek goreng (spicy crispy duck with urab and steamed rice with balinese chili sauce), Sop Buntut goreng (tasty fried oxtail soup served with steamed rice). For western food, this month we promote are Spaghetti Carbonara (spaghetti with chicken, mushroom, beef bacon and cheese), Surf & Turf (grilled tenderloin and prawn garlic butter served with mashed potatoes and vegetables), Seafood Platter (special deep fried mixed seafood), Spaghetti Cartocio (spa-ghetti with beef ham, mushrooms, green peas

and light tomatoe creamed sauce), Chicken Cordon Bleu (fillet beef ham and cheese served with mixed vegetable and choice of potato). We also prepare special price on cocktails such as Pink Lady, Blue Kamikaze, Mint Mojito and Blue Job at the price of IDR 70.000 net on lunch to dinner time. And to fulfill customer needs, we still provide special offer for lunch as well as last month on IDR 30.000 net which served with refreshing iced lemon tea. Special lunch menu for this month are Tahu gimbal (deep fried bean and potato served with peanut sauce), Sweet Sour Chicken (deep fried chicken with sweet sour sauce served with steam rice), Pepes Ikan (spicy balinese fish wrapped in banana leaves served with steam rice and traditional sauce), Tom yum goong (authentic thai seafood soup). All this offer can be enjoy for a month in all our hotel outlets such as Magnolia Cafe, pool bar, room service and lobby lounge.

NOVEMBER FOOD AND BEVERAGE SPECIAL OFFER

The tiny islands of Ambon, Banda, Ternate and Tidore - among the thousands of islands in the Moluccas seas,- changed the course of world history from the 15th century onwards. These

islands were what triggered the European Age of Exploration.

For in search of the Spice Islands in the Far East, Christopher Columbus sailed west – and discovered America. Vasco da gama sailed south and discovered the long route around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in 1498 to finally reach India after a long and perilous voyage. Only later did the Portuguese finally discover the sea route to Banda and Ambon. These small islands in the eastern deep seas of the Indonesian archipelago were for centuries the sole produc-ers of the fragrant nutmeg and mace in the world. At the time these spices fetched their weight in gold in Medieval Europe.

The tiny islands of Ternate and Tidore, further north of Ambon were producers of cloves. Indian and Arab traders would sell cloves in Europe for exorbitant prices, but kept the location of their source a tightly held secret. These are the Moluccas – or Maluku – the original Spice Islands, that are now divided into the two provinces of Maluku and North Maluku.

It is from these islands that the Dutch East India Company first gained their stranglehold on the spice trade in the archipelago, gradually colonizing the Indonesian islands over three centuries, until it came to be called the Dutch East Indies, the present-day Republic of Indonesia.

As the glory days spices passed, the significance of the Moluccas waned. But it is here where the history of European explorations

and colonization began. Fortunately the beauty of that era still re-mains. Today, the town of Ambon is the capital of Maluku, occupying a small flat area by the beautiful Ambon Bay that is backed by lush green mountains and facing deep crystal clear waters that are alive with colorful coral gardens and untold species of marine creatures.

Although small in size, Ambon island still offers plenty of experi-ences for adventurous travelers. From exploring the charming Kota Ambon – the main town of the island, to walking up mountains through lush tropical vegetation, there are many undiscovered gems ready for visitors to experience.

The town of Ambon – Kota Ambon – is known as ‘Ambon Manise’

meaning sweet or beautiful Ambon. The name refers to both the beauty of the people here and the beauty of the tropical island loca-tion.

As one of the earliest places in Indonesia to be occupied by colonial powers, Ambon has a rich and ancient history. Many of the Ambonese today have mixed European and Ambonese heritage.

Visit here and discover centuries-old fortresses and the literature of local kingdoms which traces the story of the people, from periods of prosperity to escalating and controlled trades, harsh colonialism, a grueling struggle, and finally, to independence.

The island also played an important role in World War II when Ambon was used as a headquarters for the Japanese military. Remnants from the war still remain, both in museums and the open air. Some war artifacts remain silently underwater. Today, these remnants are among the most valued historical sites in Ambon.

Ambon is multicultural and home to various ethnicities includ-ing the native Alifuru tribes, the migrating Javanese, Sumatrans, Minahasans, the Butons, the Arabs who came in the 9th century, the Europeans, and the Chinese who first came in the 7th century to share in the commerce of this prosperous spice island. Between 1999-2002 the island was the scene of Christian-Muslim violence however since 2004 the island has maintained a period of ongoing peace

Jl. Jenggala, Tuban - Kuta - Bali, IndonesiaTel: +62 (361) 751557, Fax: +62 (361) 751768e-mail: reservation@ramabeachhotel.comwww.ramabeachhotel.com

Jl. Padma. Legian, Kuta, Bali 80033, p. +62 361 751971, f. +62 361 755 909

www.ramagardenrestaurant.comwww.ramagardenhotelbali.comSport Bar & Restaurant liv

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Jl. Pantai Kuta PO.Box 3036Denpasar - Bali 80030 - Indonesiat. +62 361 751961, f. +62 361 751962e. reservation@kutaseaviewhotel.comsales@kutaseaviewhotel.comwww.kutaseaviewhotel.com

Jl. Bakung Sari, Kuta PO.Box 3334Denpasar - Bali - Indonesiat. +62 361 751864, f. +62 361 751866e. reservation@ramayanahotel.comsales@ramayanahotel.comwww.ramayanahotel.com

Member of Rama Hotels & Resorts Bali

island explorer

West Bali National Park (TNBB) is situated in two districts, namely Buleleng and Jembrana. The park consists of plain land (mostly flat), rather steep, and surrounded by four

mountains, which are Mount Prapat Agung, Banyuwedang, Klata-kan and Mount Sangiang.

The beauty of TNBB is enhanced by the coastal areas consisting of four islands, namely Menjangan Island (175 hectares), Burung Is-land, gadung Island, and Kalong Island. TNBB area also has many rivers such as Labuan Lalang River, Teluk Terima River, Trenggulun River, Bajra or Klatakan River, Melaya River, and Sangiang gede River.

Its location is situated at the western tip of the island of Bali; about 2 Kilometers from the Port gilimanuk. It takes three-hour drive to reach this park from Denpasar.

Bali Starling, the Star The most popular inhabitant of TNBB is is Bali Starling (Leucop-

sar rothchildi). It was firstly found by Dr. Baron Stressmann a British ornithologist on March 24, 1911. Based on his recommendations, Dr. Baron Victor Von Plessenn conducted advanced research (in 1925) and fond the Bali Starling distribution is ranging from Bubu-nan to Gilimanuk. In 1928 five Bali Starling were brought to England and successfully bred in 1931. San Diego Zoo in the United States bred Bali Starling in 1962.

Since 1966, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) has submitted Bali starling into Red Data Book, a book about endangered species of flora and fauna. Bali Starling is included in Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora), which is a group that almost extinct and banned for trade.

Bali Starling or known locally as Putin Curik is categorized endemic species of Bali, which means it can only be found in Bali (currently only in the West Bali National Park area). In wildlife, Bali Starling had never been found anywhere in the world. Therefore, the Provincial government of Bali, making it as an icon of Bali Province.

The beauty of Bali Starling is reflected through its mostly white feathers, only the tail and the tip of the wings are black Its eyes are dark brown, with areas around the eyelids are not feathered with dark blue color. Bali Starling also has a beautiful crest (both male and female), gray blue legs with 4 fingers. The pointed beak has the length of 2-5 cm, with a distinctive shape.

It is a bit difficult to distinguish the males and females Bali Star-

ling, because both are equally beautiful. It's just that in general the males slightly larger and have a longer pigtail.

Bird breeding season for Bali Starling is from November until May.

They choose to breed in rainy season. Its bluish-green oval eggs have an average diameter of 2-3 cm. The last habitat of Bali Star-ling in Bali Barat National Park exists only on the Peninsula Prapat Agung (in Brumbun and Kelor Bay). This is interesting because no records have ever mentioned that the spread of Bali Starling reached Bubunan – Singaraja (about 50 km east of TNBB).

TNBB is also the habitat to 7 species of mammals, 2 species of reptilian, 105 species of bird, 120 species of fish, and others. Most of the wild animals there we've probably never heard the name before for they are endangered species that are protected. They include trenggiling (manis javanicus) or known is Bahasa Bali as Kesih, Jelarang or Kapan-kapan (ratufa bicolor), Kueuk (felis marmorata), deer (cervus timorensis), Boss Javanicus or bull, rider turtle (Lepidochelys olivceae) , and so forth.

Ecosystem paradise

Based on the altitude, the TNBB area is divided into two ecosys-

tems land and marine ecosystem.

Land Ecosystem include: mangrove forest, coastal forest, season forest, lowland rain forest, evergreen ecosystem, Savanna ecosystems, and River Rain Forest ecosystem. While the Marine Ecosystem includes Coral Reef ecosystem, seagrass, sandy beach, shallow water, and Aquatic ecosystem.

The diversity of ecosystems that exist in TNBB also allows vari-ous types of rare flora to live in long time and protected. The names of the rare flora might sound unfamiliar to us, and make us difficult to imagine the shape as well.

The types of protected flora on TNBB include bayur (pterosper-mum diversifolium), burahol (steleochocarpus burahol), kepah or kepuh (sterculia feotida), kesambi (schleichera oleosa), Kruing bunga (diptecocaus hasseltii), Mundu (garcinia dulcis), Pulai (Alsto-nia scolaris), and much more. The beauty is unspeakable, so what are you waiting for, let’s visit it! (Md)

WEST BALI NATIONAL PARK

JALAK BALI FOREST

The Original Spice Islands

Aston International has recently opened its latest four-star hotel, Aston Paramount Serpong Hotel & Conference Center in

the Central Business District (CBD) gading Serpong. It was officially opened by Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik on Monday (1/11/2010) in Serpong, Tangerang. This hotel is expected to serve the needs of local markets in the area of conferences, business trips and vacation growing in the area of West Jakarta, Serpong , Tangerang and the surrounding area.

The opening was attended by Jero Wacik, Director general of Tourism Destination Devel-opment Firmansyah Rahim, Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, President Director of Para-mount Serpong Tanto Kurniawan, President Commissioner of PT Paramount Propertindo Tbk Elizabeth Sindoro and Director of Aston International Jules Brookfield.

According to Wacik, the presence of the hotel supports the establishment of government programs in the field of tourism because it will bring in tourists and create jobs.

"With many new hotels appeared, it proves that the Indonesian economy and tourism sec-tor have grown and improved positively. I hope this new hotel can quickly reach the high level of occupancy so that it can improve the welfare of the hotel employees and the neighboring communities, "said Wacik.

Wacik also stated that Indonesia currently needs a lot of hotels for a lot of tourist destina-tions spread throughout Indonesia are still lack of accommodation facilities. This is in line with the improvement of tourist arrivals in Indonesia.

"Until the end of october, foreign tourists entered Indonesia is recorded as many as 5.9 million foreign tourists. I am optimistic the target

of 7 million foreign tour-ists visit will be achieved if there are no security constraints until the end of the year," he said.

He added, though Indo-nesia is now in the middle of the disaster, the econ-omy must keep running. "Indonesia's economy continues to improve, and it is indicated by tourism sites that always visited by tourists. It can also be seen from the difficulty in getting flight tickets and accommodations to the tourist attractions," he added.

This first non-resort four-star hotel in the province of Banten with a total investment of Rp120 billion is operated by Aston International Indonesia and is fully owned by PT Paramount Propertindo.

Aston Paramount Serpong built on an area of 4038 m2 with the concept of modern lifestyle and is part of the development plan of gading Serpong CBD area which is the center of com-mercial activity from Paramount Serpong.

The hotel has 173 elegant and modern rooms, spacious meeting room facilities with capacity up to 600 people and 4 other meeting rooms.

With a blend of classic elegance and con-temporary design, complete facilities, strategic location just 25 minutes from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, and located right beside the entertain-ment complex and shopping center Summare-

con Mall Serpong, making Aston Paramount Hotel & Conference Center can meet the needs of quality accommodation and professional conference facilities in Tangerang. The hotel also has easy access via Jakarta – Banten toll, so it can become the hotel of choice for part-ners from companies and business people in West Jakarta who wanted to visit their factories around Jakarta and Tangerang.

Norbert Vas as VP Sales & Marketing Aston International said, "Aston Paramount Serpong Hotel & Conference Center is the fifth hotel that opened by Aston International in greater Ja-karta area which allows us to give to choice to the guests related to complete business hotel and conference center," he said.

Supported by a variety of facilities within the hotel and also close to shopping areas, makes the Aston Paramount Serpong Hotel & Confer-ence Center the perfect choice in a strategic location. (*)

15events14 executive news

Facilities and Promotion Director for

Directorate gen-eral of Marketing Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Ke-menbudpar) Esthy Reko Astuty, said to further improve the quality of Tour de Singkarak in West Sumatra, Kemenbudpar establish a joint co-operation with the Amaury Sport or-ganization (ASo).

ASo Tour event is already known for its credibility, because it has successfully become tour event for Tour de France, Paris Dakar Rally, and the Paris Marathon.

"Joint cooperation between Kemenbudpar and ASo is one way to make the Tour de Singkarak as important events in sport and world tourism. our target is at least approaching the popularity of the Tour de France which has been carried out for over one hundred years old," said Esthy, recently in Jakarta.

Tour de Singkarak initiated by Kemenbudpar is planned to be held in early June 2011. This is the third times Kemenbudpar establish a joint cooperation, including with the Federation of Indonesia Cycling (PB ISSI). "The two previous events of Tour de Singkarak were increasingly in demand by a number of world class cyclists such as from Iran, Australia, Japan and Korea," said Esthy.

The second Tour de Singkarak in early June 2010 was followed by 22 teams from 11 countries with more than 100 world-class cyclists. The participants were able to record mileage of over 500 miles, through eight cities and regencies in West Sumatra. (*)

World Class Tour deSingkarak 2011

Cynthia (24), contestant from Manado has suc-cessfully become Putri Pariwisata (Miss Tourism) 2010 after outperforming her competitors from

33 provinces. The coronation of Miss Tourism 2010 was held at JITEC Mangga Dua Square, Jakarta, recently.

After going through a long period of auditions, quar-antine, until the final of Miss Tourism Indonesia 2010, the coronation was finally accomplished. The winner was announced on Friday (22/10/2010) night.

Twenty four years old Cynthia Sandra tirayoh who is in sixth semester of her study at Faculty of Medicine, Samratulangi University Manado said that she was proud and happy being crowned as Miss Tourism 2010.

"Now I carry more responsibilities to promote Indone-sia to the international in order to create more positive image of Indonesia in the eyes of international society," said Cynthia.

In addition to the title of Miss Tourism Indonesia 2010, Cynthia also received a cash prize of Rp 35 mil-lion and postgraduate scholarships worth Rp 45 million.

Born in Palu on 9 May 1986, entering the top five she smoothly answered questions given by Marcelino Lefrandt.

A Basketball and swimming enthusiast, Cynthia is finally able to realize her dream to promote Indonesia to international level.

grand Final of Miss Tourism 2010 was enlivened by Cristian Bautista, yuni Shara, Petra, Tengku Asty Ananta Vishnu. Muyia Sari Wirman from Lampung was crowned as Runner Up.

Second runner up went to Audrie Adriana Sanova from DKI 3, third runner up to Dayu Prastini from West Java, and fourth runner up, Natasha Sutadisastra of DKI 2. (*)

Miss Tourism Indonesia 2010 from Manado

Tourism promotion campaign in Banda Aceh was officially launched through the program of "Visit Banda Aceh year 2011"

that is expected to be significant momentum for the revitalization of the tourism industry particularly in Banda Aceh and Aceh in general. It was stated by Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik in the opening of "Visit Banda Aceh year 2011" at gedung Sapta Pesona, Jakarta, Tuesday (19/10/10).

"The launching of Visit Banda Aceh year 2011 has become a strategic media to convey messages to domestic and foreign tourists that Aceh has potential as a tourist destination with many natural attractions, culture and hospital-ity of the people of Aceh that is based on local values and various support facilities tourism, "said Wacik.

Related to the Visit Banda Aceh year 2011, next year, the City government of Banda Aceh is targeting to bring in 400,000 tourists, both foreign as well as domestic. "We’re ready to welcome visitors. We’re working on improv-ing the infrastructure and is expected to be completed by December, "said Mayor of Banda Aceh, Mawardy Nurdin.

"Main tourist destinations in Banda Aceh in-clude sites that formerly destroyed by tsunami. In addition Banda Aceh also has historical heritage of Aceh Palace, such as Putroe Phang Park, gunongan and Rumoh Aceh Museum, "said Mawardi.

Mawardy said that the people of Aceh are ready to provide convenience for tourists. Implementation of Islamic Law in Aceh, he said, is not something that restricts the development of tourism sector. "Islamic Sharia is only appli-

cable to Muslims, while non-Muslim tourists do not have to follow," he said.

Wacik also added that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is currently preparing cultural boundaries by holding cultural festivals in several border regions of Indonesia. "If the military consider it as the outer boundaries, so I interpret as cultural boundaries or cultural lines," said Wacik.

Wacik said that the ministry has developed a number of festivals, which include Visit Banda Aceh in the western region,Lake Sentani Festival in eastern region Jayapura (Papua), and Sasando Festival in the southern region," he said.

Miangas Festival and Miss Miangas Beauty Pageant are held in the northern region. "This is important because Miangas is an island situated just 30 minutes from Philippine, and 12 hours from Manado," he said.

According to Wacik, those four cultural fes-tivals are cultural line initiated by Menbudpar. Minister expects the existence of cultural lines will develop a deeper sense of love of the coun-try among the people living in the outer regions of Indonesia. (*)

Visit Banda Aceh 2011:The beginning of revitalization for Aceh Tourism

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism offers Indonesia as a place for the world to dis-cuss the cultural issues. Local wisdom of

Indonesia could be a solution to various prob-lems of the world. "Indonesia can be a place for the international society to discuss the culture due to the richness of Indonesian culture," said Minister of Culture and Touruism Jero Wacik.

Indonesia is directed to be the center of world culture which initiated through the plan of the World Culture Forum 2012 in Bali, said Jero Wacik. "Plan for the World Cultural Forum 2012 in Bali is based on the dream to make Indonesia as a center of world culture," said Jero Wacik.

It is said in a press conference of "Wisdom 2010: World Conference on Culture, Education and Science and Colloqium in Honour of Dr. Ann Dunham Soetoro and Prof Dr Mubyarto" in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Jl Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, Monday (18 / 10 / 2010).

Moreover, he said that Indonesia deserves

to be a world cultural center for its richness in cultural diversity. Even Indonesia can be regarded as one of the highest cultural reposi-tory in the Asia Pacific region. "To pursue the dream Indonesia of becoming the center of the technology is too difficult and takes time. But to make Indonesia as a cultural center would be easier because we have rich diversity of culture," he said.

According to Wacik, Indonesia is one of the warehouses of local wisdom which has become the root of the culture of other nations. Thus, the wisdom, if reviewed and discussed can be great contributions to the world to solve global problems. one of the attempts to make Indone-sia as one of the world cultural center includes the plan to hold the World Culture Forum 2012 in Bali.

The minister said the plan to hold World Culture Forum has been rolled out since 2008 and even Indonesia had formed organizing team led by Ali Alatas. However, due to the global financial crisis, the implementation of the World Culture Forum had to be delayed. "We're

still going to pioneer the implementation of the World Culture Forum in Indonesia and Bali is the place most suitable to host the event," If Davos in Switzerland becomes the venue for world economic discussions forum through the World Economic Forum (WEF), Indonesia wants to be the venue for world culture discus-sion forum through the World Culture Forum (WCF).

Meanwhile, the Rector of UgM Prof. Sudjar-wadi said it is time to make Asia the center of world culture. "If Europe in the 19th century be-came the center of world culture, America in the 20th century, then it's time for Asia to become the center of world culture in the 21st century," said Sudjarwadi.

The ministry is ready to support and partici-pate in the implementation of the World Culture Forum in 2012 by organizing activities that is started by the event of Wisdom 2010 which will be held in yogyakarta on 8 to 11 November 2010. He hopes the event will become an effec-tive stepping stone towards the implementation of the World Culture Forum 2012. (*)

Indonesia Will Be World Cultural Center

Aston Paramount Serpong Hotel Officially Opened

Pop! Harris Hotel is located at Jl.Teuku Umar No. 74 Denpasar Bali held green opening under the theme of “Plant Today for a greener Tomorrow"

on 8th November 2010. The event is designed with the promotion of environmental awareness that attended by representatives from Tauzia Hotel Management, Den-pasar Bureau of gardening and Sanitation, and some green organizations.

Pop! Harris Hotel will be associated with all initiatives related to environmental awareness both at the regional and national level. "We have established close coop-eration with the green Building Council Indonesia and registered as an active member "said Marc Steinmeyer, President Director of Tauzia Management.

Pop! Harris Hotels is a network of 8 properties that will be opened within 18 months. The first opening was in September 2010 and took place on Jl.Teuku Umar , Depnasar – Bali. Two properties will be built in Bali, Jakarta, Manado, Surabaya and yogyakarta.

CBTC finals this year belongs to Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) after beating Alisa Kleybanova (Russia). Ana won two straight sets 6-2 and 7-6 tie break

7-5 in the Bali International Convention Center (BICC), The Westin Nusa Dua Bali.

"I’m very happy to be a champion in this Tournament, since I failed to pass the first round in 2006 tournament, "said Ana after the match.

The third position was achieved by a Japanese player Kimiko Date-Krumm. The 40-year old tennis player won over Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) with a score of 7-5 and 7-5.

Hermawn has successfully won the Quik-

silver open Cham-pionship 2010 held in Keramas Beach, gianyar Bali on November 1 – 2. He became the champion after defeated his closest competitor Dedi Santosa. Her-mawan collected a total of 17.25 points. With the achieved

points Hermawan was also awarded as "Coca Cola Best Wave Award 2010 ".

West Sumba regency has the area of 4, 051.92 sq km with the population of 353,207 people (based on the census

in 2000). The region is divided into fifteen districts and 192 sub-districts.

J.P Pandango, who holds the position of West Sumba Regent for the past two months, is a figure who has vision and is able to recognize the potentials of the region he led. Therefore, friendly atmosphere was instantly emerged when L’Ultimo Paradiso interview Mr. J.P Pandango at his office. It went more like a discussion instead of an interview.

Since long time ago, West Sumba regency, which is also known as Bumi Pada Eweta Manda Elu in local language, has been recog-nized internationally as one of the most beauti-ful tourist destination in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province, and even in Indonesia, due to its stunning tourism potentials.

Ultimo (U) : Why do you choose tourism sector?

Bupati (B) : Tourism is a predictable industry and going to experience rapid grow in the globalization and free trade era. Human mobilization that is going faster has given us a picture that entering the 21st century, the need of tourism industry is increasing and becom-ing inseparable part of human’s life especially in Indonesia where tourism sector contributes significant contribution to national income after oil and gas.

U : What are tourism potentials that exist in West Sumba?

B : Many! There are at least three types of tourism potentials in this regency, namely: adventures, cultures and spiritual. Cultural po-tentials consist of traditional villages with their megalithic graves, traditional ceremonies, and woven cloth. Adventure tourism comprises of trekking, jungle hiking, and some water activi-ties such as surfing and snorkelling, waterfalls and beautiful nature panorama.

U : Does West Sumba have many beaches?

B : There are at least thirty beaches which are all very beautiful spread in nine districts. Those beaches have become tourist destina-

tion for both domestic and foreign tourists. The nine districts in the regency that have worth-to-visit beaches are Wanokaka, Lamboya, Kodi, Kodi

Bangedo, Laura, Mamboro, Tana Righu, Ka-tikutana and Umbu Ratu Nggay. Marosi Beach in Lamboya district (± 27 km from Waika-bubak) is one of the most beautiful beaches in the regency. It is a perfect place for swimming, recreation and fishing. It is pretty close, about four kilometres, from the venue of Pasola. In Loura district, there is Newa Beach facing Komodo Island (Flores) and Sumbawa Island. It is about 50 kilometres from Waikabubak or 5 kilometres from Tambolaka Airport. The beach is suitable for recreational place. Besides those two beaches, there is also Ngihi Watu Beach in Rua village, Wanakoka district, about 30 kilometres from Waikabubak. No need to worry about accommodation for hotels with various modern facilities are available there.

U : What about Waikabubak as the capital, does it have any special potential?

B : Waikabubak as the capital of West Sumba regency is considered as one of unique towns in East Nusa Tenggara. It is considering that in the midst of the modern settlement of its people, the town still has sev-eral traditional villages of Loli people with their own uniqueness such as Tarung village. This small town is often called as “a town inside a village and a village inside a town”. Cultural and spiritual tourism potentials can also be found around Waikabubak. It is recorded that there are around 34 traditional villages spread in 10 districts, namely: Loli, Waikabubak, Katikutana, Lamboya, Kodi, Kodi Bangedo, Mamboro, East Wewewa and south Wewewa. Several traditional villages that quite popular are Tambera, Bondo Maroto, Tarung and So-dana (Lamboya district). Besides traditional vil-lages, ancient megalithic buildings are spread in those traditional villages. Data reveals that there are 32 megalithic tombs, which are highly attractive to tourists.

U : You’ve previously mentioned about

caves and waterfalls. Can you further explain?

B : Natural tourism potential in the regency consists of Matayagu waterfall in Katikutana district, Waikelo Sawah weaterfall in east

Wewewa district, Pamate Lakera waterfall in south Wewewa district, and Praikalala water-fall in Mamboro district. We also have twelve natural caves spread in four districts. Those caves are Ubu Djara (Wanakoka), Kamar Tiga, Pal Tiga, Dasa Elu, Paro Mana Pungi Rota and Wai Takoma (Loli district), Liang Marapu, Liang Paniki and Matimaka Dewa (Katikutana) and Rambe Manu Benteng Wanakoka (Kodi district).

U : Regarding spiritual tourism, does it have

any correlation with the local culture?

B : of course it has certain correlation with the local culture. Cultural attractions in Sumba are strongly related to ancient religious ceremony called Marapu that consists of 22 ceremonies. Among them are pasola, pahola haulu, purung ta liang Marapu, wulla poddu, dokale, pawolung manu, matuatu titana, maruatu karekatana and tauna usu manua. other attractions are folk games that include pajura and a horse race and traditional dance, which consists of 11 dances such as nego, kataga reja, woleka, manu wollu, dokale, kadola, gaza, elang (eagle), kijang (deer) and kuda (horse). Another cultural event that has become annual agenda for the people of West Sumba is wulla poddu (in November). Several wulla podu held are wulla podu Bondo Maroto and wulla podu gollu in Kelembu Kuni district and Waikabubak, wulla podu Tarung in Tarung village, Sobawawi district, and Wikabubak, wulla podu Tabera in Doka Kaka and Loli dis-trict, wulla podu Sodana in Sodana village and Lamboya district, wulla podu Kadoku in Rua village and Wanukaka district, and wulla podu Umbu Koba in Umbu Koba village, Ndelo vil-lage and south Wewewa district.

U : Pasola has been known widely, right?

B : Pasola has become a major event that held annually and always crowded by visitors from Sumba and other regions in Indonesia, even foreign tourists. Pasola held in West Sumba is Pasola Lamboya in Hobakalla, Lam-boya district and Pasola Kodi in Tossi, Kodi district (in February), Pasola Kodi Bangedo in Waingapu, Kodi Bangedo district (in March), Pasola Wanokaka in Kamaradana, Wanakaka diatrict (in March) and Pasola gaura in Wetana, Lamboya district (in March). (Md)

Plant Today for A Greener Tomorrow

ANA IVANOVICCommonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions 2010 (CBTC) Champion

Putra Hermawan :QUIKSILVER OPEN 2010 Champion

J. P. PANDANGO :WEST SUMBA, THE RISING STAR

J. P. Pandango - West Sumba Regentphoto by Igo Kleden

16 jakarta section 17nusantara

Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo is optimistic to be able to restore the glory of Taman Ismail Mar-

zuki (TIM) as a symbol of Indonesian culture in the international arena. The inauguration of the Jakarta Theatre is one step from the Jakarta Provincial government’s commit-ment to rebuild the historical sites in the capital.

“I hope that this facility could be the beginning of our efforts to re-store the glory of TIM,” said Fauzi Bowo in his speech for the opening of the main building of Jakarta The-atre on Saturday night, october 30,

2010. Jakarta Theatre is new as well as the first arts and cultural facilities in Indonesia which has an interna-tional capacity. With the presence of this theater, Fauzi is optimistic to attract more foreign tourists to visit Jakarta.

“This will be the pride of world culture, which is located in Jakarta. Hopefully, it can inspire stakeholders to gradually complete the construc-tion of TIM,” he said. Jakarta government has prepared a master plan for TIM development. “We’ll build it in stages, including the Jakarta Arts Institute,” he said. (*)

Tourism industry practitioners expect the government of DKI Jakarta as Indo-nesia's main gate has routine arts and

cultural performance that can be visited by tourists. Jakarta is indeed in need of regular Indonesian arts and cultural performances.

According Jongki Adiyasa, manager of Inbound Tours, unfortunately Jakarta as one of major tourist destinations in the country does not have arts and cultural performances held regularly and worth a visit by tourists.

A number of talent shows broadcasted on national TVs have successfully packed arts and cultural performances and produced win-ners who have high talent and care about the richness of Indonesian arts and culture. This actually is a great potential that can be used by the provincial government of Jakarta to create arts and cultural performances that routinely presented for tourists.

"Let us look at other cities, both within and outside the country. Bandung has traditional angklung music performance regularly per-formed at Saung Angklung Mang Ujo, in yogya, there is a Ramayana ballet performance every night at Pura Wisata Restaurant, and Bali as well has its own regular arts and cultural perfor-mances, "he said.

Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia, each with its own performing arts appear regularly. Moreover, China, almost in every city that called itself as a tourist destination would have a performing arts stage with a stunning display of laser lights.

About 20 years ago, Jakarta should be proud for having Manari restaurant that featured great food and stunning art performances. How-ever, this does not last long as the decline in domestic tourism industry as a result of a global recession and terrorism issues.

"As the tour operators that bring tourists to Jakarta, we expect the presence of at least one stage performing arts held every day and is always crowded by foreign as well as domestic tourists," said Jongki.

He hopes TV station are not only competing to host a talent search, but also willing to spon-sor the regular show that can be alternative en-tertainment for tourists visiting the capital city.

"Thus the government's desire to develop the creative industry is not just a slogan for the rich-ness of art and culture are part of the creative industries able to create extensive employment opportunities for the community," said Jongki.

Capital of the Republic of Indonesia , Jakarta is a huge, sprawling metropolis, home to 9 million people. During the day

the number increases with another 2 million as commuters make their way to work in the city, and flock out again in the evenings.

Located on the northern coast of Java, the province of Jakarta has rapidly expanded through the years, absorbing many villages in the process. In fact Jakarta is a conglomeration of villages known as kampungs, now crossed by main roads and super highways. It is small wonder therefore, that you may drive down one wide avenue one minute then suddenly find yourself squeezed into a small street together with scores of cars and motorbikes. The names of these former villages can be detected from their main streets, such as Tanah Abang, Kebon Kacang, Kebon Jeruk, Kampung Melayu, and many more. Together with its many suburbs Jakarta has become a megapolitan city. There-

fore, when you visit Jakarta it is best to invest in a good map, or rely on gPS.

Jakarta itself is built on a wide flat delta, in-tersected by no less than 13 rivers. Fronting the city in the Bay of Jakarta are a large number of tiny islands, known as the Thousand Islands or Pulau Seribu, a tourist resort for snorkeling and swimming. To its south are the majestic volca-noes of gede and Pangrango, where are cool mountain resorts like Bogor, Puncak, Sukabumi and Bandung.

Capital city of a country with 240 million population, Jakarta is not only the seat of the national government and the provincial govern-ment, this city is also Indonesia’s political cen-ter. Moreover, Jakarta is also the center and hub of Indonesia’s national finance and trade. It is no wonder, therefore that you will find Jakarta an ever dynamic city, a city that never sleeps.

First opened to the public by Indonesia’s first President, Soekarno, on 22 February 1978, the grand Istiqlal Mosque of Jakarta

is the largest mosque in South East Asia both in structure and capacity, as it can accommodate congregations of up to 120,000 people.

Located at Jalan Taman Wijaya Kusuma in Central Jakarta, on the north eastern corner of the Merdeka Square, the Istiqlal Mosque stands out with its 45m diameter dome and tall minarets. Standing almost right across the old Catholic Church at the corner of Jalan Lapan-gan Banteng, the Istiqlal mosque was designed in 1954 by Frederich Silaban, a Christian

architect from North Sumatra. The idea for the need of a national mosque was inspired by Muslim leader KH Wahid Hashim and executed by Cokro Aminoto, then minister for religious affairs. Istiqlal meaning ‘Independence’, is a reminder of Indonesia’s struggle for national Independence. Its 17 years construction was personally supervised by President Soekarno.

The mosque has a large rectangular prayer hall with a 45 meter diameter dome supported by 12 round columns, and has 4 levels of balco-nies. Its interior is mostly simple.

In his brief 18 hours visit to Indonesia on 9th and 10th. November 2010, US President

obama and First Lady Michelle obama made a special visit to the Istiqlal mosque. An aside note which the President heard from the leader of the mosque, and which he relayed to the press, was that during Christmas mass, the mosque’s parking lot is used by the Cathedral’s congregation across the road. And vice-versa during Ied prayers.

Later President obama praised the Istiqlal Mosque as a symbol of religious tolerance which characterizes Indonesia and Indone-sians, inspiring the world.

Kristal Hotel Jakarta held a Halloween party, the tradition that comes from the United States, which displays a variety of unique costumes. By

carrying the tagline “Exotic Halloween Night”, the event started at 7:00 p.m. up to 11:00 pm, (10/29/2010). guests can enjoy Acoustic Band “Countentless” which has experienced more than 5 years of a career. The event which was hosted by Kristal Hotel team was continued with exciting entertainment such as the appearance of sexy dancers, magic show, and a face painter as well as door prize from the sponsors. The night atmosphere becomes more attractive with pumpkin decorations and lights attraction by Satu Lagi Bar. “We continue to develop the concept of the exist-ing facilities, in order to continue to provide comfort to guests. of course this will be one place to hang out with friends or business colleagues, “said Damita Almi-ra, Public Relations Manager Kristal Hotel Jakarta.

Kristal Hotel Presented Exotic Halloween Night Jakarta Needs Regular

Art and Cultural Performance

Indonesia's National and Business Capital

Jakarta's Inspiring Istiqlal Mosque

New Building of Taman IsmailMarzuki Jakarta

Saung Angklung Udjo is organizing an exhibition of Angklung (Indonesian bamboo musical instru-ments) in Jakarta from November 18 to 27, 2010,

following the inscription of Angklung in the UNESCo World Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The exhibition called "Awi-Awi Mandiri" was sup-ported by PT Bank Mandiri, Satria yanwar Akbar, operational director of Saung Angklung Udjo, said here Thursday.

The expo is being held at Bentara Budaya Jakarta cultural center and displaying various kinds of Angk-lung, including traditional and modern Angklung.

Angklung is an Indonesian musical instrument consisting of two to four bamboo tubes suspended in a bamboo frame, bound with rattan cords.

The tubes are carefully whittled and cut by a master craftsperson to produce certain notes when the bam-boo frame is shaken or tapped.

Each Angklung produces a single note or chord, so several players must collaborate in order to play melodies.

Traditional Angklungs use the pentatonic scale, but in 1938 musician Daeng Soetigna introduced Angklungs using the diatonic scale; these are known as angklung padaeng.

The Fifth Session of the UNESCo Intergovernmen-tal Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is being held for the first time in Sub-Saharan Africa from 15 to 19 November 2010.

The Committee is expected to evaluate 51 ele-ments, including Angklung from Indonesia, of intangible cultural heritage for their urgent safeguarding needs or for their representative status as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Angklung exhibitionbeing held in Jakarta

Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) akan membuka rute pen-erbangan langsung Denpasar-Darwin, Australia, mulai Desember mendatang. Penerbangan itu akan

dilayani satu kali dalam sehari dengan menggunakan Airbus A320-200 berkapasitas 180 kursi.

Menurut Corporate Communications Manager IAA, Audrey Petriny mengatakan kami akan terbang ke Darwin dari Denpasar bulan Desember. Dengan frekue-nsi penerbangan satu hari sekali. Untuk detail lainnya, tunggu info selanjutnya.

Sementara itu, Presiden Direktur IAA Dharmadi mengakui, pihaknya sudah mengantongi slot time dari Darwin Northern Territory untuk melayani rute tersebut. IAA, menurut dia, juga telah mendapat ijin untuk me-layani penerbangan setiap hari ke negara tersebut.

"Mereka juga meminta kami menerbangi Cannes-Denpasar, karena permintaannya juga tinggi. Cannes letaknya di Darwin Timur. Tetapi kami bilang masih harus pikirkan lagi karena harus menyesuaikan dengan kemampuan pesawat,"

ungkapnya.

Meskipun sudah mengantongi ijin dari pihak otori-tas penerbangan Australia, Dharmadi menyatakan, pihaknya hingga kini masih menunggu alokasi kursi untuk penerbangan Denpasar-Darwin dari Kementerian Perhubungan (Kemenhub). (*)

Kawasan di perairan Nusa Penida, Bali, ditetapkan sebagai daerah konservasi.

Pencanangan Kawasan Konservasi Perairan (KKP) Nusa Penida ini dilakukan oleh Menteri Kelautan dan Perikan Fadel Muham-mad dan Bupati Klungkung I Wayan Candra, di Nusa Penida, Bali, Minggu (21/11/2010).

KKP Nusa Penida memiliki luas 20.057 hektare yang dibentuk untuk melindungi keka-yaan kehidupan laut dan pesisir, mendorong keberlanjutan pariwisata bahari dan perikanan guna menjamin sumber matapencaharian masyarakat Nusa Penida.

Inisiasi pembentukan KKP Nusa Penida merupakan kerjasama antara Pemerintah Ka-bupaten Klungkung berserta masyarakat Nusa Penida, Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan, dan The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Indonesia Marine Program, dengan dukungan USAID - Coral Triangle Support Partnership.

KKP Nusa Penida memiliki luas 20.057 hektare yang dibentuk dengan tujuan untuk melindungi kekayaan kehidupan laut dan pesisir, mendorong keberlanjutan pariwisata bahari dan perikanan guna menjamin sumber matapencaharian masyarakat Nusa Penida.

Fadel Muhamad mengatakan, KKP Nusa Penida ini akan mendukung dan menyumbang target nasional pemerintah Indonesia untuk melindungi ekosistem pesisir dan lautnya sel-uas 20 juta hektar pada tahun 2020.

Pembentukan KKP di beberapa daerah, termasuk di Nusa Penida ini, merupakan langkah konkrit pemerintah Indonesia guna mengimplementasikan Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), yang dicanangkan Indonesia bersama negara-negara di kawan Coral Triangle seperti Filipina, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Papua Nugini dan Kepulaian Solomon.

I Wayan Candra menjelaskan, Perairan Nusa Penida merupakan satu-satunya kecama-tan kepulauan di provinsi Bali yang memiliki keanekaragaman hayati laut, khususnya ter-umbu karang cukup tinggi.

"Terlebih lagi, di perairan Nusa Penida dijumpai ikan Mola mola (sunfish) yang cukup unik dan langka dengan ukuran rata-rata dua meter dan muncul setiap bulan Juli - Septem-ber," ujar Candra. Kemunculan ikan Mola mola ini menjadi daya tarik wisata, khususnya bagi para penyelam.

Berdasarkan Kajian Ekologi Laut yang dilakukan beberapa ahli kelautan dunia seperti Dr. Emre Turak dan gerry Allen pada tahuan 2009, di perairan Nusa Penida dijumpai sekitar 296 jenis karang dan 576 jenis ikan dimana lima diantaranya merupakan spesies ikan baru.

Berdasarkan survei dan monitoring TNC Indonesia Marine Program, di perairan Nusa Penida terdapat 1.419 hektar terumbu karang, 230 hektar hutan mangrove dengan 13 jenis mangrove, dan 108 padang lamun dengan 8 jenis lamun.

Saat ini KKP Nusa Penida dalam tahapan pembuatan zonasi, perencanaan pengelolaan jangka panjang, pembentukan badan pengelola dan mekanisme pendanaan jangka panjang untuk kemudian di tetapkan oleh Menteri Kelautan dan Perikanan melalui Peraturan atau Surat Keputusan Menteri.

Direktur TNC Indonesia Arwandrija Rukma menyambut baik inisiatif pembentukan KKP ini. TNC Indonesia, kata Rukma, akan melan-jutkan kerjasama yang baik dengan sejumlah lembaga dalam soal ini hingga KKP di Nusa Penida memberi manfaat ekonomi jangka panjang kepada masyarakat. (*)

Angklung, salah satu alat musik tradis-ional khas Sunda, hari ini resmi ditetap-kan menjadi salah satu mata budaya

Indonesia yang menjadi warisan budaya dunia. Pengukuhan angklung tersebut secara simbolis dilaksanakan Unesco di Balairung lantai 1 Kemenbudpar, Jalan Medan Merde-ka, Jakarta.

Senin (22/11/2010).

Menteri Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata RI, Jero Wacik berharap dengan dikukuhkan-nya angklung sebagai warisan budaya oleh UNESCo masyarakat Indonesia bisa lebih mencintai dan melestarikan alat musik ang-klung. "Untuk lebih memasyarakatkan dan melestarikan musik angklung, mulai tahun depan akan kita hidupkan lagi perlombaan

musik angklung tingkat SD sampai SMU. Kita juga berharap agar sekolah-sekolah mengajarkan secara wajib pelajaran musik angklung,"ujarnya.

UNESCo, salah satu badan Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa (PBB) untuk Pendidikan, Ilmu Pengetahuan, dan Budaya tersebut telah secara resmi mengukuhkan Angklung, sebagai warisan budaya dunia berdasarkan penetapan sidang yang dihadiri 147 negara di Nairobi, Kenya pada 16 November 2010 lalu.

Pengukuhan tersebut semakin memper-banyak jumlah warisan budaya tanah air yang telah diakui dunia. Sebelumnya, beberapa produk seperti batik, wayang, dan keris telah lebih dahulu dikukuhkan sebagai warisan

budaya dunia yang berasal dari Indonesia.

Secara keseluruhan, dunia telah mengakui 11 warisan budaya Indonesia. Empat di antaranya merupakan khazanah kecantikan alam, seperti Taman Nasional Ujung Kulon, Taman Nasional Komodo, Taman Nasional Lorentz, dan hutan tropis di Sumatera, yang terdiri atas Taman Nasional gunung Leuser, Kerinci Seblat, dan Bukit Barisan.

Sementara tiga lainnya adalah cagar alam berupa kompleks Candi Borobudur, kompleks Candi Prambanan, dan situs prasejarah San-giran. Sedangkan empat budaya lainnya yang juga diakui dunia adalah wayang, keris, batik, dan terakhir angklung.(*)

PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk milai merambah infrastruktur pariwisata. Bank plat merah itu akan mengucurkan kredit hingga Rp500 miliar untuk

membiayai pembangunan hotel di Bali.

"Kami mulai masuk infrastruktur pariwisata di Bali," kata Direktur Business Banking BNI Krishna Suparto di Kantor Kementerian BUMN, Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Jakarta, Senin (22/11).

Menurut Krishna, kredit investasi itu merupakan kredit tahap pertama yang akan dikucurkan kepada pengembang hotel di Bali itu. Proyek tersebut sendiri dilakukan multiyears sehingga penarikan seluruh plafon kredit dilakukan bertahap. "Dana tahap pertama baru mau ditarik," kata Krishna.

Pada bagian lain, Krishna mengungkapkan, BNI selama ini juga terus mendorong pengembangan untuk sektor energi, minyak dan gas. Alasannya, BNI menilai proyek tersebut masih terbuka lebar untuk investasi dan memiliki prospek cerah.

Hingga saat ini, BNI mencatat kredit sektor energi yang sudah tersalurkan mencapai Rp10 triliun. Kredit itu termasuk di dalamnnya kredit pembangunan proyek pembangkit listrik 10 ribu megawatt. (*)

Nusa Penida JadiKawasan Konservasi

Jero Wacik Ajak MasyarakatLestarikan Angklung

Air Asia Akan Buka Rute DENPASAR-DARWIN

BNI Biayai Bangun Hotel Di Bali Rp. 500 M

Ketua Parlemen Republik Rakyat China, Wu Bangguo menilai, Bali adalah sebuah destinasi wisata yang amat terkenal di

China, maka banyak warga China memilih berbulan madu ke Pulau Dewata. Pemerintah China pasti mendorong peningkatan jumlah kunjungan turis China ke Bali, kata Wu saat bertemu gubernur Bali Mangku Pastika be-berapa waktu lalu.

Wu yang mengaku baru kali pertama meng-injakkan kakinya di Bali, kemudian datang ke perkampungan seniman lukis di Ubud, mengaku kagum akan perkembangan dunia pariwisata Pulau Dewata.

Ia mengatakan, masyarakat China, men-genal Bali sebagai Pulau Surga. Kedekatan hubungan emosi dan kebudayaan antara Chi-na dan Bali diakuinya memiliki andil membuka hubungan yang lebih luas dengan China.

Ketua Parlemen China di depan gubernur Pastika berjanji akan mendorong peningka-tan kunjungan turis China ke Bali dari saat ini sekitar 200 ribu orang menjadi dua kali lipat di tahun-tahun mendatang.

gubernur Bali Mangku Pastika mengakui hubungan Bali dan China makin meningkat seiring harmonisnya hubungan Indonesia-China. Peningkatan hubungan itu antara lain ditandai dengan melajunya perdagangan Bali-China.

Adanya investor besar yang akan menanam-kan modal di Bali dalam sektor perlistrikan dan adanya sebuah perusahaan dari Chen Zhen yang membantu daerah ini mewujudkan Bali green Province, tutur gubernur Pastika.

Begitu pula kedatangan wisatawan China yang berlibur sambil menikmati keindahan alam, seni budaya jumlahnya bertambah terus. Wisatawan China yang datang langsung ke Bali memang bertambah banyak hampir setiap bulan, China termasuk diantara sepuluh negara terbesar mensuplai turis luar negeri ke Bali.

Turis asing ke Bali Januari-September 2010 sebanyak 1.919.126 orang, 157.009 orang di antaranya warga China, yang ada diperingkat tiga dari negara pemasok turis ke Bali setelah Australia 463.189 orang dan Jepang 195.288 orang. (*)

Warga China Pilih Berbulan Madu Ke Bali

Hypermart Bali galeria. Simpang Siur, By Pass Ngurah Rai, Kuta-BaliTel. 0361-767056, Fax. 0361-758211

Promo 15 - 27 April

The RadiantHotel & Spa

Jl. Puri grenceng 46Tuban - Kuta 80361 - IndonesiaTel : +62 361 752106Fax : +62 361 752104E. resv@theradianthotel.comwww.theradianthotel.com

The Radiant Hotel is a boutique hotel cover 50 acre of land and is located in a secluded area of Tuban. This new hotel of-fers security and convenience of a private enclave. With the spa service, luxurious suites, pools, a restaurant, function hall and a karaoke room, this hotel is a good choice for guests who seek for a memorable stay.

This hotel is located in Tuban, a warm neighborhood area next to Ngurah Rai - Bali International Airport and busy district of Kuta and Seminyak known for its tourist attrac-tions and the world-class restaurants and boutiques.

At Radiant Hotel, everything has been considered for the comfort and entertain-ment of the guests. Each room is supported by ensuite bathroom, Wi-Fi connection, flat-screen television, safety box and mini-bar. Car and driver are also available upon rental.

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