Indonesia promoting Malay culture, history as tourism draw

MELAKA, June 26 (Bernama) -- Indonesia is promoting Malay culture and history, especially of Sumatra, as among its tourism products to boost the industry.

Its Tourism Ministry's director of promotions for Malaysia and Brunei, Adella Raung said the effort could attract more tourists to the republic, particularly from the Malay lands like Malaysia and Brunei.

"When we take our tourism sales mission to Malaysia, usually it  is about B2B or business to business, but we want to strengthen Malaysia-Indonesia relations through P2P, which is people to people, because we are related and Malaysia is the closest to Indonesia.

“We want to enhance marketing of culture in Malaysia because it is more sustainable, for instance, to our counterparts in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia who can visit Bukit Tinggi in Sumatra due to the similar culture or it’s like coming back to their own village.

“Hence, there’s a big tourism potential, especially in Sumatra, due to its closeness in culture and history with Malaysia,” she told Bernama during the Indonesian Tourism Sales Mission to Melaka, recently.

Adella said Indonesia, through the ministry, was targeting three million tourists from Malaysia this year in conjunction with the ‘Wonderful Indonesia’ tourism campaign.

She said among the areas rich in Malay culture and history as tourist attractions were Riau-Lingga, particularly Tanjungpinang.

"We’ve also brought (a representative) from Pulau Penyengat (in Riau Islands Province) to tell the history of the old Malay kingdom which shows the link and closeness between the Malays of Indonesia and Malaysia,” she added.

Adella said the young were among the targets for cultural and historical tourism in Indonesia to help them build a strong identity and be the generation to continue fostering close Malaysia-Indonesia relations.

A tourism pamphlet titled, 'Jelajah Pesona Tanjungpinang' (Discover Fascinating Tanjungpinang) given by Adella to Bernama, states tourism as playing an important role in introducing Malay culture and arts with Islamic influences in Tanjungpinang such as the Gurindam 12, Zapin dance, Ghazal music and Dankong dance. 

Other attractions include Masjid Raya Sultan Riau in Pulau Penyengat which used egg whites as a building material, Masjid Raya Al-hikmah, Masjid Raya Dompak, GPIB Bethel Church, Bahtra Sasana Temple, and old Malay palaces including Istana Kota Raja, besides delicious seafood.

-- BERNAMA