The Jakarta Post, June 29, 2006
VP moots using women in Arab tourism push
His apologists may point to Vice President Jusuf Kalla's business mind-set that has
taught him to approach the issues from a clinical gains-vs-losses perspective.
Perhaps it could explain his otherwise offensive suggestion Wednesday that tourism
campaigns for the Middle East should highlight the availability of attractive women.
"The marketing needs a better campaign based on the visitor's appetite and
segment," he said at a seminar on tourism promotion to the Middle East.
"If there are a lot of Middle East tourists traveling to Puncak to seek janda, I think that
it's OK," he added, referring to the West Java mountain resort and using the
Indonesian term denoting either widows or divorcees.
He said the tourists would bring numerous benefits to the women and their offspring,
as well as the country's entertainment community.
"If the janda get modest homes even if the tourists later leave them, then it's OK. The
children resulting from these relationships will have good genes. There will be more
television actors and actresses from these pretty boys and girls," he said.
Kalla was referring to a common practice in some areas of West Java and Batam
island, where local women engage in short-term relationships with foreigners, many of
them businesspeople from the Middle East, after taking informal religious vows.
Although proponents say the arrangement avoids illicit sexual relations and provides
income to poor families, women's rights activists contend it is a form of legalized
prostitution, especially when minors are forced into the unions by their parents.
The Vice President said the focus of Middle Eastern tourism campaigns should not
stereotype Arabs as devoutly religious people who would only spend their days at the
mosque.
After providing a visa-on-arrival facility for several countries in the Middle East, the
government expects to attract 300,000 visitors from the wealthy region this year, up
from around 40,000 last year.
Middle Eastern tourists, feeling unwelcome in Europe and the United States after
9/11, are flocking to Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand and Malaysia. Thailand had
almost 290,000 Middle Eastern tourists in 2004, a 42 percent jump from the previous
year. Malaysia attracted almost 150,000 last year. -- JP
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