The Drum notes that rather than addressing the need to clean up the several hundred “hangers on” touts and louts at Jakarta Airport or developing some sort of transport, tourist infrastructure for Indonesia, we have once again bought economy tickets on plan superficial.
The tourism brains trust after much research and endless meetings have come with “Wonderful Indonesia” which is kind of saccharine sweet but hardly reflective of Indonesia. Certainly anyone who has landed at Jakarta airport at 5pm on a Friday is hardly likely to be thinking “wonderful thoughts” on the 3 hour, 25km journey to the city center. It would also be fair to venture “Wonderful Indonesia” would be a bit of stretch if you happen to be an Ahmadiyya for instance.
Oh speaking of mindless, sponsored thuggery, if I may digress for a moment. Did we all enjoy that “Simply Wonderful” piece of Lunatic Theater brought to us by the Minister for Religion this week. A brilliant dark comedy, gathering all the ignorant thugs in one place and then call the Ahmadiyya and say we just want to talk…uh uh!! Honestly, people were rolling in the aisles listening to this character trying to tell rational humans that the Ahmadiyya were acting in bad faith by not turning up.
Anyhow back to tourism, perhaps some truth in advertising might be fun
We all know the Uniquely Singapore, Malaysia. Truly Asia, Incredible India, Amazing Thailand etc. Well we have had a couple of disastrous cracks at this sort of thing in Indonesia before. Who could forget the Garuda English mangling or my personal favorite the “Wings” Airline slogan “Fly is Cheap” (apparently so was their copy writer).
Anyway, it’s one thing to criticize and another to offer a solution. So based on today’s news that retired Generals and Radical religious loons are planning a coup, nail bombs and the ongoing persecution of minorities in Indonesia, the following are the Drum’s offerings for today:
Intriguing Indonesia
Indonesia – Simply Inexplicable
Or the Drum’s favourite
Delectable Dewi
Feel free to suggest some more.
Disclaimer: I actually think the Jakarta Airport itself is pretty slick, it’s the fight through the touts and louts that must be mind boggling for first time tourists. Nor do I think the dangerous but comical characters that attended the Religious “Harmony” meeting are representative of anything but the vile underbelly of the human beast. Certainly, they do not represent the Indonesia I know and live in.
Astonishing Indonesia ?
No bad, astonished is good
Stole my thunder on the “Wonderful Indonesia” post, anyway I got to use the image I’d uploaded, for the front page.
timdog a while back had a good suggestion for a slogan – ‘Indonesia: a Thousand Journeys’, or a thousand….
Oy, that was me, not Timdog!
Sorry about that…. http://www.indonesiamatters.com/4466/tourism-promotion/#comment-141432
You’re forgiven. Anyway, from a marketing perspective it sort of breaks the golden rule of only saying one thing. But just in case; Indonesia; A Thousand Journeys and Indonesia; A Thousand Smiles are now copyrighted by Pt.BrotherMouzone 2011
Sorry Dave, I figured it was time I got off the PKS bandwagon, I was beginning to sound like you know who….
From what I can gather Timdog has already completed at least a thousand journeys.
What is wrong with “Fly is cheap”?? I think it is one of the smartest and fitting slogan for a budget airline.
And I don’t think any tourist should be concerned with what ever religious discussion between Indonesians, as it is mostly centered in areas far away from their(tourist’s) places of interests (i.e. out of Java. Even if you do visit Java island, other than Jakarta, you most likely wont be bothered with these things).
It’s is a shocking use of English and only makes native speakers laugh. As for the rest of your comment purely from the tourism angle (and ignoring for now the sheer repugnance of it all) the international exposure of the animals murdering three people in Java, the absurdity of the Ariel case, the international exposure of the rapes and whipping in Aceh and the viral videos of others overwhelms any Wonderful Indonesia slogan. Not that the fanatics care about the the damage they do.
Dont under estimate the value of ethical tourism, it would be an interesting exercise to try and calculate how many millions in tourism the terminally intolerant have cost this nation.
Nice to see you back tho nobody, didn’t think we would as the happy families nonsense has pretty much fallen apart as normal people take to the streets.
It also made me laugh and I’m not a native speaker. Having said that I religiously follow http://engrishfunny.failblog.org/ and http://www.engrish.com/
Oh and you are smarter than to insult people’s intelligence calling the charades as religious “discussions” . That alone suggests reasoned and rational exchange of views and even you would have admit that is not even close to the truth.
Intriguing Indonesia, now where did I hear that before?
Eer…I think I am innocent of plagiarism but happy to be corrected L….
Over here on this thread, my first comment: Get The Amazing Race – Tourism Promotion Ideas
But it’s alright, no worries…
Oooooppppsss….it’s a goodie tho..and I really didn’t pinch it on purpose
L …Sorry I did pinch it by the the looks..oopps…and Chris..great post perhaps an update and repost?
Hi Oigal,
I will write a new article if/when “The Amazing Race” makes a long overdue visit to Indonesia. I am a bit busy with the IM flight booking service to write much at the moment, anyway. Until then, I pass the baton to you.
By the way, did you see in the latest series how competitors had to dress up in kangaroo suits and run around Broken Hill, in outback Australia ?
It makes me wonder what the equivalent of that would be in Indonesia… komodo dragon suits? Sumatran tiger suits? Orangutan suits?
How about:
Indonesia – It has to be seen (or experienced?) to be believed
Indonesia – You’ve Heard About The Bad Stuff, Come See the Good Stuff
(A comment about how people overseas only ever hear bad news about Indonesia, never the good news.)
Indonesia – Diving Paradise
(Manado did recently host a World Ocean Conference, and it does have many renowned diving sites).
Indonesia – Bali and So Much More
wonderful ideas. Chris. I personally like them all. Making me wish I were the minister so that I could really do sth about it.
Hi Chris,
You are right about the diving been awhile but the best holidays I have had were groups of us hiring the local fishing boat for 10 days at time and diving. Some of the best spots Flores, Aturo, Tim Tim ( not Indonesiaanymore). Aturo in particular has a very very interesting history, totally off limits to tourists for years and makes many nervous serious and nasty characters nervous even now.
Also the place, I came closest to losing my life, after the “troubles” I flashed a picture of previous “minder” you had to have one in those days. Apparently he was one of the nasties who had a lot to answer for to the locals…thought it was all over that night..which explains my understanding of the fear mobs on blood lust engender. Of course, after hearing what had happened, I know why they wanted blood.
Best part about some of those places are totally unorganized, no dive tour operators. You bring your own gear and compressor, hire a local fishing boat and crew and just go with the flow…some are flops but some are…….
Indonesia, where also smiles are cheap. (murah senyum)
Indonesia, Sea Sun Smile.
Indonesia, now and poreper.
To make the slogan closer to the truth, here is some suggestions:
Indonesia – Savor the biodiversity, stay away from the city.
Indonesia – Well, it’s complicated
I like the “Its complicated” not sure how we would sell it tho?
How about “Indonesia more than just a bad bombing experience”
On a more serious note:
Indonesia the country with something for everyone
Indonesia welcomes you to come visit the most unique place on planet earth
this discussion is about what?
Unbelievable Indonesia?
Unbelievable indeed. Sometimes I can’t believe my eyes and ears.
We have to accept the fact that it is not possible to change things over night in Indonesia and it will take years without knowing how long it will go on. If there should be changes, move slowly & do it without hurting the people. As for touts, the police should take action but no, they aren’t competent in their jobs rather they are only interested in getting paid at the end of each month for doing nothing.
Syonan, We do we have to accept things happen slowly in Indonesia. Indonesia’s neighbours seem to have adapted in similar or shorter time frames and under in many cases from a face worse starting point. Think South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore to a lessor degree India just for starters.
“only in Indonesia”
That works Clyde..:-)
Using slogan generators I got several good ones. They don’t make sense, much like the country and its government.
http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi?word=Indonesia
- Do you, uh, Indonesia?
- What’s in Your Indonesia? (this one actually makes sense since my Indonesia is so much different from some people’s. Theirs are perfect, advanced, full of bright minded individuals, no corruption and a country with religious harmony. Mine is, uh, total opposite)
- If you can’t beat Indonesia, join Indonesia!
- You can do i when you Indonesia it (and by Indonesia I mean bribe)
- Little. Yellow. Different. Indonesia.
- Once you pop, you can’t stop Indonesia.
- How Refreshing. How Indonesia
- See the Indonesia, Feel the shine (quite appropriate I must say. The Donald Trump can also use this, methinks)
- Cleans a big, big Indonesia for less than half a crown (I think they meant Bakrie)
- 3-1 protection for your Indonesia (this is a must for your friendly sex tourists)
- Get the Indonesia habit (and by habit again I meant bribe)
- Half the Indonesia, all the taste (I think this one refers to bakso tikus)
- The cream of Indonesia (ok, I’m not even gonna discuss this one)
- Because so much is riding on your Indonesia (neither am i for this one)
- Get more from Indonesia (cos your dollar stretches further there, obviously)
- Gotta Lotta Indonesia (I think timdog is familiar with this one hehehehe)
- Indonesia Makes Everything better (and by Indonesia I mean money)
- The Best Indonesia a Man can get (I think it’s missing “for 200 ribu” at the end, but hey, I’m not the slogan generator)
- Indonesia is good for you. (no comment)
- You’ll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Indonesia (the words ‘brush’ and ‘teeth’ are changeable)
- Central heating for Indonesia
- If you want to get ahead, get an Indonesia (and before any of you say anything, no, it’s ‘ahead’ not ‘a head’. I checked)
and my personal favorites:
- I wish I were an Indonesia Weiner.
- Nothing Sucks like an Indonesia
YEAH!
This one the generator came up with is actually halfway decent:
- Come to Life, Come to Indonesia
But If I were the minister, I would screw the other ASEAN countries on the butt and use this one as it consists of all their slogans and so much more:
Lipsmackin’ Thristquenchin’ Acetastin’ Motivatin’ Goodbuzzin’ Cooltalkin’ Highwalkin’ Fastlivin’ Evergivin’ Coolfizzin’ Indonesia.
Ah Rima..where have you been…
I was thinking..Rima is from here…
how come you didn’t approve my comment oigs?? :p
coz I am still a techno klutz…and i thought I had done so…
you have and always been my klutz, oigs.