A country in crisis – again
In a country where it never rains but it pours, Indonesia is once more facing multiple challenges.
It is waiting for the floods to subside in Jakarta so that authorities can continue the cull of backyard poultry thought to be a possible cause of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has appeared across a broad sweep of eastern Asia.
Indonesia is a country which cops a lot in its mostly poor archipelago of 17,000 islands: earthquakes, mud slides, fires, dengue fever, tsunami and other brutal acts of man and nature come knocking at the door much too often.
The impact on tourism continues to be felt. Latest figures indicate that visitor arrivals to Indonesia during 2006 dropped more than four per cent to 4.7 million.
Bali was the most popular destination with 1.2 million arrivals by air, yet that figure represents a fall of 12.2 per cent over 2005.
The near one million visitors who arrived in Batam were mostly Singaporeans on the way to the island’s gaming dens and casino ships, and they may not be making the journey once Singapore’s new casinos begin to roll the dice, starting in 2009.
Of real concern is that Indonesia has stopped sharing information about bird flu ahead of a vaccine deal with a US firm. The current outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu has killed more than 60 people in Indonesia over the past two years.
A senior World Health Organisation official, David Heymann, told the BBC that Indonesia had not shared bird flu samples since the start of the year.
Indonesian officials say that they want to maintain intellectual property rights over the strains of the H5N1 virus that are discovered in the country.
Dr Heymann said the move by Indonesia called into question 50 years of global co-operation.
The recent ASEAN summit in Cebu, and the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in Singapore, both heard calls for regional integration and solidarity.
Indeed, at ATF, Singapore senior minister Goh Chok Tong said transnational issues were a key challenge.
“Some of us have suffered and learnt hard lessons from SARs and the tsunami tragedy. These and many other challenges like terrorism, haze and avian flu respect no national boundaries.
“These cross-border challenges have an impact on travel into the region and our global ASEAN tourism brand.
“The only way to get on top of these problems is close regional coordination and collaboration.”
Indonesia, in keeping vital birds flu data to itself, must have been asleep at the ASEAN table.
Ian Jarrett
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