[Kabar-indonesia] VP says Mideast tourism remarks misunderstood

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006

VP says Mideast tourism remarks misunderstood

Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated Friday that he did not support the use of 
women in Middle Eastern tourism campaigns, saying his recent off-the-cuff 
remarks were not meant to be taken seriously.

"My message at that time was that we should seek other alternatives to lure 
Middle Eastern tourists to Bali, Yogyakarta and Sumatra by trying to change the 
image that Puncak is always a destination for them," Kalla said of remarks 
Tuesday at a seminar on tourism promotion to the Middle East.

"I never said that I support the use of women (to attract Arab tourists). I 
am just trying to encourage the use of other ways of attracting tourists than 
what is practiced by people in Puncak."

Puncak is a West Java mountain resort where some local women engage in 
short-term relationships with foreigners, many of them businesspeople from the 
Middle East, after taking informal religious vows.

As reported by this newspaper Wednesday, Kalla referred to Middle Eastern 
visitors seeking janda -- the Indonesian term denoting either widows or divorcees 
-- in Puncak.

Kalla's media and press advisor Muchlish Hasyim said the Vice President 
apologized if his remarks were offensive to some people, but they were meant to 
show the reality of the situation.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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