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Vol. V No. 12, 2010Your ultimate lifestyle retreat in paradise

www.ultimoparadiso.com - Indonesia Tourism News

BOARD of Dewantoro Umbu JokaDIRECTOR Tonny Wijadjanto tonny@ultimoparadiso.com

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DISTRIBUTIONDOMESTIC: BALI - Kuta, Ngurah Rai Airport, Nusa Dua, Sanur, Denpasar and Ubud Area. JAKARTA - Ahmad Sufyani - Jl. Tomang Raya No. 63 - Ja-karta 11440. SURABAyA - Jl.Jend.Basuki Rahmat 129-137, Surabaya 60271, Ph : 031 – 5316364, Fax: 031 – 5315435. yogyAKARTA - Jl.Rumah Makan gudeg 60 Citro, Laksda Adisucipto Km 9, yogyakarta 55281, Ph.0274-488663. MANADo - Resort Scuba Diving-Liveboard. Manado, Hp. 08114303655 / 081 340 247 788 Fax. 656720685, LoMBoK - Lombok Eksotis, Jl. Adi Sucipto No. 43, Ampenan - Lombok 83234, Ph. (0370) 643014, Fax (0370) 646840. KUPANg - Jl. Perintis Ke-merdekaan III/38 - Walikota Kupang Phone: 0380 822102 SUMBA BARAT - Jl. Sudirman No. 5 Wai-kabubak - Sumba Barat. SUMBA TIMUR - Melan-thon, Jl. Eltari No. 41 Matawai - Sumba Timur, Ph. 081353977788, 085239118181. LABUAN BAJo - Martin Meotoda, Ph. 081338151744

OvERSEAS: MALAySIA - maxiINFo, 32-3-1, Ja-lan Medan Putra 4 Medan Putra Business Centre. off Jalan Damansara, 52200 Kuala Lumpur. AUS-TRALIA - Mr. Andre Wecklif Antonio. T, D/a 262 Wardel rd, Dulwich Hill-Sydney – NSW – 2203. Australia. THAILAND - Andrea Capucci, 94/23 Wichitsongkram Rd. Kathu, Phuket 83120, Ph. 076 249 688. WASHINgToN DC - Aria Salaka 19233 - Wheatfield Terrace - Gaitthersburg, MD 20879. CANADA - Johanne Dube, 152, rue Notre-Dame est, 8 etage, Montreal, Qc, Canada H2y 3p6. NETHERLAND - Vrijburglaan 72051 LA overveen +31 235253619. ITALy - Viaggi del Mappamondo, Viale Regina Margherita 270 - 00198, Rome, Ph. +39 06 48789200, Fax. +39 06 4815506. FRANCE - Europasia Commercial Agency, 15, rue Vallete 75005, Paris. gERMANy - Hattersheimerstr, 19, Frankfurt 60326. CZECH REPUBLIC - Mr. Miroslav Radakovic, Na Zamecke 6/409 140 000 Prague Czech Republic, Ph. +420 261219316 - 19, Fax. +261 219320. CUBA - Viaggi del mappamondo - Cuba, c/o Hotel Sevilla, Trocadero y Zuleta y Prado, 55, La Habana, Ph./Fax. +53 07 8669767. SLoVENIA - Miss. Polona Pirnat, c/o Kompas D.D, Prazakova 4, 1514, Ljubyana, Slovenia.

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2010

This always happens every year: the festivity of this year’s New year celebration has not yet vanished, suddenly it is Decem-

ber again. A year has passed, and we are still stunned by the question: “what have we done for ourselves, families, the environment, and for our beloved country?”

It’s free for you to choose whether you want to contemplate or to move forward while preparing for a Christmas party. Life does need celebration, especially in December when there are many special days to celebrate together. Starting from the feast of the Islamic New year 1 Muharram, galungan and Kuningan day for the Hindus, and closed with the celebration of Christmas. New year's Eve party? oh ... it shouldn’t be missed. December 2010 is full of holidays and celebra-tions, which also means that the economic wheel is spinning.

We should be grateful to the many religious days celebrated by different religions in our country. The celebrations also mean giving and

sharing. The question is: “what have we given and shared for this country?”

The easiest and cheapest gift to give and share is to vote for Komodo Island that is one of the nominees of World New7Wonders. Is the vote re-ally important? It’s absolutely important! Indonesia is actually a very rich country and "created by god with a smile". Indonesia is the only country, which becomes the habitat for Komodo dragons. Therefore, there’s no reason why we can’t love and vote for them.

Another gift to show our love to this country is, of course, by choosing the thousands of exist-ing tourist destinations in Indonesia as a holiday destination. It’s not too late to fill the agenda of the Christmas and New year holiday this time tours from Sabang to Merauke. And of course don’t forget to decorate the house with Christmas decorations made in Indonesia. Deal? (*)

The third phase of the competition of the New7Wonders of Nature has begun. Ko-modo Island, the only Indonesian represen-

tative in the event, is the top 14 group from a total of 28 finalists.

Komodo enters the third round

Komodo Island has successfully passed the two previous rounds. The first one was lasting from December 2007 until July 7, 2009, and was con-ducted to select 77 nominees. Then, 28 finalists were selected and announced on July 21, 2010. The announcement of the World Seven Wonders will be held on November 11, 2011. Komodo Is-land, Indonesian representative in the New7Won-ders of Nature competition has more advantages compared to other locations, which is the Komodo dragon; the rare animals believed to be the "last dinosaur" on earth.

To further promote Komodo National Park as the finalists of the world seven wonders as well as leading destinations in Indonesia, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Indonesia conduct a media famtrip programs to the island of Komodo from 1 to 4 December 2010.

Esthy Reko Astuti, Director of Marketing

Promotional Facilities for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that the Indonesian community participation through voting for Komodo National Park will determine the selection of Komodo drag-ons into the "New 7 Wonders."

This campaign also aims to introduce the island of Komodo as a choice destination for both local and international tourists, thus tourist visits can be more evenly distributed to all regions in Indonesia. Indonesia has a vast territory, but information on the Indonesian tourist destinations abroad are still very limited and only concentrated on the island of Bali.

one important step made by the Ministry of Cul-ture and Tourism was inviting national and some international media to join the famtrip.

"With some disasters that hit Indonesia some time ago, many countries consider all tourist des-tinations in Indonesia experienced the same prob-lem. It is also probably due to imbalanced news regarding natural disasters in Indonesia. Famtrip also aims to provide information to the world that there are many destinations in Indonesia that are ready to visit, one of them is Komodo National Park in East Nusa Tenggara, "he said.

Esthy further said that the Park provides a complete sensation of adventure tourism. Tourists will not only have the opportunity to see Komodo dragons, but also enjoy various water activities such as diving and snorkeling as well as trekking in the islands in Komodo National Park.

"The amazing thing about Komodo National Park is the beauty beneath the sea, which is still very natural and its stunning coral reefs. With ancient reptile on the island and breath-taking underwater panorama, Komodo National Park deserves to be one of the World Seven Wonders, "she said.

Still requires more improvements

Like "teenagers" who have less experience in facing the world, Komodo National Park still needs a lot of improvement in many areas to become the world's favorite destinations. The improvements include minimizing the high cost to visit the island of Komodo, the punctuality of flight schedules and access to facilities (infrastructure) provided for tourists.

Komodo National Park which includes the island of Komodo, Rinca and Padar, plus other islands covering an area of 1817 square meters is the original habitat of the Komodo dragon. The Park was established in 1980 to protect the sustainability of Komodo dragons. Not only rare animal, Komodo National Park also protects vari-ous kinds of wildlife, including underwater fauna.

World community can vote for the locations that are considered to be appropriate to become the New7Wonders by visiting the website www.new7wonders.com. According to Chairman of New7Wonders, Bernard Weber, it is expected one billion people in the world will participate in this voting.

It is not too late to support the Komodo Island in East Nusa Tenggara to become one of the "New Seven Wonders of Nature". The assessment is not only determined by the beauty and historical value of the destination, but also based on com-munity support through a poll.

Komodo National Park managed to outperform 440 other participants and became one of the 28 finalists. In addition to promotion through the media, Indonesia had followed Finalist Advisory Meeting in Jakarta to find out the tips for Komodo to become one of the Seven Wonders of the World which will be published in 2011.

you are also expected to participate in the voting by visiting the website www.new7wonders.com, and choose Komodo as one of your favorite World Wonders. Come on, support now! (Bowo)

Komodo, the Last Dinosaur on Earth!

Christmas Gifts

4 island explorer 5my indonesia

To welcome Mother's Day which falls on December 22, the committee of the cel-ebration in Bali is planning to do a major

breakthrough, one with a colossal performance of Pendet dance involving 1,700 dancers. The colossal performance that will be done in Pupu-tan Field, Klungkung regency, Bali, will involve about 1,700 dancers.

According to Mother's Day Commemoration Committee Chairman, Luh Putu Pancasari Janapria in Semarapura, Klungkung (Bali) the dancers themselves are taken from various women's organizations.

"The committee has sent letters to PKK (women association) in the villages. The members of PKK who are able to participate

are asked to dance to enliven the event. The rhythm itself will be accompanied by a gong played by the personnel of SKPD in Klungkung regency, and sekeha gong SKPD that have been doing regular exercises, "she explained.

The colossal Pendet performance aims at proving to the international world, that Pendet is really the work of Balinese community. It's a proof that Pendet does not belong to another country, as it had previously claimed by Malay-sia.

"In addition to Pendet colossal performance, the event will also present the performance of the wives of provincial officers. On that occa-sion, the committee also feature the drummer from the provincial officials such as the Regent

of Klungkung Wayan Candra and the secretary Ketut Janapria, "she said.

The dancers will also be supported by the Joint organization for Women (goW). For information, goW itself is in charge of several women's organizations, including the PKK, Bayangkara, Darmawanita, gatriwara, Darma yukti Karini, Adyaksakarini, IWAPI and Tiara Kusuma (Association of Beauty Salon Busi-nesswomen).

"The dance will be performed after the official ceremony of Mother’s Day. It is part of cultural preservation. The dancers are going to wear white kebaya for it would be difficult to find 1,700 pieces of traditional clothes for Pendet dance. (*)

Tourists choose Plaza Indonesia and Taman Ang-grek as favorite malls in Jakarta. In addition to that, they also choose Lion Air for favorite low-cost

airline and followed by AirAsia, and Batavia Air.

Tourism Award 2010 was held in the studios of Metro TV in Jakarta. The names of the winners were taken from Swa Magazine survey towards domestic and for-eign tourists, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

on that occasion, it was also announced the malls outside Jakarta, which became a favorite among tour-ists. Shopping centers that also serve as a recreation center include Ambarukmo Plaza and Mal galeria Jog-jakarta, Solo grand Mall, Mal Pekanbaru, Mal Panaku-kan, and Ratu Indah Mall Makassar.

other Awards comprise the city with the best service that is Denpasar, followed by DI yogyakarta, Solo, Manado, Bandung, Malang, Medan, and Makassar. The most favorite city is Cianjur, West Lombok, yogya-karta, Medan, Solo, Bandung, Makassar, Manado and Malang.

Jakarta itself is not included in the favorite city chosen by foreign and domestic tourists. The best provinces in tourism development are yogyakarta and NTB. Favorite destinations are Tabanan (Bali), which is followed by Borobudur Temple, Jam gadang in West Sumatra, and Prambanan temple.

Vayatour was voted as the best travel agency, and followed by Haryono Travel. For the transportation mode Express Taxi is in the first place and in the second position is Putra Taxi. While the most favorite seafood restaurants are Decost and The golden Prawn.

Warung Daun was selected as the most favorite Sundanese restaurant, and followed by Saung Cianjur, and Bumbu Desa. Favorite Javanese food restaurant is Ayam goreng Mbok Berek, which is followed by Bebek Bengil. Favorite Padang food restaurants are Simpang Raya, RM Sederhana and RM garuda in the third place.

The favorite non-star hotel is Paseban, while the most preferred five-star hotel is the JW Marriot, Jakarta, and the Sheraton Senggigi, Lombok, followed Aryaduta and Shangrila, Jakarta. Favorite four-star hotel is Swissbell, while the 3 star is the Ibis, Jakarta.

Plaza Indonesia and Lion Air :Tourists’ Favorites Choice

In socializing tourism in Indonesia, the Min-istry of Culture and Tourism of RI and Local government of Makasar has launched "Visit

Makassar and Beyond 2011-2014. Within that period, there will be many events and promo-tions held in Makassar to introduce the tourism potentials of the region.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said that the ministry would make Makassar as a distribution center of accessibility in eastern Indonesia.

Strategic Position of Makassar

"Makassar has a strategic position in the constellation of national and international tour-ism," said Minister Jero Wacik in the launching of Visit Makassar and Beyond 2011-2014 the Hall of gedung Sapta Pesona Jakarta, recently.

Aside from being a connector for areas in eastern Indonesia, Makassar also has regional and international relations with Malaysia, Sin-gapore, Australia, and South Africa. Makassar is also a well-known icon internationally as well as a gateway to Tana Toraja tourist destination.

"Visit Makassar and Beyond 2011-2014 will be one of the strategic media to convey messages to domestic and foreign tourists that Makassar in particular and eastern Indonesia in general have many tourism potentials and attractions," said Wacik.

With the launch of Visit Makassar & Beyond 2011-2014, said the Minister, is expected to be a significant momentum to set policy direction, strategy, and acceleration program to hasten the development of tourism industry in eastern Indonesia.

The program also aims to develop a system-atic tourism that puts Makassar as the centre of development.

"This activity is a means to build commit-ment, synergy and partnership between cen-tral, provincial, district, and all stakeholders," he said.

Marine Tourism

The diversity of attraction that can be found in Makassar and its surrounding areas includ-ing nature tourism, cultural tourism, and special interest tours such as world class "marine tourism".

"Tourist attractions such as Tana Toraja and the Asmat have been known widely. So did 'marine tourism' like Wakatobi in Central Sulawesi and Raja Ampat in West Papua, known as 'world class diving site' and 'hidden underwater treasure'," he said.

Marine tourism potentials of Makasar include among others Losari Beach, Tanjung Bunga, Kodingareng Island, and Lompo Barrang Island. While the attractiveness of its culture is vary such as Makassar waterfront city, Fort Rotterdam, the grave of Diponegoro, Somba opu souvenirs, and Port Phinisi Paotere. Makassar also has special tours, among oth-ers, Trans Studio Theme Park (indoor), Water-front Area, and MICE Center.

The event launching of Visit Makassar & Beyond 2011-2014 was attended by a number of important figures in Makasar including the governor of South Sulawesi, H. Syahrul yasin Limpo, and Mayor of Makassar, Ilham Arief Sirajuddin.

Ministry of Culture and Tourism has stated that the ministry would make the Komodo dragons as the National

Tourism Theme 2011. "Next year we will make the dragons as the main theme of our tourism," said Secretary of Directorate general of Mar-keting for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Kemenbudpar) Noviendi Makalam in Jakarta.

He said that by making Komodo as the theme of national tourism, all events related to tourism will be designed with that theme. The ministry would also continue to promote Komodo as one of the nominees for the World

New7Wonders which will be announced on November 11, 2011.

"Next year we will be` all out 'to promote the Park, including making it as the theme of various events to be held, "he said. Komodo National Park (KNP) is one of the nominees of “New Seven Wonders of Nature” with 28 other finalists from various countries. Previously KNP managed to defeat 426 nominees from 223 other countries around the world. The com-mittee of the event is targeting 1 billion voters from around the world and the result will be announced on November 11, 2011.

Noviendi said that KNP must compete with a number of serious competitors including the Amazon River, the Black Forest in germany, the grand Canyon, great Barrier Reef in Australia, Bay of Fandy, Cliff of Moher Island, Dead Sea, El yungue, Jeju Island in Korea, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Maldives, Masurian Lake District, Uluru in Australia, yushan in Chi-nese Taipei, Vesuvius in Italy, Table Mountain in South Africa, Butina in Saudi Arabia, and the Sundarban.

Director general Marketing of Kemenbudpar Sapta Nirwandar on the same occasion said that Indonesia also has to follow the "bidding" process to become the host for the announce-ment of the "New Seven Wonders of Nature".

"The point is if we’re succeeded in bringing TNK into the winner, the impact would be huge for the whole Indonesian tourism. It would be creating the image of TNK as nature-based tourist area known world wide," he said.

Becoming a nominee has already contributed to the increasing number of tourists who come to the park.

"More tourists are coming to Labuan Bajo, and the number of hotels is also increasing. We hope this can improve the welfare of local com-munities," he said.

Aston International has announced that in 2011 the group will open 13 new hotels in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines. This is stated during an

end of year- press conference in Pastis Kitchen & Bar.

Aston International presents 13 new hotels due to open in 2011. The new hotels include a variety of prop-erties such as the Five Star grand Aston yogyakarta, which will be opened in the third quarter of 2011.

Some 4 star hotels which will be opened by Aston in some areas including Bangka, Solo, Purwokerto, Palembang, Banjarmasin, and Makasar, and several hotels with specific services such as Favehotel. It is in-cluding the first Favehotel outside Indonesia, which is in Langkawi, a resort island in Malaysia, and Quest 3 star hotel with 400 rooms in Cebu, Philippines.

While continuing to develop its main brands, grand Aston, Aston, Aston City, Quest, and Fave, the group has also developed a new brand for its luxurious bou-tique resort known as the Royal Kamuela. This brand will open two properties located in the famous tourist destination in Bali, which are Ubud and Nusa Dua.

Vice President of Sales and Marketing Aston Inter-national Norbert Vas said, "We will continue to develop various kinds of brands of Aston hotel but our medium term strategy for the Aston is consolidating its position to become prominent in Indonesia and began export-ing the brands of grand Aston, Aston, and Aston City abroad. Meanwhile, our newest hotel brand, Quest and Fave hotels showed an encouraging beginning. Both brands have a very good concept; so many guests are warmly welcomed and admired the two hotels. There-fore, currently our development team is accelerating the construction of the hotels under the brand of Quest and Favehotel. Thus, we believe that Aston International will operate approximately 50 hotels under the brands of Aston, Quest, Fave and Royal Kamuel towards the end of 2012 and estimate of rapid development throughout Southeast Asia.

Visit Makassar, tourism gateto eastern Indonesia

Next year, Komodo to becomeNational Tourism Theme

1700 Dancers to enliven Mother's Day

Aston International Will Open 13 New Hotels in 2011

Rato Rumata from Tambera village, a man with medium height but showing strong, gave Kaleku (a bag made from woven pandanus leaves to keep betel vine and areca nut), to Rato

Rumata from geila Koko village. This event is called Deke Ana Ka-liku, which marks the beginning of the holy or sacred month of Wulla Poddu in the entire land of Sumba.

No Sound of Gong, No wailing

Sumba Island is known as a pre-history heritage center that still exists until today. In this island there are many megalithic sites that are full of customs and philosophy of the local religion Marapu. Starting from the grave stone, until the totems, and sacred places are believed to have become sacred places where the ancestors carried out the ceremony.

Although the majority of the population are Christian and Catholic, but people still adhere to the Marapu belief that worships the ances-tors. In every corner of the village we can find offerings and praise to the ancestors. Attending the traditional ceremony on Sumba Island we seem to be stepping back to the civilization in the bronze period.

Marapu community in Waikabubak, West Sumba, undergo a ritual of Wulla Poddu (wulla = month, poddu = bitter) or the holy month for a month. The ritual takes place around october and November each year, and held in several main villages, namely in Kampung gollu (about 3 kilo meters from Waikabubak), Kampung Bodo Maroto (about 3 km from Waikabubak), and Kampung Tambera in Waibangga Doka Village Kaka to be precisely (about 8 km from Waikabubak).

During the holy month all people must perform a series of rites and comply with a number of restrictions such as can not hit a gong, can not build a house, should not be mourn the dead, not partying and so forth. Thus, practically, only the gongsof the main villages are allowed to beat to accompany the religious ceremonies. In fact, the member of Marapu community who died in the holy month of directly buried without the ceremony commonly done for funeral, including the crying or mourning that generally accompany the funeral procession. However, after passing through the holy month, the grieving families can hold the funeral ceremony, which is usually marked by the offering of cattles.

During Wulla Poddu, all the tribes (kabisu) will gather in the main house in the main village to perform the ceremony as well as family gathering. It is interesting to know to the story of the kabisu forma-tion as it is related to the story of ancestors that characterized by he values of trust and still a mystery for today’s people. According to the story that is passed from one generation to the others by the ancestors, the division of the tribe (kabisu) took place at Tanjung Sasar (sasaru maneilo kataka ledi watu), when the stone bridge that connected the island of Sumba to Flores Island was firstly broken down.

From a sacred jug to a sacred drum

Wulla Poddu begins with semedhi (fasting) prayer of the Rato (religious leaders from every kabisu), especially those involved in Wulla Poddu. Meanwhile, a month before D-day, an official an-nouncement regarding the month of purification has been commu-nicated to all citizens. During Wulla Poddu, all activities should be stopped temporarily. Any violation of the customary norms will result in the application of sanctions or a direct warning from the Rato.

The calculation of time or month can only be done by the elderly (Rato-Rato). The Rato is the one who determines when and where the ceremony begins and ends. The determination of the holy month is not based on the AD calendar, but based on the traditional calculation that refers to the natural and celestial phenomena, es-pecially the moon. Every new moon is marked by a stone or pecan throwing calculations that have been counted and taken as many as 12 pieces.

After the first day of the holy month that is marked by the transfer of Kaleku bag to Rato Rumata, the ritual is continued with Tubba Ruta ceremony (grass-throwing) on the second day. Tubba Ruta ceremony took place in a small hole (Kareka Bisa) located about 5 km from the city of Waikabubak. These activities include the cleaning of the hole and Dinga Leba (a sacred jug) filled with sacred water from sacred spring of Waikasa. The water in this jug will predict the harvest that will be achieved this year. If the water overflowed the jug, it means that the harvest will be abundant. If the water in the jug is not full, then the villagers must work harder to get an abundant harvest.

In the afternoon on the second day, Kaleisuna ceremony is held. It is the delivery of the invitation by Rato Ina Ama to other Rato who lived in Kampung Tambera, to perform the ceremony of Tauna Marapu (i.e. traditional discussion forum to discuss the prepara-tion of Wulla Poddu). Tauna Marapu ceremony is held in a sacred garden called Kaliwu Dima, led by Rato Rumata as the highest indigenous leader.

In this Tauna Marapu ritual, when a deal has been reached, then Rato Rumata leads a worship ceremony to the ancestors, which is marked by the slaughter of six chickens presented by the six kabisu. When the chickens had been cooked, the intestine will be taken out so that the shape of the intestine can be seen. If it is not smooth or has a particular sign, it is implying that the kabisu who presented that chicken will have problems in the harvest. Conversely, if the

chicken intestine is smooth, then the kabisu who present it will receive a good harvest. The ceremony is followed by the ritual of Padedalana or the announcement of Wulla Poddu implementation that is shouted in a chain from house to house, so that the villagers can prepare themselves to welcome the holy month.

The next day, Pogo Mawo or cut the protecting tree ceremony is held. This tree must be a tree that has four stacked branches. After the cut, this tree is planted without the roots in a stone pit in the middle of Tambera village. This tree will certainly dry up, both leaf and stem, due to be planted without roots. However, the dry leaves will be a sign. If the leaves fell off before the coming of Wulla Poddu in the following year, it means that the prosperity will last less than a year. So that the villagers should anticipate crop shortages, and have to work harder. This ceremony is accompanied by a top game between Kabisu Ana Wara and Kabisu Wee Lowo. If the winner is Anawara tribe, then the villagers of Tambera and Loli will enjoy the abundant harvest. Conversely, if Wee Lowo tribe who wins, the abundant harvest will reach a wider area.

The next day, the ritual of Mu'u Luwa (eating sweet potatoes) is held. It is a consultation between kabisu to determine the location of the wulla poddu celebration whether inside the house (kabukuta) or in the yard, while giving offerings to the gods so that wulla poddu runs smoothly.

Mu'u Luwa is important to set, because the venue is closely related to conditions of food availability. If it is held in the yard, it will require more food stocks, because there will be more people who attend the ceremony.

The next day is the turn to hold Tobba Wanno ritual. It is the expulsion of evil spirits in the village and villagers’ residences, which is began with the development of lada tala (gong holder). Then the ritual is continued with the beatings of ubbu (a hundred of years drum) and Talla or sacred gong. The beating of gongs and drums marked the coming of the holy month.

Toba Wanno is an interesting ritual for that night rituals are car-ried out in the darkness. A light is forbidden in this ceremony. The ceremony that involves the throwing of coconut shell to thrown in a dark night in order to predict whether or not the thrower will get good result in a boar hunting.

Various ritual ceremonies take place every night, until the peak of Wulla Poddu on day 27. They include Woleka Lakawa (i.e. an event which presents kids’ songs “yo Kaboni” and dances accompaniment by gongs in a night without a light) for several nights, Rega Kulla that is Rato Tambera gathered in the great House yard (Uma Rato) waiting to welcome the arrival of Rato Bondo Maroto who come to perform the ritual of Dudiki Ina Rome (i.e. Rato’s visit the other villages).

The next ceremony is Sangga Kulla, namely the Rato of Bondo

Maroto and Tambera together go to the sacred cave of Karaka Bisa to see the water in the sacred jug of Ding Leba. It is then continued with the Wolla Kawuku ceremony. In this ceremony Rato Bondo Maroto receives kawuku submitted by Rato Rumata Tambera. The celebration describes about the ancestral trip from the sky down to earth and the kamuri mourning through poetry reading full of wailing (42 traditional verses).

Three days after Wolla Kawuku, there will be Bai Wesa Karua ceremony, the celebration of holy rice preceded by mashing the sa-cred rice (bai wesa Karua). The festival is accompanied by the beat-ing of gongs and dancing. The ritual of rice mashing is conducted by two to five men who are specially appointed. Rice is pounded using a covered cloth and the process should not be seen. Most of the rice will be eaten that night and the rest is kept for Kalanga Lado, which is the peak ritual of Wulla Poddu.

The next night, Wolla Wesa Kapai ceremony is conducted. It consists of two core rituals and rites of Pogo Weri and oke Wee Maringi. It is the cutting of the young coconut leaves (pogo weri) and the bucket of holy water (oke wee maringi), followed by the beating of gongs and dancing.

Early morning the next day is the beginning of the peak event Kalango Lado, which is opened with a dance performance on the natara podu (the yard in front of Rato’s house). Around 7 am, most of the Rato went to other villages to close the big ceremony of Wulla Poddu.

Furthermore at around 12 pm, Rato Wee Nogo enters natara padu wearing a costume made from the bark and the whole body is covered in soot, and carrying a braided horse. This costume repre-sents Koda Laiya or the first ancestor who came from across island to enter Sumba Island. Around 3 pm, all Rato gather, and after 6 pm then the ritual of hanging coconut leaves at the entrance (Weri Bina) is held. This ritual indicates that no one is allowed to come out until the ceremony is completed in the next morning.

In the evening peak of this event took place also the ritual of human birth process, which include the asking questions session, dances, and ended with the hitting of sacred drum at dawn, as a sign of the start of the prohibition to enter garden for 3 days (Dappa Deke oma ceremony).

After 3 days the prohibition to enter the garden is ended, and then the two men dressed in traditional clothing carried out a worshipping ritual in the fields. RatoTambera is divided into two groups. Group 1 walks into the camp of Watu Bolo and Rate Wana through the gardens and fields up to Wannoalua plantation farm and then yelled out "yemo!" as a sign of the end of Wulla Poddu. Similarly, the second groups, headed to Prai gege village through public streets while calling for the same word. During the trip of these two groups if there is a vehicle that ran from the front to pay the offering of betel leaves, areca nut or money. (Md / ik)

Wulla Poddu, Self Purification in a sacred month Holy Month for Marapu followers in Sumba

As one of the hotel which have a MICE market basis supporting with the largest convention facility at Denpasar area,

food and beverage is one of strong selling point which also become the biggest revenue for a hotel, especially for a hotel which sell a MICE facilities as well as Aston Denpasar Hotel &

Convention Center. Until now, the domination of domestic market on MICE sector at Aston Denpasar Hotel & Con-vention Center is quite high, both originating from Bali and the surrounding areas or from other metropolis cities such as Surabaya, Jakarta, yogya-karta, Bandung and another big city. Domestic markets are dominated by a Indonesian Citizen which most of them are Moslem. observe from the market composition above, then Aston Denpasar Hotel & Convention Center is com-mitted to providing halal food and beverages to customers,

instead the costumer don’t have to doubt the safety and halalness.

Form of Aston Denpasar Hotel & Conven-tion Center commitment are realized with the "Press Conference Aston Denpasar Hotel &

Convention Center as the first four star hotel in Denpasar are hallal certified from the MUI."

Halal Certification itself is not odd things in culinary world, considered halal food and beverages has become one of international cu-linary standard. And for Aston Denpasar Hotel & Convention Center, halal food is also one of the unique selling point, because the customer could enjoy the food and beverages with the the best taste and quality and they don’t have to doubt the safety and halalness. And get the MUI‘s Halal Certification is become of our own substantiation. Remind that at Denpasar and Bali area, there still a few restaurants or hotels which had the Halal certificate. Therefore Jempiring Restaurants represent Aston Den-pasar Hotel & Convention Center want to be a pioneer as a four star hotel with the restaurant with halal certification that serves dishes with the best taste and quality also assured for halalness. With the halal certificate from MUI is expected to increase public trust in quality of products and services of Aston Denpasar Hotel & Convention Center.

6 my indonesia 7bali destination

The three-star hotel which has the motto of “serv-ing with heart” is now in Bali. The Radiant Hotel & Spa offers various facilities and comforts that will

make tourists feel comfortable traveling on the island of Bali. Located on Jalan Puri grenceng, Tuban, Kuta, Badung has made this hotel occupies a strategic posi-tion, close to attractions and shopping facilities. So that tourists could easily undergo berliburnya activities, go shopping or enjoy the natural beauty, the island of the gods. “We are optimistic that we’re able to make tour-ists feel comfortable in our place. Staying here simply provides the guests with easier access to the beautiful beach of Kuta, due to the strategic location of our hotel, “said Nani, owner of The Radiant Hotel & Spa.

The hotel is not just simply as a place to stay, it’s also a place for rejuvenation where the guests can re-lieve fatigue and stress with spa services available. “We try to provide services that can make the guests feel comfortable during their stay in our hotel. This is ac-cording to our motto, “serving with heart, “she added. The presence of The Radiant Hotel & Spa is not merely to earn benefit or profit. There is a moral responsibil-ity that will be realized through the hotel. According to Nani, the hotel that was launched on 21 November 2010 is also trying to provide benefits to the economy of Bali. “With the presence of this hotel on the island of the gods, we are trying to help Bali to reduce unemploy-ment level. our employees are mostly local people of Bali, “she said. (*)

The Radiant Hotel Serving with heart

Bali Adventure Tours owners Nigel & ya-nie Mason receiveD an award for their ‘Elephant Safari Park and Lodge’ pre-

sented by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, in Jakarta.

The ‘CIPTA AWARD 2010’ is the first of its kind in Indonesia and was awarded to The Elephant Safari Park at Taro, Ubud, for being ‘The Best Management of an Environmentally Friendly Tourist Attraction’ in Indonesia, beating all com-

ers from throughout all other provinces of In-donesia. Aman Wana Resort on Moyo island, came in at second place in this category in the Private enterprise sector. A Rp. 25 million prize, as well as a trophy and certificate were formerly presented by the Min-ister Jero Wacik to Nigel and yanie in the Muti-ara Ballroom of the JW Marriot Hotel in Jakarta. The Elephant Safari Park Lodge also this week received a ‘Certificate of Excellence’ from the internet ‘Trip Advisor’. This is only awarded to companies that receive rave reports from people, who make comments on trip advisor praising the company. The Lodge received an overall 4½ star rating for 2010 from its guests on Trip Advisor. The Elephant Safari Park was also voted as ‘Bali’s No 1 MUST SEE Attraction’ and is now recognized as one of the most unique Elephant Park in the world with numerous International VIPs amongst its customers. Recently Ju-lia Roberts and Tony Blair visited with their families and this week saws Internationally re-nowned designer Calvin Klein was at the park. Congratulation for ELEPHANT SAFARI PARK & LoDgE, Taro, Bali!(*)

Top Awards to The Elephant Safari Park & Lodge, Taro, Bali

Bali once again becomes a host for a world music concert. This time, the legendary heavy metal band from England IRoN MAIDEN will come in a

series of THE FINAL FRoNTIER WoRLD ToUR 2011. This is the first time for Iron Maiden to visit Indonesia, especially Bali.

The series of tours in Indonesia is scheduled to be held only in two major cities namely, Jakarta on Febru-ary 17 and Bali on February 20, 2011 at the Lotus Pond, garuda Wisnu Kencana (gWK) Jimbaran.

According to Tommy Pratama from original Pro-duction, this is the first time they bring Iron Maiden to Indonesia. Previously original Production has brought several world’s top bands such as Deep Purple, Mega-deth, and Toto. “This is the right moment to show the world that we are also capable and could be a good organizer,” said Tommy.

"People who will come to the concert will not only from Indonesia but also from Singapore, Malaysia, Aus-tralia, and Brazil," Tommy said in the press conference at the Hard Rock Café Bali (24/11).

Meanwhile, regarding the selection of Lotus Pond garuda Wisnu Kencana (gWK) as the concert venue, it is the request from Iron Maiden own personnel who have seen the Lotus Pond website. The Lotus Pond was also chosen by Deep Purple for their concert in Bali, April 2004. "All Iron Maiden personnel really like this venue, and even according to them a place as beautiful as the Lotus Pond can be used as the loca-tion of world music events on a regular basis due to its beauty and exoticism," says Tommy.

Indonesia through the Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows the world that post Merapi eruption yogyakarta is open for tour-

ists from around the world. This was stated by the Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik in the closing of Wisdom 2010 at the Univer-sity of gajah Mada (UgM).

Local Wisdom

on that occasion, Jero Wacik thanked the participants of Wisdom 2010, especially the foreign delegates who had come to yogya-karta. Their arrival will show the world that yogyakarta is safe to visit. It also shows a form of solidarity. "Solidarity is a part of local wisdom. Although yogyakarta is not perfectly clean from the debris, but you still can come," he said. our local wisdom can also be shown by giving awards to meritorious people. No matter how simple or small it is, local wisdom should be continuously done. Throwing critics without reasons is not part of local wisdom. Thus, the politics in Indonesia is but mutually reinforcing. Let us make art and culture as a media to create unity in diversity.

In a press conference after the closing of Wisdom 2010, Jero said that he invited the United Nations World Tourism organization (UNTWo) and UNESCo to visit Borobudur Temple. This invitation aims at telling the inter-national society that yogyakarta is safe to visit, and Borobudur Temple as UNESCo Heritage Site has been re-opened.

Jero also said that to attract tourists, he would bring international events to yogyakarta. Therefore MICE tourism will be encouraged. "I'm making a list, and there will be dozens of events. There are two ASEAN summit meet-

ings and followed by ministerial meetings," he explained.

Mental Resilience of YogyakartaAccording to Jero, this time is different from

yogyakarta earthquake in 2006 when there were a lot of hotels and resorts cracked and ruined. Post Merapi eruption, tourism sector in yogyakarta recovered faster than after the earthquake in 2006, although tourist attrac-tion in Cangkringan and Kaliurang, which are pretty close to Merapi has not yet fully recovered.

Jero Wacik invited Marcio Favilla, Executive Director of UNWTo to visit Borobudur temple in Magelang so that he could directly see the

condition of the temple and tourism sector in yogyakarta and then spread what he have seen to international public.

Marcio Favilla stated that the condition of Indonesia and especially yogyakarta and its surroundings are safe and ready to be visited by tourists. He promised to inform this to international public. "It’s ready to be visited by tourists from any countries," Favilla said dur-ing a visit to Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java.

Jero Wacik in addition to attending the clos-ing of the International Conference on Local Wisdom Inspiring global Solutions, at gMU, also visited Borobudur Temple, Prambanan, and other tourist attractions in yogyakarta.

Jero Wacik :Please Do Visit Yogyakarta

ASEAN Committee of Permanent Repre-sentatives (CPR) or the ASEAN Ambas-sador that is based in Jakarta is formed

in order to strengthen cooperation at ASEAN level. This is following the election of Indonesia as Chairman of the ASEAN 2011.

Some of the MICE (Meeting Incentive Convention & Exhibition) agenda are going to be held in Indonesia in 2011. ASEAN Sum-mit Meeting is going to be held in Jakarta in April, and East Asia or ASEAN plus Meeting in october 2011 in Bali.

This was explained by the Minister of Cul-ture and Tourism, Jero Wacik when receiving eight ASEAN Committee of Permanent Repre-sentatives (CPR) or ASEAN Ambassadors in gedung Sapta Pesona Jakarta, on Thursday (18/11).

In addition, there are 23 ministerial meeting and 97 SOM (Senior Official Meeting / director-general level) in 2011. "Before that there will be a preliminary meeting held to complement the ministerial meeting and the," said the Min-ister. The event organizers will be spread to all parts of Indonesia to create evenly distribu-

tion of tourist visit. Wacik also explained that until now all ASEAN member countries have opened representative offices in Jakarta, led by the ambassador of each country. ASEAN Representative for Indonesia that is based in Jakarta was officially established by the President of the Republic of Indonesia through Presidential Regulation and collectively all permanent representatives of the ASEAN countries to be part of ASEAN Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) / ASEAN ambassador) who has the duty and obligation as stated in the ASEAN charter.

According to Wacik, Indonesia has the op-portunity to develop MICE (Meeting Incentive Convention and Exhibition) tourism after elect-ed as the chairman of ASEAN. Therefore, he specifically requested the local governments in some cities that have been prepared with the MICE industry to get ready to welcome such activities.

"We've agreed to spread the implementa-tion of these events to all the cities that have prepared to host MICE events," he said.

The functions and duties of ASEAN ambas-sador are working to support ASEAN's com-

munity councils and sectoral agencies at the ministerial level. The ambassadors also act as a liaison to the Secretary general of ASEAN and ASEAN Secretariat in all areas relevant to their duties as well as facilitate cooperation between ASEAN and its external partners, and perform other functions as may be determined by the coordination council of ASEAN.

Ngurah Swajaya Indonesian Permanent Representative, who will become chairman of ASEAN 2011, said that the number of ASEAN meetings continues to increase every year. "Before ASEAN charter exists in around 2008, there were only 40 ASEAN meetings. After the ASEAN Charter the number increased to 450 and until the end of 2010 ASEAN have had 460 meetings," he said.

In addition to meetings, Ngurah said Indonesia will become a base for the ASEAN Standing Committee and the office is located in Indonesia. "In the near future, we’ll imme-diately establish diplomatic representative for China, Japan and the United States to ASEAN based in Indonesia. In the future, ASEAN part-ner countries are also going to follow similar steps," said Ngurah. Currently there are 44 countries which have opened representatives in Indonesia and have been accredited as well.

The members of ASEAN Committee of Permanent Representative (CPR) include Ngurah Swajaya as permanent representa-tive of Indonesia and also chairman of CPR, Pengiran Basmillah Pengiran Haji Abbas as a representative of Brunei Darussalam, Kan Pharidh from Cambodia, Prasith Sayasith as representative of Laos, Dato 'Hsu King Bee as the representative of Malaysia , U Nyan Lynn as the representative of Myanmar, Lim Thuan Kuan as representative of Singapore, Manasvi Srisodapol as representative of Thailand and Vu Dang Dung permanent representative of Vietnam. The position of Philippines repre-sentative is currently vacant and temporarily handled by Teresita C. Daza, Philippine deputy permanent representative to ASEAN.

Indonesia to become ASEANActivity Center in 2011

The Address Hotels + Resorts, a lead-ing hotel brand in Dubai and Europe is expanding its first business in Asia by

signing an operational management contract of The Address The Terrace Hotel Bali that took place at Pecatu Indah that is owned by PT Teras Nirwana Bali.

Marc Dardenne, CEo of The Address Hotels + Resorts stated that a management contract to operate the The Terrace-Bali is marking a new step of evolution of this hotel brand in

Asia. Experience in managing five star hotels in Dubai, Mo-rocco and France has made The Address Hotels + Resorts con-fident to operate the hotel with the commit-ment to provide real service to the guests. The Address Hotels + Resorts is a premium brand of five-star hotel which is under the Emaar Hospital-ity group based in Dubai.

"Indonesia is one of the markets that continues to grow for

The Address Hotels + Resorts, I'm sure The Address The Terrace-Bali is perfect and suit-able to the image of our hotel, its location that is near the beach offers exceptional panoramic view for guests, later we will add with a supe-rior standard of service, "he said at the Signing of The Management Agreement of The Address The Terrace-Bali.

President Director of PT Nirwana Teras Bali Haryono Eddyarto said that he is very pleased

and honored by this cooperation since this is the first cooperation in Asia.

"It is expected that the unique approach of The Address in service and quality, will bring a new dimension for visitors from around the world to enjoy the exoticism Bali with in a more comfortable atmosphere, so that tourist visit will continue to rise and bring a positive impact on tourism industry in Bali," said Hary.

The construction of the hotel has been start-ed in the area of Pecatu Indah Resort and will start operating in 2012. The hotel will consist of 199 rooms and each room will have a balcony overlooking the sea.

He added that there will be 100 rooms in the form of Condotel which can be bought and owned by the consumer. The other 99 rooms will be hotel units. However, all rooms will be under the management of The Address Hotels + Resorts, which is part of Emaar Hospitality group. In the next ten years, the expansion of this hotel is planning to reach the countries in the Middle East, South Africa, Asia, Europe, and America.

He is quite optimistic to gain profit within two to three years given its broad market ranging from local to overseas communities that come from Singapore, Hong Kong, and especially the Middle East and Europe.

The Address Hotels + Resortsexpanding to Bali

Halal Certified from MUI toAston Denpasar Hotel & Convention Center

IRON MAIDENLive Concert in Bali

Thematic tour packages are more competitive and believed to increase the number of tourist visits to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Thus, the Ministry of

Tourism of Indonesia through the Directorate general of Tourism Destination Development facilitates tourism practitioners in NTT to develop thematic tour packages. The preparation of this package is tailored to the eco-nomic development of the global market.

Head of Business Diversification for Directorate Gen-eral of Tourism Destination Development, Suhaini Lubis, said this in a workshop facilitation of thematic tour pack-ages in Kupang (NTT). Around 40 people participated in the workshop. They consisted of tourism practitioners, airlines and tour and travels operators.

Moreover Lubis explained that the aim of the workshop is to facilitate tourism practitioners in NTT to design com-petitive tour packages. Through such packages, tourist visit to NTT is expected to increase. "The designing of this package is applied in all provinces in Indonesia, and in NTT in 2010 considering that it is one of the areas rich in tourism potentials, including nature tourism, cultural and maritime," said Lubis.

According to Lubis, tour packages sold to tourists visit-ing Indonesia now is considered to be quite expensive. Therefore, he said, tourists prefer to visit the country close to their home country than to visit Indonesia. Most packages are designed for group while many tour-ists come individually. "Tourists come not just to enjoy the beautiful panorama, many of them coming to find information about the existence of these attractions. Therefore, the preparation of thematic package is very important," said Lubis.

Head of NTT Tourism Bureau, Abraham Klakik has scheduled, in 2011, the NTT Culture and Tourism Bureau to develop marine tourism in West Manggarai regency, Ngada regency, Alor and Kupang regency. These four regencies have quite interesting marine tourism poten-tials. Thus the infrastructures in the regencies require improvements.

According to Klakik, tourism sector is one of the main sources of local revenue. He asked all the components to support the development of tourism through promo-tions so that NTT will be known widely, which is resulted in the increase of tourist visit to the province.

Local government of Jayapura Regency, Papua Province, continues to make improvement on Lake Sentani as part of the efforts to achieve progress

and to increase the social welfare of the local people. The efforts include the development and improvement of public facilities.

A number of facilities that are under construction in-clude container port in the District of Depapre, expansion of Sentani Airport, sports facilities, industrial areas, road improvements, as well as other supporting facilities such as hotels.

Jayapura Regent Habel Melkias Suwae said that the local government expects that in the next few years Sen-tani could be the ground zero for anyone visiting Papua. Jayapura Regency government has been carrying out and developing two major tourist attractions for three years in a row, namely Lake Sentani Festival and gravel-ing tourism village Tablanusu.

"Including in the development are Bukisi Beach, and historic places like Nawa Datung cooperative monument, monument heritage of Japanese Army in Nimboran dis-trict, Mac Atur and other tourism potentials," he said.

The local government also provides space for private parties join together to realize the plan of the government to make Sentani as destination city and realize the vision of Jayapura Regency government is making an indepen-dent society in meeting basic needs.

"But we must be selective in giving permission to entrepreneurs who want to invest in this area. one the serious one will be allowed. It’s better to have one seri-ous investor instead of many but not serious, "he said.

Tourism Practitioners in NTTto design Thematic Packages

Lake Sentani tomake improvements

visit BOROBUDUR

A vast Mahayana Budhhist monument in the form of a pyramid-shaped mandala, it was built in the heartJ ava around 800 AD by the Sailendra dynasty and abandoned shortly after completion. It covers an area of al-most one and half hectares, with a central dome almost 35 meters above the base. It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric sguare terraces, then three circuler platforms of 72 openwork stupas and, at the top, a monumental stupa. The walss and balustrades are decorated with 1,400 bas- reliefs and 432 statues of Buddha. (source : UNESCo )

The shapes of Borobudur have full of philosophical ornaments which sym-bolizing the unity in diversity of path to reach the unlimate aim of life. With all its long history and natural surroundings, Borobudur is undeniably a cultural masterpiece. Borobudur is amonument like no other, itcontains of a series of concentric terrace of decreasing size that rise like steps to a central peak. It has not roof, no vault, no cnamber; its masonary was laid without mortar. Thus Basic simplicity of form is counterbalanced by extraordinary rich and complex decoration. Most striking of all, perhaps, are the beautiful bas-relief, in all some 1400 carved stone panels covering a total area of about 1900 square meter, with another 600 squareme-ters of decorative carving surroundings. Beside being the symbol of the Buddhism, Borobudur is also a replice of the universe. Accourding the Buddhist cosmology, the universe is divided into three major devisors, Ka-madhatu, Rupadhatu, and Arupadhatu. Khamadhatu is the phenomenal world for the common people. The base of the Borobudur represents this phenomenal world. on the original base area 160 relief’s depicting scenes of karmawibangga, the law of cause and effect.

The Borobudur sanctuary is one of the jewels of the world cultural heritage.

PASOLA FESTIVAL

2014

visit

J. P. PANDANGO, S. Pd, M.SiRegent of West Sumba

Lamboya, Wanokaka and Gaura Village on February and March 2011

SUMBA, the Land of Marapu, the Paradise of Sandelwood

9visit indonesia

Its distinct aura seems to bring the soul back to the life several centuries ago, the civilization before the Majapahit Kingdom. A black stone gate stands grandly at the end of a long road just like

a reception area for visitors who want to enter the site of Ratu Boko Temple. Purportedly, the legend of Roro Jonggrang and Bandung Bandawasa is associated with this temple site, because Roro Jong-grang was the daughter of King Boko, the ruler of the kingdom. However, there are many stories about the history of Keraton Ratu Boko (Ratu Boko Palace) that has not been revealed until now.

A temple on a hill

Located on a green hill, Ratu Boko Temple offers stunning views of yogyakarta and Prambanan Temple with Mount Merapi in the background. The breeze blowing on the hill has increased the mysti-cal atmosphere of this temple.

Ratu Boko Palace is an imposing building that was built during the reign of Rakai Panangkaran, one of the descendants of Syailen-dra dynasty. The palace was originally named Abhayagiri Vihara (meaning monastery on a peaceful hill) and was built for seclusion and to focus on spiritual life.

Located 196 meters above sea level, covering an area of 250,000 m2, the palace is divided into four sections, namely central, west, southeast, and east. The middle part consists of the main gate, a field, Pembakaran Temple, a pond, berumpak stone, and Paseban. Meanwhile, the southeast part includes a hall, three temples, a pond, and Keputren complex (i.e. an area for the princess). The cave complex, the stupa of Buddha, and a pond are located in the east section, while the western part consist only the hills.

The temple is about 20 km from the city of yogyakarta. Ratu Boko Temple or also known by the name of Ratu Boko Palace is offering something different from other temples. The first impression enter-ing the temple area is a sense of peaceful for it is situated on a hill with its serenity and cool weather.

A quiet girl The first part of the temple that can be seen when we enter the

temple area is the gate. The first temple complex consists of 3 gates adjacent to each other, stretching from north to south. The gate in the middle is the largest one and is the main gate flanked by two other gates called gerbang pengapit. Then down the first gate, there is a second gate that is not far pembakaran temple.

Considering the construction of the temple, Ratu Boko Temple is

quite different from Borobudur and Prambanan Temple. This temple represents itself more as a place for living. There are not any piles of stones like those found in other temples. A closer look to the temple gives the impression of romantic and mystical.

Although the temple was built by a Buddhist, this palace has

Hindu elements. It can be seen from presence of Lingga and yoni, ganesha statues, and gold plate with "om Rudra ya namah swaha" as a form of worship of the god Rudra (another name for god

Shiva) written on it. The existence of Hindu elements has proven the existence of religious tolerance that is reflected in architectural works. Indeed, at that time Rakai Panangkaran who was a follower of Buddhism lived side by side with the followers of Hinduism.

Historically, this site was first discovered by a Dutch nationality,

Van Boeckholtz, in 1890. The Indonesian government carried out the restoration in the area of Ratu Boko Temple around the year of 1952. (Bowo)

Ratu Boko Temple, a Romantic Beauty

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history & art

Its eyes looking blankly with a slightly open mouth that cannot really said of forming a smile. The square face looks flat though not scary. The lines on the face imply wisdom. No, "the figure" de-

scribed above, is not "someone". It is not someone that is described above, but Ritual Mask of Sumba Island.

A Mask Kingdom at Simpang Siur DenpasarThe flat-faced mask of Sumba Island is displayed together with

thousands of other masks at d'Topeng Kingdom Indonesian Heritage Art Museum. Most of them are the personal collection of Reno and Elly Halsamere.

The entrance to the d’Topeng Kingdom is a fine art handicraft center in the basement of a three-storey building. The handicraft centre presents a variety of traditional crafts and souvenirs from all over Indonesia starting from a variety of puppets to painting made of bark.

Then where is the mask museum? Just a few steps to the second floor, and we will enter a "completely different" world. The world will we find there is a miniature of Indonesia, in the form of a valuable cultural heritage.

There are a few open spaces displaying dif-ferent regions, each of which is only separated by the wall. The important thing is not the space, but the content of each space.

In “Bali Room” for example, we will be amazed by the tens of Balinese masks that show not only the variety of expression, but also the various meanings of human philosophy. Here we can see the masks of Ksatria (Knights), Jauk, Malen, Calon Arang, Barong Landung, Telek, Leak, and so forth. Similarly, in Central Java Room, we can find the masks of the knight, Buto Terong, giant masks, Bima, Punakawan, and others. In other rooms there are Budot mask from Kalimantan, a large mask from New guinea, the mask from Sumatra, and hundreds of various facial expressions that can make visitors smile, or even contemplate.

The Types and Functions of the Face Cover

According to the history, a mask has been existing since the period of Paleolithic or about 30,000 years ago.

Mask or "kedok" or known in Balinese language as tapel is used to cover part or even the entire face. The typical materials used for making masks are wood, bark, other parts of the tree, gold, paper, clay, pottery, and many more. In general, masks depict human faces, animals or other creatures. By wearing this mask is expected to re-

flect the identity depicted. Expression of a mask could reflect what’s hidden inside the heart of the person wearing it. Moreover, the mask expression not only shows a certain character, but also the history that underlies the creation of certain character whether it is during the colonialism, an outbreak, and so forth.

When a mask is worn on stage, it generally does not stand alone, but rather related to the performing arts, like dance or drama (the-ater). It could also be worn in a traditional ceremony, like commonly held in central and eastern part of Indonesia.

Well, in this traditional ceremony, the mask is always adjusted to the form of clothing or a costume that can depict the character and nature of the figure who wore the masks more perfectly.

"once in a kingdom in Jerusalem, a king al-ways appeared wearing a mask. Apparently, this was because the king was suffering from leprosy all over his face and body. At that time, leprosy disease was considered as a curse. So the king always wore a mask so that others or the public did not know that he suffered from leprosy, and the royal authority would not fall in the public eye, "said Reno Halsemer, the King of Masks, the owner of this museum.

The same thing happened in Indonesia, too. In gilimanuk for example, people found a corpse oval-shaped mask that looked like a leaf. These objects are thought to originate from 1900 - 2100 years ago. A corpse cover mask which is still in its good condition was also found in Makasar and East Java. This mask has artistic value, because it describes the death in a naturalistic description. Although there wasn’t any portrait or photograph that can describe someone's face as the original, the mask can give a picture of the facial expressions of people who died.

Even once there was also a mask (face cover) made of gold in the prehistoric era, which means eternity. The selec-tion of gold as a mask material because gold is considered as the most suitable material, which does not change over time even though it is buried under the soil. In addition, gold also showed a high social status of the dead man.

The purpose of the use of this golden mask is that: even though the body of the deceased was decayed, but by wearing the gold mask, is expected the face of people who died will remain undam-aged. Thus, if necessary, the spirit of the people wearing the gold mask was still there and can be called at any time. Want to try? (Md/Igo)

The rhythm of gongs and drums that are played rhythmically accompanied the traditional singing of kelong. It signifies the presence of two pairs of men who will fight in the battle arena.

With their upper body is open, and woven Manggarai cloth wrapped around their waist the men began to dance and attack each other.

More than just a showing off of courage

The scene above is the opening of Caci Dance, which is a typical traditional dance of NTT. It is a very heroic and thrilling dance. Caci dance or a war dance is still well maintained by the young people of Manggarai. In Manggarai (a district in western island of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara), Caci dance is a man to man dance.

In Caci there will be one side who beats (paki) his opponent by using a larik (whip) or a rope made of dry buffalo skin and one side

who will repulse the attack (ta'ang) using Nggiling a (shield, also made of buffalo leather) and bow made of bam-boo. Beating is conducted in turn.

Caci dance can be freely interpreted as an agility test on one on one basis. It is usually only performed in special events, such as penti or hang woja cer-emony (harvest thanksgiving), welcom-ing guests of honor or other traditional ceremonies, such as Paca wina (belis). Usually, the combat is held between the villages. For the Manggarai, Caci performance is a big party where the organizing village butchers several buffaloes and then serves it to the par-ticipants or anyone else who watched the combat, for free.

Caci dance was originally played by the war fighters to celebrate and commemorate the war. Today, Caci dance is performed to enliven the special events whether they are related to tradition or not, such as harvest thanksgiving, priestly ordination, or the

customs and state reception.

Repentance

In Manggarai culture, Caci dance is the symbol of people’s repen-tance in life. The name of Caci itself came from two words namely "Ca" meaning one and "Ci" means test. So, Caci means one on one test to prove who is right and wrong. Not all Manggarai men are eligible to become participants of Caci dance. They have to be skill-ful at hitting the opponent, skillfully fend off attacks, dancing flexibly, singing melodious songs, and having athletic body.

The show is opened with Danding dance or so-called Tandak Manggarai. This dance is played by women and men who formed

a circle. The movement of the dancers is like vera or Sanda Lima dance. Usually the dancers sang the song with a lyric that pumping up the spirit of the players during the game. Before the fight, Caci players will warm up the muscles. Each player moves their body in horse-like movements.

While dancing a traditional singing, Caci player challenge his op-ponent. Kelong or Traditional Song accompanying Caci dance event could be from a local group or from outside the village of Wolom-boro. Kelong should not be sang in any place, because the song is intended to summon the souls of people who have died or ances-tors who have been long dead to be present and watch together Caci attraction. once Kelong has been sung by a certain group, Caci dance should be performed on that day. Caci dance cannot be performed before the singing of Kelong.

Each group consists of eight men. Each person will get his turn to fight. The attack could start by acting as a batter and on another occasion to be repellent. The attacker would be quickly stamped his whip to the opponent's body. The opponent will ward off the attack. The whip will leave red line or thin elongated wounds on the body hit. These wounds have proven that the attacker has successfully launched his attack. All the players are at risk of being hit by the whip.

Caci contains the meaning of heroism and courage. However, in Caci, courage should not necessarily be shown through violence. It can be shown by the softness of artistic movements in Caci dance. Caci dance is accompanied by the sound of drums and gongs and chanting supporters.

A participant who gets his turn to hit doesn’t necessarily get his turn to fend off. His position can be replaced by another player. The opponent usually will not protest it. Here we see another aspect of the willingness to make sacrifices. Everything is lived in an atmo-sphere full of familiarity and togetherness.

Body parts which can be hit include the area above the belly but-ton up to the face. A caci dancer is considered to be lost when the whip hits the face and left a scar or blood. If this happens then the dancer in question should be dismissed.

Caci Dance, Masculinity of Manggarai People

Reno and Elly Halsemer is a couple who love art and culture. Their collection consist not only hundreds of masks from all over Indonesia, but also a collection of

art objects from the time of Indonesian kingdoms.

"Our first interest in antiques like the mask was started 20 years ago. I love art since I was a kid, and then I start collecting painting when I become adult for I love the art of painting very much. My love for other forms of art grown from the painting for Indonesia is very rich in culture. Indonesian culture is very diverse and unique that cannot be found in other countries. This diversity in turn leads to a high level of art. Just like a mask, which later on I realized it could produce certain energy. It’s not mystical energy or power, but more about the depth of meaning and philosophy of a mask which is very amazing, "said Reno who has written a book about the marginalized painter Kumpul Suyatno.

According to Reno, a mask has a lot of meanings start-ing from the human character, the natural condition when the mask is created, animal characters that can sometimes be found in humans, and also a sense of resistance against something.

"Mask is also a means of communication. A punakawan (mask of clown-servants) mask for example, it can be the same character in different regions. However, characteristics might be different, in accordance with nature and the time when the mask was created. The mask function is not only for decoration or dancing. In Lampung, for instance, there is a ceremony carried out after the harvest time. This ceremony is performed by wearing a mask, in order to resist pests or evil influences. There is also a mask of gold and silver from Majapahit period, to cover the face of the deceased king, "said the owner and designer of t-shirts with a brand d'Topeng made of certified non-chemical materials.

D'Topeng Kingdom was founded with the aim of educating the public about the richness of Indonesian culture, and not just a mask. "So we call this place as the Indonesian Heritage Art Museum, which is a one-stop edutainment for the commu-nity in Indonesia and abroad. The existence of handicraft cen-ter here also allows visitors to get souvenirs that have value and function of education, "he said. D’Topeng also provides a convention hall on the top floor of Grha d'Topeng. (*)

Thousands of Faces in d’Topeng Kingdom Museum

Reno Halsemer,a Man behind the Masks…

3 Moral Movementsfrom the Regent

15events14 executive

woman

news

He is often called by the name Umbu Bin-tang. Tall figure, proportionate stature, and a straightforward speaking style

have characterized Drs. Sappi Umbu Pateduk, Central Sumba Regent. The way he commu-nicates his thoughts suggests that the regent is a public servant who not only sit behind a desk. "I want the people of Central Sumba to become more independent, and don’t be proud to be poor!" He said. L'Ultimo Paradiso had the opportunity to interview him some time ago at his office.

Ultimo Paradiso (UP): Your statement above, do you suggest that the people you lead are not independent?

Umbu Regent Star (BB): yes, but we actu-ally have great potentials in this regency. They include nature potentials and human resourc-es. Food security has become my goal. Why? Because Central Sumba has fertile land, and as long as we seriously work on and cultivate it, food security can be achieved. Thus, there are no people in this regency queuing for raskin (i.e. special rice distributed for poor peo-ple). I also very concern on the fact that some staple crops such as rice, chilies, and onions sold in the markets here, are brought from Bima or Lombok. In fact, if we want to work on our own land, we do not need to buy! We can even distribute our products to other regions.

UP: We heard that you've got an interesting program, which was announced recently dur-ing the commemoration of Youth Pledge Day?

BB: yes, I do have launched the Three Moral Movement. First is the Movement Back into the farm. Second is the retrenchment movement, and third is the secured village Movement. The launching of this three-move-

ment functions as a form of moral commitment of the government so that people are aware of farm life as a farmer and then return to work in the farm, be aware of healthy living and work together to maintain security so people’s businesses can be run in safe and peaceful atmosphere.

UP: Can be explain one by one regarding the reason you launched the moral move-ment?

BB: Three Moral Movements reminds each individual within the community in Central Sumba to self-contemplate on where they actually rely their life. As a farmer certainly the kitchen is the farm. Therefore, society must re-do the farm, preparing the land to enter the planting season this year.

The same condition applies to civil servants who must be aware that everyday they must go to work for it is their source of income for living. Instead of being forced to come to the office or being afraid of the boss, civil servants should do it in a full consciousness that they are serving the country. Therefore they have to come to the office everyday and work to give the best service to the community.

UP: As for the farmers, is there any assis-tance from the government, especially for the farmers who do not have their own fields?

BB: Each farmer gets half acres of free of charge-land to be maintained. This policy applies to all districts. The government has handed over a tractor in all the districts includ-ing the operators. In addition, the government also distributes rice, maize and beans seeds for free. Therefore, there is no reason for the farmers to not planting the fields. Head of districts and village chiefs could warn the lazy farmers, because the government wants the farmers to be more prosperous.

UP: That's why you wish for the community of Central Sumba in particular to no longer queue for raskin?

BB: yes! Do not become beggars and keep queuing for raskin. We should be ashamed for we have ample land and potential to grow vari-

ous plants needed in life, but we abandoned them. We should have the determination to be out from poverty. Therefore, let us work in the plantation!

UP: Do you still work on the field?

BB: yes, of course I do still work on the field. I can be like now, getting this and that all because I’m a farmer. I went down to the field. our family has never bought rice for we take it from our own field.

UP: Regarding the retrenchment movement, does it suggest that the community in Central Sumba in particular, live uneconomically?

BB: yes, the people of Central Sumba live uneconomically. Take the traditional ceremo-nies such as funeral and belis as examples. Every ceremony held would require animals as the offerings. Sometimes, people who cannot afford to buy animals for offerings try to get a loan here and there just to meet the customs requirements. They even sell their rice fields and houses. Then how can they pay the debt? The debt remains unpaid even until they have children and grandchildren. Thus, poverty here can be passed on to our children and grand-children! This is just wrong and unfair! The government has no intention of eliminating the tradition, but instead we’re trying to preserve it. But it requires a commitment so that the cus-tom affairs will not lead people to poverty. This can be reached by live economically through reducing the number of animals given for the offering. Do not offer a lot number of animals while you don’t have the capability to do it just for the sake of maintaining the family’s pride. This takes a joint commitment of all compo-nents of Central Sumba people to sit together to discuss this issue.

UP: What about security issue? Is it true that the level of security in this region is low?

BB: It’s not like that. I ask the whole com-munity to actively creating secured condi-tion so that public economic enterprises run safely and smoothly. That does not mean the government would take over police’s duties, but instead we help the police to create a safe atmosphere in this area. (Pet)

Indonesian officials and Slovenia have signed the agreement on visa-free to holders of diplomatic and official passports, according to a letter from the

Embassy of Indonesia to Slovenia, located in Austria, on Monday.

It said that the signing was made by Director general of the United States and Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Retno LP Marsudi, and the Director general of International Law and Citizen Protection of Foreign Min-istry of Slovenia, Dr. Andraz Zidar, in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 26 November 2010.

Slovenia is not the first country with which Indonesia has cooperated free visas for diplomatic and official passport holders. So far, Indonesia has similar coopera-tion with Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Slovakia.

The signing is one result of bilateral consultations conducted by the two delegations in Ljubljana on 25-26 November 2010.

The Indonesian delegation was led by Director gen-eral of the United States and Europe, who was accom-panied by Indonesian Ambassador to Slovenia, based in Vienna, Ambassador I gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, Direc-tor of Western Europe and the Director of Law Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While the Slovenian delegation was led by the "State Secretary, Ambassador Dragoljuba Benina.

In 2012, Indonesia and Slovenia will commemorate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In 2011, Prime Minister of Slovenia is also planning a visit to Indonesia.

In the bilateral consultations, the two delegations agreed that the cooperation in economy is a priority of bilateral relations in which energy will be one focus of cooperation. So far, Indonesia is the only country export-ing coal to Slovenia. Every year Indonesia exports about 450,000 tonnes 'lignite' coals into Slovenia.

Both delegations also agreed that cooperation in the context of "people to people contact" also needs to be improved. In this regard, the Indonesian delega-tion encourages the students to use Darmasiswa and Indonesian Art and Culture Scholarship offered by the government of Indonesia.

Slovenia is a NATo member country, EU member states, one of the Schengen countries and one country that has adopted the Euro (Eurozone).

The New year is the day that marks the beginning of a new calendar year; the event is celebrated in some manner which is one of the best moments

to spend with friend and family spanning the transition of the year at midnight. To close 2010 and to welcome 2011, Aston at grand Kuta Hotel and Residence will hold countdown party with Fun, Fresh & Wet theme. Event venue will be at pool side with floating stage and start on 10 pm. Decoration and dress code is all about beach, pool, bare feet, colorful and ready to be wet. Countdown Fun, Fresh & Wet. For the entertainment, all guests will enjoy percussion, sexy dancer, hip–hop dance, fire dance and DJ performance.

Close 2010 With Countdown Fun, Fresh & Wet Party

Indonesia-Slovenia tosign free-visa agreement

The above sentence written in Bahasa Manado (local lan-guage of Manado) means "We met in Manado." So what does "Wanua Wenang" mean? It is the name used by the native of

Minahasa to refer to the city of Manado.

In mid December L'Ultimo Paradiso had an opportunity to visit the city of Manado in order to support the Bali Impressions Road-show to Manado. This program is pioneered by Bali Impressions and Lion Air in cooperation with tour and travel operators in the city of Manado as part of the attempts to boost tourist visits in both re-gions. We were warmly welcomed by the local agency Star Manado and taken to stay at the Sintesa Peninsula Hotel, one of the five-star hotels that is quite famous in Manado.

The road show introduced a range of facilities including promo-tional rates available on a number of hotels in Bali such as Alam Kul Kul Boutique Resort, Wina Holiday Villa, BKR Swiss Bel Hotel, Silq Private Residences Bali, Club Aqua, L'Ultimo Paradiso Magazine, Canada International Hai, Bali Impressions and Marariver Safari Lodge in gianyar.

As a gift to readers, L'Ultimo Paradiso presents articles on the beauty of the city of Manado just for you.

The object of intense competition

Manado is located in an area called Wanua Wenang. This area has existed since the 12th century and was built by Ruru Ares who was also titled Dotu Lolong Lasut and his descendants. In the 17th century (1623) Manado was used to replace the name of "wenang".

The name of Manado is taken from local language of Minahasa "Manarou" or "Manadou", which when translated into Indonesian language has the meaning of "far" (far = rou or dou). The word "rou" or "dou" referred to a place functioning as a port to exchange goods, or Fort Loji, because the central government was not in Mi-nahasa but on the island of Manado Tua (now Babontehu Palace).

The beauty and richness of agricultural products in Manado has always been popular even to foreign countries. The history has proven that Manado has been attracting foreigners since the 16th century. However, a deep historical impression that is recorded in the state documents is in the 17th century, precisely in the year 1623. In this year the Spanish built a fort on the mainland of Mina-hasa, especially Wanua Wenang.

Not long after the fort established, the area of Manado Tua was hit by an outbreak, so eventually the fort was moved to the main-land of Minahasa. Furthermore, it was the Dutch through VoC

trade union that ruled in Manado. In the year 1658, the VoC built a fort that was named De Nederlandsche Vatigkoid by the order of Governor Simon Cos. Inside the fort there was a Loji for VOC office (Pasar 45 shopping centre). Also in Manado, Prince Diponegoro had experienced exile in 1830.

The anniversary of Manado determined on July 14, 1623 was a momentum which packed three historic events at once. The 14th is taken from a heroic Red and White event on February 14, 1946, when the local youths of this region fought against the Dutch colo-nialism for the independence of Indonesia. July has been chosen for the juridical element of July 1919. It was the issuance of the governor-general Besluit on the establishment of gewest Manado as Staatgemeente. While 1623 was chosen because of its histori-cal element. It was the year when the City of Manado known and used in official papers. From that time until now that date continues to be celebrated by the people and government of Manado as the anniversary of Manado.

Based on the three key events, the July 14, 2010, Manado city celebrates its 387th anniversary.

Shopping or Diving?

Manado is famous for a number of interesting tourism objects. Its Natural attractions include Bunaken National Park, Bunaken Island, Siladen Island, Manado Tua Island, Mount Tumpa and tiered wa-terfall. Religious tourism includes the oude Kerk, or the old church of gMIM Sentrum Manado, and Ban Hing Kong Temple. Cultural and historical attractions found in the area are Batu Sumanti, Batu Bantik Batu Buaya, Batu Kuangang, the Dutch Veld Boog, the Monument of Tentara Sekutu (Allied Forces Monument), Waruga Dotulolong Lasut, Dutch cemetery and monument of Japan.

L'Ultimo Paradiso with the roadshows participants had the oppor-tunity to visit the Bunaken National Park. The group was departing from the Marina – Boulevard and sailing on a boat for about 40 minutes before arriving in Bunaken National Park.

Bunaken National Park is a park covering an area of 890.65 km ² and becomes one of main tourist destination in North Sulawesi. The park was established in 1991. It is located in the Coral Triangle and a habitat for 390 species of coral reefs, and also various species of fish, mollusks, reptiles and marine mammals. Bunaken National Park is the representative of Indonesia's marine ecosystems, includ-ing sea grass, coral reefs and coastal ecosystems.

97% of the park is marine habitat, while 3% of the remaining land, covering five islands: Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Naen and Siladen. In 2005, Indonesian registered this national park to be

included into the UNESCo World Heritage Site.

Shopping centers in the city of Manado were at first concentrated around Taman Kesatuan Bangsa (TKB) or Pasar'45. Along with the economic growth in the city of Manado, in the past few years, shop-ping tourism is showing a significant growth. Especially after the boulevard was inaugurated in 1993 and named for Pierre Tendean Road, or better known by Manado Boulevard.

The numbers of malls in the city is gradually increased, includ-ing new modern shopping mall Mega Mall Manado, Manado Town Square, Blue Banter City Walk, IT Center Manado, Bahu Mall and Mega Trade Center. Along this road there are also several hotels, restaurants and cafes offering a wide range of food and open until late at night. Manado typical souvenir Center can be found at Jalan BW Lapian. There are several souvenir shops that sell food, cloth-ing, and typical handicrafts from Manado / North Sulawesi.

For culinary tourism, Manado is a paradise. There are no foods which are not delicious in Manado. The local cuisines are very unique and it’s hard to find food with similar flavors and quality in other regions. Typical foods of the city of Manado include Tinutuan or commonly known as Manado porridge that consists of various vegetables. In addition there are also cakalang fufu (smoked tuna), roa fish, Paniki (cuisine made of the bat) and RW that is the cuisine made of dog meat, suckling pig (usually served at parties), Babi isi bulu (pork cooked with mixed spices typical of Manado and grilled inside a bamboo). There is also a special drink from Manado and the surrounding area called "saguer" which is a kind of wine taken from the palm trees.

other typical foods of Manado city is the yellow rice which taste and presentation are different from yellow rice in other areas. In ad-dition there are also grilled snapper head and Dabu-dabu - a typical condiment from Manado that is very popular. Dabu-dabu is made from a mixture of red chili, chili pepper, sliced red onion and diced fresh tomatoes and the last was given a mixture of soy sauce.

For a snack, Manado also has special food like pickles called gohu and red bean ice. gohu is made from papaya fruit slices dipped in a solution of vinegar, sugar, salt, ginger and chili. There was also a cake called lalampa (tuna filled in sticky rice and wrapped in banana leaf and then grilled), panada (a type of fried bread contains tuna and formed with a wrench at the edges), Apang, kolombeng, pancakes, biapong, and one that should not be missed is jaha rice made of glutinous rice mixed with coconut milk, ginger, onion, etc., and then inserted into the bamboo and then grilled. (Igo / md)

Torang Bakudapa jo di Wanua Wenang...

special thank’s to :

BIWA Christmas Brunchon Dee 4th in Anantara, Seminyak - Kuta, Baliwith accoustic music during the bruch by Tarik ( The Tenor Singer ) opened fashion show by Maddly - Madeline Beattie ( Australian Fashion Designer )

BIWA’s Christmas Brunch

Bulan Desember ini, kemeriahan petualangan kuliner di Kuta, semakin lengkap, dengan kehadiran restaurant yang sudah memiliki 22 cabang di Indonesia, Restaurant oenpao. Me-

nempati lokasi yang sangat strategis, yaitu di Jalan Sunset Road Kuta, Kabupaten Badung, Bali, rstaurant yang menyajikan menu-

menu peranakan seperti Pao, masakan Wok, Dimsum dan seba-gainya yang eksotik.

"Restoran oenpao Sunset Road itu juga merupakan cabang ketiga yang ada di Pulau Dewata saat ini," kata Marketing Manager

oenpao Bali Rai Susilawati saat jumpa wartawan di Kuta, Rabu. Rai menjelaskan, selain di Jalan Sunset Road, restoran yang menyajikan makanan khas Asia itu ada juga di dua lokasi lain yakni masih di wilayah Kuta dan Renon Denpasar. Namun, saat ini salah satu restoran sedang tidak beroperasi karena hotel yang dijadikan tempat operasional juga dalam kondisi tutup.

Restaurant yang terkenal dengan pao-nya yang khas ini, meski baru sebulan namun sudah dipadati pengunjung,khususnya akhir pekan. Berdasarkan catatan, Store Manager oenpao Sunset Road Dede Rachman mengungkapkan bahwa pengunjung yang men-dominasi di cabang restoran ke-22 itu adalah keluarga yang tinggal di sekitar Jimbaran, Denpasar dan Kuta. Selain itu,30 persen lebih dari pengunjung itu adalah wisatawan luar negeri yang berasal dari negara Eropa dan Australia.

"Tidak hanya cita rasa, tapi kami juga mengutamakan kualitas proses pembuatan dan mengutamakan kesehatan dalam kandun-gan menu yang kami sajikan. Maka, wisatawan luar percaya dan sangat tertarik dengan makanan yang kami sajikan. Jadi, selain lezat, juga kesehatannya dijamin sehubungan restoran ini menggu-nakan perlengkapan dapur yang modern dan bersih," ujar Dede.

Salah satu keunggulan restaurant yang cita rasanya sudah diakui oleh para pecinta kuliner di Indonesia, setiap masakan yang disajikan terjamin tidak mengandung msg. Hal ini dapat dibuktikan setelah masakan yang dimakan tidak lengket di bibir.

Menempati area yang luas dan strtegis, para pengunjung bisa dengan nyaman bersantap, mengadakan acara-acara di sini, juga tempat bermain bagi anak berupa kolam renang. (md)

Pasca meletusnya gunung merapi banyak usaha pariwisata berhenti beroperasi. Untuk menggiatkan lagi usaha pari-wisata didaerah tersebut perlu usaha kreatif dalam mengelola

paket wisata agar kunjungan wisatawan daerah tersebut normal kembali.

Kementerian Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata berencana mengem-bangkan kawaan wisata di sekitar lereng Merapi, Jateng.

Potensi di Balik Erupsi

"Ada usulan untuk membuat paket wisata baru, yakni vulcano tracking (napak tilas gunung berapi) di sekitar Merapi," kata Sek-retaris Dirjen Pengembangan Destinasi Pariwisata Kemenbudpar, Winarno Sudjas, di yogyakarta, beberapa waktu lalu.

Ia menyambut baik usulan tersebut dan siap melatih pemandu wisata lokal dari karang taruna di wilayah yogyakarta. Menurut dia, wacana tersebut sangat potensial menjadi daya tarik baru untuk mendatangkan wisatawan minat khusus, sekaligus sebagai upaya perintis untuk memulihkan pariwisata yogyakarta pasca-letusan Merapi.

"Dengan berkembangnya wisata ini, maka kios-kios suvenir, penginapan, dan fasilitas pendukung wisata akan mulai menggeliat sehingga sektor riil di yogyakarta akan segera pulih," kata Winarno. Untuk memulai rencana itu, kata dia, harus ada komitmen dari se-mua sektor termasuk para pelaku pariwisata di sekitar Merapi.

"Setelah semua siap baru kita akan masuk dan menyiapkan pelatihan," paparnya. Ia juga akan berupaya meyakinkan calon investor untuk turut serta membenahi pariwisata yogyakarta.

Lave Tour

"Wisata `lava tour` ini akan dilakukan saat gunung Merapi dalam kondisi normal. Saat ini belum memungkinkan karena Merapi masih berstatus `awas` dan masih dalam masa tanggap darurat," ujarnya.

Ia mengatakan sumber penghidupan masyarakat dilereng Merapi selama ini adalah pertanian dan perternakan sapi perah. Pascaletu-san gunung Merapi warga akan sulit menggantungkan hidup dari pertanian dan ternak karena kondisi wilayah yang hancur diterjang

awan panas, sehingga perlu ada alternatif lain untuk membangkit-kan perekonomian masyarakat.

Winarno mengaku sudah mulai membicarakan rencana paket wisata minat khusus tersebut dengan para pelaku pariwisata di yogyakarta. Namun, pada masa tanggap darurat seperti sekarang, seluruh pemangku kepentingan masih dalam tahap penghimpunan data. Saat ini instansinya masih menunggu untuk bisa mengem-bangkan paket wisata napak tilas vulcano atau paket wisata yang menyajikan aspek dramatis letusan Merapi.

Paket wisata itu juga yang sedang dipikirkan pelaku pariwisata di yogyakarta, termasuk untuk mengubah jenis model paket yang semula outbond menjadi paket wisata yang menonjolkan aspek edukasi. Misalnya wisata gunung berapi untuk anak-anak sekolah yang menunjukkan pada mereka tentang apa saja material yang dikandung dalam gunung berapi. "Kami percaya, masyarakat yogya ini kreatif sehingga diharapkan mampu menciptakan paket wisata yang inovatif," tutur Winarno. (*)

16 jakarta section 17nusantara

give the gift of Mandarin oriental. Mandarin oriental Hotel group's global gift Card offers an ideal way to delight friends and family with a gift

of luxurious and legendary experiences. The gift Card is available in denominations ranging from USD 50 to USD 10,000, and can be redeemed for hotel accom-modation, indulgent spa treatments, Michelin-starred dining and more. Mandarin oriental gift Cards can be purchased year round online, and at all Mandarin oriental hotels worldwide.

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) is ready to build a new ride in 2011

with the theme of Discovery World Indonesia with total funds reaching USD 50 million. TMII Management has also managed to invite investors from Australia to support the construction of the new ride which is planned to start in January 2011. TMII Director of operation, Ade F Maylaila said this in Jakarta recently.

Australian investors are ready to invest USD 50 million. The new ride will be built on an area of 2.5 ha. We are work-ing together with the Discovery Channel. Hopefully the new could attract more visitors.

"Welcoming the end of year 2010, the management has

been preparing the budget for renovating various tourist attrac-tions in TMII. We will renovate the old Bird Park. There will be some improvements in the Rep-tile Park to make it more com-fortable. Reptile collection will also be added, "he explained.

It is said that various ways have been carried out by TMII management to attract more visitors and revenue. It should be done for TMII never get any subsidy from the government since it was built.

"We also have a plan to build Indonesian culinary centre that provide various food from all over Indonesia. The two most obvious touches from women are probably cooking and food," he said.

As the capital city, Jakarta has many tourist attrac-tions. This potential is immediately implemented by the local government (Pemda) of DKI Jakarta

by holding a number of tourism events to attract do-mestic and foreign tourists.

"A number of events that we’ve successfully held include the Jakarta great Sale, Java Jazz, Jakarta Fashion Week, the Festival of culinary and cultural per-formances. All the events we held are in cooperation with the private sector to increase revenue from tour-ism sector," said Head of Tourism Information Services Unit, Tatang Sumantri recently.

"Not only that, we also do some physical improve-ment on the existing museum building in Jakarta, old Town, Betawi Village in Srengseng Sawah, and there are more activities undertaken to improve tourist attrac-tions in Jakarta," he said.

By performing a number of events and improve-ments, tourism sector in DKI Jakarta had contributed Rp1.6 trillion of local income tax. "We are optimistic that this year we will generate more foreign exchange from tourism, and will surpass the achievement in 2009," he concluded.

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia greg Moriarty welcomed leading Australian

classical pianist geoffrey Saba back to Indonesia to perform in Jakarta and Surabaya from 8 to 15 December 2010 to mark the 200th anniversary of Chopin`s birth.

"I am delighted to see more and more Australian musicians perform-ing in Indonesia and even more pleased when they return to contrib-ute to the nurturing of young artistic and musical excellence in Indone-sia. Music is a universal language which strengthens the friendship and people to people links between our two countries," Ambassador Moriarty was quoted by the Aus-tralian Embassy as saying here on Wednesday.

Saba will perform his celebratory Chopin biennial programme in Ja-karta tomorrow at the Jaya Suprana School of Performing Arts and will take master classes with a num-ber of students. He has also been invited by Solomon Tong to perform a solo Chopin recital in Surabaya on 10 December, followed by master classes with local East Javanese music students and a final orches-

tral concert on 14 December with the Surabaya Symphony orchestra.

The performances by geoffrey Saba are sponsored by the Austra-lia-Indonesia Institute, an Australian government initiative. over the past two decades, the Australia-Indone-sia Institute has been a prominent supporter of bilateral cultural links.

Saba began his musical career in Toowoomba in the Australian state of Queensland. He is now largely based in London where he has performed since the 1970s when he made his London debut and was awarded a bronze medal at the First Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. His large repertoire includes rarely-performed music from the early part of the 20th century. Saba`s best-selling recordings have achieved critical acclaim. They include performances of virtuoso Russian works, unusual and romantically flamboyant tran-scriptions, and a Schubert recital. His London concerts since 2001 have comprised of Bach, Bartok, including the complete Debussy Preludes, and Beethoven's Diabelli Variations.(*)

The 2010 HARRIS Day celebration will go beyond the press conference, the launching of the new look of ‘Harris Room’’, ‘Harris Logo’, the 2011

limited edition of ‘Harris Slipper’ and ‘Dino golf’ as well as the annual staff party. It will be even more fun and exciting with the first ‘Harris Fun Bike’ in Jakarta which will be followed in the subsequent year by other proper-ties outside Jakarta.

The objective of ‘Harris Fun Bike’ is to encourage people to keep fit or to work out which is in line with Harris Hotels and Resorts effort to relentlessly promote healthy lifestyle.

“Harris Fun Bike is a typical illustration of a hotel as not just another place to sleep, it could also serve as a support of communication for the benefit of communi-ty,” said Marc Steinmeyer, President Director of Tauzia Hotel Management.

“It has always been our passion ever since Harris Hotels and Resorts started in 2002.”

Harris Hotels & Resorts, 6 hotels under operation and 16 more Harris Hotels under development (2 in Jakarta, Bandung, Batam Center, Puncak, Sentul, Surabaya, Malang, Sulawesi and 6 in Bali). A total of 20 Harris Hotels & Resorts with 3,405 rooms will be oper-ated by 2012. you also can visit www.harrishotels.com.

Australia has sponsored a one-week "Mind, Body and Soul Act-ing" workshop at Teater Popular

in Jakarta for emerging Indonesian actors.

The Australian Embassy in a media release in its official website on Mon-day said the workshop was provided for the actors to explore creative ex-change of cultural, traditional and con-temporary practices between Indonesia and Australia.

The workshop was conducted from December 6 to 12, 2010 by Indonesia`s leading stage and film director Slamet Rahardjo Djarot (Teater Popular Jakarta) and Australian theater direc-tor and trainer Robert Draffin (Liminal Theatre), who has particular expertise in the Asian region.

The workshop is part of a larger production by Teater Populer Jakarta and Melbourne`s Liminal Theatre to create a new piece of theatre drawing on cultural and universal perspectives of the story of oedipus entitled The

ghost of oedipus: Universal Eye of the Future.

"This theatre performance will draw on contemporary practices of multi-media theatre and performance, interwoven with traditional Indonesian practices of song, dance and shadow puppetry producing a unique Indo-nesian and Australian collaboration. We are delighted this workshop will develop further the cultural exchange between artists from both countries," said Australian Ambassador to Indone-sia, greg Moriarty.

The project, which is sponsored by the Australian government through the Australia- Indonesia Institute, will build on strong people-to-people relation-ships between Indonesian and Austra-lian theatre specialists and artists.

"This close cooperation at a cultural level is just one of the practical ways in which Australia and Indonesia are working together as close neighbors," Moriarty said.

Australian Classical PianistGeoffrey Saba Performs in Jakarta

To Increase Tourist Visit,Jakarta Holding Some Events

Australia Sponsors Workshopfor Indonesian Actors

Taman Mini to Build New RideWorth USD 50 Million

Harris Hotels and Resorts Celebrates the AnnualHarris Day

Christmas Tree Lighting Even

TMII - Jakarta, Indonesia

Wisata Gunung MerapiPotensi Pascaerupsi

Demi meraih target 7 juta wisatawan man-canegara (wisman), Kementerian Kebu-dayaan dan Pariwisata RI (Kemenbudpar)

tidak tanggung-tanggung menggelar 14 event seka-ligus selama bulan Desember ini. Event sebagian besar dipusatkan di Batam dengan target pasar wisatawan Malaysia dan Singapura.

Untuk event di Batam target yang ingin dicapai sebesar 10.000 – 13.000 wisatawan asing. Ber-bagai persiapan pun sudah dilakukan pemerintah daerah Batam dan Kemenbudpar demi mensukses-kan acara ini. Demikian dijelaskan Dirjen Pemasa-ran Kementerian Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata, Sapta Nirwandar di Jakarta, Kamis (16/12).

“Berbagai promosi telah kami lakukan demi men-

sukseskan acara ini seperti penayangan iklan di radio, TV , media cetak di Malaysia dan Singapura. Bahkan kami juga menyebarkan pamflet dan brosur di masjid-masjid Malaysia agar mereka tertarik datang ke acara ini,”ujar Sapta Nirwandar.

Beberapa acara yang akan digelar di Batam antara lain, konser musik (26/12), golf tournament (17/12), blue water rally (17/12), cruise to noungsa (23/12), holiday night in Batam (25/12), vegetarian food fiesta (19/12) dan beberapa event yang sudah berlangsung sejak awal desember.

Sapta Nirwandar Jumlah wisatawan mancane-gara ke Indonesia hingga oktober 2010 mencapai 5,78 juta orang. "Dari Januari-oktober 2010, jumlah wisatawan telah mencapai 5,78 juta orang," ujar

Sapta Nirwandar.

Untuk mencapai target Kementerian Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata sebesar tujuh juta, masih dibutuh-kan wisatawan sebanyak 1,22 juta orang. Artinya, pada November dan Desember, minimal harus bisa mendatangkan 600 ribu wisatawan per bulannya.

Namun, secara kumulatif, jumlah wisman men-ingkat 11,88 persen dibandingkan tahun lalu yang hanya mencapai 5,17 juta orang. Kenaikan jumlah wisman terjadi di sebagian besar pintu masuk utama. Persentase tertinggi terjadi di pintu masuk Bandara Adi Sumarno sebesar 45,07 persen, diikuti Soekarno-Hatta 35,74 persen. Sedangkan kenai-kan terendah terjadi di pintu masuk Pelabuhan Tanjung Priok sebesar 1,91 persen.

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This hotel is located in Tuban, a warm neighborhood area next to Ngurah Rai - Bali International Airport and busy district of Kuta and Seminyak known for its tourist attrac-tions and the world-class restaurants and boutiques.

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Galungan & Kuningan

Judul tulisan di atas, terinspirasi dari lagu favorit saya, judulnya Moody’s Mood for Love. Nama penyanyinya, James Moody,

yang pada tanggal 11 Desember lalu wafat pada usia 85 tahun.

“Menanti” Musibah

Saya bukan ingin menyampaikan kabar duka, namun tentang kenangan manis. Desember, wa-jar dong mengenang segala sesuatu yang sudah kita lewati. Di media massa saja, kaleidoskop menjadi salah satu “agenda wajib” setiap Bulan Desember. Lalu apa yang sudah kita lalui pada 2010?

Patah hati? Punya kekasih baru? Itu untuk urusan yang sentimentil. Untuk urusan yang lebih besar, yang menyangkut bangsa ini? Banyak. Ada skandal Bank Century, ada gunung Merapi yang meletus dan menyebabkan ribuan saudara-saudara kita tak punya rumah, plus kehilangan kerabatnya. Jangan lupa, Jakarta yang dilanda banjir, tsunami di Kepulauan Mentawai, dan gempa Wasior yang jauh dari Pulau Jawa dan Bali, hingga kita sulit untuk menjangkaunya.

Dalam tiap tragedi, dan musibah tentunya, selalu terselip keindahan. Jangan protes dulu! Teman sekantor saya sudah melotot waktu saya mengucapkan kalimat itu. Dia bilang,”yang tidak merasakan ya bisa ngomong begitu. Tapi pihak yang mendapat musibah, air matanya tak bisa kering dengan sekardus mie instant!”

Saya mengerti. Maksud saya, saat peristiwa-peristiwa duka itu melanda, kita bisa melihat bahwa manusia Indonesia begitu kompak, dan sigap memberikan bantuan. Jangankan mie instant, para pekerja yang gajinya pas-pasan pun, berebut untuk memberikan donasi. Ternyata Bangsa Indonesia adalah bangsa yang saling menyayangi. Pertanyaannya, mengapa harus “menunggu datangnya” musibah, barulah saya berempati dan membagi kasih sayang? Apakah memang musibah itu harus ada, sehingga kita ingat untuk saling menyayangi?

Do I Love My Country?

Bicara tentang kasih sayang, apakah kita me-mang menyayangi negeri ini? Saya paling keras teriak,”ya iyalah! Indonesia ‘kan tanah tumpah darahku!” yang benar? Masa’ sih?

Apa benar saya menyayangi negeri ini, bila saya belum pernah mengunjungi Pulau Komodo? Padahal jaraknya hanya beberapa jam dari Den-pasar, bila naik pesawat terbang tentunya. Bila libur tiba, jauh-jauh hari sebelumnya saya sudah “hunting” tiket pesawat ke negara lain. Atau, ke-tika saya datang ke tanah Sumba yang menjadi bagian dari Propinsi NTT (sama propinsinya dengan tempat tinggal komodo), saya menjumpai para gadis di sana yang rata-rata berpendidikan setingkat SMP dan SMA, punya harapan untuk bekerja di luar negeri, sebagai TKW?

Saya benar-benar sedih. orang muda kita yang tinggal di daerah, tak memiliki hasrat untuk membangun tanahnya sendiri. Pergi ke negeri orang untuk menjadi –maaf– pekerja kerah biru (saya tidak tega untuk menyebut pekerjaan yang mereka lakukan di sana) demi uang beberapa juta Rupiah. Mereka lebih rela “direndahkan” di negeri orang asalkan mendapat Rupiah, atau Ringgit, atau Dinar, dari pada jadi orang miskin di kampung sendiri. oRANg MISKIN? Bagaimana mungkin kita mau menyebut diri kita miskin, di negara yang amat sangat kaya ini?

Negeri saya ini kaya, bahkan teramat sangat kaya. Ah…jangan cuma teriak-teriak,”Negeri ini kaya. Negeri kita kaya raya!” Tapi coba datang ke darah-daerah perbatasan darat Republik Indonesia yang sudah merdeka 65 tahun, dan lihat kondisinya!

Kawasan perbatasan NKRI, kondisinya bagai daerah ”tak bertuan”. Perbatasan darat di Kalimantan, seperti di Kecamatan Entikong, Kabupaten Sanggau, Kalimantan Barat. Ada juga perbatasan laut, seperti di Kabupaten Nunukan, Kalimantan Timur, juga di Atambua di Nusa Teng-gara Timur. Hanya ada satu kata: PARAH!

Ada satu gedung megah, yaitu kantor pemerin-

tah di Landak, Kalbar. Namun, gedung itu berdiri menjulang di tengah daerah yang jalannya masih hancur. Intinya, kalau pun ada pembangunan, bisa dibilang hanya sebatas pembangunan gedung megah kantor pemerintah. Ternyata, kemegahan fisik yang lebih penting, dibanding-kan kecerdasan akal-budi, apalagi pembangunan perekonomian.

Pemandangan di sana semakin miris, karena setiap pagi, ketika pos lintas batas di Entikong ataupun Nunukan dibuka, yang terlihat adalah lautan manusia. Apa yang mereka lakukan di situ? Upacara bendera? Bukan! Mereka sebagian besar adalah TKI yang berjejalan me-masuki wilayah Malaysia di Sarawak dan Sabah!

Siapa yang salah? Pemerintah? Bukan. Sayalah yang bersalah. Saya selama ini tak memperhatikan bangsa saya sendiri, dan hanya memikirkan hal-hal seputar diri sendiri. Mulai dari urusan beli sepatu yang matching dengan warna tas, hingga stress ketika TV kabel di rumah siarannya terganggu. Saya lupa, bahwa di negeri orang, ribuan perempuan Indonesia yang terpaksa “rela” dihina, direndahkan, bahkan digunting bibirnya, plus disetrika kulitnya. Demi uang yang tak mereka dapatkan dari negeri kaya raya ini. Demikian pula di pelosok Indonesia, masih banyak anak-anak sekolah yang menem-puh jarak 2-3 km ke sekolah, tanpa sepatu.

Padahal, kalau kita lebih banyak tahu tentang negeri ini, kita akan lebih sayang, dan kita tak malas untuk berbuat sesuatu, untuk memban-gun negeri ini. Maka, yuk kita jelajahi negeri ini. Indonesia terlalu luas dan terlalu indah, untuk kita terlantarkan.

Kini, setelah artikel ini rampung, kembali saya senandungkan Moody’s Mood for Love-nya almarhum om Moody,”Let me take you by the hand. Come let us visit out there, in that new promised land. Maybe there we can find a good place to use a loving state of mind. I’m so tired of being without, and never knowing what love is all about...” (*)

Maria’s Mood for Love18 bincang - bincang santai

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2013FLOBAMORA

east nusa tenggaraindonesia

paradise on east...