http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/Columns/2079457/Article/index_html *John Teo:* Tourism is the tie that binds growth area <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [image: Women from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, wearing traditional costumes at the BIMP-EAGA meeting in Kuching.] Women from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, wearing traditional costumes at the BIMP-EAGA meeting in Kuching.
TOURISM players from the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) gathered for a major industry event in Kuching over the weekend. BIMP-EAGA has made little progress in its grandiose-stated goals in the dozen years of its existence, but if progress is to be made, the most obvious area would be in tourism. Among the largest foreign participants at the Kuching event were also the most obvious and natural: Pontianak, the provincial capital, and the seaside city of Singkawang in West Kalimantan, Sarawak's closest neighbour. Both vied with each other to impress their hosts and participants with eye-catching exhibitions of their products and attractions. Pontianak, a 40-minute hop from Kuching by air, is an established stopover for visitors from Sarawak, with the addition of several hotels and shopping malls there in recent years boosting its tourism appeal. The surprising revelation in this corner of the great Indonesian archipelago would have to be Singkawang, a three-hour drive from Pontianak and passing through stretches of the South China Sea. Whereas the chaotic traffic of Pontianak may pose an initial culture shock to the uninitiated, many from Sarawak will feel surprisingly at home in Singkawang. Its shophouses are tidy and the streets can rival Kuching's for cleanliness. A large Catholic missionary compound is prominent in the city centre, unusual in this predominantly Muslim country but not surprising given that Singkawang is probably the most ethnically Chinese city of any size in Indonesia. Its pristine beach will be a resort developers' gold mine if tourists are to discover the city in large enough numbers. Or it can be a retirement haven for Malaysians wanting to stretch their ringgit. Officiating at the happy celebration of BIMP-EAGA tourism togetherness, Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said cultural affinity was the most obvious glue to bind BIMP-EAGA as a tourism destination. But this is where hopes may be getting slightly ahead of officialdom. At a recent call at the Malaysian consulate in Pontianak, it was discovered that the consulate was powerless to issue visas for foreign visitors there wishing to cross over to Sarawak. Taiwanese, who have made something of a toehold in Singkawang, will be one of the most obvious groups caught up in such a bureaucratic dragnet. On our side of the border, similar complaints were heard about how the Indonesian consulate-general in Kuching had frustrated many a foreign tourist intending to make a trip over the border. An Indonesian consular official has since clarified that tourist visas may now be obtained in Kuching for non-resident foreigners in Sarawak. Taib spoke with passion about the possibilities of BIMP-EAGA tourism and threw his weight behind Sara-wak taking a more active role in promoting it in view of the fact that Sarawak serves as the permanent secretariat for the BIMP-EAGA tour-ism cluster. It is leadership commitment that is sorely lacking in most things to do with BIMP-EAGA. Taib, refreshingly, has taken a liberal view on such matters as foreign handicrafts crowding out Sarawak ones. Protecting local crafts against cheaper products from across the border must be one of the sillier and most futile efforts, if it were to be attempted. Rather, Sarawak should take full advantage of the easy availability of a rich BIMP-EAGA craft tradition by becoming an even more active trader in Borneo artifacts, by adding more value to such products and by promoting creative design innovations, using talent from around the region to create new market niches in the style and home interior sectors. BIMP-EAGA lacks a practical vision but, more importantly, it needs proactive bureaucrats who can turn vision into realistic policies to unleash the full energies of the private sector.
