All aboard!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the train has well and truly left the station and it's full steam ahead in the corridors of power that wind their ways across this amazing archipelago. As the world welcomed a new year, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, who was in the unbelievably beautiful islands of Raja Ampat in West Papua, set up his stall and laid his cards on the table by announcing the country should be able to reach its quota of 20 million tourists by 2019. Let me stressshould be able to.

And why is that a 'should,' I hear you ask? After all, Indonesia has more than enough potential, more than enough destinations, more than enough culture, more than enough resources (human and otherwise) and more than enough talent to hit the 20 million target and some. So why the cautionary, albeit optimistic 'should'?

Unfortunately dear reader, the answer is simple and sad and depressing and not confined to Indonesia at all. It's not even limited to Asia in general. It's a global sickness that has been gnawing away at the very soul of real progress for a long, long time. It's greed.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting the government per se is greedy. I'm not even suggesting the provincial powers are greedy. Maybe some of them are, but that's no reason to paint all officials with the same brush and certainly no reason to undermine a forward thinking and progressive policy as doomed to failure just because it's Indonesian.  A lot of things have changed since Soeharto's Democratic Dictatorship, but what I am suggesting is that when there's a lot of money potentially up for grabs, which there is, you're going to get the thieves of business pulling their heads out of their own excrement to see how much of the pie they can steal for themselves and damn the consequences and the 'little people' that get hurt along the way.

This is where I'm likely to get into trouble. You see, these so called 'businessmen' don't care about the environment or communities, education or welfare. They only care about their precious greenbacks. They're the same crew who slash and burn vast areas of irreplaceable wilderness to grow incredibly inappropriate palm oil for stupid money (greed): the same ones who destroy ecosystems for shark fins (greed) and pollute our rivers with plastics and poisons in exchange for gold and copper (greed). These are the same muppets who don't use professionals because professionals are too expensive and that means cutting into profits, so better to use people who have no idea about tourism, hotels, water conservation and education because they're cheaper, right. Right? Wrong. Dead wrong!

If truth be told these crooks don't really even care about themselves either. Their only concern is to worship at the altar of the almighty petro-dollar. The rest of the planet and their souls be damned!

President Jokowi is correct when he states that neighbouring countries enjoy between 24 - 27 million tourists a year even though they have far fewer attractions. They've also been doing it much longer which helps some. He's also correct when he points out that places like Komodo and Raja Ampat and Lake Toba in North Sumatra and Tanjung Kelayang in Belitung and Tanjung Lesung in Banten and the Thousand Islands in Jakarta and Borobudur Temple in Central Java and Mount Bromo in East Java and Mandalika in South Lombok and Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara and Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi and Morotai in North Maluku are amazing, unique and worthy of visiting. They are! And that's why these destinations have been earmarked for special promotional attention this year.

Antara recently reported about the President's New Year visit to Raja Ampat with some pretty impressive facts, which are worth repeating here, just to give a taste of the scope of what we're talking about and what's at stake.

Raja Ampat, which literally means "Four Kings," is located in the Coral Triangle, the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity. The seas around Raja Ampat are home to the richest varieties of species in the world, including 75 percent of all known coral species.

The Raja Ampat archipelago encompasses 15 thousand square miles of land and sea. There are around 1.8 thousand isles in Raja Ampat District. Its four major islands --- Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool --- shelter a vast array of terrestrial species and valuable forests.

The region includes the Pacific's most important Leatherback Turtle nesting site, the Nature Conservancy writes on its website.

Offshore reefs protect some 1,427 species of fish and more than 550 species of coral.

Some of these reefs have proven to be particularly resilient, and include coral-building resources that help sustain the entire Coral Triangle.

It's impressive stuff, which is why the government needs to keep the muppets away.

There's a big difference between saying and doing, especially when the 'doing' is going to involve the building of airports, marinas, hotels and power plants, not to mention supplying naval vessels, seaplanes and a host of ground handling services and all the training necessary to complete on time and to high standards. And this is the point. This is Indonesia's paradigm shift.

The government has a choice, right here, right now; continue along the old path or do things right ... and to do things right you're going to have ruffle a few feathers!

If it's the old path we're almost guaranteed that corners will be cut, budgets will be blown, promises will be broken, quality control won't be control or quality and the right people for the job will be ignored because they're not part of the mysterious inner-circle where people refer to each other by nicknames and school ties and where familiarity really does breed contempt.

If the target of 20 million visitors is to be met then serious efforts and resources need to be deployed so that the right companies with the right experience and expertise lead the way to create master-plans, to enforce structure and accountability and to establish clearly defined and enforceable zoning which keeps the charlatan developers and speculators away.

Then people will come.

But then there's another problem. What if a lot of people do decide to come? Like a lot of people. How will fragile eco-systems and communities with limited visitor experiences cope? Will certain areas be off-limits for development? How will the obvious benefits of tourism be distributed? 

These are very serious questions, which need as much attention as getting people to visit in the first place. There is a real danger that if no thought goes into these aspects then the goose that lays the golden eggs will be satay before breakfast.