Here’s why Indonesian government officials think #boycottBali will fail and have no “beef” with the movement.
Indonesian officials aren’t taking this #boycottBali thing too seriously, the social media campaign that is urging Australians to hold off visiting Bali in retaliation for the impending executions of the Bali Nine Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
“Australian tourists must go to Bali,” said Sofyan Djalil, the Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs, as quoted by Liputan6. Not that there’s any scientific evidence to back up this statement or anything, but it seems pretty valid to us since everywhere we turn on the island there’s an Australian, nay a group of Australians.
As far as trade goes, Indonesia and Australia are collaborating to improve the trade balance of each country, Djalil says. So far, Indonesia is one of the largest destinations for Australian beef exports.
“They need to export beef and we need to import meat from Australia. Indonesian students need to go to Australian schools. So there is actually no problem, just the need for them to protect their citizens,” Djalil continued.
The Indonesian government has reportedly issued import permits for 100,000 head of cattle from Australia during the first quarter of 2015. Frontier International Operations Manager Ashley James says Australian exporters only expect to export more to Indonesia, according to Liputan6.
When asked if Indonesia should strike back for the boycott, Djalil just chuckled, obviously not taking it too seriously. “What needs to be repaid?” he asked.
Photo: Matt Fascione
