Vice President Ma'ruf Amin Once Said That The Idea Of Halal Tourism Was 'stolen' By Sandiaga Uno

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno. (Photo: Instagram @sandiuno)

JAKARTA - Sandiaga Uno was officially appointed as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) replacing Wishnutama on Wednesday, December 23, 2020. Sandi, his nickname, received a mandate from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin to generate halal tourism.

"He (Ma'ruf) asked several tourism products that have been running until now to carry out innovations. For example, halal tourism, tourism villages, and several other activities that touch the people's economic aspects," Sandiaga said when he was first appointed as Menparekraf.

After a few days, netizens on Twitter raised their objections about the echoed halal tourism. Pros and cons also appear on the social media universe.

halal tourism! I don't know why those who like the halal label, the quality is not even good. just focus on quality, safety and comfort. there must be many who visit #wisatahalal

- Ruby Kholifah (@RubyKholifah) December 28, 2020

Sandiaga himself said that the debate on social media was unnecessary because it was counterproductive. The former Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta added that he hoped that all parties could work together to restore the tourism sector and the creative economy.

"That is so that job opportunities can be opened as widely as possible. Let all parties join hands to ensure the recovery of the tourism sector and the creative economy," said the Prabowo pair during the 2019 Presidential Election, after holding a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Marves Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in Bali, Sunday, December 27.

Interesting further back, or during the 2019 presidential election contest, Sandiaga once proposed to develop halal tourism while campaigning in Bali. At that time, the owner of PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya Tbk stated that the halal tourism market niche was very tempting.

"Prabowo-Sandi focuses on empowering MSMEs, increasing entrepreneurship and in Bali itself, we hope that tourism will be better and there are a lot of multiplier effects on MSMEs. One of them is also halal tourism, has a lot of potential, and now many are taken by Bangkok, Thailand, "Sandiaga said in Denpasar, Bali, last Sunday, February 24, 2019, quoted from merdeka.com.

"We want Bali, Indonesia in general, to also take the potential of halal tourism which is said to be above Rp. 3,000 trillion in potential. This is a tremendous potential if we can take it for the economic movement in Bali," Sandiaga Uno added.

After Sandi's expression, Ma'ruf Amin was flattered by the halal or sharia tourism program that he had long thought to be imitated by Sandi. Ma'ruf Amin, who at that time served as the General Chair of the MUI, said that since 20-30 years ago he had developed sharia tourism in the form of sharia hotels, to sharia travel.

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"So if he (Sandiaga) wants to support him, thank you," said Ma'ruf at that time.

Quoted from studipwisata.com, halal tourism / tourism is part of the tourism industry aimed at Muslim tourists. Tourist services in halal tourism refer to Islamic rules.

One example of this form of service is a hotel that does not provide food or drinks containing alcohol and has separate swimming pools and spa facilities for men and women.

Apart from hotels, transportation in the halal tourism industry also uses Islamic concepts. Transportation service providers are required to provide convenience for Muslim tourists in carrying out worship during the trip.

This convenience can be in the form of providing a place for prayer on the plane, notification in the form of announcements or azan if it has entered prayer time, apart from the absence of food or drinks containing alcohol and the existence of Islamic entertainment during the trip.

And after officially serving as Vice President (Wapres), Ma'ruf Amin stated that the application of sharia principles in the tourism sector or what is now often called halal tourism, would not interfere with existing tourist objects in areas where the majority of residents are non-Muslims.

"Areas, such as tourism, non-Muslim areas, are not the destinations that are allowed, but there are services so that Muslims, both from within the country and abroad, feel comfortable," said Vice President KH Ma'ruf Amin as quoted by Antara.

The application of sharia in tourism or halal tourism, said the Vice President, does not need to change existing tourist objects. Improved service standards to be friendly to all tourists. Therefore, he said that every region wishing to implement a sharia economy and halal tourism must show the willingness of all parties and make preparations.

"Destinations are not changed, we sell destinations that have been built, our nature is beautiful, but there are sharia services to make tourists safe," he said.

He said the government is now continuing to support the development of the Islamic economy to the regions. Because of that he asked local governments to also show seriousness.

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