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MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2015 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 inside Dench still driven by lure CAMPUS • Shantiniketan Indian of the new School organises inter-house quiz P | 8-9 P | 4 COMMUNITY • Six Senses Spa hosts Best Buddies Qatar members for Just a short hop from the Indonesian yoga and sports holiday hotspot of Bali, a Saudi tourist and his family listen to the call to prayer P | 5 as the sun goes down on Lombok, the self-styled “island of 1,000 mosques”. BOOKS • Sophie Kinsella on finding comedy in shopping P | 7 HEALTH • A workout your ears don’t need P | 11 TECHNOLOGY • The best alternatives to Photoshop P | 12 LEARN ARABIC INDONESIA AIMS • Learn commonly used Arabic words FOR GCC TOURISTS and their meanings P | 13 2 PLUS | MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2015 COVER STORY Indonesia prays Islamic tourism drive can draw more visitors Pilgrims gather around a huge tree at a historic Islamic shrine in Loang Baloq on the island of Lombok. By Olivia Rondonuwu only one name and was accompanied by his wife who was wearing an all- ust a short hop from the encompassing burqa. Indonesian holiday hotspot of Indonesia is the world’s biggest Bali, a Saudi tourist and his fam- archipelago nation, made up of more Jily listen to the call to prayer than 17,000 islands, but has long as the sun goes down on Lombok, the lagged behind smaller, more developed self-styled “island of 1,000 mosques”. countries in Southeast Asia, such as Lombok is at the centre of an Islamic Malaysia and Thailand, in attracting tourism drive in Indonesia, which has tourists. the world’s biggest Muslim population Foreign visitor arrivals to Indonesia and is hoping to boost the number of rose to 8.8 million in 2013, according visitors from wealthy Middle Eastern to official figures, compared with 25.72 countries. million in Malaysia and 26.55 million While aiming to continue to attract in Thailand. Western tourists who flock to its pris- While there are no official figures tine beaches, the island is also seeking for “Shariah” tourism in Indonesia, the to promote its Islamic heritage, from sector is experiencing strong growth numerous places of worship to shrines internationally. dedicated to ancient Muslim preachers. In a recent report, Muslim-oriented “I love it here because I can hear the business group CrescentRating, pre- azan (call to prayer) and people go to dicted the sector would be worth the mosque to pray,” said 58-year-old $192bn a year globally by 2020, up from Sulaiman, the Saudi tourist, who gave $140bn in 2013. PLUS | MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2015 3 Middle Eastern opportunities “The economic growth of Middle Eastern countries Tourists visit an Islamic is very good and we see an opportunity there,” senior centre in Mataram. tourism ministry official Rizki Handayani said. Only around 190,000 Middle Eastern visitors came to Indonesia in 2013, according to official figures, but authorities hope their Islamic tourism drive can increase numbers. The government has produced tourist guides pro- moting Indonesia as a “Muslim friendly destination”. It highlights the country’s best “Shariah” tourism destinations and notes there are more than 600,000 mosques in the archipelago. Lombok, long overshadowed by its better known neighbour, Hindu-majority Bali, hopes the drive can help raise its profile. Authorities are planning to build a huge Islamic centre that will contain a mosque, a hotel and a study centre, and specially trained tour guides will point Muslim visitors in the direction of the nearest mosque at prayer time. Other parts of Indonesia are hoping to benefit from the initiative. Aceh province, in western Indonesia and the only part of the country to enforce Shariah Authorities are planning laws, and the capital Jakarta are both seeking to lure to build a huge Islamic Middle Eastern tourists, who often bring many family members with them and spend lavishly. centre that will contain Riyanto Sofyan owns a chain of nine Shariah hotels a mosque, a hotel across Indonesia, including two in Jakarta. and a study centre, Alcohol-free cocktails are available, the call to pra- yer is played five times a day through the buildings, and specially trained MTV has been removed from the list of TV channels tour guides will point available in the rooms, as it is deemed too risque, and Muslim visitors in the hotel staff gently turn away unmarried couples. In Lombok, hotels are also promoting themselves as direction of the nearest Islamic, with nine so far having gained coveted Shariah mosque at prayer time. certification. Echoing the system of stars for conven- tional hotels, Shariah accommodation is labelled with the crescent moon, a symbol associated with Islam, with the best receiving three. A hotel must have signs pointing towards Makkah and copies of the Quran in its rooms, as well as a kitchen where halal food can be prepared, to gain its first crescent moon. Creating barriers Despite the optimism of officials, there are concerns that the push for Islamic tourism could put off other visitors who want to sunbathe and relax on the beach. But the local government insists it can promote Shariah tourism without affecting the existing indus- try, and that party hotspots in the area — such as tiny Gili Trawangan island, off the west coast of Lombok — will remain unaffected. Authorities are considering clearly demarcating areas more suited to Muslim guests, where Western tourists should cover up. “We will make zones so that travel agents and guides have clear options depending on their guests’ wishes,” said local tourism chief M Nasir, adding that visitors were already told they should not wear skimpy clothing when they head into cities or visit religious sites. Nevertheless for some Muslims, the clash of cultures may still be off-putting. While Sulaiman, who comes from Makkah, was enjoying his holiday in Senggigi, the main tourist strip on Lombok, some aspects made him feel uneasy. “I am not comfortable with a tourist place where there are people wearing things that are too revea- ling,” he said. Others had concerns about trying to artificially sepa- rate Muslim and non-Muslim tourists. American tourist Sarah Jorgensen, who was visiting Lombok, warned such a move could lead to tensions: “When you create borders then you have more oppor- tunity for discrimination.” AFP Middle Eastern tourists walk along the beach in Senggigi on the island of Lombok. 4 PLUS | MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2015 CAMPUS / COMMUNITY Shantiniketan Indian School organises inter-house quiz he CBSE (i) section of Shantiniketan Indian School organised an Inter-House Quiz titled T“Braingle”. Donald Dcosta conceptualised Braingle — a brain teasing quiz event for both jun- ior and senior students. Selected students from Blue, Green, Yellow and Red Houses faced questions gen- eral knowledge, science, mathematics, English litera- ture, social studies and general studies questions in three rounds – general, audio-visual and rapid fire. Blue House — Marwan Magdy, Abeer Bin Mohammed, Lamiya and Ali Nadeem — emerged winners in the junior category and the senior cat- egory title was won by Green House — Ziku Islam, Astha Kumar and Giselle Fernadez. Donald Dcosta and Annu Kumari were the quiz masers in the junior category, while Afshan and Christopher Jacob managed the senior category. participants and the teachers for their hard work. wing, closed the event appreciating the hard work The Principal, Dr Subhash Nair, praised the Dudley O‘Connor, Vice-Principal of the CBSEi of the Braingle Team. The Peninsula QACC conducts beach cleanup campaign atari Arabian Construction Company (QACC) Qconducted a “Beach Cleanup Campaign” at the Al Shamal beach recently. This was in line with Qatar National Environment Day and also part of the Company’s Sustainability and Environmental Awareness Campaign. Around 100 workers from QACC along with the QHSE team took part in this Campaign which was lead by the Company’s Area Quality Manager Jude D’Silva. A stretch of around 7 kilometres of the coast line was cleaned and around 400 trash bags of waste materials were collected and removed. The beach cleaning team of Baladiya guided and supported the Qatari Arabian Construction Company staff QACC team in accomplishing this task. at the beach cleanup campaign. The Peninsula Sherborne Qatar School rolls out Smart Campus network solution herborne Qatar has announced the network also allows for the infrastruc- Ssuccessful deployment of its lat- ture to be easily built and programmed est Smart Education solution that is according to the education needs of the enhancing greater levels of e-learning faculty. for its students and faculty. “Sherborne Qatar holds itself to the Sherborne Qatar selected Huawei high standards of our UK counterpart and Saturn to deploy a fully integrated with a vision to offer the best learning Smart Campus network, allowing both experiences possible for our students. staff and students to enjoy faster con- We have seen the role that innovative nectivity and a streamlined secure technology plays in enabling a more access to the school’s network and dynamic, interactive and fruitful learn- education tools. ing environment. We wanted to create Sherborne Qatar’s previous net- an engaging educational environment work needed increased bandwidth for our students so that they are able requirements to adopt new modes of to reach the highest levels of academic e-learning platforms. Following the success. Huawei’s Smart Campus solu- implementation of Huawei’s Smart tion was able to address the issues we Enterprise Business, Qatar said: “In City vision to develop into a digital Campus Network, the school has been were facing. The team helped us to build an increasingly digital age, educa- knowledge economy.