Archive for August 31st, 2007

Surabaya joins Asia Pacific tourism network

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Surabaya city in East Java province by ways of the Surabaya Tourism Promotion Board (STPB) has joined the Tourism Promotion Organization for Asia Pacific Cities (TPO), which covers various cities in the Asia and Pacific region, and a membership of 56 cities in 12 countries

The countries including Malaysia, Japan, China, the Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, America, and Russia, Executive Director of STPB Yusak Anshori said in a press release sent from Guangzhou, China on Thursday.

Anshori said that the global tourism market continued to grow while Asia and the Pacific had become one of the most attractive tourist destinations.

Joining the TPO would strengthen Indonesia`s tourism network, Surabaya in particular, so that the East Java provincial capital would become more popular to the outside world.

“Joining the TPO would increase the opportunity to lure investors in the tourism sector,” said Yusak, who is also Deputy Marketing Director of Prime Plaza Hotel & Resort.

He also said that after joining the TPO, the STPB had a chance to attend the 3rd TPO General Assembly in Guangzhou attended by representatives of tourism organizations in Asia and the Pacific as members of the organization.

The meeting discussed efforts of increasing the number of foreign tourists by issuing TPO traveller`s cards which covered all the TPO members, in addition to the exchange program for students as long-term tourism investment, joint overseas marketing, and development of the routes of cruise ships to all cities of TPO member countries.

TPO was founded on August 31, 2002, and its presidency is currently held by the mayor of Busan, Korea, Nam Sik Hur, and his deputy is mayor of Fukuoka, Japan, Hiroshi Yoshida.

The organization is aimed at tourist information exchange, joint marketing and promotion, development and promoting tourist products, development of human resources, research on tourism and tourism statistics management. (*)

Source: http://www.antara.co.id/en/

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12th century Buddhist sculptures found in Indonesian cave

The Associated Press Published: August 29, 2007

An Indonesian cave used for meditation by Buddhist priests in the 12th century contains previously undiscovered sculptures depicting the spiritual journey of Buddha, a religious leader said Wednesday.

The sprawling cave — a reminder of the rich Buddhist past in the world’s most populous Muslim nation — was discovered more than two decades ago near Jireg village in East Java province.
But it had never been thoroughly explored because of its remote and difficult-to-reach location, said Dhamma Subho Mahathera of Shangha Theravada Indonesia — the country’s largest Buddhist organization — who visited the site on Aug. 12.

“As far as I know it is the only Buddhist cave in the world for meditation of Buddhist priests,” Mahathera said. “There are reliefs representing four levels of meditations, from Sutatana to Arahata.”

The sculptures include depictions of an elephant, cow, monkey, and a lotus — Buddhism’s symbol of peace.

Indonesia also has the Borobudur temple complex in Central Java built more than 1,100 years ago — three centuries before the arrival of Islam — as a shrine to Buddha and a place for pilgrimages. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1980s.

Mahathera said Buddhist caves have also been discovered in India and Sri Lanka, but those did not have reliefs depicting the stages of Buddhist meditation.

Gautama Siddhartha was born in southwestern Nepal around 500 B.C. and later became revered as the Buddha.

Buddhism teaches that right thinking and self-control through meditation can enable people to achieve nirvana — a divine state of peace and release from desire. Buddhism has about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia.

Source: http://www.iht.com/

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