REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Resources Rizal Ramli said Indonesia could be number one in marine tourism in the world if the country could preserve the beauty of its seas.

Rizal said he had launched a program of Expedition of a Million Ridges of Rock as earlier announced by President Joko Widodo to add beauty to the country's sea tourism.

"We will provide 'apartments' for fishes. In five years the 'apartments' in ridges of rock would grow taller. There would be more fishes that our fishermen do not have to go far fishing," he said.

The ridges of rocks would also be useful for the military as addition barriers against enemy war ships, he said.

There is a big potential, but there are also a lot that need to be done and to improve to make the potentials useful for tourism, he said.

Infrastructure needs to be built and the culture of the people needs to be improved to be friendlier, he said.

He said Indonesia said Indonesia should be able to compete against other countries which have made a living from sea tourism such as the Maldives and Thailand.

"The Maldives is nothing compared to Indonesia (in sea tourism potential)," he said.

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