REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The Coordinating Minister for Maritime, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, said that foreign countries could open an economical land in the deserted and unreached islands in Indonesia. 

According to Luhut, the policy could boost the economic condition of the people in the island. He argued that the policy is feasible because there area around 4.000 islands in Indonesia that have not been managed by the government. 

However, said Luhut, the government will keep the ownership, so that it cannot be claimed by the foreigners. "Singapore has requested, Japan asked for (managing) Morotai. Please, make your own village there. But, we will never sell the island. If you want to give it name, just do it. But it is ours. The Ministry of Domestic Affairs has already record it and has set the boundary line," Luhut said at the Maritime Coordinating Office on Monday.

Luhut said the government did not deny that they want to bring a lot of tourists to Indonesia to earn additional income and improve the economy of the country. The tourism sector is one of the sectors which most likely and quickly improved the economy. "But, we do not want them to control our country. We will strengthen the supervision and there are rules that cannot be violated by foreigners," said him.

According to Luhut, the visit of foreign tourists in 2016 has reached 12 million people. The government is still optimistic that they could reach 20 million tourists by 2019.

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