“We expect 2 million tourists from Indonesia to Malaysia”

Two days ago, I attended a business gathering held by the Malaysia Club in Jakarta (MCJ). There was a talkshow themed "Business and the Press" presenting Yosef Ardi, a well-known blogger who also works at Bisnis Indonesia-daily newspaper and Riyadi Suparno, the Managing Editor of The Jakarta Post.

Both of the speakers gave insights on how the media work in Indonesia. The discussions went quite interesting too and the MCJ members were actively asking questions to both speakers. I've attended many business gatherings before, from Amcham's, Britcham's , Eurocham's, IABC's, etc, yet I think yesterday evening's gathering is the liveliest. Probably because this one isn't only about cocktail party where people "just" hangout, drinks wine and cocktail and chit-chat, but there's a talk-show with prominent guest speakers delivering a topic that of interest of the members.

After the talk-show, the Ambassador of Malaysia for Indonesia Dato' Zainal Abidin Zain delivered his speech. What interests me is that he says, "We expect 2 million tourists from Indonesia to go to Malaysia".

When hearing this statement, I couldn't help not to smile. A Monalisa smile :).