Singapore’s reputation in Indonesia is deteriorating after the city-state refused entry to a popular Indonesian preacher via Batam.
Despite Singapore’s explanation for not allowing preacher Abdul Somad entry, the latter continues his campaign against the country on social media and elsewhere.
And it is gaining traction among many people who believe Singapore should apologise for its harsh actions in refusing entry to an Indonesian citizen who posed no threat to the country.
Others argue that Indonesians should stop visiting Singapore because the number of Indonesian visitors helps the tiny state earn a lot of money.
However, an analyst speaking to a local media in Indonesia rejected the idea that a boycott of Singapore by tourists will cause much harm to the Singaporean economy.
Indeed, tourism is one of Singapore’s sources of income. But not the biggest, because the biggest ones are the trade and financial sectors, says the expert, CORE Indonesia Research Director Piter Abdullah who spoke to Detik.
“But Singapore’s economy does not depend on tourism. Other sectors more support Singapore’s economy,” Piter said.
Quoted from the official website stb-gov.sg, the three countries providing the highest number of foreign tourists to Singapore are China 88,000, India 54,000 and Indonesia 33,000.
Meanwhile, as of January-September, Singapore’s total tourism revenue from tourism was US$ 1.2 billion and Indonesian tourists contributed US$ 127 million.
APOLOGIZE SINGAPORE!
Meanwhile, the Deputy Secretary General of the 212 Alumni Brotherhood Novel Chaidir Hasan Bamukmin said the reason given by the Singapore government’s refusal of entry for Ustaz Abdul Somad (UAS) was far-fetched.
He says allegations that the famous preacher propagates extremist teachings are baseless. Therefore, Novel demanded that the Singapore Embassy as a representative of the Singapore Government apologizes to the Indonesian people, especially to Muslims.
“Singapore must apologize to Indonesian Muslims or else we will ask the Indonesian government to immediately cut off diplomatic relations and for the Indonesian people to boycott Singapore products and not to go to Singapore,” he told reporters, Thursday (19/5/2022).
The post After deportation of a preacher, there are calls to boycott Singapore appeared first on The Independent News.
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