Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The boycott threat coming from Australia against Indonesia shortly after the clemency request for the Bali Nine death row inmates rejected is inevitable. Australia claims that they boycott on Indonesian tourism is an immediate consequence of its inability to perform the request of the Australian government.

This particular circumstance however, is predicted to have no impact on the Indonesian economy. This means, despite the growing concern about the relationship between Indonesia and Australia, the economy will continue to progress in a positive trend.

The Indonesian government is encouraged to remain strong on its position to combat the widespread of rampant drugs even though worldwide criticism continue to attacks. Indonesia wants to show the world that the country will not tolerate drugs and those who commit the crime.

The Deputy of Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Sasmito Hadi Wibowo said, that the tourism percentage from Australia reaches 11% on annual basis or around 800 thousand to 950 thousand individuals each year.

He says that the percentage is a lot higher than the tourist from China and Japan which amounted to only about 9% and 5 % out of the total amount.

Even with the current condition, Sasmito is assured that the number of tourist coming into Indonesia will not be lessened significantly.

"I have lived with foreigners in the United States. Despite strong nationalism, their individuality is a lot stronger. It means that western people are not always affected by what is going on around them, they listen to their inner voice," he said to Liputan6.com, Jakarta, Wednesday (18/02/2015).

According to Sasmito, the impact towards Indonesian economy will not be a concerning one, even if there is an impact, it will be a small -- scale one without intervening the exports and imports.

From the BPS data, the export of non-oil and gas from Indonesia to Australia dropped down by 61,96% making it US$ 184,4 million in January 2015. This is still considered a small number and does not require special attention.

"The impact on our economy is still very small. We need to let the world now that our economy is much more threatened with the presence of drugs market from Australia. When our economy is wrecked by the drugs market, especially from foreigner dealers, that is the moment when we think that our economy is in danger," he concluded. (Akp/Tnt)

NGGA NGEPEK