Slamet Tugiyanto, Pioneer of Borobudur Tourism Village

KOMPAS/ADITYA PUTRA PERDANA

Slamet Tugiyanto (73)

For Slamet Tugiyanto, 73, a tourism village is not just a tourism object. In it there must be involvement by residents who can provide added value equally. Using the cooperative concept, Candirejo was pioneered as the first tourist village in Borobudur, Magelang, Central Java.

Slamet was the head of the Candirejo village from 1989-1999 and 1999-2007. He became a pioneer of the Candirejo Tourism Village, the first tourist village around Borobudur Temple, which offers a variety of local amenities for tourists.

Almost every day Candirejo village is visited by tourists, especially foreigners. Do not be surprised if you see a blackboard in the Candirejo Tourism Village office full of travel package bookings, for a tour around the village, bicycle rental or sightseeing on a horse-drawn carriage, for a month ahead.

Candirejo residents play a role in the sustainability of the tourist village. Agriculture and arts are the two main attractions. The visitors are invited to visit the rice field that has an intercropping system. As for the arts being performed, they are, among others, the Topeng Ireng and Kubrosiswo dances.

The idea to establish a tourist village was inseparable from the role of Slamet, who was then the head of the village. Supported by village officials and the local youth, a tourism village was formed using a cooperative model. In principle, the community must be able to benefit from every activity in the tourist village.

According to Slamet, management and governance have an important role in the sustainability of the tourist village. “The people must really benefit from the activity. There must be community empowerment. When I was the village head, I banned the sale of land to outsiders and now it is still like that. For residents to sell land, it must go through the village head,” said Slamet, who was interviewed at the end of October.

The idea for the formation of the Candirejo Tourism Village began in the late 1990s. At that time, Candirejo was ranked 17th out of 20 villages in Borobudur sub-district, meaning it was the fourth poorest village. Candirejo is close to Borobudur Temple, only 3.5 kilometers away.

Slamet felt the high number of visits to Borobudur Temple had no impact on the surrounding villagers. It appeared that the residents were only spectators. “We agreed with friends to organize the village. The important thing was that we took care of our own area so that tourists would be interested,” he said.

Empowerment

In 1999, Slamet formed a team consisting of village, village community (LMD) and village community resilience (LKMD) officials to publicize the plans for the establishment of a tourism village. In one event, he also explained to the Borobudur sub-district head and the Magelang Regency Tourism Office that the focus was on community empowerment.

In 2000, Slamet and his team continued to finalize a community-empowerment program. At that time, Candirejo was visited by then regent of Magelang Hasyim Affandi and Central Java governor Mardiyanto. At that time, the local administration showcased all the potential of the village, such as agriculture, cultural arts (including crafts) and specialty foods.

The community was enthusiastic to show off their best before the governor and regent. “The presence of the two officials boosted the people’s motivation because the government paid serious attention. After the performance, each art group was given Rp 500,000 by the governor,” said Slamet.

After that, his side also received various inputs from the government to continue to develop the existing potential. Slamet then contacted the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Yogyakarta to work together through community-service activities. The quality of the cultural art performances and presentation also increased.

Slamet acknowledged that it was not easy to persuade all citizens to participate. For this reason, he created the slogan “Catur Daya”, which means four forces to improve the welfare of Candirejo. The four forces were attractiveness, growth, endurance and benefits.

After gaining a lot of knowledge from ISI Yogyakarta, the art performers increasingly matured in their performing arts, including the Gatuloco, Kubrosiswo and Topeng Ireng dances and shadow puppetry. In order not to be saturated and boring, all the stages are packaged in 10-15 minutes, as loved by tourists.

The efforts to form the Candirejo Tourism Village were not without obstacles. There was opposition from a number of parties. “We then discussed and explained that this brought benefits to the community,” he said.

All the efforts and hard work of the Candirejo residents bore fruit. After being supported by the Magelang district administration as a tourism village pilot project since 1999, the Candirejo Tourism Village was finally inaugurated in 2003. “Inaugurated directly by the tourism minister at that time, I Gede Ardhika,” Slamet said.

After that, Candirejo Tourism Village continued to grow. Tour packages can be booked in advance. Today there are around 8,000 visits every year and 7,000 of them are by foreign tourists. The highest income so far in 2015 was around Rp 1 billion.

Cooperative

Slamet said a cooperative model was chosen so that the community could be empowered and they could directly enjoy the benefits. “Along with the inauguration in 2003, the Candirejo Tourism Village cooperative was established. This model is also the result of agreement with young people at that time who did not want the organization to be complicated,” he said.

Another factor was the experience of Slamet who was the chairman of the Borobudur Village Unit Cooperative (KUD), which covered areas in the Borobudur sub-district from 1998 to the present. The distribution of the dividends (SHU) to cooperative members is one of the added benefits enjoyed by the community.

Slamet is still active as the chair of the Borobudur Village Cooperative and the supervisor of the Candirejo Tourism Village Cooperative. As a pioneer and senior, he is still involved in developing tourism in Candirejo. The enthusiasm that he brought about for a long time seemed to be an inseparable spirit.

Regarding the continued growth of the number of tourist villages or the new tourism objects, Slamet emphasized the importance of management and governance. “My hope is that in Borobudur there will be one village, one product. This means they are all integrated. Today, some tourist attractions tend to be competitive with each other,” he said.

Slamet, who has a background as an educator, received a Kalpataru Award in 2007 in the Environmental Pioneer category for his enthusiasm for protecting the environment. The award was received directly from Indonesia\'s sixth president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace, Jakarta.

At that time, Slamet encouraged elementary schoolchildren to plant pandan leaves around the tourist attraction Watu Kendil in the village of Candirejo. “I give money to every child who plants one. In addition to preventing landslides, I encourage the elementary school children to grow plantations because there is educational value in it,” he said.

Slamet Tugiyanto

Born: Magelang, March 4, 1945

Education:

- Elementary school Sekolah Rakyat (SR) Candirejo, Borobudur 1952-1958

- State junior high school SMP 2 Magelang 1958-1961

- Senior high school Sekolah Guru Atas (SGA) Magelang 1961-1964

Award: Kalpataru 2007 in the category of Pioneer of the Environment