Go CHINDO as An Innovative Application To Strengthen The Socio-Cultural Relations

Between Indonesia and China

Indonesia and China have close diplomatic relations. This can be seen from the many
bilateral cooperation carried out by the two countries in various aspects, such as economics,
education and culture 1). The cooperation related to culture that run by the two countries such
as in the tourism and language sectors. The number of Chinese tourists that come to Indonesia
is increasing every year, this can be seen from the increase in the number of Chinese tourists
2)
who came to Indonesia in 2018 as much as 7.7%, namely from 6.54% to 14.24% 3). In
addition, based on the data from Indonesian statistical center, it was stated that tourists from
China were the most dominating tourists compared to tourists from other countries who visited
Indonesia.
The existence of this phenomenon can certainly be used by both countries as an effort
to strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially in the cultural sector. Increasing bilateral relation
in the cultural sector can also encourage economic growth of the two countries as a result of
the increasingly advanced tourism sector in both of countries. It is hoped that in the future,
there will not only be an increase in the number of Chinese tourists that come to Indonesia, but
also an increase for Indonesian tourists that can go to China.
One of the solutions offered in an effort to improve cooperation in the cultural and
tourism sectors is the Go CHINDO application. This is a tourism application which also
includes cultural volunteering activities. In principle, the application contains information
about culture, such as destinations for tourism in China and Indonesia, informations and stories
about traditional cultures typical of both countries. In addition, the application is also equipped
with the provision of volunteers who will later serve as buddies and host families.
The application will be developed later in three language choices, namely Indonesian,
Mandarin and English. This aims to avoid confusion of the users from both countries. The Go
CHINDO application consists of various menus that containing information and a series of
activity schedules. The provided menus in the Go CHINDO application can be seen in the
following design sketch.
 The Design Scetch for Go CHINDO Application.
• Country
This menu is the main of option menus that symbolized by the flag symbol. If the
menu is clicked, the choice of two countries will appear, namely Indonesia and
China. If the user wants to know the cultural information or tourism destination in
one country, the user can directly choose the option by clicking on the flag symbols.
Thus, directly all menus regarding cultural information and tourism destinations will
provide information to one of the selected country. For example, if the user chooses
the Indonesian flag emblem on the country menu, then all available information
menus will provide information about the culture and tourism destinations in
Indonesia.
• Culture
This menu contains various information about the culture that exists in both of countries
(Indonesia and China). Also on this menu there are various informations about culinary,
 traditional clothing and traditional houses typical of the destination region or country.
In addition, this menu also provides information about specific areas that can be directly
connected with google maps. So, if there is a reader who wants to know the culture,
then he/she can easily visit the origin place of the culture.
• Places
This menu contains various choices and tourist destinations in a lot of regions. In this
menu, a map will be provided that is directly connected to Google Maps. So, if the
prospective tourists will visit an area, they will easily find the direction to reach the
place. This menu will also be supported by information about distance from various
cities and the travel time needed, as well as information about travel routes and vehicles
that can be chosen. This way will make the prospective tourists arrive to their
destination place easily.
• Buddies
This buddies menu consists of two sub menus, namely My Buddies and Volunteers.
Sub menu My Buddies contains a list of Volunteer names that are in the country of
tourist destinations. They are the people who willing to become buddies or escort
prospective tourists in the country. The Users or prospective tourists can choose buddies
that will be their tour guide and host family based on specifications in the application.
Meanwhile, the Volunteers sub menu is intended for people who are interested in
registering as a buddy. In the sub menu, a set of requirements and biodata filling will
be provided. So, if the a prospective volunteer is selected, his or her name will be
showed in the list of buddies that has been categorized by the location.
• Happy language
This menu will facilitate the users or prospective tourists in learning the China or
Indonesia language. In this menu, the prospective tourists can learn general
vocabularies as well as cultural rules in the specific area.
This application can be run and organized by the management team formed from the
results of team recruitment. The recruitment of the team can be formed by the Indonesian
tourism ministry that also collaborate with the Chinese government. The existence of this
management team is useful to facilitate the implementation of the program. So, this programme
can be run effectively and efficiently. The management team consists several divisions, such
as the program management division, information management and IT development support
application. The Members of the management team consist of Chinese and Indonesian citizens.
 The management team from Indonesia will provide informations on Indonesian culture
as well as various tourism destination locations in Indonesia, and also the design of volunteer
program activities carried out in Indonesia. Likewise, the management teams from China will
provide various informations and design programs for volunteers and tourism with China as
the focus of their destination. Meanwhile, Go CHINDO's funding can be supported by the
Indonesian goverment and China government through funds that allocated for tourism
development.
The existence of the Go CHINDO application is expected to facilitate prospective
Indonesian and Chinese tourists who will carry out tourism or vacation activities. Through this
application, prospective tourists will be able to enjoy a vacation at the destination places with
a buddy. So, the tourists don’t need to worry about getting lost in another country. Instead,
through this application, prospective tourists and buddies who become volunteers can get to
know each other, so they can build new connections and add their own insights, especially in
terms of culture and language. Thus, the application is expected to create closeness between
the two countries, not only in terms of bilateral cooperation, but also the closeness between
Chinese and Indonesian citizens.

References
1) Juniar Laraswanda Umagapi. 2017. The Rise of China-Indonesia Relationship: Soft Power,
Resources, and Prospect in the Future. Indonesian Perspective Vol. 2, No. 2: 131-142

2) BPS Indonesia. 2018. Perkembangan Pariwisata Juni 2018. Available at:

https://www.bps.go.id/pressrelease/2018/08/01/1474/jumlah-kunjungan-wisman-ke-
indonesia-juni-2018-mencapai-1-32-juta-kunjungan.html. [Accessed 21 February
2019]

3) BPS Indonesia 2018. Perkembangan Pariwisata Desember 2017. Available at:

https://www.bps.go.id/pressrelease/2018/02/01/1468/jumlah-kunjungan-wisman-ke-
indonesia-desember-2017-mencapai-1-15-juta-kunjungan--.html. [Accessed 21
February 2019]