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Tourism
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In Indonesia, a pet dog’s death goes viral, sparking debate on ‘halal’ tourism

  • #JusticeForCanon trended on social media after the animal died when Aceh province officials seized it in drive to ensure tourist facilities are sharia compliant
  • Indonesia hopes to boost economy by promoting Muslim-friendly travel, but incident highlights confusion over the meaning of ‘halal tourism’

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Canon was allegedly seized from the Kimo Resort off Sumatra island by local government officials as part of a drive to ensure tourist facilities are sharia compliant. Photo: Instagram
Aisyah Llewellyn
The curious incident of a dog left to die in a crate designed for transporting cabbages has shocked Indonesia and sparked a discussion on “halal” tourism, as Southeast Asia’s largest economy seeks to attract more Muslim travellers.
Last month, a post that went viral on social media showed a black canine named Canon reportedly seized from the Kimo Resort off Sumatra island by local government officials.

The resort, which faces the Indian Ocean, is on an island that is part of Aceh, the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that adheres to sharia or Islamic law. The seizure of the dog was allegedly part of a sweeping exercise to ensure that tourist facilities are sharia compliant, which in this case meant removing animals considered haram, or forbidden.

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Aceh, a once restive province before separatists reached a peace deal with the government in 2005 months after it was devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, has increasingly become a popular destination with Muslim travellers.

Muslim-friendly tourism is growing – it was projected to bring in over U$220 billion globally in 2020 before the pandemic hit – and Indonesia, where about 90 per cent of the 270 million population is Muslim, is seeking to tap this to boost its tourism industry, which before the pandemic contributed almost five per cent of the country’s GDP.

Ten of its 34 provinces – East Nusa Tenggara, Aceh, the Riau Islands, West Sumatra, West Java, Jakarta, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and South Sulawesi – have been identified as halal (“permitted”) tourism destinations, which means that they are sharia compliant and eschew haram products and services such as alcohol and gambling.

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