The President and Founder of New7Wonders, Bernard Weber, pointed to possible solutions that could help resolve the situation concerning New7Wonders and Indonesia. He urges all parties to cease communicating misleading information and instead focus their energies on finding a positive way forward.
“The current situation is simply about New7Wonders being able to operate legally safely in Indonesia,” Weber said, and continued: “Because a legal contract for the New7Wonders Official Host, signed on 9 December with a Private Consortium, has not been honoured since 23 December, it is currently not legally safe for New7Wonders to continue being present in Indonesia. This is the direct cause of the situation we are now facing.”
Commenting on recent statements by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Weber said: “If it is now the case that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is no longer able to support its pledges made over many months, then New7Wonders of course recognizes that the Ministry is fully entitled to make and change policy as it feels is appropriate. This is the sovereign right of any elected and representative government, and New7Wonders, as the world’s largest global voting platform, of course respects this.”
For New7Wonders, the current status is that unless the Private Consortium can resolve the matter in line with the contract, then the situation remains that it cannot operate legally safely in Indonesia, and the suspension will have to go ahead on February 7. However, to show its goodwill, New7Wonders proposes three possible solutions to the matter of the New7Wonders Official Host that will ensure it can operate legally safely in Indonesia:
Solution 1: The Ministry of Culture and Tourism confirms it can now honour its pledge for the Official Host. In public statements made on Wednesday, the Minister again confirmed that the Ministry has always been ready and able to fund a certain amount towards the New7Wonders Official Host. If this is the case, then New7Wonders will be able to find a solution.
Solution 2: Another Ministry, or central government department, takes the lead. If it is decided that, given the national importance of this, another Ministry or a centrally coordinated government department should take over the New7Wonders Official Host, then New7Wonders is ready to work with this new structure.
Solution 3: A private sector group, or private/public sector group, takes the lead. If an organization, for which the image and reputation of Indonesia is important, offers to take this over the New7Wonders Official Host, then New7Wonders is ready to work with this new structure.
Providing any of the above solutions recognizes the New7Wonders contract rights, then it will be possible for New7Wonders to operate legally safely in Indonesia.
“Today we are outlining three possible solutions, three ways the situation can be immediately remedied,” said Bernard Weber. “Our team is ready to work together with the constructive supporters of Indonesia to move forwards — our commitment is there on the table and it is now up to the leaders of Indonesia, public and private, to seize this positive opportunity.”