Bali Journalists Join to End ViolenceAgainst the Press
Tens of journalists in Bali staged a rally on Sunday (22/8) in a show of solidarity with their colleague who was killed in a clash between two warring groups in the eastern Indonesian area of Tual on Saturday. The journalists signed a banner petition as a gesture of their support against attacks on journalists. “We will send the signatures and request for a probe into the killing of Sun TV news contributor Ridwan Salamun to the National Police chief and the Press Council for review,” Rofiqi Hasan, chairman of the Denpasar chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said. The banner was later displayed at the Sun TV bureau on Jl. Diponegoro in Denpasar. Ridwan died on his way to hospital after one of the conflicting groups attacked him. He suffered from hack wounds on his neck and back. In related developments, tens of journalists also staged a rally at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Jakarta on Sunday in a show of sympathy for late Ridwan Salamun. They urged the police to thoroughly investigate the case and bring the culprits to justice. The killing of Ridwan was an attempt to deprive the public of truth, chairman of the Indonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI) Imam Wahyudi said on Sunday. (August 23rd 2010)
Bali Entrepreneurs Expected to Care for Environment
Bali’s entrepreneurs are expected to care for the environment to support the province’s Greening Program, the head of Bali`s Biological Environment Office, AA Alit Sastrawan, said here Wednesday (25/8). Sastrawan said all entrepreneurs who had businesses or industrial plants in Bali should support the program to make Bali green and clean. Entrepreneurs could endorse Bali’s green program in various ways such as participating in greening activity, caring for the disposal of plastic trash, protecting beaches from abrasion, and other environment preserving exercises. Though some entrepreneurs were already contributing to the care- for-the-environmental movement, some other entrepreneurs still lacked concern for the environment, he said. (August 26th 2010)
Bali Wins another Tourism Award
Bali has won “The Best Leisure Destination in Asia Pacific” award from the Business Travelers Asia Pacific magazine based in Hong Kong, a tourism official said. The award would be presented to the Bali provincial government at Contrad Hotel in Hong Kong on September 10, Head of the Bali Provincial Tourism Office Ida Bagus Subhiksu said here on Monday (23/8). Subhiksu said his office would coordinate with the Bali Tourism Board (BTB) to decide who would represent the local government to receive the award. “We hope that Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika will have a chance to go to Hong Kong to receive the award. He is good at Mandarin language so his presence will help promote the Bali tourism before hundreds of invitees there,” he said. The award will be the second received by the province this year. Earlier, Bali also received “World Best Island in Asia 2010” award from Travel and Leisure magazine based in New York. Bali’s success to win awards as best Resort Island for the umpteenth time would no doubt boost the province’s tourism industry, he said. “The award was mostly likely inspired by the film titled Eat, Pray, Love (EPL) which stars Hollywood actress Julia Robert,” he said. (August 23rd 2010)
Twenty-Nine Houses Damaged in Violent Bali Clash
At least 29 houses were damaged and eight people injured after two neighborhood groups at Pengastulan village in Buleleng district, North Bali, clashed early Sunday (29/8). “Some of the residents carried pointed weapons and some threw Molotov cocktails at one of the houses but it did not cause fire. They pelted stones, bottles and roof tile fragments at each other. The clash settled after the police came to restore the situation,” Pengastulan village head Ketut Yasa said. Three of the injured were in a critical condition. They were identified as Muhamad Syarif and Muhammad Azim of Kauman neighborhood group and Putu Suarjana of Pala neighborhood group, Ketut said. Some of the injured were treated at a nearby hospital, while the others treated their injuries themselves, he said. Seririt subdistrict head Putu Kariaman said the clash was the fourth of its kind in the past few years. The two conflicting neighborhood organizations were reconciled after the security agencies held a meeting with the figures from both sides at around 2 p.m. on Sunday. (August 30th 2010)
Bali Continues Eliminating Stray DogsDespite Int’l Protest
The Bali provincial administration continues to cull stray dogs despite international protests, spokesman I Ketut Teneng said here on Sunday (29/8). Teneng added that the decision to maintain the stray dog elimination policy was aimed at preventing the spread of rabies spread by the dogs. He argued, the Bali authorities had also vaccinated pet dogs as well as implementing the cull. Up till now some 977,461 stray dogs had been killed, and 348,069 dogs vaccinated. Dog bite cases in Bali had reached 25,531 since the rabies outbreak in 2008. The number of dog bite cases had raised demand for anti-rabies vaccines. Until now, Bali had used 23,031 vials of the vaccines, and still has 15,582 more available ready for use. Teneng said he hoped that the administration’s action in dealing with stray dogs may eliminate rabies there in 2012. The Bali provincial administration has allocated Rp16.07 billion from its own budget for rabies eradication this year. The funds are channeled through the regional animal husbandry and animal health offices. Of the total of Rp. 16.07 billion, Rp. 3.38 billion would be used for operational activities, health care and prevention of infectious diseases. Despite mass dog culls aimed at preventing rabies outbreaks since August 2009, the number of districts affected by the potentially fatal disease had more than tripled after first appearing in two districts in November last year. (August 30th 2010)
US Man Arrested for Pulling the Plug on Early MorningPrayer Call - Lombok
Authorities have arrested an American man for blasphemy after he pulled the plug on a loudspeaker at a mosque because it woke him up, police say. Luke Gregory Lloyd, 64, was taken into custody after he disrupted a nightly Koran reading session near his home on Lombok which was being broadcast over the mosque’s loudspeaker during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The incident happened on August 22 and Lloyd has been under police guard at a hotel ever since, pending further investigations. “He got angry as the Koranic reading woke him up. He scolded people in the mosque before pulling out the loudspeaker’s cable,” police officer Lalu Mahsun told reporters. He could face five years in jail under the mainly Muslim country’s blasphemy laws. (August 30th 2010)
Retired American Serviceman Jailed in Bali for Drugs
A 61-year-old retired US serviceman in Bali was sentenced to nine months in prison on Wednesday (25/8) for possession of 8.5 grams of marijuana. Joseph Michael Malone was vacationing on the resort island when he was arrested at Padang-Padang Beach in South Kuta on April 28. Police said Malone was trying to dispose of a white bag filled with marijuana as they approached him on the beach. Detectives from the Denpasar Police later examined the drug and confirmed that it was marijuana. The court heard that Malone later admitted to police that he had bought the drugs for Rp 8 million ($890) from some sailors while on holiday in Padang, West Sumatra. The Denpasar District Court found Malone guilty of violating Article 127 of the 2009 Narcotics Law. “The court sentences the defendant to nine months in prison, with a reduction for time served while the defendant was held awaiting trial,” Judge Sutama said in the verdict. Indonesia’s drug laws are notoriously heavy. Malone’s sentence, however, was more lenient than the one-year in prison that prosecutors had demanded. When handing down the verdict, the panel of judges said they took into account the defendant’s remorse and lack of a criminal record in awarding a lighter sentence. Malone’s lawyer, I Nyoman Jaya, said his client would not file an appeal. “At the start of the trial, we filed a motion asking that the defendant be acquitted on all charges,” Jaya said. “But since the motion was not granted, we think the sentence is fair.” (August 25th 2010)
138 Passengers Rescued After Ferry RunsAground in Bali
Nearly 140 passengers were finally rescued unharmed from a ferry on Friday (27/8) morning after it ran aground in Singaraja, Bali, on Thursday evening. Ospar Silaban, a local official from state-owned transportation management company ASDP, told the Jakarta Globe that 138 passengers were evacuated from the ill-fated Darma Rucitra after it was left high and dry in Tanjung Gowa after a crossing from East Java. “Our priority was rescuing the passengers and thank God all of them survived,” he said. He said the accident was caused by “natural factors,” namely heavy seas and strong ocean currents. The ship remains beached and salvage crews are waiting for high tide this afternoon before attempting to refloat the vessel. On Wednesday, the Putra Romo carrying more than 26 passengers sank in Badung Strait, Bali. Nine passengers died and another two are missing, feared. A police investigation revealed the boat was overcrowded and their were no lifejackets (August 27th 2010)
Bali Has Earmarked 66 Billion to Green the Island
The Bali Government has earmarked Rp66 billion in its budget to reforest fallow and critical land everywhere in the province over the next five years, a local forestry official said. “We will replant deforested and critical land covering a total area of 25,346 hectares scattered in various districts and cities in stages over a period of five years,” Ida Agung Buana, head of Bali’s forestry service, said here Tuesday (31/8). The annual reforestation target was a minimum of 5,000 hectares per year with the replanting process to take place inside or outside protected or village forests. He said for the private and individual sectors, the local government had set up free seedling distribution centers in eastern, southern, northern and central Bali. Companies or individuals who have land they wish to reforest can obtain tree seedlings free of charge from the centers. The reforestation program was to be implemented to support the Bali provincial government’s program to make a clean and green province, a province with a green economy and green culture, Buana said. (31st August 2010)
2,500-Year-Old Human Remains Discovered in Bali
Archeologists in Bali say they have unearthed ancient human remains that date back to about 500 B.C. at a village in the islands southeast. Ayu Kusumawati, a researcher from the Denpasar Archeological Society, said on Sunday (29/8) that two sarcophagi had been discovered by a bricklayer in a quarry near Keramas village in Gianyar. She said the group opened one of the stone caskets on Sunday. It contained a human skeleton with all the bones intact. The second sarcophagus is set to be opened on Monday. Ayu said both of the coffins had identical markings on the outside, which culminated in a tortoise-shaped relief at the top. A pitcher was also found inside the opened sarcophagus. The findings, she said, indicated that the remains were about 2,500 years old. “Both the pitcher and the sarcophagi show signs of advanced stonework and ironwork,” she said. Burials in sarcophagi were exclusively the domain of the nobility, Ayu added, while the tortoise motifs represented the channel through which the spirits of those inside could journey to the afterlife. Meanwhile, the archeological society’s chairman, Wayan Suantika, said the latest findings brought to 16 the total number of sarcophagi unearthed at Keramas over the past four years. In May, four burial plots were found, although each had already been opened and their contents emptied, he said. Suantika said that his organization was working with the Prehistoric Artifacts Preservation Society and the local administration to establish a museum in the area to house the discovered sarcophagi. “Obviously it won’t be easy, but once we get this museum in place, it will be a huge drawing card for tourists,” he said. (August 30th 2010)
