Archive for September, 2007
By Mohd Nasir Yusoff
KUTA (Bali), Sept 5 (Bernama) — The administrators of Bali have vowed to continue welcoming Malaysians to the island resort despite reports of anti-Malaysia sentiments in some other parts of Indonesia.
The governor of Bali, Dewa Beratha, said Malaysia, which contributes the largest number of visitors to the island among Asean countries, remained a friend of Bali.
Besides tourism, an increasing number of Malaysian parents were sending their children to pursue medicine at Udhayana University, he said at a gathering to mark Malaysia’s 50th Independence Day and commemorate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Indonesia here today.
The governor was represented by MP Sihombing, a high-ranking government officer on the island.
Despite threats of protests, the event at the Alam Kulkul Resort, which also houses the office of Malaysian Consul-General Feisol Hashim, went on smoothly.
Present were Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Zainal Abidin Mohamed Zain, Feisol as well as senior government, military and police officials of Bali.
Feisol said the fact that the demonstration did not materialise showed that the people of Bali were not easily influenced by anti-Malaysia issues highlighted by people with vested interests.
Kuta village chief, Dr I Gede Wijaya, told Bernama that local authorities always strived to ensure security for tourists, including those from Malaysia.
Meanwhile, student Alan Abdul Rahman confirmed that he and other Malaysian students had never been intimidated by any resident of Bali following claims that an Indonesian karate umpire had been assaulted in Malaysia.
Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/
September 7th, 2007
Udayana University academics say electronic media should help preserve proper language use rather than promote the spread of slang
The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
By Prodita Sabarini
Linguists in Bali have called on the mass media to use proper Indonesian to prevent the further spread of bahasa gaul, or slang, across the archipelago.
In a discussion Thursday organized by the Bali Mass Media Language Forum (FMMB), linguists from the Denpasar-based Udayana University said the media should play a more active role in preserving the Indonesian language.
According to the linguists, Indonesia is facing a “crisis of youth” in which the use of the Indonesian language could be altered.
“Our youth now mostly speak in bahasa gaul,” linguist I Wayan Pastika said.
He said bahasa gaul is a pidgin language made up of a mixture of Jakarta Malay and the Indonesian language.
A surge in the number of private television stations since 2000 has contributed to the spread of informal language use in the country.
There are currently 10 private television stations broadcasting in Indonesia, as well as public station TVRI. With the exception of TVRI and news channel Metro TV, the target audience of each television station is essentially the same.
“Infotainments that screen interviews with celebrities facilitate the spread of bahasa gaul,” Pastika said.
“Bahasa gaul is appropriate if used in informal situations, but because these programs are screened in front of a large audience, a more appropriate variation of Indonesian should be used so everyone can understand,” he said.
Indonesia is home to a diverse group of cultures, with more than 500 different ethic languages spoken across the archipelago.
The linguists blamed the electronic media, especially television and radio broadcasters, for promoting the use of the pidgin language.
Pastika said the print media continues to promote the proper use of the Indonesian language, although sometimes mistakes are still made.
Radio announcers, characters in movies and teen sinetron (local soap opera) stars frequently speak in bahasa gaul.
Over the last five years, the Indonesian film industry has made a come back. The Jakarta-based industry often uses the language spoken by teens in the capital, facilitating the rapid spread of Jakartan slang to other cities in Indonesia.
“There is a possibility the Indonesian language will be undermined by Jakarta Malay,” Pastika said.
Linguist Dana Wati said it was unfortunate the average Indonesian lacked insight into the importance of preserving the country’s national language.
“In Malaysia and Singapore, people who can speak Indonesian highly respect the language. However, Indonesians themselves don’t care about it,” she said.
She said a lot of foreigners attempt to learn the Indonesian language, but become lost in the slang Indonesians use in daily conversation.
“They don’t understand what people are saying and can’t follow conversations because too much bahasa gaul is used,” she said.
Linguistics student Eva Trisna said she was often confused by informal terms used in daily conversations.
Eva said the Center of Languages should become a guardian for the Indonesian language.
“The center should publish guidelines regarding the proper use of the language and distribute them to the media,” she said.
She also said columns on proper language use should appear in the print media.
“The success of a word is the success of the media,” she said.
Date Posted: 9/4/2007
Source: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/
September 7th, 2007
Thousands of children are set to benefit from The Laguna Resort & Spa’s latest fundraising event on Saturday, 1 September 2007 where vital funds will be raised for UNICEF immunisation projects in the Asia Pacific region.
The event will be held as part of UNICEF’s Check Out for Children Challenge.
This fund raising event is held in collaboration with Bali’s Fashion Designer Association’s annual fashion show named “Fashion Tendance 08. (Asosiasi Perancang dan Pengusaha Mode Indonesia – cabang Bali: APPMI-Bali chapter).
Fashion Tendance is the annual fashion event where 10 young and dynamic designers from Bali present 12-15 pieces from their latest collections. The Fashion Designer Association represents the new wave of design, with many of these young designers already making names for themselves in Bali and Jakarta, as well as overseas.
The following themed collections will be presented: Out of Bali by Ali Charisma, Neo Ori by Angelica Wu, The Secret of Art by Dewi Suarjani, BeTa Beda by Dwi Iskandar, Non Ordinary by Eny Ming, Me and My World by Putu Aliki, A Touch of Spirit by Yenli Wijaya, A Hope for Tomorrow by Monika Weber, Trap in the Border Line by Muji Ananta, and The Silk Road by Oka Diputra. The fashion designers will invite guests from the fashion community across Indonesia as well as fashion media from Bali and Jakarta.
The fashion association is also supporting Starwood Hotels & Resorts Asia Pacific’s UNICEF Check Out For Children Challenge 2007 in order to raise money for underprivileged children in the Asia Pacific region. Selected pieces from APPMI’s Bali chapter member designers will be auctioned during the event on September 1st. 100% of proceeds from the auction will be donated to UNICEF and all APPMI’s Bali chapter members will be selling selected pieces from their collections at a designated stall at the Ballroom Foyer, where 50% of the proceeds of sales will be donated to UNICEF.
Now in its fourth year, the UNICEF Check Out for Children Challenge is an annual fundraising challenge among staff at Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Each year the challenge goes from strength to strength and this year the fundraising target for the Asia Pacific region is US$90,000.
The theme of the 2007 Challenge will be the celebration of 18 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 1989 governments around the world united to sign the Convention on the Rights of the Child and demonstrate their commitment to children. 18 years later a generation of children have been protected by this Convention.
Funds raised by The Laguna Resort & Spa, Nusa Dua, Bali will assist UNICEF to immunise thousands of children in the Asia Pacific region. More than 30,000 children die every day, mostly from preventable diseases. Thanks to Starwood Hotels efforts in 2006, UNICEF has worked to immunise vulnerable children in Myanmar, Mongolia and Bangladesh.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/
September 6th, 2007
Denpasar (ANTARA News) - The 5th arts festival to be organized by the Cooperation Board of the Indonesian arts institutes in Bali was expected to become an international event as it would invite foreign participants.
A number of high learning institutes from Europe, Australia, the United States and Asian countries have expressed their readiness to take part in the event which was scheduled to take place from November 21 to 25, 2007, Rector of the Indonesian Arts Institute`s Denpasar chapter I Wayan Rai S said here Sunday.
Wayan said the organizing committee would next years invite foreign high learning institutioins to the festival as an effort to enhance cooperation and share arts knowledge with the participants.
The event was previously held in different areas in the country and participated in by only five state arts institutes and two private ones.
“We as the host of the festival have been making preparations for the upcoming event in the hope it would run successfully,” Wayan said.
The expected success in holding the international festival would give a positive image to the Indonesian high learning institutions in the future, he said.
As part of the festival, the organizing committee was also expected to hold an international seminar featuring domestic and foreign arts and culture experts.
The festival would also feature a collaboration involving all the participating high learning institutes.
The collaboration was expected to create new colors and improve the quality of the respective arts institutes in the future, he said. (*)
Source: http://www.antara.co.id/en/
September 5th, 2007
If it were not for comments like “I learned so much from your piece on Balinese names” and “Thanks for reminding us of the power of names,” I would have no idea that anyone reads this column.
Besides my mother, of course.
Baring the bones of why some Balinese prefer to use nicknames and hide their true names, I seem to have invited confessions and gossip from the literati about the origin of pen names among their peers.
Many Indonesians have yet to adopt a family name: the majority, in fact. While traditions that use name to emphasize kinship abound, in Java there is also a strong tradition of choosing one’s own professional name.
A propitious name would be selected to be more in line with one’s chosen path in life. Some simply rearrange the letters in their name, or reveal or hide particular parts of their names, while others adopt a completely new name altogether.
In Bali, to be a priest one goes through a ceremonial rebirth after which the initiate chooses a name for himself. Roles can also be all-consuming. As a token of respect, some high priests in Bali are only referred to by their position as spiritual guide for society.
The concept of “being reborn through knowledge” has been around for centuries, so it is also not rare for a teacher to give a star pupil a new name upon graduation.
For many reasons not explored here, many Indonesian writers seem to hide their Christian names, which often refer to a saint or biblical personage whose character is admired by their parents.
Names given by parents are often wishes so strong they should be considered a blessing. In fact, parents would like them to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
However, writers are an independent lot and like to assert self-determination of identity.
When Sugeng becomes Eros (Djarot) and Susetyo becomes Mohamad, one would think there is a desire for something universal: Not so much abandoning the local, but more an attempt to break away from bearing too thickly a particular identity.
For Japanese flavor, novelist Seno Gumira Ajidarma once chose to write as Mira Sato in homage to Zatoichi.
*****
At the outset of his career, Sarwendo found his name unlucky. With it he could never catch an editor or publisher’s eye, so he rearranged his father’s gift to Arswendho — more fitting to his tongue-in-cheek, slapstick, open character.
With the new name, Arswendo had the Midas touch — everything he touched turned to gold. Monitor became the largest grossing tabloid in the world in its day and Hai magazine the youth favorite.
His stellar rise was matched with his fall from grace for daring to publish a list of “most popular people” based on mailed nominations that led to his name sharing the top 10 with the prophet Mohammad.
Rapidly, he was denounced and sacked. For his own safety, he was thrown in the clink to save him from the hordes baying for his blood. Like Pramoedya, he went on to write many books behind bars.
*****
Hardly anybody remembers that the “Pablo Neruda of Indonesia” once went by the generic rural Javanese single name of Sunarto. In fact there were two of the name at university, so he was referred to as Sunarto B for showing up second.
He studied wordcraft and poetry under the tutelage of cultural impresario WS Rendra. Adept he sure was, the nuances of words and internal rhyming of verse as natural as conversation to him.
So as a graduation gift, he was given the name Sitok Srengenge.
Worthy of a poet, the name that means “One Sun” has helped build a shining identity that has taken his poetry from strength to strength.
*****
A young writer by the name of Goenawan Susetyo was having trouble getting his work published.
Always knocked back by editors, he opted to use the second name given to his older brother: Mohammad.
Under the new name, his submitted work was soon published in various media.
There was a time he had to abandon it, however, and write under pseudonyms such as Mundardjito and Tisna Aji to remain published.
In 1963 the Karl Marx admirer helped pen a Cultural Manifesto that irked the powerful Lekra, the media mouthpiece of the communist movement of the time.
The rise of the New Order government meant that he could resume publishing under Goenawan Mohammad.
However, the pattern repeated in 1994. Tempo, the newsweekly of which he was editor in chief, was ordered to tow the government line. Rather than sacrificing his ideals, he chose to close it and set up an institution to resist the control of information.
Perhaps there is something in the name about being the voice of reason, empowering the marginalized with a progressive movement to set people free from the shackles of backward thinking.
His namesake was similarly persecuted in his time.
Kadek Krishna Adidharma is a Bali-based environmental engineer who works as a cultural liaison officer and is an interpreter. He can be reached at kadek@adidharma.net
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/
September 4th, 2007
| Friday, 31 August 2007 |
| Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT), today announced that W Hotels – the world’s fastest growing luxury hotel brand – will open its first property in Indonesia in 2009. W Retreat & Spa–Bali will be the brand’s fourth retreat in the world, following the award-winning W Retreat & Spa-Maldives, which opened in September 2006, and the impending openings of W Retreat & Spa-Vieques, scheduled to open in late 2008, and W Retreat & Residences-Koh Samui, scheduled to open in 2009.
The newly built W Retreat & Spa-Bali will be located in the Seminyak area on the paradise isle of Bali, featuring 232 rooms, including 80 luxury villas. Developed by PT Dua Cahaya Anugrah (“DCA”), W Retreat & Spa–Bali is situated in the southern seas with a story-book setting of sun-drenched beaches, rustic villages, fertile plains and sculptured rice terraces. The retreat’s 157 guest rooms will provide direct ocean views and its 80 villas will reflect designs of a traditional Balinese courtyard featuring a private pool for guests to enjoy a personal refreshing experience.
“Following the success of our first W Retreat & Spa, the award-winning W Maldives, W Retreat & Spa–Bali is a terrific extension of our brand’s growth in the Asia Pacific region,” said Ross Klein, President, Starwood’s Luxury Brands Group. “The rich and deeply spiritual culture of Bali, combined with the cosmopolitan style and energy of Seminyak, provides a perfect setting for the newest edition to our Retreat & Spa product offering. With the announcement of W Retreat & Spa-Bali, the W brand continues to extend beyond the boundaries of everyday travel, offering a magical mix of sexy destinations and sublime design.”
“We are very excited to partner with Starwood on this project and to introduce the W brand to Bali. We feel that the W signature design and cosmopolitan ambience are a perfect fit with our vision for the project,” said Magda Hutagalung from DCA. “Its unrivaled location in Seminyak will set a new benchmark for luxury accommodation in Bali,” added Zamzam Reza from DCA.
“We are thrilled with the signing of W Retreat & Spa-Bali, marking the entry of the W brand into Bali, undeniably one of the top-rated resort destinations in the world,” said Miguel Ko, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific. “The W Retreat & Spa - Bali will be a unique alternative to the more traditional Bali resorts. Located on a seven hectare absolute beachfront site in Seminyak, the resort will be within walking distance to Bali’s most trendy boutiques, galleries, restaurants and clubs. This addition of this retreat, coupled with The Luxury Collection, Le Meridien and Westin properties will certainly strengthen our presence in Bali,” added Ko.
The resort will offer a uniquely W dining experience with two gourmet eateries – W Kitchen and the retreat’s waterfront signature restaurant – a poolside destination bar and the W Living Room. In addition to W The Store, the brand’s retail component, a spa, pool and health center, guests will be able to indulge in the W brand’s signature Whatever/Whenever concierge service that provides guests with whatever they want, whenever they want it.
Bali is one of the 17,508 islands which make up of the archipelagic Republic of Indonesia. For the first half of the year, foreign arrivals to Indonesia neared the 750,000 mark, hitting 745,949 tourists, a figure well on the way to targeted arrivals of 1.3 -1.5 million for the year. Comparing the first six months of 2007 with the same period in 2006, Bali’s arrivals increased an astounding 35 percent. |
| Last Updated ( Friday, 31 August 2007 |
Source: http://www.bymnews.com/
September 3rd, 2007
SEMINYAK: A rare exhibition will feature 26 photographic works taken from the 1890s through the l960s on various aspects of Bali.
The photos are part of Maurizio Rosenberg Colorni’s collection, which features unknown photographers of that period.
Colorni discovered the photos from among a number of collectors and museums in Europe and Bali. Most of the photographs capture the daily lives of ordinary Balinese.
The exhibition will be held from Sept. 7 through Nov. 23 at the Quidzy Gallery on Jl. Kunti II No. 20, Seminyak, Kuta. – JP
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/
September 3rd, 2007
The Westin Resort Nusa Dua has introduced an innovative program titled Revitalize: A Pool Experience at The Westin Bali.
It aims to provide guests with a refreshing chill-out time at the pool as well as the beach area.
The Westin wants to recapture the carefree spirit of summer by providing complimentary, refreshing beverages for in-house guests during a day around the pool and beach areas.
For the program, the food and beverage team has prepared frozen fruit bars on a stick, as this is not only a refreshing treat but also healthy.
Other alternative refreshments include a little scoop of ice cream served in a crispy cone as well as a shot of a lychee syrup and young coconut juice.
The Westin Resort
Nusa Dua
Bali
tel: (0361) 771906
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/
September 3rd, 2007
Next Posts