Archive for September, 2008
A hard landing by a China Airlines jet at Bali’s international airport has sent at least nine people to hospital with injuries ranging from broken limbs to small cuts according to local media reports.
Local media reports in Indonesia say that the China Airlines jet flying from Taipei, Taiwan to Denpasar encountered air turbulence causing a hard landing at Bali’s international airport at about midday local time today.
At least nine people are reported to have been injured and are being treated at local hospitals for injuries ranging from broken limbs to small cuts.
The plane is parked on the runway with no visible damage.
Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news
September 22nd, 2008
Readers who take part in the CEI 2009 Industry Survey this week could win two nights at the Laguna Resort and Spa Nusa Dua.
Each week for the next six weeks CEI will be asking its valued readers just one question what they think about convention bureaus, destinations, venues and services in Asia.
In return for your valuable opinions CEI will give readers multiple chances to win exotic prizes in destinations across Asia Pacific.Source: http://www.brandrepublic.com
September 19th, 2008
Anton Muhajir, Contributor, Bedugul
The hilly area of Bedugul, around a two-hour drive north of the island’s capital Denpasar, is one of the most scenic places in Bali.
For decades it has been the island’s biggest producer of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Recently, local farmers are breaking free from the prevailing trade and distribution scheme in order to gain better prices for their products and a better life for their families.
I Wayan Kanten, a vegetable grower in Bedugul’s Pancasari village, said the old scheme put farmers in a weak position. It also brought very little, if any, advantages to them.
“For all these years the farmers have always been poor. It turns out that this fact is the result of the ‘game’ those people play within the trade and distribution scheme. Those people are very cruel, they don’t want the farmers to have any knowledge of the market,” he said.
The people he was referring to are tengkulak (village-level commodity middlemen), pengepul (wholesale commodity collectors) and supplier (large scale buyers, who cater to big tourism facilities).
These people populate the long chain of trade and distribution, which separates the farmer from consumer.
Kanten, who is also the coordinator of the Muda Mandiri farmers’ group, said their products moved along a long chain of trade and distribution before reaching consumers. Under this old scheme, it is impossible for the local farmers to sell their products directly to the markets or the consumer.
After being harvested, paprika (bell peppers), tomatoes, carrots, Chinese cabbages and other fresh vegetables are usually sold to tengkulak, who mostly live in the same villages as the farmers.
The farmers sell their products to the tengkulak not because they like the prices offered by the tengkulak or out of a sense of loyalty to their fellow villagers. They sell to the tengkulak because they don’t have any choice.
These farmers are usually in heavy financial debts to the tengkulak, who generally come from wealthier families than the farmers.
The debts are used as leverage by tengkulak to force the local farmers to accept the cruel buying system known as ijon. The system allows the tengkulak to buy the crop even before the start of the harvest season.
“Consequently, the buying prices are set by the tengkulak. The farmers have no choice but to oblige due to their financial debts to the tengkulak,” Kanten said.
More often than not, the farmers do not receive their cash on the day the tengkulak take their products.
“It’s not a fair scheme. The farmers have to wait for up to three months before receiving the cash. Sometimes, it is not a full pay since the tengkulak only give half of the payment.”
The tengkulak send the products to the pengepul, who operate small to moderate-sized warehouses in the district’s capital or in Denpasar, a city 60 kilometers away from Bedugul.
Naturally, the tengkulak sell the products to the pengepul at higher prices than their ijon prices.
The pengepul sell the products to suppliers, which in turn sell those vegetables to the markets, hotels and restaurants across the island.
This long chain of trade and distribution, according to the coordinator of Bali Organic Association (BOA), Ni Luh Kartini, creates significant price discrepancies between the prices received by the farmers and the ones paid by the actual consumers.
“The farmers never know at what price their products are sold in the markets,” she said.
BOA has launched a program to assist the island’s farmers in embracing organic farming as well as in getting better prices for their products.
“The existing scheme is not fair because it doesn’t involve the farmers in any decision concerning pricing policy. In this scheme, the farmers will always be poor and the people who get rich from the trade are tengkulak, pengepul and suppliers.”
Realizing the flaws of the old scheme and their weak position, the Pancasari’s farmers established a farmers’ group. Assisted by BOA, the group has opened several new markets for their products.
Currently, their products are sold to restaurants and stores dedicated to organic farming’s products, including Bali Buddha and Manic Organic.
The group scored a major marketing victory when it sealed a contract with the Aero Catering Service (ACS) of the Ngurah Rai International Airport. ACS supplies the meals for the airlines’ passengers.
The contract requires the group to supply ACS with 400 kilograms of fresh vegetables on a daily basis. It provides the members of the group with a steady monthly revenue of Rp 27 million (US$2,860).
Under this new scheme, the farmers negotiate the price of their products directly with their actual consumers.
“Moreover, we also receive our payment without any delay — directly and in cash,” a member of the group said.
Source: The Jakarta Post
September 19th, 2008
Denpasar, September 17, 2008 (ANTARA News) - The reported patenting of Balinese traditional silver work designs by foreigners has also given rise to anxiety among local artists including musicians.
“As a musician, I feel concerned about this matter since it is a threat to Balinese culture. I will raise this issue every time I perform,” Nanoe Biroe, a young Balinese musician said here Saturday.
Nanoe said the lack of protection of copyrights in Indonesia was alarming. He referred to cases in which pirated songs and music were already available in the market even before the original albums were released.
He criticized the foreign parties that had stolen Balinese traditional silver work designs, saying the designs were part of Indonesia’s national heritage.
Nanoe also worried that the silver work designs case would have a psychological impact on all artists in Bali.
“It does not make sense that a silver craftsman was sued in court for allegedely violating a foreigner’s copyright on the craftsman’s creation. This will make other artists afraid to produce their creations,” he said.
For further information, please contact: Mr. Surya Dharma, Director of Information and Public Relation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, phone: 021 - 3838167, 021 - 3838131, fax: 021 - 3849715, or e-mail: surya_d@budpar.go.id, humas@budpar.go.id
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
September 18th, 2008
Asep Saefullah, Contributor, Lombok
Bali is one of the world’s most famous tourism destinations, and yet the island’s prosperity hardly touches many other parts of the archipelago, including nearby Lombok Island.
Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara is an emerging tourist resort itself, but has long faced the problem of poverty among its population — whose livelihoods largely depend on forest resources.
Most state-owned forest areas in Lombok, however, especially those in areas surrounding Mount Rinjani (which was officially declared a national park with its rich natural resources), are being continuously damaged.
“Mount Rinjani supplies water for agricultural and other crucial purposes to the entire Lombok population,” said Rahmat Satibi, director of the Consortium for Study and Participation Development (Konsepsi), a local NGO which promotes Community Forestry Programs (HKm) in West Nusa Tenggara.
According to Konsepsi, deforestation endangers the livelihoods of Lombok’s residents, especially poor farmers who live off forest resources.
Rahmat said forest degradation in Lombok was getting worse every day.
“Most people live in poverty and they only have a tiny piece of land. This has forced them to find more land, including in forests near their villages,” he said.
The big problem in Lombok is deciding whether to protect forests while neglecting the fate of poor farmers, or to let the farmers freely exploit forest resources.
The government’s recent move to introduce a community forestry program came at the right time. The program, which allows farmers to take part in developing forest areas and harvest non-timber forest products, has seen a great deal of support.
The Community Forestry approach was first initiated in 1997 in the province, particularly in Central and West Lombok districts. In West Lombok district, the program has been implemented in Santong and Sesaot villages.
“We have timber well guarded within the forest and residents can harvest non-timber products, mostly short-lived plants which they grow under or between trees,” said Abidin Tuarita, a facilitator of the Community Forest Program at Santong village.
While waiting for timber trees to grow, members of the program plant non-timber forest products like coffee, cocoa, durian, vanilla, arica nut and bananas.
Santong village is now well known as a producer of good quality coffee beans and cacao.
“Traders from Bali and Java (two islands immediately to the west of Lombok) come to this village with trucks to collect non-timber forest commodities,” said resident Aswadi.
Non-timber forest products not only bring economic benefits to farmers, but also have a strategic role in slowing the villagers’ encroachment into forest areas, and thus helping to conserve the environment.
By making use of non-timber forest products, farmers have avoided removing trees carelessly.
“Vanilla grows by entwining their stems upward along tree trunks. When people cut trees down, their hopes of harvesting vanilla go up in smoke,” he explained.
L. Syaiful Arifin of West Lombok district’s Forestry and Plantation Office said the Community Forestry Program was a “compromise” where two contradictory purposes — to ensure forest conservation on the one hand, and on the other to help forest farmers prosper — could be negotiated fairly.
“The government scarcely has enough human resources to guard the forests, so the Community Forestry Program is an ideal format to manage people’s participation in forest development,” he said.
However, the sustainable forest program has not yet been met with regulations favoring farmers, and consequently they are still hoping for legal grounds for their engagement in forest management.
“A permit for forest management would allow us to become wholeheartedly involved in developing forest areas and prevent us from violating the law.
“It would also clarify farmers’ rights and responsibilities,” said Artim, a member of Maju Bersama farmers’ cooperative unit which was established to empower Santong villagers.
The only legal standpoint farmers have for their involvement in the program is the 1999 Forestry Law. The problem remains, however, that regulations related to this law tend to be biased, if not contradictory.
For this reason, Rahmat said, the group has requested the local Forestry and Plantation Office, legislative council members and NGOs get together to produce a regulation on community forestry for the benefit of forest farmers.
Apart from this regulation, he said, partnership with the program’s stakeholders would also play an important role in producing a better set of forestry regulations.
Several local regulations on community forestry were issued by West Nusa Tenggara province, however, they are still inadequate, Rahmat said.
“The government needs take a serious approach to preparing good forest governance,” said Dwi Sudarsoni, director of the Nusa Tenggara Community Foundation that actively provides support for the sustainable management of natural resources.
“In the end, this will lead the farmers toward prosperity.”
Source: The Jakarta Post
September 17th, 2008
The blossoms of the Indonesian island of Bali will add fragrance to the holiday itineraries of several Indians this festival season. With the number of Indian footfalls growing in the island every year, officials of Indonesia’s culture and tourism ministry, the Bali tourism industry and the Bali chapter of the Pacific-Asia Travel Association (PATA) all expect the number to cross the 22,000 mark in 2008.
At the close of 2007, the number of Indian visitors to Bali stood at 21,909, up 71.27 percent from the previous year, said a communiqué issued here Friday by the Indonesian culture and tourism ministry.
There has been a steady increase in Indian arrivals to the exotic island. In 2003, the number of Indians who visited Bali was a mere 4,554. The subsequent year, the number logged a quantum jump of 42.03 per cent to 6,468 and in 2006, it was 12.792 per cent.
The ministry, which is hard-selling the island as a preferred destination to Indian tourists this year, held a colourful cultural roadshow Friday.
The highlight of the marketing show was a traditional dance performance which opened with the Sekar Jagat dance - Sekar in Balinese means flowers and Jagat means the world. Like other welcoming dances, the Sekar Jagat dancers bring flowers with them, which combined along with hand movement, make the flowers come alive. The dancers move in a circle, which is beautiful when seen from above.
It was followed by the religious Topend Tua dance, which tells the story of a grandfather. The dancer illustrates to the audience that as we age someday into old men and women, one of our senses would not work perfectly any longer. The eyes lose power of sight, the hair changes colour and the body emaciates.
The show ended with the Cendrawasih dance, which is woven around the scarce fauna found in the Irian Jaya island.
This dance has a green message - it tells the viewers how to protect the environment - through the movements of the playful Cendrawasih bird. The bird is red in colour and attire and winged formations of the dancers make the dance lyrical.
Bali, which was nominated the world’s best island by the International Travel Magazine, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Nestled in the Indonesian archipelago, with a rich tropical wildlife and exotic cultures, it attracts tourists from across the continents.
This year, it hopes to draw at least two million foreign tourists by the year end.
“Interestingly, Balinese is still as rich as it was though it is growing along with globalisation. The Balinese culture has always been related to ‘Tri Hita Karana’ or a tripartite concept that includes spiritual relationship between humans, gods and environment.
“Owing to many similarities between Bali and India and influence of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata on the lives of the people in Bali and India, the two places have shared an emotional bond,” the statement issued by the ministry said.
Bali, one of the 17,000-odd islands in Indonesian archipelago, was an old spice trade centre dealing in pepper, cloves, nutmegs, vanilla and cinnamon. India last year ranked 14th in terms of foreign tourists visiting Bali.
Source: http://travels.ndtv.com/
September 16th, 2008
The Conrad Bali will offer an even greater level of contemporary luxury with the launch of 55 new palatial suites. But that’s not all – each guest of the Conrad Suites will have their own Personal Assistant to design their individual Balinese experience and cater to their every whim.
Opening 01 October 2008, the luxurious Conrad Suites are unlike anything else in Bali. Set in a secluded haven, surrounded by tropical gardens and reflective ponds, each Conrad Suite is a minimum of 110 square metres.
Mr Michael Burchett, General Manager of the Conrad Bali said the new Personal Assistants have reinvented the luxury holiday experience.
“No two guests are the same so no two holidays should be the same. As a guest of the Conrad Suites, you will enjoy the best accommodation in Bali while we plan the perfect Balinese experience for you.
“Whether it’s a helicopter flight over the spectacular rice terraces, a jungle trek in land cruisers to find the ultimate picnic spot, or a front row seat to the magnificent Uluwatu sunset and cultural display – your Personal Assistant will arrange it for you.
“The new Conrad Suites are a private haven for discerning guests who expect to be pampered, but also want access to the extensive range of restaurants and services available at the Conrad Bali,” Mr Burchett said.
Before you even arrive, your Conrad Suites experience will begin. The resort’s new personalised holiday planning website enables you to pre-select your favourite music, aroma or drink, creating a personal sanctuary where you can truly be yourself.
Every Conrad Suite features two Plasma TVs, DVD/CD Player, separate dining and living room, spacious bathroom with rain shower, soaking tub with TV, a private terrace with dining table and day bed, and access to the exclusive Conrad Suites Lounge, private Beach Club and pool.
To complement the new Conrad Suites, five new Spa Pavilions set within tropical gardens and reflective pools will be introduced. A new Wellness Centre will extend the resort’s Jiwa Spa which has been voted “The Best Resort Spa in Bali”.
To complete the new guest experience, Conrad Bali has introduced a sophisticated Japanese restaurant called Rin. Serving Kaiseki-style cuisine with a contemporary flavour, Rin extends the exceptional range and quality of dining options available at the resort.
So whether you desire palatial accommodation, transformational spa experiences, or superb food and wine, the new Conrad Suites offers everything you need for the ultimate luxury Balinese experience.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/
September 15th, 2008
P. Krishna Kumar | New Delhi
In order to lure more Indian outbound tourists to the island of Bali, Bali Government Tourism Office, along with Indonesia Tourism will soon launch joint promotion campaign with the airline companies. This joint promotion is being considered to offset the present connectivity issues between the Indian cities and the Indonesian island. The tourism officials of the Bali Government Tourism Office expect Indonesian national carrier, Garuda to commence operations between Chennai and Bali from November, this year. This, will help improve the connectivity between the two countries in the coming months.
Addressing the media in Delhi as part of the Indonesia Tourism roadshow, Risali Indrakesuma, Minister Council Public Affairs at the Embassy of Indonesia in India said that Indonesian destinations were yet to pick up as favourite travel destinations for Indian outbound because of “lack of awareness” and “poor connectivity.” “While the number of Indians travelling to South East Asian destinations was around two million last year, the Indonesian share was hardly one lakh. India is known in Indonesia more than Indonesia is known in India,” he said. He expressed the hope that the recently opened Indonesia Tourism representative office in India will help in increasing the awareness about Indonesian destinations, especially Bali in the Indian market.
Masruroh, Deputy Director – MICE, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, informed that there was a whole lot of activities lined up in the coming months as part of Visit Indonesia 2008. “For the Indian travellers, in Bali, we will organise a Vegetarian Food Festival and Dipawali celebrations. Apart from this, Guru Ravishankar, teacher, Art of Living, will visit Bali in November,” she said. She added that there has been provisions of ‘Visa on Arrival’ for the Indian travellers to Indonesia since 2002.
Making a presentation on Bali Tourism, Ngurah Ambara, Representative, Bali Government Tourism Office said that Bali is a small island with “unique Geography, Demography and Social Life.” He added that the island has world class beaches, world class luxury hotels with conference facilities, facilities for adventure activities like white water rafting, diving, etc., world class spas, nightlife, shopping centres, etc. “Although the number of Indian visitors to Bali has increased almost 71 per cent between 2006 and 2007 to touch 22,000, it is negligible considering the potential of the market,” informed Ambara.
Later speaking with TravelBiz Monitor, Sanjay Sondhi, Managing Director, Connect Worldwide and India Representative, Indonesia Tourism Office, said that his focus will be to “work as an intermediary” between the Indian travel industry and their Indonesian counterpart and “bring both the industries closer” to package the Indonesian travel destinations better in the Indian market. “We are also looking at joint promotions with airlines like Singapore Airlines, Air Asia of Malaysia, Thai Airways of Thailand, and also private players like Jet,” he added. When asked about the reasons for Garuda choosing Chennai for Indian operations instead of Mumbai or Delhi, he said that one of the reasons might be proximity of Chennai with Indonesia, and “There’s definitely a lot of movement from South Indian cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore to Indonesian destinations as well,” Sondhi added.
Source: http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/
September 15th, 2008
Wasti Atmodjo, Contributor, Serangan
A group of dedicated young conservationists from Serangan Island have turned their skills in transplanting and nurturing coral reefs into a growing commercial enterprise.
The group has also become the island’s first-ever private provider of coral transplantation services.
One of the initiators of the business and local youth leader Wayan Patut, says in the past many Serangan residents made a living by excavating coral and selling it to construction companies and coral traders.
Serangan, which lies some 15 kilometers south of Denpasar, offers limited choices of livelihoods for the local population. Fishing and coral excavation were two of the main sources of income for the islanders.
The initiation of the Bali Turtle Island Development tourism project brought significant changes to the island’s natural landscape. A two-lane asphalt road, a concrete bridge connecting the island with mainland Bali, wide man-made canals that separate the villages with tourism projects and a massive land reclamation project were some of the things the development brought.
Yet, it failed to bring significant changes to the lives of those living on Serangan Island. As the project’s heavy machines dumped sand and dirt to enlarge the island, the local residents toiled under the scorching sun, excavating the island’s surrounding coral reefs for meager salaries.
“Eventually, we realized that the activity only caused more damage to our environment,” Patut said.
Local residents then made the decision to conserve their surrounding environment. With assistance from several environmental non-governmental organizations, Serangan residents established a three-hectare coral-reef conservation zone.
In 2003, the island’s young fishermen formed a group called Karya Segara, which was tasked with rehabilitating the coral reefs in the zone. Rehabilitation was achieved through a transplantation program, whereby Karya Segara’s members transplanted, nurtured and protected the coral reefs.
The rehabilitation project endowed Karya Segara members with new skills — coral reef rehabilitation and transplantation — that provided new job opportunities.
Patut handpicked 11 of the most-skilled members of Karya Segara and assigned them to a newly established group called the Bali Coral Reefs Conservation Team, which would be the commercial arm of Karya Segara.
“They were selected because of the quality of their work. They are all still young, fishermen aged between 32 and 34,” Patut said.
Members of the team were paid on an hourly basis and each member received Rp 50,000 (US$5.30) per hour. The team worked up to six hours per day.
However, Patut added, the rate of pay was negotiable, depending on the project’s scale and level of difficulty.
“We should remember that some projects are financed by commercial corporations and others are funded by the government or by a community-based group,” he said.
So far, the team has completed projects at Semawang beach (Sanur), Tejakula (Buleleng), Jemeluk (Karangasem) as well as several projects outside of Bali, such as in Teluk Palu and Togean (Central Sulawesi); Jambianom, Gondang and Medana (West Nusa Tenggara); and in Besar Island (East Nusa Tenggara).
Its most recent project was in Kuta, where the team carried out coral reef transplantation at a two-hectare plot near the Ngurah Rai International Airport.
The transplantation method the team employed involved taking coral “seeds” from intact coral reefs near the rehabilitation site.
“Out of a 100 square meters of intact coral reefs, only 15 percent are allowed to be farmed for ’seeds’. Moreover, after the ’seeds’ are taken, the team is prohibited from taking another batch of ’seeds’ from that source area for a one year period,” he said.
“These methods and guidelines have one objective; ensuring that the transplantation effort doesn’t cause damage to the existing coral reefs.”
From Serangan’s three-hectare coral-reef conservation zone, one hectare has been turned into a lush, beautiful coral-reef landscape.
Source: The Jakarta Post
September 12th, 2008
The Westin Resort Nusa Dua Bali has achieved the prestigious Green Globe Benchmarked Bronze status under the globally recognised Benchmarking programme. This programme recognises The Westin Resort Nusa Dua Bali’s commitment to operating to the world’s highest environmental standard.?
In achieving Benchmarked Bronze status, The Westin Resort Nusa Dua Bali committed to benchmarking its energy and water consumption, total waste production and community commitment; along with implementing an integrated environmental and social policy.
In particular The Westin Resort Nusa Dua Bali has achieved Best Practice results for Waste Sent to Landfill and Waste Recycling. These measures will ensure efficient practices and large cost savings, ensuring The Westin Resort Nusa Dua Bali is on the path to securing a sustainable future for the environment.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboardasia.com
September 11th, 2008
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