Archive for October, 2008
Taylor Smith
Indonesian lawmakers have made a decision to not ban bikinis at beaches in their mostly Muslim nation, according to comments by an MP.
The decision is sure to be popular in Indonesia’s tourism industry, which had earlier expressed concern regarding an anti-pornography bill sponsored by conservative Muslim lawmakers.
“Tourists will be able to wear bikinis in special tourist areas, such as in Bali, so Indonesia’s tourism industry won’t be hurt by this legislation,” a Democrat Party lawmaker, Husein Abdul Azis, said to the AFP.
“We are listening to the protests of stakeholders and people at large,” the MP added, alluding to concerns among tourist operators that the industry would suffer if bikinis were outlawed.
Many Bali residents, including artists, entrepreneurs, politicians and rights activists on the predominantly Hindu island insisted that they would not comply with the provisions in the pornography bill if it were passed.
Azis, who is a member of the committee responsible for drafting the bill, commented that significant changes were made to the earlier version, in order to eliminate any problems.
Lawmakers have said that the bill could be passed by the end of this month.
Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the quotes above, for more information on this article please visit their website.
www.indonesia-tourism.com
Source: http://news.carrentals.co.uk/
October 22nd, 2008
SANUR, Indonesia (AFP) — Both Thailand and Malaysia claim to have originated sepaktakraw in the early 1400s and rivalry in the highly skilled game is fierce throughout Southeast Asia.
But the indoor sport has a new twist here in Bali, being played outside on hot sand at the inaugural Asian Beach Games.
The concept means the top teams have all had to adjust, throwing the competition wide open.
“Beach sepaktakraw is twice as challenging as the indoor sport,” said Indonesian coach Asri Syam.
“We don’t wear shoes, we play on a hot sand surface and that provides very tough conditions.”
A cross between volleyball and soccer, it is hugely popular in Southeast Asia and even has a following in the United States, although the rules tend to mystify Westerners.
“I don’t know what I’m watching and I’ve no idea what the rules are, but it’s exciting,” said Australian tourist Gemma Hill who was peeking through the wire fence to catch a free glimpse of the action.
Whoever emerges victorious here will claim bragging rights for the next two years, meaning winning is a high priority for the neighbouring countries.
The sport has sparked interest in Bali with its dazzling display of acrobatic twists, turns and body swerves.
Even overhead kicking aficionado Ronaldinho would be envious of the elasticity and agility of the sepaktakraw teams, who effectively play foot volleyball.
But the event here isn’t without controversy; the Indian men’s team were disqualified because they arrived late, meaning Group B only consists of Indonesia and South Korea.
The Indonesia men’s team overcame the Koreans 21-18, 21-12 in their first preliminary game and beat them again 21-14, 21-12 to ensure they top their group and play Group B runner-up Myanmar in the semi-finals.
Thailand, who have won 10 golds at the Asian Games, topped their group after beating Malaysia 21-11, 21-8 then overcoming Myanmar 21-18, 21-15 before Myanmar shocked Malaysia to grab the runner-up spot.
Along with Thailand, hosts Indonesia are seen as favourites, but the Thais are missing Suebsak Phunsueb — arguably the finest male server in the sport’s history and a household name at home.
His horse-kick serves have been recorded at a whopping 160 kilometres per hour (100 miles per hour).
Sepaktakraw made its international debut at a multi-sport event during the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing where Malaysia won two gold medals.
The sport is played with a hand-woven ball (takraw) with points scored by hitting it above the net and into the court as the opposing players attempt to block.
Kicks, often performed mid-air at shoulder height, form the basis of the game. No hands are allowed but feet, legs, shoulders and head can be used to keep the ball in play.
Players routinely spike the ball, turning acrobatic somersault movements or bicycle kicks in mid-air to keep the ball in play.
The team final is on Tuesday.
Source: http://afp.google.com/article/
October 21st, 2008
SANUR, Indonesia (AFP) — While other countries in Asia have hosted major multi-sport events over the past 40 years, Indonesia, despite its sprawling size, has been left in the wilderness.
Since it held the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, it has been routinely overlooked, largely due to its poor sports infrastructure, lack of organisational skills and security issues.
All this makes the Asian Beach Games, which were officially opened in Bali Saturday evening, critically important not only to Indonesia’s future hopes of holding more high-profile events, but to how the country is viewed.
“The nation’s image is at stake,” said the Jakarta Post in an editorial.
“Any harm done, whether in the form of poor infrastructure or lax security, will cancel out the work of the organisers and government in their bid to show the world that our nation is well-qualified for hosting a major sports event.”
Security is tight with organisers worried about any incident that could frighten off tourists, just as the island recovers from the deadly bombings in 2002 and 2005.
More than 200 people were killed in the first attack with the economy hitting the skids and tourists fleeing. Another 20 died in the 2005 explosions.
It was largely due to those tragedies that the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) handed the inaugural Games to Bali without a bidding process.
“The member countries felt that these Games would demonstrate the mutual support among Asian countries that Indonesia has emerged from this tragedy,” said Beach Games organising committee director Rita Subowo.
How Bali copes with hosting the event is being closely monitored by the OCA, whose president Shiekh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah is attending, along with International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge.
Hour-long queues at immigration on arrival at Denpasar airport, poor organisation at accreditation centres and limited facilities at venues have not done Bali any favours so far, nor have sparse crowds.
Subowo knows what is at stake.
“We have to admit that we lack many things. But because this is the first event, Indonesia cannot compare it with previous Games,” she said.
“If we fail as host this time, it will be difficult to get a second chance. The hosting capabilities of Indonesia are being evaluated by the participants.”
It’s been a tough fight to get this far with the global financial meltdown rearing its ugly head at the wrong time.
The Games was always going to struggle and organisers have had to scramble to find financing, with a central government injection of 50 billion rupiah (five million dollars) last week saving the day.
But they are not out of the woods yet with much of the money promised but not yet received.
“Thank God the 50 billion rupiah finally came through from the government, although about 20 billion has not yet been realized,” said Subowo.
Some 60 percent of funding was now coming from Jakarta, with the rest from sponsorship and donations.
Around 3,000 athletes from 45 countries are taking part, pitting their wits in 17 sports.
They include: beach handball, kabbadi, pencak silat, sepaktakraw, soccer, volleyball, wrestling, body building, dragon boat racing, jet skis, marathon swimming, paragliding, sailing, surfing, triathlon, windsurfing, and woodball.
Source: http://afp.google.com/
October 20th, 2008
Two East Java Men Tricked into Tattooing their Faces in Effort to Gain Coveted Civil Service Job.
Some people are irretrievably gullible. Unfortunately, in the case of two men from Bojonegoro, East Java, proof of their gullibility is now permanently written all over their faces.
The two men, Bambang (40) and Nanang (30), were recently offered the highly prized opportunity to become civil servants by the Chief of the village of Mulyaoagoang who approached the two men with an urgent offer, which at the time, seemed too good to refuse.
The village chief, Sawiyono, had received several frantic telephone calls and short-message-service (SMS) from a man, who identified himself as a ranking Bojonegoro Regency official, urgently seeking suitable candidates for sought-after government posts in the local tourism department. According to the caller, those sought for work as intelligence officers had to meet two important job specifications: they must be tall in height and prepared to have their faces heavily tattooed.
Why tattooed faces? The argument offered was that those employed as intelligence officers are required to shield their true identities which, the caller insisted, would happen if the candidates camouflaged their facial features.
Sawiyono told authorities that when first called on his hand phone he spoke with a certain Mr. Kasumi, who convincingly claimed to be a First Assistant of the Bojonegoro Administration and completely empowered to recruit new government employees.
Hook, Line and Sinker
Sawiyono became increasingly convinced of the bona fides of the recruitment offer over the course of repeated phone calls, coming rapid fire at a frequency of every 5-10 minutes, asking if suitable candidates had already been identified for the much-coveted government postings.
In a panic to please a superior and play a “bridging” role in an important recruitment, Sawiyono contacted Bambang and Nanang and persuaded them to follow him to a local tattoo parlor. At the tattoo parlor the two men readily submitted themselves to permanent disfigurement believing their next stop was a life-long position in local government.
Claiming he may have been acting under some sort of hypnotic spell, Sawiyono told Kompas that it was only after the two men’s faces were extensively tattooed that he paused to wonder if he should have perhaps checked directly with the subject official in Bojonegoro to verify the job offer and the recruitment conditions. Finally, after a few additional phone calls, Sawiyono’s worst fears were confirmed. The job offer was fraudulent and the source of the telephone offers could not be traced.
What followed was undoubtedly the most awkward part for Sawiyono, telling the freshly tattooed Bambang and Nanang that the promise of a job was bogus and their “new look” was largely permanent.
Bambang, when contacted by NusaBali, revealed that he was a simple farmer with no real ambition to become a civil servant. But, when the offer came along, he decided to jump at the opportunity at a better life and agreed to submit to the tattoo process as instructed by Sawiyono. He told the press he could only cry when he reflects on his permanent scarring that has now made him a subject of community ridicule.
Sawiyono is now the object of a criminal investigation by police and has pledged to accept full responsibility for the medical procedures now underway to eliminate the facial tattoos of the two men.
Source: http://www.balidiscovery.com
October 20th, 2008
The island has been swamped by greedy development that threatens to extinguish the soul of the island, argues Jonathan Hart
Jonathan Hart
So much for serendipity, as the late artist Antonio Blanco might have muttered.
Uniformly adorned in ethnic scarves and sandals, the audience tonight at his memorial museum and gallery high in the hills of Bali is a group of western ladies of a certain age, earnestly pursuing cultural enlightenment.
That they are visibly baffled by the exotic nudes and erotic daubs splashed before them in lurid colour would have come as no surprise to the flamboyant Blanco, who once told me that the essence of Bali is found in the heart rather than the eye.
No surprise, either, to the handful of surviving lotus eaters still languishing in the bars and cafes of Ubud.
As all foreigners who live here are quick to confirm, the fabled magic and mysticism of the Island of the Gods can be as illusory as it is intoxicating; as disparate as it is dumbfounding.
An hour’s drive from the heavily commercialised south, this once laid-back artists’ colony has always mixed the western esoteric with the eastern philosophical; in often intricate works depicting the transcendental or local devotions to satisfying the good spirits of the mountains while appeasing the demons of the sea.
A combination of the eclectic and metaphysical, inspiring endless curiosity but defying easy capture by anyone other than the island’s introspective own.
Amid the jumble of market stalls and arts and craft shops, there used to be a studiously profound and curiously trance-like atmosphere here, at once absorbing and intriguing for the voodoo undertones that could be detected but never fathomed.
Yet these days, with its sleek galleries, supermarkets and suffocating traffic, Ubud can be hard to distinguish from anywhere else in an overburdened holiday island seemingly hell-bent on putting the natural and supernatural on the back burner, paving over its rice paddies and sacrificing the unique on an altar of progress.
No question that a visually enticing, off-shoot Hinduism remains in the ritual temple offerings, cymbal-crashing dances, colourful processions or spiritual festivals that can last for a week or more.
The general vibe, though, seems to be less casually inviting; more fraught in the aftermath of what has been, in visitor terms, a full recovery from two devastating terrorist bombings.
Not merely for the radically heightened security measures that now pervade the island but also, perhaps, for an unsettling increase in crime plus an apparent land grab that conservationists view as a form of environmental rape as potentially as destructive as the bombs.
In and around Ubud, as well as all over the island, vast amounts of agricultural land are being traded for the construction of hotel annexe or private villa complexes. Luxurious slices of paradise to be sold to the highest foreign bidders aspiring to the world-class second homes of the global industrialists or celebrities that already dot the island.
Foreigners, mostly of an artistic or literary bent, have been gravitating towards Bali since the 1930s or earlier, if not to live like natives then to intermingle and interact, the better to absorb the culture and soak in the influences.
So potentially no problem if this new building wave was controlled or restricted to individual homes that blend with the environment and support local economies. But they don’t.
Corruption is rife and calls for a mass building moratorium or strict planning harmonisation have been stifled or ignored, allowing big developer complexes of the modular, buy-off-plan type to become a potential tsunami of concrete spreading across otherwise pristine landscapes or cramping urban spaces.
No longer, it seems, do you have to jump through interminable official hoops and sit cross-legged with village elders to negotiate the future of every precious blade of grass or palm frond, as was tradition.
Money has always helped to oil official wheels in Bali but never before was considered a God, say critics, mostly from an older generation of full or part-time foreign residents who fear the island is pandering to those who have no respect for its traditional ways of life.
True or not, it is evident to frequent visitors like myself that Bali is fast losing its core easy-going appeal; a place that’s relaxed but stimulating , frantic but friendly, happy and harmonious in its own uniquely creative skin.
Chasing the real estate dragon, in particular, appears to be creating growing disenfranchisement among the young in an island where family, from the ancient royal households to the remotest villages, was once deemed paramount.
Displaced by cheaper and less indolent workers from Java, perhaps their least favourite bedfellows, young Balinese are increasingly finding themselves in limbo; educated but unable to find a job.
A syndrome, coupled with apparently conflicting national and local government edicts plus a western tendency to meddle, that seems to be fomenting increasing disaffection plus a ‘them and us’ divide.
Disaffection, too, in the fields where workers can deliberately make incessant and unnecessary noise on the fringes of unwanted developments in order to vent their anger, send a message to the management and disturb the tourists who have come to find peace.
Some solace can be found in a sprinkling of older villa resorts that have made harmony a priority from the outset; notably the iconic Amanresorts whose three eminently stylish but unobtrusive properties remain unquestionably the island’s most accomplished for quality, service and a guaranteed calmness.
All moulded into the surrounding landscape, Amanusa on a promontory in the south; Amandari, currently under renovation on the outskirts of Ubud, and Amankila on a remote East Coast cliff are also predominantly supplied, staffed or serviced by local families.
Yet these resorts, along with a handful of other methodically-planned hotel villas, are the preserve of a wealthy few in an island that’s economically obliged to appeal to all comers.
As with the bombs and subsequent recovery, Bali has been beset many times over many years with alternating periods of tourist drought and surfeit, constantly struggling with the demon that is room supply and demand together with balancing its infrastructure .
The difference today is that the small hotels or ‘home stays’ that traditionally have underscored the integration and experience of visitors seem largely to have been discarded in favour of a generic modern model or mostly large villa or hotel complexes that, for all their efforts to provide a localised imprint, could be anywhere in Asia.
With the ubiquitous motor scooters buzzing around me like a swarm of mosquitoes, I drive down chaotic, overcrowded roads to see an old friend who runs just such a local guest house; a courtyard of simple but spotlessly clean bungalows on the very edge of a beach. A haven now surrounded by building sites.
Nyoman tells me that business is poor due to changing tastes plus crime and security concerns confining many tourists to their resort compounds. We recall more carefree days of sharing breakfast on my terrace, surrounded by trees, birds and peace rather the jackhammers of today. Nyoman shrugs ruefully: “ Sorry, Papa, but all very different now. No bagus (good).”
Cheap is still available but not so much the cheerful in an island whose soul, it seems to me, is evaporating in direct relation to progress. Beyond the hotel complexes, I stroll along the near-deserted beach and stop for coffee at a makeshift café in the shade of a jacaranda.
All, for once, is quiet. Back from their night’s labours, fishermen slumber beneath an early morning sun glinting off an azure sea, surfers riding the white breakers of the reef beyond.
I reflect that snatches of a more traditional, less aggressive Bali can still be found in the eye. But for how much longer?
NEED TO KNOW
Seven nights at an Amanresort costs from £2,645 per person, excluding flights, www.amanresorts.com. Return flights are from £634, www.netflights.com.
There are no direct flights from the UK. Daily connections are available via Singapore and frequently via Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Seven nights, inclusive of return flights and a 3-star resort is from £765, www.travelmood.com.
Bali is hot an humid year-round with minimum day-time temperatures averaging 28º-30º. The rainy season runs from mid-October to mid-April with drier weather, cooled by breezes, during European summer months.
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk
October 17th, 2008
SANUR, Indonesia: Sun, sea, sand and a healthy dose of rivalry are on the agenda in this tourist playground from Saturday (tomorrow) as athletes from 45 countries descend for the inaugural Asian Beach Games.
It is a concept never tried on this scale before, with some 3,000 competitors pitting their wits in 17 sports.
Everyone from powerhouses China and Japan to minnows like Afghanistan, Laos and Macau are taking part, but how successful the Games will be remains unanswered.
Organisers are confident they will achieve their goal of positioning Bali at the forefront of sports tourism, although a reported 10 million US dollar bailout by the government was necessary to keep the event afloat.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is due at the opening ceremony on Saturday to give it his support, as is International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge.
Yudhoyono has demanded a security clampdown island-wide with memories still fresh of the October 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, most of them tourists.
“The president called for guaranteed security during the Asian Beach Games, as even the slightest disturbance would disrupt Indonesia’s image and reputation,” said People’s Welfare Coordinating Minister Aburizal Bakrie.
“Not only the safety of the participants and spectators, but the security of the entire Bali too,” he said.
Police reinforcements from Jakarta have been drafted in to help their Bali counterparts secure venues at the beach resorts of Sanur, Kuta, Nusa Dua, and Serangan.
The Beach Games are the latest addition to a growing portfolio of multi-sports events regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia, with the Asian Games, next held in 2010 in Guangzhou, China, the pinnacle.
OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah sees spectacles like the one here from October 18-26 as a chance to nurture lesser-known sports, but also to foster friendship and understanding.
“Asia represents a rich tapestry of race, language, religion, and nationality that has been woven over many centuries,” said the Sheikh, who will chair the OCA annual general assembly on the sidelines of the event.
“The OCA, through the Asian Beach Games, hopes to add colour to this tapestry and give great momentum for humanity across Asia to achieve friendship, peace and harmony,” he said.
Bali might be the inaugural event, but it is here to stay with the hosts of the next three editions already decided — Oman in 2010, China’s Haiyang in 2012, and Boracay in the Philippines in 2014.
“As the governing body of sport in Asia, we are proud and committed to ensuring that the Asian Beach Games continues to grow and become an integral part of the lives of young Asians for generations to come,” the Sheikh added.
The event — the biggest sporting spectacle held in Indonesia for several decades — is a kaleidoscope of weird and wonderful sports, some familiar to the general audience but others less so.
They include: beach handball, kabbadi, pencak silat, sepaktakraw, football, volleyball, wrestling, body building, dragon boat racing, jet skis, marathon swimming, paragliding, sailing, surfing, triathlon, windsurfing, and woodball.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/
October 17th, 2008
Graha Wicaksana, the head of Community Development for Kuta, Bali’s most famous beach area, has confirmed that the Kuta Karnival returns for nine days from October 18-26, 2008. more?
Graha Wicaksana, the head of Community Development for Kuta, Bali’s most famous beach area, has confirmed that the Kuta Karnival returns for nine days from October 18-26, 2008.
Initially organized as a response to the Bali terrorist attack of October 2002, the event has now become a regular fixture on Bali’s busy calendar of yearly events. This year’s event has been given the motto of “A Celebration of Life” reflecting the nine days of traditional art performances, sunset dances on the beach, sports activities, and an entire bazaar of culinary kiosks located in tents up and down the beach.
Following the first Kuta Karnival held in 2003, this will represent the sixth year for the festivities which now garners national and international press coverage. The 2008 Karnival will also feature Balinese dance competitions, environmental conservation exhibits, a fun cycle show, seminars and a mass street parade. Based on past years, the Kuta Karnival is expected to draw more than 90,000 people.
Some of the highlights of this year’s Kuta Karnival:
● Opening Ceremony - Held on the first day of the event, this day will be marked by a traditional Sekar Jagat dance and “Bali Paddle for Peace” in which 1,000 surfers will take to the ocean to spread flower pedals on the waves. 500 turtles will also be released back into the local seas.
● Food Festival - Tentatively set for day 8 and 9 of the Kuta Karnival more than 60 of Bali’s best restaurants will set up kiosks along Kuta Beach. A children’s play area will be in operation and live entertainment will be on offer from a central stage during these two days when more than 30,000 visitors are expected to attend.
● Tebs Shocking Games - Tebs will be offering samples of their beverages and a number of adventure activities including rope climbing and rope games offered under the careful supervision of the professionals from Tree Top Bedugul.
● Beach Volley Ball Competitions - Volley Ball competitions between both local and international teams at the competition arena on each day of the Kuta Karnival.
● Beach Soccer - Held on “Surf Family Day” informal soccer matches for all those who wish to take part.
● Sand Creations - School children will have the opportunity to compete for prizes as they display their ability to build sand-based sculptures.
More information.. please visit http://www.in-balivillas.com/press_release2_10_October.php
Source: http://www.prlog.org/
October 16th, 2008
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Bali will host a world film festival concurrently with the 2012 Bali International Film festival (BIFF).
“The World Film Festival would overshadow world class film festivals,” Dr Shri Arya Vedakarna, BIFF pioneer and conceptor said here, Wednesday.
He said BIFF`s activities in four years to come in BIFF`s 14th anniversary would receive World Film Festival special attention.
He admitted that many have been supported by BIFF activities, and succeeded in the past 10 years.
“The event was held in Sanur Beach Hotel and showed films from nine countries,” he said.
Participants are Chile, Bangladesh, Hungary, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Slovakia, Venezuela and host Indonesia. The event was also attended by several movie star, producers, directors and film practitioners, in addition to Arya Vedakarna, BIFF licensed owner and Bali Music Awardee and film star Widyawati and Ria Irawan. (*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
October 16th, 2008
The second Asia-Europe labor minister meeting started in Bali, Indonesia on Tuesday, Antara news wire reported.
Eighteen labor ministers, nine ambassadors and scores of senior officials take parts in the two-day meeting. Indonesian labor minister Erman Suparno opened the meeting.
Among the issues to be discussed are environmental friendly jobs, migrant workers, social security, training for migrant workers, information access, job creation, eradicating forcing work, child workers, restriction on union, company social responsibility and others.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english
October 15th, 2008
Denpasar (ANTARA News) - The number of American tourists to Bali has been increasing since the Indonesian government had lifted its travel warning, classiying the number of American tourists coming to the island resort as one of the big-ten.
The number of tourists from other western countries also increased by an average of 20 percent, Ida Komang Wisnu, Head of the Bali Central Bureau of Statistics said here Monday.
Komang Wisnu said the number of foreign tourists to Bali reached 1,664,854 last year. And their number increased further this year.
A total of 1,298,130 tourists came to Bali from January to August 2008, which was a 20 percent increase compared to the 1,079,751 people in the same period last year.
Americans from January to August 2008 coming to Bali reached 46,923, up by 30 percent from 36,092 compared to the same period in 2007 whereas the number of French tourists increased 23 percent from 42,281 to 52,080.
The Germans coming to the `Island of Gods` reached 50,676, a 18 percent increase from 42,802, or a 20 percent increase from 44,406 to 53,567 tourists.
(*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
October 14th, 2008
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