Posts filed under 'Bali Tourism News'
Liz Sinclair
“Batik is about the hand and the heart of the worker,” Pak Tjok said.
Pak Tjok Agung Pemayun is a slight man, with a shy but intense energy about him, always moving restlessly. He becomes animated when he talks about his plans for the future of his village, Pejeng, near Ubud in Bali, and how he hopes to recreate it as a model organic and sustainable village. He runs a batik workshop, BISA Indigo Natural, in his village and is know on the street as Pak Tjok Batik.
Pak Tjok is an economics graduate and worked as an accountant in the ’90s — that is, until 1997. He was working for the Nelayan Group when the Asian financial crisis hit that year. He saw big companies going bankrupt and others being bailed out by the government and came to believe the best path to economic prosperity for his people is through small businesses that don’t rely on bank loans.
He decided to go back to his village to help out. He is related to the Ubud royal family and believes that they have a responsibility to help the people and the economy of Ubud. Instead of getting jobs outside their villages, royal leaders should stay and help out, he said. Despite being of royal blood, Pak Tjok is a man of humility. (He refused to have his picture taken by the Jakarta Globe, saying that he wanted the attention to be on his workers and the company.)
Pak Tjok is watching Ubud as it loses its agricultural land to development for tourism. Balinese people don’t realize what a precarious situation this leaves them in, he said, considering the economy could go into recession and tourism could fall off without warning.
If a crisis hit, Pak Tjok said, he and his family would have enough rice from their hectares of rice fields. But many of the Pejeng villagers don’t own rice fields. If there were a crisis, they wouldn’t be able to eat, he said.
Pak Tjok said that in his opinion, the head of each village should be responsible for providing jobs and finding ways to bring in income. Indonesia is too big, he said, too centralized in Jakarta, to look after the needs of all its citizens. He wants the Balinese to be self-sufficient and not rely on the Indonesian government.
Pak Tjok’s batik workshop was not his first business idea. He tried weaving, then wood-carving, then bead making, but none of these business ideas worked out.
So Pak Tjok went on a trip around Java Island to investigate the batik industry. In Pekalongan, Central Java Province, Pak Tjok learned that 30,000 people were working in the batik industry. He also discovered that most batik in Bali was imported from Java, and that few people in Bali were making batik.
“Batik is not our textile culture [in Bali],” he said, “Batik is from Java.”
Pak Tjok had come across a good business idea, although getting started was not easy: He said people making batik in Java had a tendency to hide their knowledge of the batik-making process. But he was persistent and gradually found people that would teach him.
Batik is made using a wax-resist process. A pattern is created on a piece fabric using melted wax, either painted on by hand, with a tool called a canting, or stamped with a mold, called a cap. When the wax has set, the material is dyed. This process is repeated for multiple-colored patterns. The wax is then removed, generally by boiling the cloth in water, and the patterns are left in white. At BISA, the women draw the designs with canting, and the men use cap and dye the cloth.
In 2002, after the first Bali bombing, Pak Tjok set up his batik workshop using indigo and natural dyes, starting with a modest three people — he now employs 76. “We are the first and best in Bali. We’re the first [that uses organic indigo and natural dyes] in Bali, and there’s only one, so we must be the best,” he said, laughing.
BISA’s cinder-block workshop, which exudes the strong smells of wax and raw indigo, is located near the Pejeng market.
The atmosphere is friendly. In a large room, circles of five women are at work. In the center of each circle is a burner topped with a tin pot of wax. The women chat and laugh softly as they each dip their canting into the wax, one at a time.
Pak Tjok prefers to hire women, rather than men, he said, because men are “not too fair handling their wages.” He said that when the men had extra money, they would spend it on cockfights or gambling, rather than giving it to their wives and children. This practice, Pak Tjok said, is destructive to Balinese culture, and he wants to support women, who spend their money on their families.
Wayan Meliawati, 26, who sorts and packs orders, used to work in a supermarket. Her family can’t get by without her income, she said. She had to work rotating shifts at the supermarket and couldn’t always look after her children in the evenings. At BISA, she only works during the day, close to home.
Pak Tjok continues to run the business largely by himself, with some office support, marketing the products, dealing with clients, overseeing new designs, accounting and managing the staff. He said that it was too difficult to set his business up as a yayasan (nonprofit group), which he would have preferred, as their was too much paperwork involved for just one person to handle. Instead, he turns BISA’s profits back to the workers, as needed. He has plans that cover his workers’ health costs and educational expenses for their children.
Pak Tjok can only afford to pay his workers Rp 16,000 ($1.40) a day, as his profits are not high, but in Java, he said, workers generally make Rp 8,000 a day.
The only other work available for women in Pejeng is in construction, and although it pays Rp 25,000 a day, the work generally only lasts a week or so for each job.
Both the indigo dyes and the cotton that BISA uses are organic, but Pak Tjok could not get organic cotton woven in Bali, so his cotton comes from Tuban, East Java Province. He wants to establish a project in East Bali to grow organic cotton; the dry climate there is very suitable, he said.
He is also constantly experimenting with new types of organic indigo, importing different seeds from overseas. He thinks he may be able to grow organic indigo in the dryer and poorer parts of Bali to provide income to local people there.
He hopes to train other Balinese in batik-making. The Balinese government once asked him to set up a training program to share his knowledge with all of Bali’s districts, but before the program could start, the budget was cut. He said that local governments didn’t look out for the long-term needs of the Balinese people, emphasizing that they need to set up their own village-based enterprises.
It costs about Rp 200 million to set up a workshop like BISA, which, Pak Tjok said, is not a lot of money for a village to spend. “[But] most villages don’t think small. They are impatient, they want big business.”
Pak Tjok would like to see a “one village, one studio” system for batik established in Bali. He said that he saw a specialization model in Java whereby one area would only do wax work and export the fabrics to be dyed in another area. He thinks that a similar model could be applied in Bali, where some villages would do the wax work, others would do dyeing and still others would grow the raw materials; all would get an income from the finished products.
To help set Pejeng up as the model organic and sustainable village he envisions, he has donated a large piece of land to be used as an organic garden. He has a dream that Pejeng can become a tourist destination like Ubud, with organic warung (street food stalls) and craft shops. In his vision, tourists would be able to visit BISA and buy directly from the workshop. He wants to set up a recycling and waste management program in the village. All these programs, he said, would create much greater village-based employment.
But Pak Tjok doesn’t want to work like this forever. He hopes to eventually relocate with his family to Nusa Penida, a small island off the southeast coast of Bali. Ideally, he would like to turn BISA over to the workers, but for now, he said, “If I’m not here for a week, there are problems.”
He has tried to teach his workers to be independent, but they lack confidence. He encourages them to choose their own designs, but they don’t have business skills, they have a “labor mentality,” he said. They expect to work for someone else and get paid, they’re not used to thinking of running a business for themselves, he said.
Most workers say they cannot manage the workshop, or are simply uninterested. Pak Tjok hopes Pejeng’s next generation will gain the business skills necessary to keep small businesses like his going.
“It’s too late for the parents. I’ll have to steal the children and teach them instead,” he said with a laugh. And he hopes that happens in a center he wants to build where English, computer and business skills can be taught. Otherwise, he hopes he can sell BISA and distribute the profit to the workers. He will be happy either way, as long as BISA continues to provide jobs and prosperity to the village.
Source: www.thejakartaglobe.com
April 6th, 2009
New Bali-Wide Zoning Rules Seek to Control Tourism Development and Centralize Development Control with Island’s Governor.
Kompas quotes the Chief of the Bali Provincial Cultural Office, Ida Bagus Sedhawa, as announcing that the provincial government of Bali has updated and revised the island’s zoning and development guidelines - the (RTRW) - rules to be used for the coming 20 years. The new blueprint for island planning is targeted for ratification by the Provincial House of Representatives (DPRD) in 2009 with its drafters hope that the new zoning laws will bring development under control via a clear and enforced set of rules.
Chief among the changes in the RTRW is the re-introduction of a “one door” approach to Bali’s development, eliminating the current fragmentation in rules and enforcement between the governor’s office and the island’s various regents and mayors.
Sedhawa is optimistic that Bali’s culture can be redeemed and saved over the coming two decades via the introduction of the RTRW: “We are in the midst of trying hard to restore cultural tourism based on agriculture and the people’s tourism. At the very least, we are trying to regain the confidence of the people in the need for spiritual norms operating on an agricultural base.”
The Chairman of Planning and Development for Bali, Nengah Suarca, said that the RTRW, now in the process of completion, will not only overcome the disorder brought on by tourism-driven development, but will also provide a 20-year zoning plan designating specifc areas for investment activities.
In the 1970s, tourism development was only allowed in specific low-laying areas, such as Nusa Dua and Sanur. Development activity was not permitted in highland area, such as Mt. Agung, regarded by the Balinese as sacred. Over time, however, development crept into all regions of the island with little regard for tradition or consideration for areas deemed sacred by the Balinese.
The Chief Editor of Sarad, a Balinese cultural magazine, told Kompas,: “Tourism should not be made the ‘black sheep’ for the problems suffered by cultural tradition in Bali. Especially in Bali, tourism keeps local traditions alive, such as the barong, kecak, tek-tekan and gamelan. Tradition must also be able to follow the demands of development. Tradition with an agricultural face must be managed to become a tradition based on service, in accordance with the requirements of tourism.”
In accordance with this road map, tourism objects, such as safari parks, golf or race courses, he suggests, are not in accordance with cultural tourism.
The General Manager of the Hotel Inna Bali, Maryanto, admits his personal uneasiness with the presence of so many starred hotels in Bali, seemingly growing in an uncontrolled manner. He calls on the development of starred hotels to be halted.
The Secretary General of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), Perry Markus, feels that a thorough study must be undertaken before it is concluded that Bali’s tourism is over-grown.
Compromise Ahead?
In a separate report, Bali Post reports that many are concerned that the new RTRW may only add to the current confusion and uncertainty in the application of zoning rule. Those expressing concern point to plans to give a three year tolerance period to buildings found to be in violations of the rules without specifying what steps and sanctions will be applied after the expiration of the three-year grace period.
The Executive Director of the Bali environmental group, Wahli, Agung Wardana, bemoans the lack of clear sanctions and the readiness to compromise via consensus in settling violations and disputes under the law. He said that the readiness to compromise will make it difficult to bring developers and government officials involved in the building of a villa complex in Uluwatu to court.
Wardana points to recommendations of consultants suggesting that set-back rules from shorelines should be differentiated between violations due to “natural factors” and “human factors.” Wardana remarked incredulously, “in fact, any building that is too close to the shore line that is due to the interference of man.”
Other social activists quoted by Bali Post claim the revised RTRW is too imbued with business considerations, putting the interest of investors before all else. Investments are approved for the sake of creating employment, with little regard for preserving local religious and economic interests.
Activists are also calling on the government to protect forested areas and preserve water quality on beaches, rivers and lakes.
Governor Remains Optimistic
The governor told Kompas that he remains optimistic the RTRW will run smoothly and bring Bali back to a one island management system.
Pastika said: “This is important to organize Bali’s development in the future and, most importantly, to restore spiritual values in accordance with ‘Tri Hita Kirana’ (harmony between God, man and nature). We want to emphasize this plan is a much awaited step forward for future development in regencies and cities. Everyone is welcome to give their input during the socialization process.”
That debate will no doubt focus on sacred areas surrounding Bali’s religious temples, considered by many as off-limit to commercial development.
Source: www.balidiscovery.com
April 6th, 2009
DENPASAR: Various tourist spots in Bali were deserted Wednesday as much of the island’s Hindus observed the religious holiday of Galungan, which celebrates the victory of dharma (good) over adharma (evil).
Only a handful of overseas tourists were seen swimming and sunbathing along Kuta Beach in Badung regency, while local tourists milled along the beachfront.
There were no lifeguards on standby at their post, with most celebrating Galungan and those on duty busy patrolling the beach.
A similar atmosphere prevailed at Sanur Beach in Denpasar, as well as at the high-end Nusa Dua tourism enclave and Tanjung Benoa Beach in Badung regency.
“It’s always like this. It gets really quiet during Penampahan *a day before Galungan* and Galungan,” Ratna, the manager of a travel bureau on Segara Beach in Kuta, told Antara news agency.
“Tomorrow *Thursday* on Umanis Galungan, there will be more people.”
Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has declared a three-day holiday from Tuesday to Thursday to allow residents to celebrate Galungan. -JP
Source: The Jakarta Post
April 3rd, 2009
DENPASAR: Ida Bagus Kade Subiksu was officially installed by Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika as chief of the Bali Tourism Agency on Wednesday; he is replaces I Gede Nurjaya who has retired.
“The new officials are appointed to create a new atmosphere and policies,” Pastika, who also installed five other new high-ranking officials, said.
He added that he expected the new chief would give do his best to develop the island’s tourism industry.
“The Chief of the Bali Tourism Agency must be able to perform a role as a good facilitator for all stakeholders *in Bali’s tourism industry*.” - JP
Source: The Jakarta Post
April 3rd, 2009
DENPASAR: The Denpasar-based Bali Tangi spa will spread its wings to potential customers in Europe when it takes part in the Organic Europe international exhibition in Olymopia, London on April 5-6.
According to Anak Agung Rai Iswara, head of the Denpasar Cooperative and Small & Medium Enterprises Agency, Bali Tangi, along with two other companies will display their unique business at the London exhibition.
“Bali Tangi produces non-chemical spa products. It also applies traditional massage services,” Iswara said.
“I expect the international exhibition will stimulate e-commerce among Denpasar-based small businesses.”
The agency has assisted 700 small businesses so far. - JP
Source: The Jakarta Post
April 2nd, 2009
Indah Setiawati , The Jakarta Post , Denpasar
Motorcyclists in their finest traditional Balinese attire were seen on the Ngurah Rai artery on Saturday morning, all headed in one direction to celebrate the Kuningan festival: Serangan Island.
Arriving at the island, they made their way to a spacious field crammed with hundreds of cars and motorcycles and a long narrow road lined up on both sides with vendors selling various items, from traditional delicacies to cheap plastic toys.
The savory smell of suckling pigs, pork sate and chicken meatballs ambushed the newly arrived adherents as they made their way along the narrow corridor to reach Sakenan Temple.
For most Balinese, the island’s Sakenan Temple is their chosen favorite to celebrate the festivity, which marks the end of a series of ceremonies to celebrate the victory of dharma (virtue) over adharma (vice). Two major festivals, Galungan and Kuningan, highlight the series. Galungan fell on March 18.
Kuningan derives from the word kuning (yellow), referring to the specially cooked yellow rice that has became the signature fare of the festival. On the morning of the festival, Balinese housewives cook yellow rice, which is eaten by their respective families after conducting a morning prayer.
“However, Kuningan also derives from the words uning *to know* and nguningang *to announce*,” says respected Balinese scholar Ketut Sumarta.
He added Balinese Hindus celebrated the victory of dharma on Galungan, while on Kuningan they announced their commitment to defend dharma and live by its principles.
On this Kuningan morning, thousands of people arrived at Sakenan Temple bearing a variety of offerings.
A big tarpaulin tent was set up outside the holy temple as a waiting place for devotees to patiently wait their turn to pray.
According to the ancient Balinese text of Usana Bali, one of Bali’s most respected spiritual figures, the legendary Mpu Kuturan, built Sakenan Temple in the 12th century.
Three centuries later, another sage, Danghyang Nirartha, who was on a pilgrimage from Java to Bali, stayed for a very long time at the island and built another temple, Dalem Sakenan, on the western tip of the island.
The charming old way of crossing the island by traditional jukung boats during the festivity became the stuff of legends, after the completion of a road construction project connecting mainland Bali with the island, once dubbed Turtle Island for its huge sea turtle population.
Meanwhile, residents of Munggu village in Badung regency carried out a unique tradition called makotek during the Kuningan celebration.
Some 500 people, mostly young men, carried long wooden sticks and paraded them on the village streets in the afternoon, followed by around a thousand other people wearing traditional Balinese outfits.
After being sprinkled with holy water, the men made three stops - at the village’s Y- and T-junctions and in front of Puseh Temple - where dozens of foreign tourists and hundreds of local people eagerly awaited the ritual.
Split into two or three groups, the men began uniting their sticks to make solid pyramid-like forms and began to push each other until one group overwhelmed the other and broke the stick formation.
The solid pyramid forms attracted some courageous boys to try to scale them. The excitement reached its peak when the boys reached the top and managed to hold on while their friends clutching the sticks at the outer ring began to circle clockwise.
“This is a tradition that must be done during the Kuningan celebration. My father, grandfather and great grandfather all partook in the tradition during their times, and I participated in it when I was young,” said local resident Mangku Kamar.
The tradition is aimed at commemorating the bravery of their ancestors during a war against the East Javanese kingdom of Blambangan in the 17th century. During that period, Munggu warriors formed the elite military unit of the Mengwi kingdom.
Source: The Jakarta Post
April 1st, 2009
By James Wilkinson
Pacific Blue has announced it will increase Australia-Bali flights from June 1 with the launch of direct services from both Melbourne and Sydney.
The announcement of direct Melbourne and Sydney flights comes just three months after the successful launch of Bali services from Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
Virgin Blue Group CEO Brett Godfrey said the strong connecting traffic from Melbourne and Sydney was the main reason for the expansion of services to Bali.
“Bali has traditionally been a popular destination for Australians and we have seen strong connecting traffic from Melbourne and Sydney so the next obvious step was to put on direct services,” he said.
“We are pleased to be offering more convenient flying options from other key capital city destinations and providing another airline choice for people to fly to Bali on.Once we launch the new flights, Pacific Blue will offer direct flights from more Australian cities than any other airline.”
Godfrey also said Adelaide will also benefit at the same time, with services set to be ramped up from twice- to thrice-weekly.
The increased flights to Bali will keep Australian arrivals to the island climbing. Recent statistics showed Australian travellers recorded the highest number of visitor numbers for the month of January, edging out Japan and Korea.
In January, Australia recorded 27,873 visitors arriving in Bali, ahead of 25,324 for visitors from Japan, according to the Bali Government Tourism Office.
Godfrey said the current holiday package prices are the lowest they have been for two decades and to further stimulate mini-breaks, the airline was currently offering flights for $299 each way on the internet from both Melbourne and Sydney.
“Indonesia was Pacific Blue’s first foray in to the Asian region and its close proximity to Australia is a big drawcard for people keen to take a mini-break without breaking the bank,” he said.
“Holiday package prices are at the lowest they have been for two decades so it is providing ideal opportunities for some great deals, not just in the air but also on arrival in Bali.”
Blue Holidays currently has some hot deals to Bali on offer, including a package which includes return flights from Australia to Bali (inclusive of taxes) and five nights at the Novotel Nusa Dua in Bali, starting from $898 per person twin share.
Source: www.spicenews.com.au
March 31st, 2009
DENPASAR: The Hindu adherents in Bali spent Friday, the day after Nyepi, locally known as ngembak geni (Welcoming the Fire), preparing various offerings for the Kuningan religious festival that falls on Saturday.
Usually, ngembak geni is a leisure day, during which Hindu adherents visit the houses of their neighbours and relatives or take a trip to the beach and other recreational sites.
“I don’t have time to go for a walk because I have to complete all the offerings for Kuningan, there will be a major temple ceremony in my home village on Kuningan,” Ni Komang Wiratni, a housewife, said Friday.
Kuningan is the last major festival in a series of religious ceremonies to mark the victory of Dharma (virtue) over Adharma (vice). - JP
Source: The Jakarta Post
March 30th, 2009
Weather Experts Warn of Lightning and High Winds in Bali Until May.
On Thursday, March 19, 2009, Bali’s capital of Denpasar fell victim to an unprecedented combination of heavy winds and hail that damaged several homes along the Jalan Pidada area of the city.
Heavy hail in combination with high winds destroyed the roofs of several homes, damage that was largely repaired within one day of the event. Because of the limited extent of the damage, Denpasar municipal officials are still considering if financial aid will be extended to the residents of the affected structures..
Bali-based metereologists report that the hail storm of large ice particles is the first incident of its kind recorded on the island. Rare in tropical equatorial zones, hail storms are usually experienced in sub-tropical areas.
The storm that affected Denpasar varied between 3 and 10 minutes, depending on which area of the city is being discussed.
Bali weather experts are blaming the ice storm on the presence of large cumulus nimbus clouds, strong winds and high temperatures.
More to Come?
A report in the Jakarta Post quotes Bali weather experts as warning of the possibility of strong localized wind squalls and lighting storms from large cumulonimbus clouds expected to form over Bali during the season shift betwen March until May.
Well known and avoided by pilots, cumulonimbis clouds are vertical cloud formations that can soar thousands of feet in height with shapes that can resemble mushrooms or giant anvils. Characterized by strong vertical winds patterns, these clouds often carry lightning and thunderstorms.
© Bali Discovery Tours. Articles may be quoted and reproduced if attributed to http://www.balidiscovery.com. All images and graphics are copyright protected.
Source: www.balidiscovery.com
March 30th, 2009
DENPASAR, Indonesia (AFP) — Bali’s normally packed beaches were deserted Thursday as the holiday haven shut down for a day of silence to mark the Hindu new year.
Shops shut their doors and tourists were effectively confined to hotels for Nyepi, a day of reflection that is supposed to be free from work, play and — for some — even talking or eating.
Public observance among the Hindu-majority Balinese was enforced by guards in sarongs bearing sticks and traditional daggers.
The island’s ports and the international airport were also shut down, with hospitals the only public services functioning close to normal.
Gede Jonantara, a 27-year-old Balinese who drives luggage from the airport to hotels, said the compulsory break to the hassle of daily life was a moment to reflect and prepare for a new year.
“Hinduism is about my heart, my feelings. If there is no Nyepi on Bali, we feel like something is missing,” he said.
While the Day of Silence usually follows a more raucous day of parades to end the old year, most of the processions were called off on fears they could degenerate into violence ahead of national elections next month.
Young men from Bali’s tight-knit communities usually parade effigies known as Ogoh-Ogoh, which mostly representing demons and are burned as a symbol of renewal and purification.
The parades have been known to degenerate into brawls before and community heads have voiced fears they could be hijacked by parties already involved in intense campaigning for the April 9 poll.
Despite the fact Balinese Hindus make up a small minority of the national population, Nyepi is a public holiday across Indonesia, which is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Source: www.google.com/hostednews
March 27th, 2009
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