"We have nothing to fear but fear itself"
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933

The heinous attacks launched by terrorists against the United States in 2001 form a defining moment in all our lives. Although now 5 years in the past, most people cannot fail to recall the specific details of what they were doing when they first heard the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the subsequent tragic incidents at the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.

As the 5th anniversary of 9/11 approached, it occurred to me that I would be spending the anniversary of that fateful date on board a commercial airliner. Several hours after dispatching the Bali Update, I'll board a plane together with hundreds of others for a flight to Hong Kong, making a trusting leap of faith, similar to that made by those unfortunates who boarded 4 jets in America 5 years ago.

Few would argue that the world did not change fundamentally on September 11, 2002. We've all grown to grudgingly accept delays, interrogations and the irritation of humiliating inspections whenever we board mass transportation or attend any public event. This looming insecurity, ironically bred by a system of all-pervading security, has become part and parcel of daily life whether you live in New York, London, Madrid, Istanbul, Tokyo or Denpasar.

Recent ominous warnings issued by Al-Qaeda calling on the West to convert to Islam "before it's too late," and seen by some experts as foreshadowing another terrorist attack, can only add to the disquiet of the constant threat that follows each and every one us, everyday and everywhere we go.

Cavalier? Fearless? Or, Just Plain Foolhardy?

Given the state of the world, boarding a plane on any day, let alone September 11th, requires the quiet fortitude exhibited by all those who carry on with their daily activities in the "new normal." In fact, leaving the safe and familiar surroundings of home to travel anywhere in the world demands we all summon forth a mixture of resilience, cool combativeness and singular personal courage necessary to retain control of our live's in this modern era; a refusal to cowl in fear before those who seek to apparently dictate even the right to chose our individual system of religious belief.

Where You Gonna Run To?

Shortly after the tragic 2002 Bali bombing a cartoon appeared in the International Herald Tribune showing a couple lounging on a tropical beach reading a newspaper account of the Bali attack and wondering if they should decamp and head home, asking: "is it better to feel unsafe at home or travel and feel unsafe at our favorite holiday destination?"

Sadly, the threat of terror is a constant factor in the "new reality" around which we must either learn to conduct our daily lives or capitulate completely to the enemy by allowing them to set every aspect of our private and public existence.

So, ignoring the any lingering sense of foreboding on the 5th anniversary of the 9-11 attack, I'll be boarding a jet on that date together with thousands of others travellers around the world, carrying on with the daily business of living life on our own terms.

The alternatives aren't even worth considering.

But, truth be told, I only really feel safe and secure when I'm back home in Bali.

 

Four of the Bali Nine ­­­– journalistic shorthand for the nine young Australians convicted for trying to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin through Bali's airport last year, suffered a massive set back before Indonesia's Supreme Court in early September when the number amongst the nine facing death before a firing squad increased from two to six.

Appeals filed by both defense lawyers and prosecutors in the case achieved the following results:

o The death penalties for Andrew Chan, 21, and Myran Sukumaran, 25, marked as ringleaders were affirmed by the Supreme Court.

o The Indonesian Supreme Court Judges increased the standing sentence and imposed the death penalty for Scott Rush, 21, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and 19-year-old Matthew Norman. The death penalty was imposed by the court countermanding a lower courts ruling last April that reduced their original life sentence of the four to 20 years.

o Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens have had their life in jail sentence reaffirmed by the Supreme Court.

o Ranae Lawrence, 28, the sole woman in the group who managed to have her life sentence reduced to 20 years on local appeal in Denpasar, saw her 20-year sentence allowed to stand reportedly due to cooperation she provided prosecutors and police in convicting her co-conspirators.

Lawyers for those sentenced to death among the Bali Nine are expected to appeal to a special Indonesian court on constitutional law challenging the legality of the death sentence in Indonesia.

While an appeal for Presidential clemency remains the last resort of the Australians sitting on death row, this avenue remains narrowed by President Yudhoyono's steadfast refusal to consider mercy for any convicted drug smuggler.

 

Indonesia's burgeoning domestic airline industry and the resulting abundance of inexpensive flights available to Bali over the past several years have created a significant inbound domestic travel market.

As the accompanying figures demonstrate, the inbound domestic market to Bali represented an average 56.33% of total arrivals to Bali for June-July 2006. By comparison, the domestic market share is 575% larger than Bali's largest overseas market of Japan which represents only 10% of all arrivals and a 19.4% of international arrivals in July.

Far and away, Bali's most important source of business remains domestic visitors from Indonesia's remaining 17,507 islands.

For more table please click here

 

Occasionally controversial and invariably exciting, Bali's Nyoman Sura is a rising star on the world's contemporary dance scene, enthralling audiences wherever he travels with his daring interpretations of a body of his work including his own choreography and the work of other leading creators of modern dance.

A 1996 graduate of the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) where he majored in dance performance, Sura now works at his almamater as a professor of movement. A prolific creator of new dances, Sura credits a pantheon of Indonesian dance greats for his inspiration: I Wayan Dibyo, Martono, Sardono, and G. Boy Sakti.

Included in the highlights of an increasingly distinguished history or triumphal performance are:

o "Lakuku" choreographed in 1999 and performed at the Gedung Kensenian Jakarta where it was ranked among the top 10 choreographies.

o Collaboration in 2000 with Marcia Hydi of Germany in the creation of Rama-Sinta.

o 2001 joined the Singapore Arts Festival performing Ritus Legong.

o 2001 established the Nyoman Sura Dance Company dedicated to new creations of dance within the broad context of Balinese dance traditions.

o 2003 performance of the Calonarang at the Japan Art Festival.

o 2004 performance of Bulan Mati at the Indonesian Art Festival in Jakarta. In the same year, an artistic collaboration with Gary Malkin, a leading composer from California.

o 2005 performance at 11th International Conference of Noetic Sciences with performances in Arlington (Virginia), New York or California.

o 2005 screen performance as Laksmana in the Garin Nugroho musical film Requem From Java.

o 2005 collaboration with the Californian group Tuju Taksu.

o 2006 performance of Waktu Itu at the Lombok Arts Festival

o 2006 performance at the Hong Kong Fashion week.

o 2006 performance at Dance Wave Fukuoka ’06 in Fukuoka, Japan.

Press Comments –Nyoman Sura

"Able to capture the full attention of the audience from the very beginning to the very end of his performance."
- Raihul Fadjri & Iman Rasyid of Tempo Magazine, April 28, 2003 -

"Intense and modern, although rooted in tradition."
- Kompas newspaper in 2003 review of "Bulan Mati" -

"Using minimalism in both staging and movements, but at the same time meditative and strong, I Nyoman Sura, a dancer from Bali, thrilled with his choreography in "Bulan Madu/Laku Sang Bulan."
- Kompas newspaper, July 17, 2004 -

"I Nyoman Sura received the most enthusiastic response from the audience . . . he presented a repertoire that managed to bring the audience to a sea of contemplation."
- Indonesia Post, July 18, 2004 -

"Sura totally summoned his skills."
- Radar Bali, August 18, 2004 -

"Nyoman possesses a special body, with every part of his body able to communicate. His skills create a living text able to give an extraordinary effect to every movement."
- Tempo Newspaper, April 29 2005 -

"The opening ceremony was highlighted by a stunning Balinese classical dance and contemporary dance show by Nyoman Sura, entitled Peace for the World"
- The Jakarta Post on Sura’s performance at the "Quest for Global Healing" conference, May 5, 2006. -

" . . .the audience was transported into a world of exotic and dynamic movements by the rare talent of contemporary dance (by) Nyoman Sura."
- Bali & Beyond Magazine, November-December 2005 -

Coming soon to a dance venue near you, Nyoman Sura, dancer extraordinaire.

For Picture Click here

 

To commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Sutasoma sacred text kept in Karangasem and the 100th anniversary of the Puputan Badung, a solemn procession and day of rituals have been planned for Bali on Wednesday, September 20, 2006.

Starting at 5:00 a.m. on that date, a convoy will depart from Budha Keling in Karangasem carrying the sacred Sutamosa text - a 12th century religious tale describing the burning of Kama by Siva who was eventually subdued by Sutasoma, an incarnation of Bodhisattva. The devotees will bring the text to Griya Pidada in Klungkung, where another sacred text - the Kitab Negara Kertagama will join the procession to Blahbatuh where a holy mask of Gajah Mada is kept.

The mask, a keris (dagger) of Singaparaga and the two sacred texts will then make their way to Tainsiat, the intersection between Jalan Patimura and Jalan Veteran in downtwon Denpasar where participants will leave their vehicles and continue the procession on foot to the Catur Muka the "four faces" monument near the Puputan field where ritual prayers will be conducted. According to a local government official, the prayers offered will be seek to protect Bali's spirituality and native culture in the years ahead.

In conjunction with these ceremonies, plans call for the wooden kul-kul alarms found in every village temple across Bali to be sounded continuously for 20 minutes from 11:40 a.m.

Starting from noon on September 20th the sacred artifacts will be stored for one-day at the Bali Bajra Sandi Museum in Renon to mark the 100th anniversary of the Puputan Badung, which took place on that date in 1906.

Throughout the afternoon and evening hours until past midnight - prayers, dances and music will be performed in the large open square surrounding the Bajra Sandi Monument.

The 1906 Puputan Badung

Puputan, or a Balinese ritualistic fight to the death, once formed a cornerstone of Bali's Kings ultimate sacrifice on behalf of their subjects; the ultimate refusal to surrender in the face of a foe. With a literal meaning of 'ending' or 'finish,' it was incumbent on every Balinese King to display the necessary courage to die rather than be taken prisoner and be forced to leave his beloved island home.

In a series of puputan between 1894 and 1908, hundreds of Balinese, led by their kings in Bali and Lombok, died in the face of advancing Dutch colonial forces.

On September 20, 1906, on the pretext that the people of Badung (modern day Denpasar) had looted a Chinese merchant ship that washed ashore on Sanur Beach 4 months earlier, Dutch troops marched into Denpasar ostensibly in a show-of-force to arrest and punish Raja Gede Ngurah Denpasar at his palace. Anticipating the Dutch assault and certain of any battle's eventual outcome, the Raja set fire to the palace and led his entire royal household and over 300 followers down the road for the ultimate confrontation with the Dutch. In an area known today at Puputan Field, the Balinese men, women and children - armed largely only with traditional swords and spears met the Dutch invaders. The men, dressed splendidly in white cremation garments and ritual jewelry, and the women, in white cloaks and with their hair let down, stopped just meters before the heavily armed soldiers.

Against the ominously distracting and incessant beating of Balinese war drums, the incredulous foreign soldiers saw the Raja, carried by four men on a state palanquin, die instantly as one of his priests suddenly plunged a dagger into his heart. Sparking a frenzy of death, others in the Raja's entourage then began turning their weapons upon themselves and each other. Meanwhile, women mocked and scorned the foreign soldiers, throwing money and jewels in their faces, insisting the soldiers impale them. Panicked by the scene before them or, by some reports, the historically ubiquitous stray gunshots from "an unknown source," the Dutch forces then turned their rifles and artillery on the crowd - creating helter-skelter mounds of corpses; royalty on the bottom with, even in death, their subjects providing a protective layer on the top.

In keeping with the sordid but time-honored tradition of conquering hordes everywhere, the Dutch soldiers wasted little time stripping the jewels from the corpses of the Balinese and looting the palace ruins.

Later that same day in nearby Pemacutan, the scene was repeated. The aging and frail co-ruler of Badung, Gusti Gede Ngurah Pemacutan, led hundreds of men, women and children onto the swords of waiting Dutch troops, failing which they died at their own hands.

 

The idea of toll roads in Bali is hardly new. Past discussions calling for superhighways and fly-overs have always been abandoned in the face of stern opposition from certain segments of Bali's Hindu majority who view overpasses and underpasses as unacceptable to religious dictates and local traditions.

Despite this long-standing resistance, a member of Commission D of the Regional People's Consultative Assembly, Made Dauh Wijana, recently told the Indonesian language Radar Bali that the time has come for Bali to construct expressways. In support of his position, Wijana points to the increasing congestion in Bali's main population centers and the steady growth in industrial and residential complexes.

Acknowledging the cultural resistance encountered in the past by those who've lobbied for expressways, Wijana told Radar Bali: "Indeed the problem needs time for discussion, especially as regards the impact on Balinese culture. But, in 5 to 10 years there will be no alternative left but to construct expressways."

According to Putu Ardhana, the Chief of Transportation for the Province of Bali, "the traffic congestion problem in the Sarbagita area (editor: Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan) is already serious."

Data from local transportation authorities in 2005 estimated 1,224,231 vehicles were operating on the island, 84% of which are motorcycles. In the same year, the total population of Bali stood at 3,138,022 people served by a road system measuring 6,644.25 kilometers in length. In other words, there is an average of 185 vehicles for every kilometer of paved roadway on the island.

While the transportation chief continues to urge the development and use of public transport in Bali, he acknowledges local resistance to shared transportation remains high.

 

The Bali Film Center (BFC) recently wrapped up two commercial, international film productions on locations in Bali and Java.

Surf's Up

Portugal's Lusa Film's Producer, Jose Neto, shot four days of beach and surfing scenes on location on Bali's Balangan, Padang Padang and Jimbaran beaches for NetCabo Internet and Still Productions.

Bali Film Center cast three female surfers from Bali as body doubles for three Portuguese actresses featured in the production.

"We are incredibly pleased to have local talent, professional crew and equipment at our disposal to meet international standards for such productions," said BFC's Director Deborah Gabinetti. All equipment for the production came from Jakarta and Singapore and international professional surfers were sourced from Bali.

Supporting a dozen local production companies were crewmembers from 11 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Malaysia, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, and the USA. The production brought approximately US$75,000 in expenditure to Bali.

Shooting Commercials in Indonesia

Meanwhile, Korea's Alphaville 44 Productions returned to Indonesia to film its second TV commercial for Oriental Premium property. An all-Indonesian technical crew—from Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bali with equipment from Jakarta, supported a one-day shoot on location in Yogyakarta.

Park Sung Min, with Executive Producer Kang Dong Ku and Producer Jae Kim, directed the 35-mm film. This project netted an estimated $50,000 spend in Indonesia.

 

Wiwin Suyasa, the high-profile and energetic Executive Director of the Bali Tourism Board (BTB), has been appointed Executive Assistant Manager at Bali's 312-room Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel.

A native of Bali born in Tabanan, Wiwin started his hotel career in 1988 as a Sales representative of Pertamina Cottages (now The Patra Bali) before joining the Sheraton Group in 1990. Progressing rapidly through the ranks at Sheraton, Wiwin moved from an Account Executive role at the Sheraton Laguna, before being assigned to the Sheraton Senggigi in Lombok in 1991. In 1993 he returned to Bali to serve as the Market Analyst for Sheraton Bali Resorts. In the same year, he moved to the Jakarta Sheraton Sales Centre before being called back to Lombok in 1994 as Director of Sales.

In 1996, Wiwin left Sheraton and moved to The Holiday Inn Resort Lombok as Director of Sales & Marketing before assuming an operational role Aerowista, a sister company of Garuda Indonesia Airline, as Resident Manager of Sanur Beach Hotel. Later, he moved to Jakarta to become Executive Director of Satriavi, the travel and tour operator division of Garuda.

In 2002, Wiwin started his own business, Vision Pl@nner, a hospitality business and human resources development consultancy before accepting a 3 year appointment as General Manager of the Intan Lombok Village.

Eager to help his island, Wiwin took up the unpaid voluntary position of Executive Director of the Bali Tourism Board (BTB) in October 2005. According to sources at the Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel, Wiwin will continue to assist the BTB as well as fulfill his new role with the hotel.

 

On Thursday, September 7, 2006, a formal handover of command for the Udayana 9th Military District took place in Denpasar, installing Major General Syaiful Rizal as the man-in-charge of a territory stretching from Bali to Indonesia's border with East Timor.

The former Commander General of Indonesian Special Forces (Kopasus) since 2005, Major General Rizal replaces Major General Zamroni who will be reassigned to command the Trikora 17th Military District.

A 1975 graduate of the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy (AKABRI) and various military command courses both at home and in Australia, Rizal told the Indonesian language Bali Post that Bali must remain an area that is safe for all. In the past, as a consequence of its role as an international tourism destination, Bali has become the victim of international terrorism and the narcotics trade. In the view of Bali's new military commander, Bali must maintain peace and order because the situation on the island is the yardstick by which many people abroad measure the state of Indonesia as a whole.

Presiding at the change of command ceremony was the Indonesian Army's Chief of Staff, General Djoko Santoso, who used the opportunity to call on his corps to maintain an active dialog with every level of civil society to strengthen the interdependence between the Armed Forces and the people.

 

As part of Nikko Bali Resort & Spa's 10th anniversary celebrations, a traditional Balinese Boat Race is scheduled to be held on Friday 14th September 2006. Designed as a community activity for the local fishermen of around Bali's coast, the race will also pay tribute to National Ocean Day.

An expected 100 local boats, comprised of Jukung and Sampans, will participate in the race. Boats with two-man crews will compete for cash prizes in a covering a route directly in front of the resort. A total of Rp 4,250,000- in prizes (approximately US$462) has been allocated for the 1st place winner with generous purses for the 2nd and 3rd place winners.

The races starts at 10.30am from Nikko Bali's main beachfront. Festively decorated tents and a beach market will be set up on the beach with the resort's chefs preparing a delicious BBQ Buffet luncheon for just Rp150,000++ / per person (approximately US$16.30) of which Rp 30.000 will be donated to local environmental groups. During the luncheon and race activities, entertainment by traditional Balinese musicians and a fashion show of stylish resort-wear will be provided.

The Nikko Traditional Balinese Boat Race is the 7th event held this year to celebrate the Resort's first decade of operations. Each event has been designed to provide entertainment for guests and staff while, at the same time, creating a benefit for the local community by celebrating Bali's rich cultural heritage.

 

A report issued by Bank Indonesia states that a growing number of tourists visiting Bali are seeking accommodation outside of traditional hotel settings.

The characteristic survey of Bali visitors carried out by Bank Indonesia reports that in February 2006 a 7.3% share of all foreign visitors sought accommodation outside of hotels, a figure that increased to 8% in March 2006.

A similar survey carried out by Udayana University in November 2005, one month after the terrorist attack, said 20% of all visitors interviewed while departing from Bali's airport indicated they had stayed in non-hotel accommodation.

According to the State News Agency Antara, there are an estimated 467 villas operation in 8 regencies of Bali and the capital city of Denpasar, many of which are thought to be unlicensed operations.

 

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