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Water Sports Association Tightening its Safety Standards
Move Follows Two Tourist Deaths in a Single Week in Bali's Tanjung Benoa Water Sports Area.
The Chairman of the National Water Sports Association (Gahwisri), Yos WK Amerta, has vowed to tighten standard operating procedures (SOP) in the wake of several fatal accidents over the past weeks involving tourists visiting Bali.
Explained Amerta, "We have evaluated our SOP and met with our members." While suggesting that the recent mishaps were "natural disasters" caused by the weather, Amerta said his association would nonetheless rededicate itself to improving procedures and keeping future accidents to an absolute minimum.
According to BisnisBali there are an estimated 25 water sports companies operating in the Tanjung Benoa area. When challenged by the press on the ability of Tanjung Benoa to accommodate such a large number of water sports operators, Amerta refused to comment, saying the government has refused to seriously look at carrying capacity issues. The Government, however, has stopped issuing new licenses for operators in the Tanjung Benoa area since 2004.
Balis Chief of Police Paulus Purwoko Transfering to Jakarta.
General Ashikin Husein to Move from National Police Academy to Become Head of the Bali Force.
Within the context of a general rotation of assignment affecting 21 senior police officers nation-wide, Bali's Chief of Police, Inspector General Paulus Purwoko, has been reassigned to become the Deputy-Chief of the National Criminal Investigation Unit (Wakabereskrim) at the National Police Headquarters in Jakarta (Mabes Polri). General Purwoko has held the post of Bali Police Chief since October 2006.
Replacing Purwoko as Bali's top cop is Inspector General T. Ashikin Husein whose last posting was as the Governor of the National Police Academy.
Chief Purwoko's near two-year reign as the Head of the Bali Police Force was marked by his intense drive to improve security standards among local tourism operators, viewing a reputation for safety and security as central to preserving Bali's tourism fortunes.
While not denying the change of command in Bali, the spokesman for the Bali police could not confirm the actual date for the change of command which is expected to be completed within the coming few weeks.
The Indonesian Investment Conference in Bali
Join Indonesia's Leaders in Finance and Investment in Bali May 21-22, 2008.
A major investment conference involving Indonesia's key economic architects from the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and business leaders from the business and financial sectors will address issues, including the countries economic outlook; latest developments in the capital markets; standards and opportunities in infrastructure investment; and Islamic banking and finance.
The Conference will take place at The Westin Resort, Nusa Dua, Bali May 21-22, 2008.
Keynote addresses are scheduled by:
H.E. Sri Mulyani Indrawati Indonesian Minister of Finance
H.E. Djoko Kirmanto Indonesian Minister of Public Works
Muhammad Luftu Chairman of the National Investment Coordinating Board
Sir David Wright Vice Chairman of Barclays Capital
Confirmed speakers include:
Dr. Anggito Abimanyu Head of Fiscal Policy, Ministry of Finance
Less than Two Months to Go for 2nd MRA Bali International Triathlon.
The countdown has begun with less than two months remaining until the 2nd MRA Bali International Triathlon at Jimbaran Bay on June 29, 2008.
This year's event promises to build on the success established during the inaugural year of 2007.
An update of the recent developments in connection with this year's MRA Bali International Triathlon:
Bali International Triathlon (USA) and Indonesia's MRA (Mugi Rekso Abadi Group have signed a 3-year major sponsorship agreement aligning the event with 34 leading Indonesian companies. [MRA Bali International Triathlon]
Registrations are a full 30% ahead of registrations at the same point for last year's event, promising a stronger-than-ever turn out in 2008.
Through the generous support of Garuda Indonesia, Australian Professional athletes Luke McKenzie and Amanda Balding will be joining the event this year. Returning champions Daniel Plews and Kelley Toy will also be back to defend their titles. [See: Top Athletes Sign Up for MRA Bali International Triathlon]
The bike course has been changed from 2007, meaning bikers will only be on the Bypass once, as they head out to Nusa Dua, returning on a much more scenic, and a little hillier, route on the Ungasan Peninsula. [See: Course Maps]
Strong Support from the Bali Hotel Association will bring a large number of exciting prizes for category winners as well as ensure an exciting "competition within the competition" among corporate relay teams drawn from Bali's hotel sector.
As a further inducement to participation by Indonesian athletes, cash prizes will be awarded to top Indonesian finishers.
Beautiful trophies for overall and category winners have been prepared by Bali's renowned Jenggala Ceramics.
Bali International Medical Center Hospital will once be on hand with a field hospital at Race Central on Jimbaran Bay.
World Class Tango Stars to Perform in Bali May 30-31, 2008.
Bali goes Buenos Aires in late May 2008.
The legion of local Tango devotees who comprise the Tango Bali Club will present world class tango dancing talents Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo and their new show "The Four Seasons" at the Sanur Beach Hotel in late May 2008.
Introducing the World of Tango to Bali
There's a saying about Argentine Tango enthusiasts: "Tango is one heart and four legs dancing." Bodies glued together and legs flying this specially created dance program - "The Four Seasons" presents a high-energy Tango choreography at its very best. In the words of the dancers: "Just as winter gives way to spring, so too can our emotions change. Under the rain, naked bodies protected against the cold or wrapped in flowers and birds. A man and a woman seek that intimate connection."
The Tangueros will command the stage at the Sanur Beach Hotel on May 30,2008, together with the renowned dancers Ana Padron, Diego Blanco, Paola Jean-Jean and Nicolas Cobos. The Bali Tango Festival is a world-class event expected to attract visitors from as far away as Sydney, Dubai, Taiwan and Bangkok. The event will include a Gala dinner show on Friday, May 30, 2008 and a Masquerade Anniversary Party Gathering of the Tango Bali Club on Saturday, May 31,2008.
Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo
Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo are among the most prominent dance couples in the world of Argentine Tango. Both freely confess that they fell in love with the dance in their teenage years. They won the World Argentine Tango Championship in Miami in 1999 and have been featured in a Tango special on PBS TV. Since 2000, they performed in more than a dozen countries in North America, Europe and Asia. Fernanda and Guillermo are both famous performers and devoted teachers known for their systematic style. They will offer workshops for beginners, intermediate and advanced dancers on Saturday, May 31, and Sunday, June 1.
The Bali event is presented by Tango Bali Club to celebrate its 3rd birthday. The club offers monthly Beginners Workshops as well as programs for more accomplished dancers. Bali's tango dancers meet three times a week for social dancing in various venues in Seminyak. On a regular basis, the club invites guest teachers from Buenos Aires who give top-level private lessons and group classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced dancers.
20% Increase in Bali's Foreign Workers Reported by Badung Regency.
BisnisBali reports that the number of foreign workers holding "legal" work permits has increased +20.12% in the past year with 854 foreigners now on the books of the Manpower office for the Badung Regency.
Of that total, 409 foreign workers are employed in the hotel sector, dominated by Japanese (185), followed by the U.K. (64), Dutch (61), U.S.A. (58) and Germans (50).
The latest figures announced by the Badung Manpower Department prompted the Chairman of Badung Tourism Union, Putu Satyawira Marhaendra, to call on the government to be more diligent verifying the competency of foreigners given permission to work in Indonesia and to closely follow laws passed in 2003 intended to reduce the Nation's dependence on foreign workers.
The latest numbers on foreign workers recorded do not represent the large pool of undocumented foreign workers in Bali, estimated to number in the thousands.
One of Bali's world-champion bodybuilders traveled to Perth, Western Australia, on Saturday, April 12, 2008 where he won the top honors and AU$4,000 in the 2008 Elite Bodybuilding Championships.
Arnawa defeated a field of 10 world-class athletes competing under the Auspices of the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB).
Based on his outstanding performance in Perth, Komang Arnawa has been invited to compete internationally on July 14, 2008, in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA). Will he attend? Arnawa says much will depend on his ability to secure the necessary funds to support his travel expenses.
The 32-year-old Arnawa has won a number of international bodybuilding honors, including Musclemania in 2004.
If there's a reader interested in helping this star Bali athlete compete to bring more honors to his Island drop us a line, we'll put you in touch with Komang.
Excalibur in Bali
Two Long-Lost Sacred Keris (Swords) Receive a Homecoming Welcome to Bali.
Two priceless keepsakes of Bali's ancient kingdoms of Klungkung and Gelgel have made a brief and very emotional homecoming to mark the 100th anniversary of the Puputan sacrifice on April 28, 2008.
On a 100 year-long journey from Bali, Holland, Jakarta and now back to Bali - two priceless bejeweled ceremonial swords or keris have been given a memorial tour of their "old home" in Bali. So revered are the two Keris that each bears it own name Ardawaike for the sword from the Klungkung Palace and Tombake Ki Baru Gudug for the weapon from the Gelgel Palace.
The two swords are part of a highly-prized special collection kept in the most secure "gold room" of the Indonesian National Museum in Jakarta and are on temporary loan after a long negotiation including complex guarantees issued by Bali to the Museum. Flown from Jakarta with a special escort, the two keris were joyously receives at a special ritualized welcome at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport on Sunday, April 27th, followed by yet another religious rite at the city of Semarapura. Both ceremonies were described by NusaBali as taking place in a profoundly solemn and magical atmosphere.
The weapons, known to be hundreds of years old, were personally escorted to Bali by Gunawan and Sutikno, two senior staff from the National Museum who, among other duties, safeguard the keris from any contact with moisture thought to be harmful to the objects.
The Keris Kenegaraan Ardawalike was once the personal weapon of the last King of Klungkung, Ida I Dewa Agung Jambe, who fell with his wives and "hundreds" of other in the Puputan or "battle to the death" of April 28, 1908. Both swords are made from nickel, gold and rare jewels. Keris Tombak Ki Baru Gudug, which is also known as Ki Baru Ngit, is credited with having saved Ida Dalem Bekung, a King of Gelgel, from death during a palace revolt.
Both swords were taken as part of the victor's spoils after the Puputan Klungkung in 1908. Some years later, the keris were returned to Indonesia from Holland and have been kept ever since in the Country's main museum in Jakarta.
Believed to be imbued with a living presence and immense power, both keris were welcomed back to Semarapura with ceremonies, guided tours of the various rooms of their former palatial residence and a rolling escorted tour of the city and surrounding areas.
Sacred Keris from Klungkung
click image to enlarge
A Bali Demolition Derby?
Provincial and Regional Officials Continue to Argue Legality of Villas and Hotels Built Within 5 Kilometers of Bali's Ulawatu Temple.
The outcome of a very public, ongoing tug of war between Bali's Governor, Made Beratha, and the Regent of the Badung, AA Gde Agung, may determine the fate of a large number of villas and small hotels standing within a 5 km radius of Bali's sacred Temple of Uluwatu.
Bali's Governor recently declared that buildings standing with a legislated 5 kilometer "no build zone" must be demolished, with owners also acing a threat of both fines and jail time. [See: Crackdown on Construction Near Uluwatu]
Bali's Hindu Leaders Speak Out
Tempo Interaktif quoting the Chairman of Council of Hindu Affairs (PHDI), Ngurah Sudiana Msi, as declaring that villas, hotels and tourism sites violating the 5 kilometer radius violate religious guidelines established in 1992 that specifically disallow construction within 5 km of a Pura Khayangan Jagat (public temple). "This means within this radius there can be no building not connected with the needs of the temple itself," explained Sudiana. The religious guidelines set in 1992 were eventually written into law by the Province of Bal in 2005, by providing for fines of Rp. 50 million (US$5,435) and 6 months imprisonment for those found violating the law.
The PHDI has called for the demolition of offending buildings near Uluwatu which, according to Tempo, include the Puri Bali about one km away from the Temple and Blue Point Villa located 1.5 km away.
Regency officials, including the Chief of Tourism for Badung, Made Sumbawa, are insistent that the villas do not violate the 2005 law, with their construction predating that legislation.
The Plot Thickens
The Chairman of a Special Committee on the 2005 Zoning Law, Wayan Sudiana, who is also the Secretary of Commission B of the Regional Parliament, told Tempo that the permits issued by the Badung Government to villa and hotel investors within the "no-build zone" exceeded the legal authority provided in the 1995 law which did not permit permits to e issued with a validity beyond 2005.
While the Governor and Hindu religious groups are calling for demolition of the offending buildings, Regional officials, such as the Badung Tourism Chief I Made Subawa who apparently condones the buildings, are calling for compromise; suggesting that solutions short of demolition are possible.
Subawa told the press that the 5 km radius is divided into several sub-rings: 0-1 km; 1- 2 km; and a final ring of between 2-5 km. Subawa claims that if the 5 km ring ruling is strictly enforced a large number of local Balinese will also end up being demolished.
Who Will Enforce the Rules?
The debate has now moved to who is empowered and has the political will to enforce local building laws? While the Governor insists that provincial (Bali) rules outlawing the such construction represents the supreme law over any regional (Badung) regulations, he also maintains that enforcement remains a matter to be handled wholly by the regional government. Badung officials are reluctant to accept the view that they were wrong in initially issuing the original permits for the "illegal" buildings and, as a result, they have little appetite to enforce provincial rules.
The Conclusion: This is a debate that will wind on for the indefinite future leaving many building and business owners near Uluwatu Temple is a state of extended suspense.
U.S. Court Declares that Indonesian Owners Entitled to Terminate Management Agreement with Marriott Hotels.
As reported on Balidiscovery.com in February 2008, Karang Mas Sejahtera (KMS), the Indonesian owners of the Ritz-Carlton Bali Resort & Spa, were awarded US$10 million in damages by a Maryland Federal (U.S.) jury who found the that Marriott International, who own the Ritz-Carlton brand, had violated a non-competition exclusivity agreement by participating in the development of a second hotel in Bali, the Bulgari Resort. [See: U.S. Jury Awards US$10 to Ritz-Carlton Bali Owners]
In a subsequent ruling by the Federal Court in Maryland dated on April 25, 2008, and issued on April 29, 2008, the judges ruled on a number of post-trial motions filed on behalf of the Indonesian owners:
The Court denied "Marriott's motion in all respects," except as regards issuing a final ruling on Marriott's assertion that the punitive damage award of US$10 million was excessive.
The Court granted the Indonesian owner's request for declaratory relief which opens the way for Karang Mas Sejahtera (KMS) to, at its option, terminate its relationship with Ritz-Carlton.
The Court denied KMS' request for "disgorgement and forfeiture" of fees paid by them to Ritz-Carlton.
In rejecting the request for a refund of management fees paid to Ritz-Carlton by KMS, the Court nonetheless did declare that the Indonesian owners are entitled to end the Operating Agreement with Marriott/Ritz-Carlton. It should be noted, however, that it is both unclear and uncertain if KMS' intention is to exercise its right to end its relationship with Ritz-Carlton.
A further hearing in the case, set for this Summer, will adjudicate whether or not the February jury award of US$382,304 in compensatory damages will be sufficient to meet the attorney fees incurred by KMS in bringing the matter before the U.S. Courts.
Marriott is also expected to appeal the case before the Courts.
Urgent Call for Type AB Blood in Bali
A Half-Hour at Bali's Blood Bank This Holiday Could Save Someone's Life.
For nearly one week, the Bali blood bank operated by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) has been suffering a severe shortage of type AB blood.
According to Radar Bali, the shortage of type AB blood has become so acute that 30-year-old Wayan Rempon, currently hospitalized at Bali's Sanglah General Hospital, is being denied additional blood needed to treat an internal bleeding condition.
The Chief of the PMI Transfusion Unit, Professor Sudewa Djelantik, said that replacement blood is needed for the 14 units of AB blood used to date in treating Wayan Rempon.
The current shortage of type AB blood is made worse by the fact that none of the mobile donation units owned by the PMI in Bali is currently road worthy.
Those wishing to donate blood, particularly type AB negative blood, are urged to visit the Blood Donation Center at Bali's Sanglah General Hospital or telephone ++62-(0)361-227224.
Cost of Fuel on the Increase in Bali
Following a World Trend, Premium Gas Now Costing More at Bali Gas Pumps.
The rising cost of fuel globally is being felt at the gas pumps and fuel depots across the island of Bali.
The cost of a liter of premium increased on Thursday, May 1, 2008, to Rp. 9,000 a liter (US$0.98).
A letter issued on April 29, 2008, by the State Oil Company (Pertamina) announced that the increase would have effect at all gas stations on May 1st, increasing the cost of both premium and Biopertamax by Rp. 500 (US$0.054). Meanwhile, the price of other classes of fuels for the industrial sector are being increased between 6.4% 11.3%.
The latest decree on fuel prices provides for the following price increases:
Non-subsidized premium +6.4%
Non-subsidized kerosene +9.4%
Non-subsidized diesel oil +11.3%
Non-subsidized fuel oil +7.5%
The cost of subsidized premium and diesel fuels provided to public transport operators remains unchanged at Rp. 4,500 (US$0.49) per liter of premium and Rp. 4,300 (US$0.467) per liter of diesel. The cost of a subsidized liter of kerosene for use by the general public and small industries remains unchanged at Rp.2,000 (US$0.217) per liter.
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