Jembrana Health Card Refused at Some Clinics

NEGARA Doctors refusing treatment to patients presenting at a number of health posts have led to revelations that the Jembrana free health card, issued by the regency as a local alternative to the provincial card for low income families, is being refused at some clinics in the regency. The dispute came to light last Thursday [...]

Even More Aussies Come Calling

DENPASAR More Australians than ever are calling Bali their second home, going on the latest tourism figures — for January to July — just released by the Bali tourism office. Its chief, Ida Bagus Subhiksu, said 50.8 percent more Australians visited in January-July this year than in the same period last year. In round numbers, [...]

Dewa Ruci II: Underpass Back on the Agenda

DENPASAR The saga of the Simpang Siur flyover — part of Governor I Made Mangku Pastika’s plan to ease traffic congestion ahead of the 2013 ASEAN summit meeting in Bali — has taken a new turn. The national planning board (BAPPENAS) has agreed to partly fund an underpass instead. The flyover would involve moving the [...]

Explain Yourself, Pastika Tells Badung Regent

DENPASAR Badung Regent Anak Agung Gede Agung has gotten a please-explain from Governor I Made Mangku Pastika over the collection of hotel tax in the regency. Regent Agung had told Pastika Badung rejected provincial rules that require hotel taxes to be remitted online because the necessary software and systems were not yet installed. The online [...]

Problem Port May Benefit from Compulsory Purchase Law

LEGIAN East Bali’s problem port development, Tanah Ampo in Karangasem, would be one of the potential infrastructure developments to benefit from moves in the national legislature to introduce compulsory land acquisition. A law being drafted would introduce “eminent domain,” under which the national government would have power to acquire private land and compensate the owner [...]

Whose Rules? Confusion Over Custom Versus Law

DENPASAR Bali’s government has been warned that running customary village law alongside provincial and national laws is causing confusion in many communities. The national unity agency says monitoring of practice in Bali shows almost all villages operate on a dual system. It warns this is causing confusion over management of administrative processes and implementation of [...]

Business Faces a Knock-Back on Groundwater Tariff Complaints

DENPASAR Bali businesses are unlikely to get any change out of Governor I Made Mangku Pastika over his plan to raise the groundwater tariff by 1,000 percent as part of his bid to conserve dwindling water supplies. Prominent provincial legislator Wayan Rawan Atmaja said he strongly supported the new policy. And he questioned whether local [...]

Foster Home Seeks Private Donors to Stay Afloat

SEMARAPURA A Klungkung foster home that has been caring for disabled children and children from poor families since 1984 has appealed for public support to keep going, saying rising costs are making it difficult for administrators to make ends meet. Ninety children live at the Semaraputra Orphanage, which was established by the then regent of [...]

Two Children Dead of Rabies as Vaccine Drought Bites

SINGARAJA Two Buleleng children have died of rabies, apparently victims of the continuing shortage of government-supplied, free post-exposure anti-rabies vaccine. The children, a 13-year-old who died at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar on August 21 and a five-year-old who died there next day, had both been bitten by dogs, the five-year-old by a neighbour’s animal. The [...]

Stand-Outs in the Beach Scene

KUTA The 160-strong Badung Lifeguard Department, which looks after Kuta Beach and other popular surf and swimming spots in South Bali, is sporting new uniforms, hats, sunglasses and surfboards. They are the gift of sponsors Quiksilver and Coca-Cola. The new gear was presented last Friday during a break in a training programme at Kuta Beach. [...]

Hotels, Villas Still Prime Terror Targets

DENPASAR Bali’s new police chief, Hadiatmoko, has reminded his senior officers that hotels and villas in Bali were still potential terrorist targets and said no one could afford to relax about the threat. “Bali’s tourism is still threatened as a terrorist target. We will keep on protecting assets such as hotels and villas from terrorist [...]

Brothel Girls Give Court a Giggle

TABANAN Nine prostitutes, eight of them from East Java and all rounded up by police in Tabanan as part of a Ramadhan clampdown, gave everyone — judges, prosecutors and the public — a laugh when they appeared in court this week unrepentant about their career choice. The women, most of whom are newly arrived in [...]

Bali Nine Ringleaders Seek 20 Years in Place of Death

DENPASAR The two Australian ring-leaders of the so-called Bali Nine heroin smuggling gang, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, are fighting for their lives in Denpasar District Court in appeal hearings that commenced last Friday. Their appeals – like that of Bali Nine drug mule Scott Rush – are their last judicial avenue of escape from [...]

Our Big Day Goes With a 65-year-old Swing

DENPASAR Enthusiastic crowds across Bali celebrated Independence Day on Tuesday – the 65th anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1945. And as with all birthday parties, people were out to have fun as much as to reflect of the nation and its history. There’s no better way to do [...]

Bali’s ‘Icon’ Movie Fried by the Critics

By Hector, The Bali Times diarist Eat Pray Love, the Julia Roberts movie filmed partly in Bali last year and the screen adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book about finding herself in Italy, India and Bali, has come in for some strident criticism from American reviewers. The movie was released in the US on August 13. [...]

Veronika Blomgrem, 38, is an interior designer and architect from Moscow. She used to work as a TV presenter in Russia for a programme in which designers had to redecorate houses for people in three days. But after coming to Bali on holidays two years ago she decided not to leave. She shared her day [...]

  I Wayan Redug, 80, is a seaweed farmer from Sanur who has seven children and 10 grandchildren. What’s the greatest lesson life has taught you? We cannot live without other people. We must live together and help each other. What’s most important? My children, because they are the ones who will look after us [...]

From the perspective of Terje Nilsen, 43, co-owner of Ray White The Paradise Property Group real estate who comes from Norway. Do you believe people arrived in their present form on Earth? No, I believe in evolution, evolution being part of God’s development of Earth and humans. The big question here is our human soul [...]

NAME: Ni Wayan Sumir AGE: 46 OCCUPATION: Cultivator ORIGIN: Nusa Dua How do you think people overseas see Indonesia? As a very exotic place with a unique culture and with very friendly people.   What are the barriers to development in this country? Corruption is the main one. I’m always watching on TV how many [...]

…because snorkelling is great, the culture is very interesting and its volcanoes have something very mystical about them. Isabel Zanotti, 25, Argentina BT/PCAR