Garuda Indonesia, which as the national airline has the inside running on any special arrangements the government may dispense, now offers in-flight visas on its services from Sydney. This is a benefit already offered to Garuda passengers on flights from Japan and Europe and is good, so far as it goes. The real problem in [...]

The extensive formalities, long discussions, in-depth explanations and rounds of consultations that are precursors in Balinese society to decision-making and even to minor changes to process take some getting used to. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (again) was never a favourite childhood game. And adulthood was largely spent in the Western corporate world [...]

By Hector Bali exists, as a modern polity, on heroic claims and Walter Mitty propositions. It is also the world headquarters of the White Elephant Corporation, many of whose defunct premises litter the island. That doesn’t make it a bad place to live – far from it; laughter is the best medicine, after all – [...]

By Novar Caine If I were a dog I would live in Bali. There is no doubt about it. I would live it up without being chained up. I would wander as I pleased. I would be the master of my own domain, which is to say the entire island. I’d never go hungry because [...]

KUTA Bali Police have a plan to close down nightspots in the Kuta-Legian entertainment district if they are not certified for security by Bali Police Headquarters. The new plan was announced by the director of Bali Tourist Police, Adhi Putra. Putra said poor performance by security guards and the arguments that went on between nightclub [...]

Cleanup: A worker rakes rubbish washed up by stormy weather on Seminyak Beach in Kuta. Heavy rains caused by the cyclical La Nina phenomenon continue to affect Bali, which this year did not have its annual dry season. (Photo: The Bali Times)

DENPASAR A French citizen went on trial at the Denpasar District Court on Wednesday, accused of possession of hashish. Garcia Patrice, 49, faces up to four years’ prison if found guilty. The man, who was living in Bali, was arrested at his home in Denpasar in August. Bali Police said this week that the number [...]

KEROBOKAN Convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby should be freed from her 20-year prison term in Bali on “humanitarian” grounds, Australian media reported on Thursday. Citing “a well-placed source,” The Age newspaper said the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta — one of several state institutions providing advice to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as he considers Corby’s [...]

JAKARTA Police fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse protesters who took to the streets on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the swearing in of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. More than 150 mainly student demonstrators blocked roads in the wealthy Menteng neighbourhood of central Jakarta with wooden planks, and attacked police who [...]

JAKARTA Police fired tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters who took to the streets on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the swearing in of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. A group of about 60 anti-government demonstrators blocked a road in the Menteng neighbourhood of central Jakarta with wooden benches and attacked police who [...]

A 40-year-old man from Gerokgak in Buleleng has committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree at his home, police said. The man, Gede Widiadnya, was found hanging by a plastic rope from a teak tree in the village of Tukadsumagaon on Monday. It is understood he worked as a driver. The latest suicide in [...]

TABANAN Tabanan district legislators have backed the provincial government’s ban on geothermal power at Bedugul, saying it would break religious taboos by drilling into sacred earth, posed a risk of environmental damage and could threaten disaster if something went wrong. I Ketut Loka Antara, a Golkar legislator from West Selemadeg, has told the legislature his [...]