DENPASAR Prosecutors are seeking a six-year jail term for an 18-year-old man charged with having sex with an underage vocational school student. The man, Pratono, also known as Rudi, was caught in the act in January by a passing pecalang (neighbourhood security) patrol that noticed four motorbikes and a pair of red slippers outside a [...]

DENPASAR The Bali Times Rehabilitating the 25,000 hectares of forest in Bali defined as environmentally critical would cost Rp86 billion (US$9.5 million) over five years, provincial forestry chief Anak Agung Bhuana has told the island’s legislature. He said 5,000 hectares of forest needed to be rehabilitated every year to achieve the aim of elimination of [...]

NUSA DUA Conrad Bali, the plush hotel on the beach at Tanjung Benoa, has just planted 500 mangrove saplings at the neighbouring Tengkukung Beach as part of its 2010 environmental programme. The trees were provided by the Bali provincial forestry office for the local community in support of the coastal conservation efforts. Conrad general manager [...]

KUTA Harley Davidson riders invaded Nusa Penida — but it was all in a good cause. They were there to hand over money to help with temple works at Majapahit on Nusa Ceningan and assist schools on Penida itself. Thirty bikers, members of the Bali chapter of HOG bikers and other clubs including the Raskal [...]

LEGIAN Bali and much of Indonesia could end up having no dry season this year with forecasters saying bad weather is expected to return after the Idul Fitri holiday starting this Friday, bringing heavy rain, high seas and stormy skies that could make air travel bumpy. They blame the strong La Ni?a climate pattern — [...]

DENPASAR Bali Police chief Hadiatmoko has acted to stop police unfairly targeting foreigners — especially those on motorbikes — in the Dreamland area of the Bukit, following complaints of harassment. He said he would take firm against any police found to be involved in targeting foreign road-users to collect “fines.” The Dreamland turnoff on the [...]

It is not unique to Indonesian politics that they can often degenerate into a self-serving affair, benefiting the officeholder far more than the people he or she was elected to serve. Rare are the few — worldwide — whose ego and lust for power does not overtake them so that they come to view the [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]