That’s
the Spirit
Meghan Pappenheim, who will now be enjoying
some well-earned downtime after the 2012 BaliSpirit Festival held at Ubud –
where else? – from March 28 to April 1, tells us her moment of pure joy at this
year’s event was taking part in Indra Widjanarko’s yoga class for kids. “Pure
happiness for a split second,” she reports. There’s a photo on the festival
site that might give a clue as to why the happiness was for a split second.
Meghan’s a good sport. Oh, and a good sort.
She tells us too that the other amazing thing she took away from the
festival was how international it was. She says that in the night concert area
she found herself surrounded by full-pass holders who had flown to Bali for the
event from 13 countries – one of them Germany, from where the man in question
had visited Bali for every festival since its inception.
The global reach of BaliSpirit is certainly remarkable. One of Meghan’s
night concert companions had come from Iran. The others were from India,
Mexico, Slovakia, Brazil, Spain, the USA, Canada, Australia, China, the
Philippines and France.
BaliSpirit is not just the five-day event itself. It has a strong
outreach and community building aspect as well, which every year is augmented
incrementally. Says Meghan: "Aside from the thousands we raised with our
partners for local initiatives, I don't believe we've ever had this kind
of backing and programming input from local community organisations before."
Way to go!
Get
Real 1
If anyone wants a take on the unreality
that drives Bali’s Wayan Mitty real estate sector, they need look no further
than the chairman of the Real Estate Indonesia (REI) Bali branch, Dewa Putu
Selawa, who said in late March that property prices had already increased by 15
percent since earlier in the month because of the government’s announcement of
rising fuel prices. He meant, of course,
asking prices.
For
good measure, he added that many property owners had withdrawn their properties
from sale. Doubtless, as the unfortunate (and entirely blameless, naturally) victims
of the twin epidemics of unreal expectation and rampant greed that afflict our
island, they did so in pursuit of further excuse to ask for an astronomical
price in the hope that some mug would pay it.
The fuel price rise did not eventuate, even though ending a US$14
billion a year subsidy on highly pollutant low-grade petrol is clearly a good
idea on budgetary and environmental grounds. This was absolutely no surprise,
given that the national government – unless energised by antediluvian
misogynists into pursuing mini-skirted women in the astonishing belief that female
knees are pornographic – has all the courage of a craven. And little grip on
reality, except in relation to who might still be persuaded to vote for it in
2014.
A
recent study by Knight Frank and Elite Havens showed that Bali has the highest
rate of land price increases in Indonesia (up by an average 34 percent last
year against 8-16 percent in other parts of Indonesia). Selawa explains it this
way: “The property business is very sensitive to rumours and discourse. Many
businessmen cancelled the sale of their properties because the prices would
again increase when the fuel price is hiked. They were waiting to get the
highest profit.”
A
fuel price rise of 33 percent would increase costs, naturally, by some quantum.
That would be after the price rise took effect and impacted on transportation
costs, not before. We're talking about profiteering here.
Get
Real 2
It’s not only the big end of town that
needs to take a reality check. We heard an amusing little tale the other day –
well, it’s irritating really, but you’ve got to laugh – that hits one of the
nails of Bali’s development dilemma squarely on the head. We won’t name names,
because that would be invidious and in any case the problem is so widespread as
to be unremarkable.
There’s a nice little restaurant we go to where the land upon which it
stands has been leased for 20 years from the local – Balinese – owner. The land
has been leased by an Indonesian, so the usual fleece-the-filthy-foreigner rule
hardly applies. But in the nature of things here, and of course elsewhere in
the county, such arrangements come along with unrelated, unscheduled and
entirely promiscuous calls upon the pocket: the landowner needs money, for
this, that, or some other purpose; the fridge is on the blink; the beer has run
out; someone is ill perhaps; or maybe that remarkable aunt in Jauh Sekali (it
is nearly always far enough away to discourage direct inquiry) has experienced
a further bout of repeated death and there’s yet another funeral to be paid
for. If you live here, you’ll know the score.
Anyway, on this occasion, we hear, the landowner was after some money (a
not insubstantial sum apparently) and was culturally distressed when the
readies were not ready to be handed over; that of course means the cash was not
available immediately. He then visited the establishment and engaged in that
other customary local practice – looking miffed, shouting loudly, and banging
any available flat surface.
Apprised of the fact (again) that the casual, unbudgeted and
off-contract sum he demanded was indeed not yet to hand, he said he would never
lease his land again and would not be renewing the current 20-year lease (it
has about 19 years to run). Fine, replied our restaurant proprietor, a lovely
chap from Sumatra. That was his privilege. But in the meantime, for the rest of
the lease period, he didn’t want to see the other fellow’s ugly mug anywhere
near the place. Got that?
Here’s
to Your Health
The new BIMC Hospital at Nusa Dua opens its
doors on May 5, an event that will certainly please anyone on the Bukit who
needs international-standard medical care and doesn’t want to risk a potential
two-hour road trip to BIMC’s other facility at Simpang Siur. It will be
especially useful for those whose blood pressure is apt to rise to crisis level
if stuck in traffic on what would normally be a 25-minute, 12-kilometre trip if
everyone stayed in lane and obeyed the other road rules, or gave a tinker’s
cuss about anyone else on the road.
That’s far from the only benefit of the new hospital, of course. It
includes a 24-hour accident and emergency centre, a 24-hour medical centre,
cosmetic medicine and dental centres, and – good news indeed – a dialysis
centre which should make it possible for tourists who require regular dialysis
to consider holidaying at Nusa Dua or nearby.
BIMC Nusa Dua plans an open day on May 5 to introduce residents and
visitors to the new facility, housed in purpose-built accommodation in the BTCD
enclave just across the road from Bali Collection. The complex was built by a
Perth-based Australian firm that specialises in hospital construction and
fitted out with state of the art interiors and infrastructure by a South
African company.
Best
Endeavours
Applications have been invited for the
Endeavour Awards for 2013. This Australian government scholarship programme
provides opportunities for Indonesians to undertake study, research and
professional development in Australia.
Announcing the awards on April 2, Australian ambassador Greg Moriarty
said: “Twenty-six Indonesians were awarded Endeavour scholarships in 2011 and
we look forward to receiving more Indonesian applications to participate in
this internationally competitive, merit based scholarship programme.”
Applications close on June 30. Details are available here.
Why,
Thank You
Diarists and other scribblers generally
only hear from readers who have a gripe. This is not necessarily a problem.
Often it gives you a good laugh, as for example not so long ago when a
self-elected lunar luminary of long standing in these parts told Hector’s
helper – it was in response to a polite inquiry – “Eat shit and die you twerp.”
How much more pleasant it was to receive feedback recently from reader
Nurul J. Darmawan, who posted this note on Hector’s Facebook wall in response
to the item in last edition’s Diary headed True to Herself:
“Hi Hector ... reading your article really impressed me. What you said
about Facebook is true in our lives. You’re right: we need late in life more
real than virtual life. Facebook is where I find friends to add insight in my
life. Your articles are very insightful and give an input to many people such
as me. Bravo Hector’s Diary!”
And
Again
Hector also tweets (some people say he
twitters, but cockatoos don’t do that) and was recently followed – you do that
on Twitter – by one Frank Seth, from Idaho, who advised: “I’m an undiscovered
American watercolour artist. Have been painting over 53-plus years. Maybe this
will be my year? I want to keep on painting as long as I can do it.”
Good on you, Frank.
Hector's Diary appears in the fortnightly print edition of the Bali Advertiser, out every second Wednesday and online on the newspaper's website. Hector is on Twitter (@scratchings) and Facebook (Hector McSquawky).
