In
the Swim
We hear that Celia Gregory, the underwater
sculptress, will soon be back among us. She’s coming up for air after a longish
sojourn in Britain. Gregory’s interest lies in the crisis of coral – everywhere
but chiefly in our own interest in Bali and Lombok – and she has a novel way of
applying a remedy for this destruction.
She gave an interesting talk to Canggu Rotary last year on her
underwater sculpture project, which is designed to give the little polyps
something artistic to grow on. She’s done this in cooperation with the BioRock
project in Lombok’s Gilis and plans to do more of the same in Bali: at
Pemuteran, where she’s already done sterling work and where “The Underwater
Goddess” now has a home; and at Amed, with Reef Check Indonesia and an
international organisation, Coral. At Amed, in a depressingly common story,
precious coral was destroyed in the 1980s when it was used for building
material in place of cement.
Gregory tells us that while in the UK she won funding from the
far-seeing Roddick Foundation for development work on her project. She gave
them this pitch, which it is impossible to gainsay:
“It is clear that marine habitat around the world is in mass decline and
a radical new creative approach is needed to halt the destruction. I believe
using the lucrative economy of art mixed with the vital economy of tourism we can
help re-inject a sense of value and awe of our oceans back into society, helping
the world to once again revere the wonderful hidden underwater world that is so
desperately in need of protecting.”
The money will enable The Marine Foundation – which Gregory founded – to
develop its website and profile so it is more accessible to both a wider
audience and to greater funding support. She tells us: “It is vital we place this
within the context of tourism and contemporary art as a powerful way to support
marine eco-system restoration and sustainable management.”
Indeed. Apart from anything else, Indonesia’s (and Bali’s and Lombok’s)
marine tourism sector needs to protect and nurture the living environment that
gives it a commercial edge in the world market.
My
Hatten! A Nice Drop
The lovely little MinYak’s regular Question
Time column is always a must-read at The Cage, so when the latest edition cantered
into our in-box the week before last, we grabbed it with glee. And with good
reason, it turned out, because the subject was James Kalleske, Hatten Wines’ new
blender extraordinaire.
We’re into wine here at The Cage. And mostly Hatten, since the art of
surviving a period of genteel decline undefined by any pre-disclosed end date to
assist budgeting precludes the practices of former years, when such recurrent costs
were not really a factor. It’s still outrageously expensive to drink wine in
Indonesia, but if you’re prepared to quaff Chateau Cardboard and know the lie
of the land well enough to find an emporium with the nous to understand that people
will buy more if it’s cheaper, then Hatten’s products fit the bill. Forget
Pepito.
We drink Aga Red. So well do we do this that the people at the local
store we buy ours from now get a box out of their locked display cabinet whenever
they see us pulling up outside. For some months, Aga Red has even tasted like
wine. Lolly water it no longer is. An Aussie gripe – yes that’s a pun, love
’em, not a mistype – seems to have got into the mix in significant quantity.
Kalleske
is a Barossa boy from a South Australian winemaking family. So we’re really glad
he’s here and is putting his mark on a new range of locally produced wine
blends. But he got here from Western Australia, proving yet again that WA is
Bali’s leading source of expatriate settlers.
He tells a lovely story about his most memorable wine occasion. This
from the MinYak:
“What's
the funniest situation you've had to navigate so far as a wine-blender?
“Not
so much funny as embarrassing. During an interview for a position with a very
exclusive winery in Margaret River, one of the questions the GM asked me was ‘What
is your most memorable bottle of wine?’
“I told him it was a bottle of 'X'. I said: ‘The wine was absolute
rubbish, really hideous! But it was the first bottle of wine I drank with the
girl who turned out being the love of my life, and that is why the wine was so
memorable.’ The GM replied: ‘I made that wine! Under a label I created...’
Needless to say I didn't get the job.”
In vino veritas, as they say. But Kalleske has a good mind for
difficulties – that should help him through his developing Bali experience –
and also told the MinYak he believes “it's always better to have a wine than a
whinge.”
Vintage,
James. And puns help too.
A
Special Day
Anand Krishna, the spiritual spruiker, scarcely
needs introduction. He’s so well known that several people are still trying to
put him in jail under the Trumped-Up Charges Act. You don’t have to try very
hard here to get up someone’s nose.
So it was nice to see that on Jan. 14, to mark the 22nd anniversary of
the Anand Ashram Foundation in Ubud, the inauguration took place of Aadi
Paraashakti Devi Mandir (The Mother Goddess Chapel). The proceedings were conducted
in Bahasa Indonesia.
A
Fine Legacy
This year’s winners of the Elizabeth
O’Neill Journalism Award – it’s in honour of the public affairs counsellor at
Australia’s embassy in Jakarta who was among 21 people tragically killed in the
2007 Garuda crash at Yogyakarta – are ABC journalist Amy Bainbridge and
Indonesian online news editor Renne Kawilarang.
Australian
foreign minister Bob Carr, who made the announcement on Jan. 15, said both
winners were worthy recipients of the award with a strong commitment and
interest in the relationship between Australia and Indonesia. The annual award
goes to one journalist from Australia and one from Indonesia to visit each
other’s country for up to three weeks on a fully-funded programme.
Carr said in announcing this year’s winners: “The relationship between
our two nations is fundamental and the Elizabeth O’Neill Award fosters greater
understanding, leading to better informed media coverage of issues affecting
both countries.”
Bainbridge has worked on many of Australia’s flagship current affairs
programmes including Lateline, PM and The World Today. While in Indonesia, she
will focus on the representation of women in local politics and business, the
Australian expatriate community and the role of Islam in modern Indonesian
society.
Kawilarang,
a news editor with VIVAnews.com, has extensive international relations
experience and has previously won the British Council’s Chevening Scholarship. He
will use his time to research Indonesian links with Australia by interviewing Indonesians
now living there and speaking to young Australians who have lived in Indonesia.
He’s
got the Sheets
Steve Palmer, man about Bali, recently issued
a plaintive plea on one of the Facebook groups he can be found on: “Does anyone
know where to find the finest quality hand, bath, and face towels in Indonesia?
Finest cotton... Super soft, super absorbent, nice colours [he spelt that
without the “u” of course, but we forgive him – Hec]; even dye lots across all
articles, not looking for a bargain, looking for the best... Two months ago I
tried to get good sheets here and ended up getting Frette from New York as
everything local available was too much of a compromise. Hope I don't have to
suffer the same for towels.”
There’s a lesson there for Bali suppliers of all sorts of products. It
is that quality does count and that it has to be real rather than imaginary.
Poison
Alley
Methanol, the poison of choice of
criminally-minded liquor-adulterers in Indonesia whose consciences are
apparently even more defective than their mental capacities, this month claimed
the life of an Australian teenager who became ill after unwittingly consuming an
adulterated drink on Gili Trawangan, Lombok.
The young man, whose name was Liam Davies and who was 19, became sick
after a New Year celebration with friends. He was flown home to Perth, on the
advice of doctors, but died in hospital there.
Methanol is a deadly killer. There have been numerous incidents in which
people have drunk adulterated liquor – methanol is used to create larger
quantities of alcohol (often arak) that they then sell to the unwitting – here
in Bali, as well as Lombok, and of course elsewhere in Indonesia.
Last
year a well-known Perth rugby player, Michael Denton, died in Bali of methanol
poisoning. In 2009 a total of 25 people died here – four of them foreign
tourists –after drinking methanol-laced arak. An arak factory operator in
Denpasar subsequently faced court and was convicted of breaching regulations
regarding alcohol production.
Kim Patra, who writes the Paradise in Sickness & in Health column in
the Bali Advertiser, devoted an entire column before Christmas to the dangers
of being unaware of risks to your health here.
Buzzing
Off
Jennifer Bee, who markets Komodo and its
diving and dragon attractions for Grand Komodo Tours at Sanur, is changing tack
in February: she plans to set up her own home-based business that will offer an
eclectic mix: business services, relocation assistance, a travel agency, house
and villa maintenance and a window into the world of art.
Bee
(not her real name but she gets a buzz out of it) says she’s had enough of
working for other people and wants to go it alone using the internet as her
office. It’s the coming thing and we wish her good luck and good fortune.
Hector's Diary appears in the print edition of the Bali Advertiser, published fortnightly on Wednesdays, and on the newspaper's website www.baliadvertiser.biz. Hector tweets (@scratchings) and is on Facebook (Hector McSquawky).
