Walhi may sue Badung over Geger beach excavation

The Bali chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) may file a lawsuit against the Badung regency administration for authorizing the removal of large quantities of sand from Geger beach to be used to repair Kuta beach.

Aside from allegedly damaging the environment, the sand mining project also violates existing regulations, according to an open discussion held at state-run Udayana University in Denpasar on Saturday.

Bali to revise zoning bylaw

Following increased development of tourist facilities inside and around sacred Balinese Hindu areas, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika on Friday disclosed his administration’s plan to revise the province’s bylaw on land use.

The development of the villas has triggered a heated controversy with environmental activists and politicians on one side against the regent of Badung, who issued the building permits, and the local villagers of Uluwatu on the other side.

‘Modify laws instead of passing the porn bill’

Dicky Christanto/Ni Komang Erviani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Thu, 09/25/2008 11:07 AM  |  Bali

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has said the House of Representatives should modify existing laws to regulate the sex industry instead of endorsing a new pornography bill he considered a threat to national unity.

“Once these laws are modified, they will be more than enough to stop the sex industry,” Pastika said Tuesday before a crowd of thousands gathered at the governor’s office.

There are at least four separate laws dealing with pornography, namely the criminal code, the Press Law, the Broadcasting Law and the Child Protection Law, he added.

“We will continue to reject the pornography bill even though lawmakers have vowed to modify it because the bill defines sexuality using just one group’s point of view,” he said.

The crowd of more than a thousand, led by the Bali People’s Component (KRB), demanded the governor support their struggle to strike down the bill.

In addition to delivering speeches in that vein, members of the rally staged poetry readings and musical performances, with noted guitarist I Wayan Belawan spotted among the attendees.

Chairman of the Bali Legislative Council Ida Bagus Putu Wesnawa, speaking before the crowd, warned the protesters against becoming too easily provoked while campaigning against the bill.

“Your right to express your opinion is guaranteed under the law, but I must warn you to stay calm while doing so,” he said.

The KRB staged the rally to coincide with a plenary session on finalizing the bill.

However, lawmakers who support the anti-pornography measure were forced to cancel the session in the wake of massive protests across the country. Undeterred, Balkan Kaplale, the chairman of the pornography bill deliberation committee, has vowed to finish deliberations this year.

I Nengah Jimat, a KRB activist, said he had been coordinating with other rights activists to monitor the bill’s deliberation.

“We will keep our eyes on the deliberation, including noting meeting schedules and reading related materials. We’re also keeping watch to make sure they don’t try to secretly pass the bill,” said Jimat, who is also a lawyer with the Bali Legal Aids Institute (LBH).

Meanwhile, scores of legal experts and lawyers have denounced the proposed pornography bill as an unconstitutional piece of legislation, claiming it will suppress citizen’s basic rights protected by the country’s 1945 Constitution.

Udayana University’s School of Law professor Yohanes Usfunan stated the bill trampled upon the citizen’s right to religious freedom. He stressed that this was an absolute right explicitly protected by the country’s Constitution.

“The passage of this bill cannot be decided through a voting process because religious freedom is an absolute right, a right that even a state doesn’t have the authority to interfere with,” he argued on Monday.

Usfunan pointed out that various articles in the bill clearly showed that it was based on ethics, norms and moral values of a specific community and religious faith.

“The bill tries to standardize moral values across the nation. In this respect alone, the bill has violated one of the country’s basic legal principles,” he said.

Similar sentiments were also echoed by former member of the country’s Constitutional Court, I Dewa Gde Palguna. The passing of the bill, he stated, would constitute the gravest breach to the nation’s founding principles.

“The bill will outlaw every basic human rights known to us. This (the bill) is the product of illogical thinking,” he stated.

He urged all elements of the society to file a motion for judicial review to the Constitutional Court if the House of Representatives and the government ratify the bill.

–Luh De Suriyani contributed to this article

Police probe report on vandalism at ISI campus

Denpasar Police Chief Sr. Comr. Alit Widana said on Friday his subordinates were questioning several witnesses following a report of vandalism at Bali’s Indonesian Art Institute (ISI).

Widana said the questioning may result in naming a suspect if police found solid evidence.

“If we have enough evidence, we will continue by questioning those students who were involved,” he said.

Porn bill a ‘threat’ to national diversity

Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Thu, 09/18/2008 10:35 AM  |  Bali

An estimated 5,000 Balinese flocked to the local legislative council building here on Wednesday, demanding legislators’ support in rejecting the pornography bill currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives.

Traditional musicians and dancers wearing semi-transparent clothes participated in a mass-rally organized by the Bali People’s Component (KRB) comprising human rights and student activists.

During the rally, which was also attended by members of the Inter-religion National Integration Movement, protesters marched from Bajra Sandhi Renon Square to the legislative council compound.

“We want to show (the rest of) Indonesia that all ethnic groups in Bali are united against a legal product which will hurt our constitution as an archipelagic nation,” Sugi Lanus of KRB said.

He said the bill was the product of a single group’s perspective and did not represent the perspectives of the rest of Indonesia’s ethnic groups.

“Balinese believe the human body has an aesthetic value while the porn bill supporters view it as if it were the source of sin and lust. This is the major difference between us and them,” he said.

Luh Anggraeni, another activist, said the bill was a serious threat to the country’s unity as it discriminated against many other cultures in Indonesia.

Council speaker Ida Bagus Putu Wesnawa who attended the rally vowed that the local council would act.

“We will tell them we will reject the porn bill if it is passed into law,” Wesnawa said.

He said a team comprising local legislators was scheduled to go to Jakarta on Sept. 23, when legislators at the House were slated to commence a final hearing for the bill’s deliberation.

Commenting on the plan, Ketut Kariayasa, head of Commission IV overseeing religion and culture, said he had prepared documents to be used as the team’s basis of arguments once they were in Jakarta.

“If the government insists on passing this bill, the local legislative council here will stand by the Balinese by conducting civil disobedience. That is a promise,” he said.

Balinese musicians also expressed their worry on Tuesday that the enactment of a law on pornography would limit expression through music.

Ari Astina of the band Superman is Dead said anything including songs associated with pornography under the would-be law could be subject to legal punishment, regardless of lyrics.

“Actually whether its pornographic or not depends on how it is seen,” said Ari (aka Jerinx).

– Luh De Suriyani and Ni Komang Erviani contributed to this article.

Porn bill must accommodate diverse local groups: Governor

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika on Monday stated the proposed bill on pornography, which is at the heart of a heated controversy on the island, should accommodate the local wisdom of the country’s various ethnic groups.

“It should provide sufficient space to accommodate the prevailing local wisdom in different communities across the nation,” Pastika said.

“Failure to do so will give rise to a very complicated situation.”

Pastika then pointed out the example of Papua, where it is still common for local residents to conduct daily activities without wearing any clothes.

“Many people in Papua still live naked or half-naked. Are we going to arrest them all (for violating the bill)?,” he said.

Pastika served as Papua Police chief before being assigned to Bali to lead the multinational team investigating the infamous 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people, mostly foreigners, were killed.

Pastika added members of the House of Representatives in Jakarta should provide a clear definition of the term pornography before ratifying the bill.

The definition should draw a clear boundary separating pornography from art, he said.

Pastika also reminded legislators that any new law should reflect the community in which it would be enacted, hinting that the bill would not be completely compatible with Balinese norms and customs.

“However, I believe our legislators will make a decision on this matter in a sensible and wise manner,” he said.

He added he hoped the government would not issue any policies that could polarize the community or lead to animosity and violence.

The House’s working committee has finished debating the bill and is set to submit the draft to a plenary meeting for endorsement within the next few weeks.

The bill has been approved by the Golkar party and Islamic parties such as the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).

More moderate parties, including the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) are internally divided over the issue.

Strong opposition to the bill has come from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS).

However, the voting mechanism at the plenary session means it is likely the bill will be passed.

Earlier Monday, Bali legislators said they supported an idea to conduct acts of civil disobedience if the government insisted on passing the controversial bill.

They added they were forced to do so because the bill would hurt Bali the most.

I Gusti Ketut Adiputra, deputy chairman of the provincial legislative council, said councilors would once again send an official note protesting the House’s decision to deliberate the bill.

“We sent one in 2006 and we will send one again this time to emphasize our protest against the bill’s deliberation process,” he said Monday at a mass rally held by students.

Two years ago, local councilors, along with the governor, sent an official note protesting the porn bill’s deliberation. They argued the bill would violate the constitutionally enshrined principle of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity).

“I cannot imagine the impact to all the hotels and tourists in Bali if the government insists on issuing the porn law,” said PDI-P legislator Made Arjaya.

“It is most likely people will be afraid to come to Bali because of the law.”

Protesting students grouped under the People Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights (ARDHAM) requested the legislators urge their colleagues in Jakarta to stop deliberating the bill.

“We need them to deliberate dozens of other more urgent issues, including corruption, poverty and education. So why waste time discussing such an insignificant issue like pornography?” said Suresh Kumar, one of the protesters.

Also on Monday, activists from several NGOs focusing on women’s empowerment and children’s protection, gathered at the Bali Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) office to discuss the bill.

The activists agreed to reject the bill because it discriminated against and criminalized women.

“The bill reflects the state’s failure to protect the nation’s multicultural heritage and pluralism,” activist Luh Anggreni said.

–Dicky Christanto, Ni Komang Erviani and Luh De Suriyani contributed to this story.

Govt to crack down on hotels harming the environment

The Bali provincial administration has pledged to take action against hotels that continue to run non-environmentally friendly components in their air-conditioning (AC) systems, an official said Saturday.

Sudirman, head of the Bali regional center of the State Ministry of the Environment, said an operation would be conducted to check that hoteliers had complied with regulations banning the use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) in their AC units.

Illegally operating stations targeted

Bali’s provincial Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPID) on Thursday said it would take disciplinary action against 32 private radio stations operating on the island without the proper licenses and documents.

Commission head Komang Suarsana said the 32 stations did not have licenses to use radio frequencies and the KPID-issued recommendation of feasibility.

Crime gang hitting tourism busted

The Bali Police crime and detective unit has managed to disable a criminal gang targeting foreign tourists, Crime and Detective Director Sr. Comr. Wilmar Marpaung said.

“The group specializes in foreign tourists at resort areas and has so far carried out their modus operandi 11 times,” Wilmar said.

No students to drop out by 2009: Governor

The Bali administration set a target to decrease the rate students’ drop out to zero by 2009, Bali Governor Mangku Pastika said Thursday.

“In 2009 there will be no students who have to drop out of school and lose their opportunity to get a proper education. That’s our target,” the newly installed governor said during the plenary meeting at the provincial legislature council in Renon.