Even on Christmas, a poor family can’t have its baby

Ni Komang Erviani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Tue, 12/30/2008 11:03 AM  |  Bali

The dearth of Christmas joy was palpable in the boarding room rented by Mulyono, 29, and Yetriyana Lopes, 28, on Jl. Blanjong, Sanur, on Thursday.

The youngest of their three sons, Raditya Mulyana, who was born in August together with his twin brother Aditya Mulyana, could not be with them to celebrate Christmas because the parents could not afford the boy’s delivery expenses.

Election participants ignores local values

Ni Komang Erviani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Tue, 12/30/2008 11:01 AM  |  Bali

Legislative candidates vying for seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Bali Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD) continue to neglect cultural values in their campaigns, a discussion in Denpasar concluded Saturday.

Titled “Transforming the 2009 Election into a Cultural Attraction”, experts criticized legislative candidates as ignorant of cultural values in their campaign methods.

Students join street rallies, say no to University Inc.

Ni Komang Erviani, ,  The Jakarta Post, ,  Denpasar   |  Sat, 12/27/2008 10:55 AM  |  Bali

Dozens of students followed their counterparts across the nation in protesting against the recently passed education legal entity law, claiming it will turn education centers into “business centers”.

Members of the Student Alliance Against Law on the Education Legal Entity, comprising activists from several student organizations, marched for about 500 meters from the Udayana University campus on Jalan Sudirman to the busy intersection of Jalan Dewi Sartika.

7,000 suffer severe mental illness; Survey

Ni Komang Erviani, ,  The Jakarta Post, ,  Denpasar   |  Sat, 12/27/2008 10:55 AM  |  Bali

As many as 7,000 individuals in Bali suffer from various types of severe mental illness, with many subjected to physical abuse by their families, according to a 2008 survey conducted by the Suryani Institute for Mental Health.

A large majority of these people have never received proper treatment, the survey said.

“Most of them have suffered from the illnesses for more than five years,” the institute’s secretary Cokorda Bagus Jaya Lesmana said here recently.

The Institute was founded by the island’s leading psychiatrist Prof. Dr. LK Suryani.

She rose to prominence after breakthrough research and treatment she conducted by combining Balinese ancient healing methods with modern psychiatry. She is well known for being outspoken, and often controversial, on the province’s major contemporary issues.

Jaya Lesmana disclosed a large number of the mental illnesses cases were triggered by depression related to economic problems.

“The economic problems and hardships trigger stress and depression, which later escalate into mental disturbances,” he said.

Most of the 7,000 mentally ill individuals live in Karangasem, a regency some 80 kilometers east of Denpasar and one of the island’s poorest regions. The survey found 895 cases in the regency.

“The fact that the regency has a chronic poverty problem must have something to do with its high number of mental illness cases,” he added.

Jaya Lesmana said a large majority of the cases had never been treated properly.

He said many families still used the traditional method of chaining people with mental illness to heavy wooden logs to restrain their movements and prevent them from hurting anybody, including themselves.

“The survey found 200 individuals were still being subjected to this method,” he said.

In Karangasem regency alone, the institute’s staff found 25 individuals being chained and locked inside unhealthy confinement spaces, such as cattle barns. Some had been chained for twenty years, others for more than five years.

“The families claim they cannot afford to send them to mental hospitals. Chaining and locking them is seen as the best alternative to preventing them from disturbing others or putting themselves at harm,” he said.

He urged the government to take concrete measures in dealing with the problem.

“The number of cases will increase in the future due to the imminent economic hardship period caused by the ongoing global financial crisis,” he warned.

The institute has treated 141 people with mental illness individuals from poor families in Karangasem.

“They have responded positively to the treatment. It shows that if these individuals were given proper treatments and medications they could gradually became healthy again,” he stressed.

Jaya Lesmana said the institute didn’t have enough manpower and financial resources to treat all of them.

Bali Social Welfare Agency head AA Gde Alit blamed the public’s reluctance to notify the authority when a mental illness case was found as the reason behind the high number of cases being left untreated.

“We have a mental hospital in Bangli to deal with this matter. We urge the families of these people with mental illness to bring them to this hospital. Poor families are exempt from any hospital fees,” he said.

Christian inmates to get sentence cuts

Ni Komang Erviani ,   The Jakarta Post,  Denpasar   |  Fri, 12/26/2008 11:21 AM  |  Bali

Christian inmates at Bali’s largest prison, Kerobokan Penitentiary in Denpasar, including some foreign drug smugglers, are in line to receive between sentence reductions of 15 to 30 days this Christmas.

Well-known “Ganja Queen” Leigh Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence of the Bali Nine were among 31 inmates who had not received their remissions on Christmas Day due to administrative delay.

Customary villages receive Rp 20 billion grants

Ni Komang Erviani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Sat, 12/20/2008 12:11 PM  |  Bali

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika presented 200 desa pekraman (traditional customary villages) with a CBD (community-based development) endowment fund of Rp 20 billion.

Each village received Rp 100 million in cash to be used to finance community-based poverty eradication programs.

Of the village recipients, 21 are in Karangasem regency, 13 in Buleleng, 41 in Bangli, 15 in Klungkung, 40 in Gianyar, 40 in Tabanan, 29 in Badung and one in Denpasar.

Wind turbines fail to generate power

The Jakarta Post, Sat, 12/20/2008 12:11 PM  |  Bali

Seven wind turbines launched in Nusa Penida, an island southeast of Bali, during the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in December 2007 have failed to deliver any of their promised power to local residents.

A solar plant was also opened during the conference, as a demonstration of the administrations commitment to renewable energy. The solar plant continues to perform efficiently, producing up to 30 kilowatts of electricity per hour. The wind farms, however, have stayed silent.

Operators warn of ‘blackout’

The Badung administration will soon began demolishing communication towers considered obstructing the natural beauty of its main tourist destinations.

The association of the cellular service providers has opposed the move, warning that the policy would instead result in a massive cellular “blackout”.

Authorities leave gaping pothole unfixed, putting motorists at risk

Indah Setiawati and Ni Komang Erviani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Thu, 12/18/2008 11:16 AM  |  Bali

A huge hole in a damaged section of road along Jl. Teuku Umar Barat in Denpasar has been left untouched by the authorities, despite causing several traffic accidents.

The last accident occurred on Monday, when a truck nearly overturned after hitting the pothole.

The hole is located at the left curve of a heavily used lane heading toward Kerobokan, around a kilometer from the intersection of Jl. Teuku Umar and Jl. Imam Bonjol.

Worker union braces for possible mass layoffs

Ni Komang Erviani and Andra Wisnu ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Wed, 12/17/2008 11:13 AM  |  Bali

The Bali Tourism Workers Union, particularly in the Badung regency where over 200,000 workers depend on tourists for their livelihood, is bracing itself for possible mass layoffs as the global financial crisis persists.

Head of the Badung chapter of the Bali Tourism Workers Union, Putu Satyawira, said the financial crisis had already begun to affect the island’s tourism industry, citing numerous booking cancellations in several star-rated hotels.