Rabies haunts Bali again

Ni Komang Erviani

Bali Daily / Denpasar 

Despite its optimism to be rabies free by 2015, Bali has been challenged this week by another rabies case. 

On Tuesday, a rabid dog bit five people in Gianyar regency. The people who were bitten have received medical treatment and rabies vaccinations.

“The remains of the dog that bit five residents in Gianyar have been examined by the Denpasar Veterinary Board. They concluded that the dog was infected with rabies,” the provincial husbandry agency head, I Putu Sumantra, said on Wednesday.

The incident, which only took a couple of minutes, occurred in Kutuh Kelod hamlet, Petulu village, in Gianyar regency.

Governor told to revoke Benoa Bay development permit

Ni Komang Erviani
Bali Daily /Denpasar

Pudut Island, a small island in Benoa bay that planned to be developed. (Ni Komang Erviani)

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika is being urged to immediately revoke his letter permitting a private investor to develop and reclaim part of Benoa Bay as a major tourist destination.

The letter, no. 2138/02-C/HK/2012, signed on Dec. 26, 2012, has been declared unlawful.

“The gubernatorial letter contradicts the 1945 Constitution as stipulated by the Constitutional Court. The governor should revoke the letter soon because it is unlawful,” Wayan Suardana, chairman of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Bali chapter, told Bali Daily on Sunday.

Bali Arts Festival ends

Ni Komang Erviani
Bali Daily / Denpasar

The 35th Bali Arts Festival features the richness of Balinese culture (Ni Komang Erviani)

Thousands of people visited the Bali Arts Center on Jl. Nusa Indah in Denpasar on Saturday evening, enthusiastically gathering to enjoy the last day of the one month fiesta.

Traffic congestion surrounding the site of the Bali Arts Festival was heavy.

The closing ceremony was held on the Ardha Candra open stage and was jazzed up with a colossal dance drama entitled Sakuni Raja Winaya, which attracted thousands of people to keep watching until the very end of the performance. The dance drama, taken from the Mahabharata epic, was performed by students from SMK 3 Sukawati, a vocational senior high school in Gianyar.

Finally, the sound of a kulkul (wooden drum) beaten by Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika marked the end of the 35th Bali Arts Festival.

Benoa Bay plan receives mixed reaction

Ni Komang Erviani
Bali Daily/Denpasar

A number of prominent academics have expressed concerns about the planned development and reclamation of Benoa Bay in southern Bali saying that all parties must wait for the completion of the current comprehensive study into the feasibility of the projects.

I Gede Sudiartha, an expert on disaster mitigation, explained that reclamation of Benoa Bay was not a solution to protect Bali from a possible tsunami.

Bali administration keen to invest in new airport

NI KOMANG ERVIANI
Bali Daily/Denpasar

The new airport plan in Sumberkima Village, Gerokgak, Buleleng. (Ni Komang Erviani)

The Bali administration has shown its eagerness to invest in a new airport that is planned for Sumberkima village in Gerokgak, Buleleng regency, north Bali.

Governor Made Mangku Pastika said recently that the administration would invest in the new airport along with several regional administrations in Bali.

“It would be very good if the new airport was developed by local investors rather than foreign ones. We are hoping that a consortium of state-owned companies will also participate in the development of the project,” Pastika said.

Toll road consecrated with Hindu rituals

Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Thu, 07/11/2013 9:58 AM | Headlines

On a bright Wednesday morning, with a strong wind blowing and the constant drones of aircraft taking off and landing at Ngurah Rai International Airport, a religious ceremony to consecrate the island’s first toll road was solemnly performed.

Hundreds of Balinese Hindu devotees from seven customary villages around the new toll road, which connects Benoa Harbor-Ngurah Rai International Airport-Nusa Dua, took part in the ceremony,
locally known as tawur gentuh and pemelaspasan.

The ceremony took place on the new road near the Ngurah Rai airport toll gate.

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Bali finalizes plans

The Bali provincial administration plans to install 1,000 CCTVs over the next five years to increase security on the island.

Head of the Bali Nationhood, Political and Community Protection Office, Made Denayasa, said Thursday his office would begin installing the CCTVs in the island’s main gateways such as the Gilimanuk ferry crossing and Benoa Port.

Gilimanuk ferry crossing, at the western tip of the island, is the main entry point for migrant workers from Java. Benoa Port, which is used for fishing and trade, lies in southern Denpasar.

HIV deaths in Bali prison increased last year

The number of HIV-related deaths in Kerobokan State Penitentiary in Denpasar went up again last year.

As many as six inmates died of AIDS last year, up from five deaths in 2007 and three in 2006, a report from the prison HIV/AIDS task force revealed Thursday.

Agung Gde Hartawan, head of the task force said that most of the deaths occurred because the inmates were already sick when they went into prison. “We usually give them some level of health treatment inside the prison, but it’s more often that they came in with extremely deteriorated health conditions,” he said.