Sad situation but someone's making a difference

[aquaman]

Just watched this current affairs report on tv about mental health issues in Bali (in particular the chaining up of the mentally ill). Thought it might be of interest to some of you. The Doctor featured is doing some good work with positve results.You can't watch the whole report but there's a transcript.

http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story...n/Bali-s-Shame

[JohnnyCool]

Thanks, (I think), aquaman, for that link.

Apart from the obvious, what bothered me about the SBS report is its presentation as if this is something only newly discovered. The practices portrayed have been going on since I first came to Bali, 36 years ago! I'm sad to say that very little has been done in all that time. Hopefully, this kind of media coverage just might embarrass some of Bali's health officials into actually improving matters, rather than simply always crying "poor".

Various recent reports and surveys suggest that there are at least 7,000 mentally ill people in Bali (nearly 1,000 in the Karangasem area alone). I doubt that this is an accurate estimate of the real numbers. Even if these numbers come close, the main (only) psychiatric hospital in Bangli can accommodate a total of about 350 patients, including around 30 or so poor people. So even on these figures, that means there are at least 6,500+ more people in need of "help", who aren't getting it.

Locking up people in cages, chaining them to walls, hiding them from public view, and all the rest, is abominable. Why should this still be necessary in this day and age? Beats me.

When I first came to Bali, it was not unusual to see "mad" people tied to a ball-and-chain, tethered to a tree by the side of a road, or simply left to roam around unimpeded until and unless they "caused trouble". They were the visible ones and many more were hidden from public view because their families couldn't cope with the stigma attached to having someone "abnormal".

Many Balinese, even today, are terrified of any abnormality, be it physical or mental in origin. It's a sorry state of affairs, rooted in concepts like "mental illness" is somehow something supernatural and untreatable with medication/therapy. The latter are too expensive. It's much cheaper to restrain people and not offend the spirit world.

With all due respect to Professor Suryani, the chief psychiatrist in Bali, I doubt that group meditation classes in Denpasar followed by singing, will go very far in changing most peoples' attitudes to the problem. Her visits to villages to uncover incarcerated victims are admirable. Jabbing a few patients with Zeldox here and there is a far cry from what I would consider to be an adequate, (or even ethical), treatment intervention.

In the SBS video, there is one point where she threatens to report a family member to police for chaining a patient and not seeking medical treatment. "That's against the law", she says.

What does she think the police would do? Send the patient to overcrowded Bangli Hospital? Is there an alternative? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

:shock:

[aquaman]

JohnnyCool,

I don't doubt the malreatment of mental health sufferers in Bali is not a new problem and similarly it occurs elsewhere in the world. The issue of mental health is an escalating world wide problem which even the west is stuggling to deal with. I think programs like the report SBS presented can only help draw attention to the issue and if the Professor's approach helps just 1 Balinese sufferer and their family then I see it as a positive.

[Adam]

Hi Aquaman and JohnnyCool,

My wife and I watched that episode too and it was interesting to get her perspective on issues such as this from an Indonesian point of view, especially give she's been here in Oz for almost a year now. Dodgy treatment of the ill is not unique to Bali, it's quite common to see 'crazy wild men' wandering the streets completely starkers around the small towns near our village in East Java. Similarly people with physical abnormalities are openly mocked - my wife has a cousin with hand and foot deformations and it is sad to see how the other villagers 'take the piss' out of her without remorse and to the point where she rarely leaves her house for fear of riducule. We also have a deaf girl and a mentally handicapped bloke who seem to be the lowest common denominator when it comes to being the butt of peoples jokes and are teased relentlessly but thankfully they at least seem to be oblivious to the torment.

My wife has a kind heart and has always been upset by ill treatment towards those less fortunate than her (her kasihan can be frustrating at times) and she has been bewildered by the way the handicapped are treated here in Oz. One of my fathers best friends is a 'Thalidomide baby' and has 2 club feet, a deformed leg and only a thumb on one hand. Yet John is the life of the party, doesn't let his handicap get in the way of doing anything physical (Scuba diving, skydiving etc.) and for all intents and purposes gets treated like a normal person because he is a normal person. Ani has found it intriguing because 'back home' he would be the brunt of so much teasing yet here he mocks himself, terrorising people with 'hand caught in the lawnmower' jokes etc etc. While even here the situation is far from perfect, at least there is some form of support, whether from community or Government. Ani realises a lot more can be done 'back home' in her instance, even simply if people can change their attitudes a little.

Now for fear of getting labelled a Bali / Indo basher or anti religious zealot, which I'm not, :roll: my sticking point has been that issues of genuine importance in Indonesia, such as this, get swept under the carpet for being to expensive to deal with while religious spending seems never to be an issue. Yes, religion is an integral part of Indonesian culture and it would be very sad to see 'productive' spirituality disappear but I really think it is seriously overdone in Indo at great cost to other social issues. Wouldn't forsaking the building of that next mesjid or temple be worth it for building another school or hospital? Wouldn't cutting back on how much money a family spends on their next ceremony be better spent on sending 'Rudi' to a special needs school or 'Nurul' to the doctor to investigate whether a bionic ear implant would be useful??? When Ani first arrived she asked where all the mosques and temples were. I replied we have a couple, but we preferred to build schools and hospitals etc. Since then I think the penny has dropped inside her head. I dunno, maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and may be a little too simplistic but it seems an obvious starting point for me to improve things, if only a little. I guess the hard part is changing a long entrenched mindset, which could quite possibly send one crazy........ :roll:

Adz

[sooze]

I have worked for 30 years in West Oz with ppl with intellectual/physical disabilities. I stay in Bali for at least 2 months every year and visit Lembongan regularly. Every time I am in Lebongan I see a few ppl with disabilities who appear happy, well and treated with respect. I have visited schools in Bali with kids with disabilities, and I know the people there are doing the best they can. Some people in Oz treat people with any kind of disability as freaks- or worse-dont want to know. Dont even know why i'm writing this, but sometimes things just make you want to speak.

[chickchili]

Hi Aquaman and JohnnyCool,

When Ani first arrived she asked where all the mosques and temples were. I replied we have a couple, but we preferred to build schools and hospitals etc. Since then I think the penny has dropped inside her head. I dunno, maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and may be a little too simplistic but it seems an obvious starting point for me to improve things, if only a little. I guess the hard part is changing a long entrenched mindset, which could quite possibly send one crazy........ :roll:

Adz

I think that what you term religion is not as separated from service provision as may be the case in Australia. As an example, many religious buildings are also schools and religion and culture are often embedded in training.

[chickchili]

Hi Aquaman and JohnnyCool,

When Ani first arrived she asked where all the mosques and temples were. I replied we have a couple, but we preferred to build schools and hospitals etc. Since then I think the penny has dropped inside her head. I dunno, maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and may be a little too simplistic but it seems an obvious starting point for me to improve things, if only a little. I guess the hard part is changing a long entrenched mindset, which could quite possibly send one crazy........ :roll:

Adz

I think that what you term religion is not as separated from service provision as may be the case in Australia. As an example, many religious buildings are also schools and religion and culture are often embedded in training.

And I also wanted to add that, while it is awful to see people with mental health issues physically restrained, it is naive to believe that it doesn't occcur in Australia and other developed countries. Patients are often physically restrained but usually chemically restrained. Many people are forced to take court-ordered medication which sedates them and makes an effective, productive life impossible. To keep someone in this state totally voids a patient's right to choice or their right to difference but is deemed necessary as a protection for the community.

[Jimbo]

Adam

Much of the money for mosques comes from Saudi Arabia but a mosque is considered just as an essential part of the community as a school or hospital. Even more so to the deeply relegious.

You are applying your values to the people not theirs.

[goldminer]

Adam, i agree with jimbo on the mosques, most of them are privately funded and not build from govt funds or religious funds. We had one built across the road from our house in Bintaro (JKT) and we were expected to contribute. No problem for us, its a delight to have it so near. The call to pray early in the morning does some thing for me :wink:
I think the indonesians need Islam ( am i allowed to say that here!) :roll: My mother in law visited us in Perth and saw the retirement village my mother lives in . She was amazed at the standard and nice gardens. A lot of the older people there have some form of alziehmers and are well looked after.
From what i see in Java and Bali is that they do the best they can in what ever they do, even though money is low. Hospitals and schools are happening and some very good ones. IMHO, Indonesia is becoming a more stabilized country as time passes. With stable govt, things will improve over the next decade, including mental health care.

[Adam]

Sooze,

Every time I am in Lebongan I see a few ppl with disabilities who appear happy, well and treated with respect.... Some people in Oz treat people with any kind of disability as freaks- or worse

I'm glad that there are some people out there who do care about their plight, but in my experience it's the minority. Yes some people are sh*theads in Oz too, but most grow out of the bullying by high school. Public mockery of the handicapped is more likely to end up with a backhander in Oz than a village full of laughter and giggles.

Chickchili,

And I also wanted to add that, while it is awful to see people with mental health issues physically restrained, it is naive to believe that it doesn't occcur in Australia and other developed countries.

There's physical and chemical restraint and then there's wearing a log off your leg. I thought cocky's belonged in cages - not the mentally handicapped. You don't even see monkeys treated like that at the Perth Zoo.

Jimbo,

Much of the money for mosques comes from Saudi Arabia but a mosque is considered just as an essential part of the community as a school or hospital

Why does it not surprise me that the Saudi's would be more concerned with building a mosque in Indonesia than a decent school or hospital? The cynic in me suspects theres an agenda in there somewhere......

I agree wholeheartedly that religion plays a very important part in many peoples lives, especially those as spiritual as the Indonesian's. My point is that it seems to be way to overdone at the expense of other issues of greater realistic importance. Maybe my 'own' personal values but while faith may feed the soul, it doesn't feed the hungry nor heal the unwell. Drive for an hour in any direction in Java, Bali, Sumatra and you'll pass dozens, if not hundreds, of mosques, temples, churches, whatever, of all shapes and sizes that all cost money to build and maintain along with their associated ceremonies. Does it have to be so grandiose? Is this not an obvious misuse of resources in a country where half the population exist on less than $2 a day, the UN's official benchmark for poverty? I'd much rather be seeing my nieces and nephews pray humbly at home and trudging off to high school, than trudging off to the mosque and sitting around bored sh*tless all day contemplating unemployment and future uncertainties, as is sadly the case for them now. I think given the choice, they would prefer the former, too.

Sorry, I'm not debating the legitimacy of religion to Indonesia. Rather, I believe there is a very simple and obvious step to assisting solutions to some of Indonesia's problems sitting right under the people's noses. Mental health is just the tip of the iceberg. I don't mean to be offensive in any way but I genuinely care for Indonesia but it can be bloody frustrating to see what goes on.

I think JohnnyCool sums it up perfectly:

What does she think the police would do? Send the patient to overcrowded Bangli Hospital? Is there an alternative? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Is there an alternative? No there isn't. WHY NOT????