balinews

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Feb 14, 2010
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Indonesia’s Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik has blamed the terrible condition of many of Bali’s famed beaches, including Kuta, on the wind.

The second-term minister, who has in the past faced criticism from the tourism industry about his ineffectiveness, said strong winds blew the garbage, dirt and other detritus onto the beach from the ocean.

He said a task force was cleaning the beaches.

Jero, himself from Bali, also defended the resort island against a scathing article in Time magazine, which was titled “Holidays in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes.”

In the article, writer Andrew Marshall didn’t hold back.

“Rivers swell and flush their trash and frothing human waste into the sea off Kuta Beach, the island’s most famous tourist attraction, where bacteria bloom and the water turns muddy with dead plankton.”

He said skin infections caused by spending just 30 minutes in the ocean was just one of Bali’s problems: “water shortages, rolling blackouts, uncollected trash, overflowing sewage-treatment plants and traffic so bad that parts of the island resemble Indonesia’s gridlocked capital Jakarta.

“And don’t forget crime. In January, amid a spate of violent robberies against foreigners, Bali police chief Hadiatmoko reportedly ordered his officers to shoot criminals on sight. You’ve heard of the Julia Roberts movie Eat Pray Love, which was partly filmed in Bali? Now get ready for its grim sequel: Eat Pray Duck.”

Jero said the article exaggerated the problems and “in the end, [the tourists] come back.”


Government Blames Wind for Garbage Piles of Bali’s Beaches | The Jakarta Globe
 

ronb

Well-Known Member
Aug 14, 2007
2,241
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Ubud, Bali
Well, maybe there are 3 steps:

1. rubbish is thrown in rivers
2. good rains flush the rivers to the sea
3. winds may then push this onto the beaches

Clearly, governments cannot control the winds or the rains, but there is a chance they can some impact on step 1.
 

BKT

Member
Apr 2, 2010
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Auckland/Singaraja
You'd have better luck trying to stop the rubbish being washed into the sea than trying to stop the people throwing rubbish into the river. Is it that hard to pinpoint all the areas where the rivers meet the sea and have them cleaned by workers/machines/nets etc before it has a chance to wash out.
 

goldminer

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Apr 16, 2008
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You'd have better luck trying to stop the rubbish being washed into the sea than trying to stop the people throwing rubbish into the river. Is it that hard to pinpoint all the areas where the rivers meet the sea and have them cleaned by workers/machines/nets etc before it has a chance to wash out.
Why is it that the people cant see what is happening, is it lack of education, dont care, or a combination of a lot of factors?
 

BKT

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Apr 2, 2010
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Children have been taught in school to keep the environment clean for at least the last decade. But whats the point when they come home from school and their parents are doing the exact opposite. Unfortunately its become socially accepted, any sort of education for the older generation will be meet with a blank confused look. I'm sure we've all seen one of those before.
 

spicyayam

Well-Known Member
Jan 12, 2009
3,592
342
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Not our rubbish

Here's another article from the Strait's Times:

INDONESIA'S holiday island of Bali vowed on Thursday to tackle its worsening garbage and pollution problems, following a damning magazine article.

Under the headline 'Holidays in Hell: Bali's Ongoing Woes', Time magazine said the resort island was struggling with waste and some of its famous beaches were strewn with rubbish.

'We are not closing our eyes. It's true that we have a waste problem,' Bali tourism agency head Ida Bagus Subhiksu said.

Mr Subhiksu said up to 300 garbage trucks a day were needed to collect rubbish in the Kuta area, a prime tourist spot.

'In Kuta, there will be more garbage trucks designated for the area as extra funding for waste management there has been approved,' he said.

Mr Subhiksu added that many of the litter on the beaches came from islands outside Bali.
 

ronb

Well-Known Member
Aug 14, 2007
2,241
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Ubud, Bali
Is it that hard to pinpoint all the areas where the rivers meet the sea and have them cleaned by workers/machines/nets etc before it has a chance to wash out.
Most the rubbish gets flushed out when there is a torrential downpour that turns the river to a raging torrent. You can't get workers into this. And nets or grids would become clogged holding the water back and building up the pressure until the net or grid washed away.
Why is it that the people cant see what is happening, is it lack of education, dont care, or a combination of a lot of factors?
Probably, the habit of throwing rubbish into ravines goes a very long way back. But once it would have been largely organic material - now there is so much plastic and packaging.
 

blightyboy

Member
Feb 10, 2011
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Ubud, Bali
Indonesia’s Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik is a notoriously arrogant, ignorant and incompetent man. It is an attitude such as his that is at the root of the problem. He lives in a permanent state of denial. He is not a leader, he has not got the ability to instigate action and change: thus his stupid, head-in-sand responses. He is yet another example of SBY placing unqualified people in jobs they are not capable of doing, simply to satisfy his own political aims and agenda, and in the process sacrificing the country and the peoples welfare.

Of course there are huge problems in Bali. The place is filthy, the roads are congested, the air is polluted, and unregulated development is destroying the place. Kuta for example is a low-end tourism nightmare, a tacky, boring, rat infested hell-hole, the place has been destroyed by a total lack of control. Not one semblance of Balinese culture has been left intact. Now other places are following along the same path to the same inevitable end result.

Bali either gets its act together, or it will see its reputation diminish and popularity rapidly decline. The beer swilling ignoramuses will soon get bored, and abandon Bali for some other vomit stained haven of bars, discos and massage parlors, and there will be then nothing left except the crap on the beaches. Oh! and of course the Jero Wacik's of the Indonesian Elite, will be sunning themselves in the Caribbean not Costa del Kuta.
 

pollyanna

Member
Feb 8, 2010
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Ubud, Bali
Why is it that the people cant see what is happening, is it lack of education, dont care, or a combination of a lot of factors?

In Australia the government makes it easy for people to not throw down rubbish. Twice a week, in most places, the rubbish bins are emptied and the rubbish disappears to a fairly invisible location. On the streets there is often a rubbish bin in every block. The same is true in the U.S. In many communities organic garden waste is collected and turned into compost that can then be purchased for garden use.
In both countries there have been forceful, graphic, and expensive campaigns to educate the public. There are heavy fines for littering.

I don't know about Europe because I haven't lived there but I wonder if Australia and the U.S. would be as clean if the government weren't so competent at handling the problem. So...I blame the totally incompetent and apathetic Indonesian government for almost all of the rubbish problems.
 

goldminer

Member
Apr 16, 2008
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Sanur/Sunrise Dam Gold Mine
In Australia the government makes it easy for people to not throw down rubbish. Twice a week, in most places, the rubbish bins are emptied and the rubbish disappears to a fairly invisible location. On the streets there is often a rubbish bin in every block. The same is true in the U.S. In many communities organic garden waste is collected and turned into compost that can then be purchased for garden use.
In both countries there have been forceful, graphic, and expensive campaigns to educate the public. There are heavy fines for littering.

I don't know about Europe because I haven't lived there but I wonder if Australia and the U.S. would be as clean if the government weren't so competent at handling the problem. So...I blame the totally incompetent and apathetic Indonesian government for almost all of the rubbish problems.
Hi pollyana :icon_lol: I dont know if competent is the right way to describe the present Australian government....however i see what you mean. Perhaps the way the people of the nations take on board and actualy care and want to do some thing about the problem is the key.
 

pollyanna

Member
Feb 8, 2010
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Ubud, Bali
Hi pollyana :icon_lol: I dont know if competent is the right way to describe the present Australian government....however i see what you mean. Perhaps the way the people of the nations take on board and actualy care and want to do some thing about the problem is the key.

Please tell me I didn't use competent and government in the same sentence. Oh well, I must have been having a pollyanna moment.
 

Tamispecial

Member
Oct 14, 2010
127
0
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Legian Kaja
Indonesia’s Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik is a notoriously arrogant, ignorant and incompetent man. It is an attitude such as his that is at the root of the problem. He lives in a permanent state of denial. He is not a leader, he has not got the ability to instigate action and change: thus his stupid, head-in-sand responses. He is yet another example of SBY placing unqualified people in jobs they are not capable of doing, simply to satisfy his own political aims and agenda, and in the process sacrificing the country and the peoples welfare.

Of course there are huge problems in Bali. The place is filthy, the roads are congested, the air is polluted, and unregulated development is destroying the place. Kuta for example is a low-end tourism nightmare, a tacky, boring, rat infested hell-hole, the place has been destroyed by a total lack of control. Not one semblance of Balinese culture has been left intact. Now other places are following along the same path to the same inevitable end result.

Bali either gets its act together, or it will see its reputation diminish and popularity rapidly decline. The beer swilling ignoramuses will soon get bored, and abandon Bali for some other vomit stained haven of bars, discos and massage parlors, and there will be then nothing left except the crap on the beaches. Oh! and of course the Jero Wacik's of the Indonesian Elite, will be sunning themselves in the Caribbean not Costa del Kuta.

Couldn't have said it better Blightyboy!
 

pollyanna

Member
Feb 8, 2010
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Ubud, Bali
Here's an interesting article about a grassroots effort to curb the rubbish in Bali. I'm just wondering what ultimately happens with the rubbish they collect.
 

motormouth

Member
Aug 29, 2009
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Canggu
Like l read a while ago, in most countries littering is a crime, here in Indonesia it is socially accepted.
The people are to blame, for throwing it in the first place.
The government must provide a regular rubbish pick and fine households who throw their rubbish in unofficial waste collection areas, ie, beside the road.
What city allows stockpiles of rubbish to accumulate on the roadside in a built up city.Not only is this an eyesore, but a serious health risk.
 

matsaleh

Super Moderator
May 26, 2004
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Legian, Bali
Local governments also need to provide public rubbish bins every 100M or so, particularly in tourist areas AND empty them every day.
 

Fred2

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2010
1,182
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48
Surabaya/Australia
I wish it was that simple, how many times have you seen local just throw plastic wrapping on the ground 10ft from a bin or out of a car window? Nobody gives a shiit so it will never change I'm sorry to say.:icon_sad:
 

baliphile

New Member
May 3, 2011
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Not true ubud is very clean.

Traditionally Balinese don't care about the beaches because of the evil spirits that live in the sea. It's the foreigners that are all hung up about the beaches.
 

Julesie

Member
May 4, 2011
39
0
6
Seminyak, Bali
Children have been taught in school to keep the environment clean for at least the last decade. But whats the point when they come home from school and their parents are doing the exact opposite. Unfortunately its become socially accepted, any sort of education for the older generation will be meet with a blank confused look. I'm sure we've all seen one of those before.

The education the kids receive around pollution doesn't explain consequences. I once had a conversation with a university lecturer who told me that she was told not to throw rubbish in the river, but no-one ever understood why not, so they continued to do it... the education needs to be around the long-term effects.
 

BKT

Member
Apr 2, 2010
862
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Auckland/Singaraja
My wife was taught the consequences at school, she was told how long it takes for plastic to break down and what happens when it washes out to sea. My wife is still in her mid 20's though so I'm guessing teachers now days have more knowledge in that area than they did in the past.