Bali ::: They Paved Paradise

Professional Balinese surfer Mega Semadhi is
deeply worried about the future of his island
paradise.

Broadcast: 15/05/2012
Reporter: Matt Brown


There’s a growing resistance - particularly among young Bali locals - to rampant development on the island and tourism at any cost so they’re mobilising.

They’re angry about the environmental and cultural impact of millions of international visitors, the staggering hotel and commercial development that’s gobbling up their island, and they’re uneasy about a creeping 'Kuta cancer' that’s spreading, they fear, from the Bintang boulevards of the island’s busiest beach all the way to the spiritual heartland of Ubud up in Bali’s high country.

“I remember when I lived 200 metres away from Kuta Beach and at night I could clearly hear the sound of the waves from my room. Now you can hear people say f***off!” JRX, Bali Rock Star

On a deeply personal odyssey back to his favourite surfing getaway, Indonesia Correspondent Matt Brown meets the leaders of a new generation determined to stop the overcommercialisation of Bali and to put a lid on development.

Matt surfs the now sullied waters of Uluwatu with local board-rider Mega whose time on the global pro surfing tour has opened his eyes to concepts like sustainability and environmental responsibility.

“If every place is like Kuta with high-rise buildings everywhere then Bali is not like Bali anymore. If that happens it’s like, our souls are lost.” MEGA, Bali Surf Pro

Over in family friendly Nusa Dua, in the shadow of another massive 5-Star hotel development Matt hears from impassioned activist Gendo.

“(Even) when we know Bali is being destroyed, Balinese people are like lemmings. An animal that, consciously, knows when he gets near the ocean, he’s (going to) kill himself. But they keep on doing it.” GENDO, Environmental Activist

Up in the relative peace and tranquillity of Ubud Princess Arry Nova Dewi Putra fears the encroaching development.
“We don’t want Ubud to turn into Kuta” she cautions.
______________________________________
Further Information


Originally from Australia, long time Bali resident and environmental activist, Michael O'Leary founded the R.O.L.E. Foundation in 2007.
Former ABC researcher Lia Collinson asks Is Bali Doing as Well as it Should Be?
______________________________________
Transcript


BROWN: [preparing surfboard] “Get some waves?”

It is home to some of the best surf in the world. It’s also home to Mega Semadhi who knows better than most – certainly way better than me – how to ride the waves of Uluwatu, Bali.

MEGA SEMADHI: “It’s like dancing to the moon, yeah”.

BROWN: Mega is a home grown champion, one of Bali’s top pro surfers. He’s living the dream.

MEGA SEMADHI: “Surfing has taken me to other countries, like Hawaii and Australia. If I didn’t go surfing… this is difficult…perhaps I’d be a fisherman or a farmer just like my grandfather”.

BROWN: His grandfather, even his father, knew a very different Uluwatu. A sleepy, off the beaten track corner of Bali, before the crowds and the surf tourists came and over time dramatically reshaped the place.

MEGA SEMADHI: “We go surfing to enjoy ourselves but if it’s too crowded it’s difficult. We rush and compete for the waves. And in the end we’re fighting. It’s not fun. It’s unpleasant”.

BROWN: Over the last 40 years, millions of surfers have come here chasing their own slice of paradise but the influx of visitors is not being well managed and now it’s threatening the very things that make Bali beautiful.

In the 1970’s, many of the first generation of surfers took a winding dirt road south from the main centre Denpasar to find this rugged and remote coast. Its reliable breaks and crystal clean water quickly became the stuff of legend. I first came here fresh out of school but returning today it’s obvious Uluwatu’s popularity has come at a cost the locals can no longer ignore.

MIKE O’LEARY: “When we come here in 1979 there was absolutely no pollution at all”.

BROWN: Australian Mike O’Leary is a local well and truly. He found his first pilgrimage to Uluwatu simply enchanting and he decided to make Bali his home.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Bali was known for its gentle spiritualism. Back in those days you could actually feel, well... ghosts or spirits. You could feel that in the air back in the 70’s and the 80’s. I think it’s probably one of the top six best known surf breaks in the world and it’s a must see on every surfer’s tour of the world”.

BROWN: All that attention has had a dramatic impact and Mike O’Leary’s worried it’s just too much for this place to bear.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Between ten and fifteen thousand people a month are hitting here”.

BROWN: Out of sight of the cafes and surf shops that have sprung up over time, ample evidence of a little backwater bursting under the strain.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Yeah just come in here Matt. This is where there’s a bit of a cess pool here that the surfers don’t see. Everyone sees a great environment of Uluwatu out in the surf but they don’t see the accumulation of the cooking oil, sewerage and other liquid waste”.

BROWN: “It stinks doesn’t it?”

MIKE O’LEARY: “Yeah it stinks, it stinks and I think it’s been going for the last thirty years and I think it keeps seeping out”.

BROWN: Mike and a bunch of other surfers have raised money to test the waters and found human effluent is seeping down to the surf. While they’ve already set up a garbage service they’re still struggling to fund a new sewerage system. In many ways Uluwatu is a microcosm of Bali’s mounting problems.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Bali like the rest of the world has become very serious and money orientated”.

BROWN: Alarm bells have been ringing for decades but Bali is now being stretched to breaking point. Since the late 1970’s the population’s grown from around two and a half million, up towards the four million mark and the number of tourists has exploded from a hundred and twenty thousand a year to well over two and a half million – including eight hundred thousand Australians. Together they generate thousands of tons of rubbish each day and the waste problem is quite simply out of control.

As the tourists pour in, the rubbish is piling up and spilling over and it’s turning these environmentally sensitive mangroves into a putrid swamp that stinks to high heaven. This is just a few kilometres away from the Kuta tourist trap but it’s light years away from tropical paradise.

The rubbish floats down the rivers and out into the sea, piling up on the world famous Kuta Beach. Kuta is the epicentre of Bali’s transformation. It’s radical, ceaseless redevelopment has sparked intense debate about what it now means to be Balinese.

MEGA SEMADHI: “If every place becomes like Kuta, with high rise buildings everywhere maybe then Bali will not be like Bali anymore. If that happens I’ll be very concerned. It would be like… we’ve lost our souls”. 

BROWN: And among the board hire businesses dotting the Kuta sand, we find another local worried about the future of his island home. For Jering, Kuta has become a model for how not to develop Bali.

JERINX ASTINA: “I remember the time, I live like probably two hundred metres away from Kuta Beach and at night I can clearly hear the sound of the waves from my room. Now you can hear people say f---- off!”

BROWN: Jering is a Kuta boy born and bred and he sees the commercialism and sheer scale of development in Kuta as a creeping cancer, now destroying other parts of the island.

JERINX ASTINA: “What I see the mainstream, the Kuta or Bali mainstream, the mentality, is selling, selling, selling and so I found a point where dude I have a right to say no to this because that’s wrong and I want to fight this”.

BROWN: Jering is one of Indonesia’s biggest rock stars. His band, Superman is Dead, is a huge national act. He’s also out the front of another push – a growing local resistance to development and tourism at any cost.

JERINX ASTINA: “There’s a lot of people I know that are really religious and going to temples a lot, but they’re just selling out. You know they’re selling out the land and is that a true Balinese, you know? Are you protecting your island?”

BROWN: It may seem odd that a young bloke who makes a living out of a raucous good time is taking a stand against the Kuta-isation of Bali but then throughout the island it’s the younger generation that’s speaking up.

JERINX ASTINA: “It’s what you do, it’s not what you wear. It’s what you do, it’s what you’re saying, it’s what your messages are about. If it’s for Bali, if it’s for your community, if it’s to protect, I mean like if it’s for a greater cause for everyone else in Bali then you are a Balinese you know?”

BROWN: Demonstrations and protests are not a normal part of Bali’s culture – they’re spiritual people not activists – but Jering’s been working to change that alongside his friend Gendo – one of Bali’s best known environmentalists.

GENDO SUARDANA: “What made us angry is knowing that Bali is being destroyed systematically. Balinese people are like lemmings – the lemming syndrome. Lemming – an animal that consciously knows when he gets near the ocean he’s killing himself, but he keeps on doing it”.

BROWN: Across the Bukit Peninsular from Kuta’s nightspots lies Nusa Dua, a quieter, family destination now dominated by huge international resorts.
Here Gendo is tracking the construction of yet another super-sized development – the 740 room Mulia Hotel. He’s the biggest thorn in the side of the government and developers. His activities have even landed him in gaol but he remains determined to reign in the industry.

GENDO SUARDANA: “I am furious and I reject these kinds of projects. Bali must reject big projects like this. Bali doesn’t need any more big hotels – it needs to preserve its culture by doing simple tourism. Something like this is unnecessary”. 

BROWN: In the late 1970’s Bali had just one five star hotel – now there are forty-one. Gendo says they’re guilty of a dreadful waste of water with each guest flushing away three times the amount used by the average Balinese family and it’s a luxury Bali can ill afford as much of the water in this dry part of the island is piped in from agricultural areas further north.

GENDO SUARDANA: “The sources of agrarian culture are land and water – key resources. If these are gone there’ll be cultural degradation. It’s automatic that the culture will change without them. What does it mean tens of years into the future? Bali might become a distant memory. I don’t know why Bali is consciously destroying itself and heading towards the valley of destruction”.

BROWN: Not far from the construction zone Nusa Dua’s main temple is perched on a cliff. There’s a rule designed to keep big developments a respectful distance from such hallowed ground but Gendo says big money and jobs have local leaders turning a blind eye.

GENDO SUARDANA: “As a Balinese I am very concerned when it comes to imagining the future for Bali – especially for those of us who believe in reincarnation. We’re the ones who’ll suffer the destructions we created in this life. The cultural fortress of Bali – in my opinion and according to my beliefs – is the land”. 

BROWN: A few hour’s drive from the hustle and bustle of southern Bali, up into the rolling, rising slopes of the island you’ll find its cultural heart – Ubud.
Ubud has become a favoured destination for travellers seeking a peaceful, quiet and more authentic Bali.
Gendo was born and raised here among the farms and rice terraces where Bali’s brand of Hinduism even shaped agricultural practice.
Subak irrigation is as complex as it is deeply spiritual, binding farmers, water and rice to the Gods who in turn keep the fields fertile and green.

But farmers have been selling their land to developers fuelling a real estate boom that’s driven prices through the roof. Thousands of acres of Bali’s rice fields have been turned over to villas and hotels.

GENDO SUARDANA: “Agricultural lands in Ubud are running out because of the villas and hotels. The saddest part is that right now Subak Temple does not have rice fields around it anymore because the fields are now hotels, restaurants and accommodation.

Right now, Ubud is slowly turning itself into Kuta”. 

PRINCESS ARRY NOVA DEWI PUTRA: “As people from Ubud we just don’t want Ubud to turn into Kuta”.

BROWN: Arry Nova Dewi Putra is a member of one of Bali’s ceremonial royal families. She’s watched her Ubud change from farming community to tourist hot-spot in a relatively short space of time.

PRINCESS ARRY NOVA DEWI PUTRA: “When I was a child I used to go to the rivers with my great grandmother. We’d take a bath there you know, like together with everybody in the village and it was nice and then I don’t experience that for my kids now because the quality of the water, the river is no longer safe for them doing that kind of activity, playing in the rivers. It is a shame you know because I can see now that my kids cannot do that”.

BROWN: Still, Nova for one is hopeful that time honoured traditions will provide the strength to endure. She believes Ubud’s reputation as a cultural centre holds the key to its salvation, that the nightly performances of gamelan and dance have built a reservoir of cultural heritage which will sustain Ubud and preserve its magic.

“It’s not just a tourist cliché?”

PRINCESS ARRY NOVA DEWI PUTRA: “No it’s not just for tourists. You know it’s actually for all of us to inherit all this value, you know who can really, you know.... we know our own tradition”.

MADE PASTIKA: “Balinese people believe that everything in Bali has their own soul. This life is offering. Everything we do in our life is offering to God, to other human being and also to the environment”.

BROWN: In a temple in the capital Denpasar is a man who should have the power and authority to guide Bali’s future. Made Pastika is familiar to many Australians, after all he was the Police Chief who helped bring the Bali bombers to justice. Now he’s Bali’s governor.

MADE PASTIKA: “Tourists is not destroying Bali, the greedy investors are destroying Bali. Tourists is okay. They are good people..... but the greedy investors – that’s the problem”.

BROWN: “Isn’t part of the problem that greedy investors are all mixed up in the political system of Bali and of Indonesia?”

MADE PASTIKA: “Yes of course there is an influence of that but still the people on the right side are still strong and we hope this becomes more and more strong”.

BROWN: Made Pastika knows he’s up against some powerful forces, exploitative foreign investors and a who’s who of local influence. This luxury hotel is part owned by Tommy Suharto, son of Indonesia’s late dictator. This one belongs to the Bakrie Group whose favoured son runs one of the nation’s biggest political parties. A few years ago Governor Pastika issued a decree banning new hotels from this part of the island but developers and local mayors have taken little notice and the cranes keep on coming.

MADE PASTIKA: “You know everybody want to invest in Bali. On one side maybe that is good, creating jobs, moving the economy – but on the other side because some of this investor are greedy, exploitation of the environment, exploitation of the land, exploitation of the people, exploitation of the culture – that is the problem. Those who really love Bali, they will invest with their heart”.

BROWN: Jering has invested plenty of heart in his own business, turning his family’s old bed and breakfast into a rockabilly punk venue. “Twice Bar” as it’s known is popular with local kids unwelcome in the tourist traps on main street, where foreigners walk in for free but Balinese must pay for entry.

JERINX ASTINA: “It takes a lot of our dignity and pride and somehow we feel like this is not our home you know? This is another country. 
What I love the most about Twice Bar is first anyone can just go in there. It’s a symbol of resistance. You know locals have the right to have fun in Bali. That’s what I’m trying to say, my sermon like – tourists is not God here you know?”

BROWN: Jering’s loyal followers – the punks and rockers – are not the archetypal Balinese featured on postcards and travel brochures.

JERINX ASTINA: “You know we’re adopting like western culture but it doesn’t mean we have to be the slave of western civilisation right? What I believe is you know you can look like, not like a Balinese, you can talk not like a Balinese but what you do and what you care about is for the island and for the community”.

BROWN: It’s the young locals, who know more about the world than their parents ever did, who also know they need to fight for their unique home and future.

MEGA SEMADHI: “Surfing has changed my way of life. Surfing took me abroad so I know what life is like in other countries. When I come back to Indonesia it gets me thinking. I need to hold onto this and appreciate what I have more”.


BROWN: [preparing surfboard] “Get some waves?”

It is home to some of the best surf in the world. It’s also home to Mega Semadhi who knows better than most – certainly way better than me – how to ride the waves of Uluwatu, Bali.

MEGA SEMADHI: “It’s like dancing to the moon, yeah”.

BROWN: Mega is a home grown champion, one of Bali’s top pro surfers. He’s living the dream.

MEGA SEMADHI: “Surfing has taken me to other countries, like Hawaii and Australia. If I didn’t go surfing… this is difficult…perhaps I’d be a fisherman or a farmer just like my grandfather”.

BROWN: His grandfather, even his father, knew a very different Uluwatu. A sleepy, off the beaten track corner of Bali, before the crowds and the surf tourists came and over time dramatically reshaped the place.

MEGA SEMADHI: “We go surfing to enjoy ourselves but if it’s too crowded it’s difficult. We rush and compete for the waves. And in the end we’re fighting. It’s not fun. It’s unpleasant”.

BROWN: Over the last 40 years, millions of surfers have come here chasing their own slice of paradise but the influx of visitors is not being well managed and now it’s threatening the very things that make Bali beautiful.

In the 1970’s, many of the first generation of surfers took a winding dirt road south from the main centre Denpasar to find this rugged and remote coast. Its reliable breaks and crystal clean water quickly became the stuff of legend. I first came here fresh out of school but returning today it’s obvious Uluwatu’s popularity has come at a cost the locals can no longer ignore.

MIKE O’LEARY: “When we come here in 1979 there was absolutely no pollution at all”.

BROWN: Australian Mike O’Leary is a local well and truly. He found his first pilgrimage to Uluwatu simply enchanting and he decided to make Bali his home.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Bali was known for its gentle spiritualism. Back in those days you could actually feel, well... ghosts or spirits. You could feel that in the air back in the 70’s and the 80’s. I think it’s probably one of the top six best known surf breaks in the world and it’s a must see on every surfer’s tour of the world”.

BROWN: All that attention has had a dramatic impact and Mike O’Leary’s worried it’s just too much for this place to bear.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Between ten and fifteen thousand people a month are hitting here”.

BROWN: Out of sight of the cafes and surf shops that have sprung up over time, ample evidence of a little backwater bursting under the strain.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Yeah just come in here Matt. This is where there’s a bit of a cess pool here that the surfers don’t see. Everyone sees a great environment of Uluwatu out in the surf but they don’t see the accumulation of the cooking oil, sewerage and other liquid waste”.

BROWN: “It stinks doesn’t it?”

MIKE O’LEARY: “Yeah it stinks, it stinks and I think it’s been going for the last thirty years and I think it keeps seeping out”.

BROWN: Mike and a bunch of other surfers have raised money to test the waters and found human effluent is seeping down to the surf. While they’ve already set up a garbage service they’re still struggling to fund a new sewerage system. In many ways Uluwatu is a microcosm of Bali’s mounting problems.

MIKE O’LEARY: “Bali like the rest of the world has become very serious and money orientated”.

BROWN: Alarm bells have been ringing for decades but Bali is now being stretched to breaking point. Since the late 1970’s the population’s grown from around two and a half million, up towards the four million mark and the number of tourists has exploded from a hundred and twenty thousand a year to well over two and a half million – including eight hundred thousand Australians. Together they generate thousands of tons of rubbish each day and the waste problem is quite simply out of control.

As the tourists pour in, the rubbish is piling up and spilling over and it’s turning these environmentally sensitive mangroves into a putrid swamp that stinks to high heaven. This is just a few kilometres away from the Kuta tourist trap but it’s light years away from tropical paradise.

The rubbish floats down the rivers and out into the sea, piling up on the world famous Kuta Beach. Kuta is the epicentre of Bali’s transformation. It’s radical, ceaseless redevelopment has sparked intense debate about what it now means to be Balinese.

MEGA SEMADHI: “If every place becomes like Kuta, with high rise buildings everywhere maybe then Bali will not be like Bali anymore. If that happens I’ll be very concerned. It would be like… we’ve lost our souls”. 

BROWN: And among the board hire businesses dotting the Kuta sand, we find another local worried about the future of his island home. For Jering, Kuta has become a model for how not to develop Bali.

JERINX ASTINA: “I remember the time, I live like probably two hundred metres away from Kuta Beach and at night I can clearly hear the sound of the waves from my room. Now you can hear people say f---- off!”

BROWN: Jering is a Kuta boy born and bred and he sees the commercialism and sheer scale of development in Kuta as a creeping cancer, now destroying other parts of the island.

JERINX ASTINA: “What I see the mainstream, the Kuta or Bali mainstream, the mentality, is selling, selling, selling and so I found a point where dude I have a right to say no to this because that’s wrong and I want to fight this”.

BROWN: Jering is one of Indonesia’s biggest rock stars. His band, Superman is Dead, is a huge national act. He’s also out the front of another push – a growing local resistance to development and tourism at any cost.

JERINX ASTINA: “There’s a lot of people I know that are really religious and going to temples a lot, but they’re just selling out. You know they’re selling out the land and is that a true Balinese, you know? Are you protecting your island?”

BROWN: It may seem odd that a young bloke who makes a living out of a raucous good time is taking a stand against the Kuta-isation of Bali but then throughout the island it’s the younger generation that’s speaking up.

JERINX ASTINA: “It’s what you do, it’s not what you wear. It’s what you do, it’s what you’re saying, it’s what your messages are about. If it’s for Bali, if it’s for your community, if it’s to protect, I mean like if it’s for a greater cause for everyone else in Bali then you are a Balinese you know?”

BROWN: Demonstrations and protests are not a normal part of Bali’s culture – they’re spiritual people not activists – but Jering’s been working to change that alongside his friend Gendo – one of Bali’s best known environmentalists.

GENDO SUARDANA: “What made us angry is knowing that Bali is being destroyed systematically. Balinese people are like lemmings – the lemming syndrome. Lemming – an animal that consciously knows when he gets near the ocean he’s killing himself, but he keeps on doing it”.

BROWN: Across the Bukit Peninsular from Kuta’s nightspots lies Nusa Dua, a quieter, family destination now dominated by huge international resorts.
Here Gendo is tracking the construction of yet another super-sized development – the 740 room Mulia Hotel. He’s the biggest thorn in the side of the government and developers. His activities have even landed him in gaol but he remains determined to reign in the industry.

GENDO SUARDANA: “I am furious and I reject these kinds of projects. Bali must reject big projects like this. Bali doesn’t need any more big hotels – it needs to preserve its culture by doing simple tourism. Something like this is unnecessary”.

BROWN: In the late 1970’s Bali had just one five star hotel – now there are forty-one. Gendo says they’re guilty of a dreadful waste of water with each guest flushing away three times the amount used by the average Balinese family and it’s a luxury Bali can ill afford as much of the water in this dry part of the island is piped in from agricultural areas further north.

GENDO SUARDANA: “The sources of agrarian culture are land and water – key resources. If these are gone there’ll be cultural degradation. It’s automatic that the culture will change without them. What does it mean tens of years into the future? Bali might become a distant memory. I don’t know why Bali is consciously destroying itself and heading towards the valley of destruction”.

BROWN: Not far from the construction zone Nusa Dua’s main temple is perched on a cliff. There’s a rule designed to keep big developments a respectful distance from such hallowed ground but Gendo says big money and jobs have local leaders turning a blind eye.

GENDO SUARDANA: “As a Balinese I am very concerned when it comes to imagining the future for Bali – especially for those of us who believe in reincarnation. We’re the ones who’ll suffer the destructions we created in this life. The cultural fortress of Bali – in my opinion and according to my beliefs – is the land”.

BROWN: A few hour’s drive from the hustle and bustle of southern Bali, up into the rolling, rising slopes of the island you’ll find its cultural heart – Ubud.
Ubud has become a favoured destination for travellers seeking a peaceful, quiet and more authentic Bali.
Gendo was born and raised here among the farms and rice terraces where Bali’s brand of Hinduism even shaped agricultural practice.
Subak irrigation is as complex as it is deeply spiritual, binding farmers, water and rice to the Gods who in turn keep the fields fertile and green.

But farmers have been selling their land to developers fuelling a real estate boom that’s driven prices through the roof. Thousands of acres of Bali’s rice fields have been turned over to villas and hotels.

GENDO SUARDANA: “Agricultural lands in Ubud are running out because of the villas and hotels. The saddest part is that right now Subak Temple does not have rice fields around it anymore because the fields are now hotels, restaurants and accommodation.

Right now, Ubud is slowly turning itself into Kuta”.

PRINCESS ARRY NOVA DEWI PUTRA: “As people from Ubud we just don’t want Ubud to turn into Kuta”.

BROWN: Arry Nova Dewi Putra is a member of one of Bali’s ceremonial royal families. She’s watched her Ubud change from farming community to tourist hot-spot in a relatively short space of time.

PRINCESS ARRY NOVA DEWI PUTRA: “When I was a child I used to go to the rivers with my great grandmother. We’d take a bath there you know, like together with everybody in the village and it was nice and then I don’t experience that for my kids now because the quality of the water, the river is no longer safe for them doing that kind of activity, playing in the rivers. It is a shame you know because I can see now that my kids cannot do that”.

BROWN: Still, Nova for one is hopeful that time honoured traditions will provide the strength to endure. She believes Ubud’s reputation as a cultural centre holds the key to its salvation, that the nightly performances of gamelan and dance have built a reservoir of cultural heritage which will sustain Ubud and preserve its magic.

“It’s not just a tourist cliché?”

PRINCESS ARRY NOVA DEWI PUTRA: “No it’s not just for tourists. You know it’s actually for all of us to inherit all this value, you know who can really, you know.... we know our own tradition”.

MADE PASTIKA: “Balinese people believe that everything in Bali has their own soul. This life is offering. Everything we do in our life is offering to God, to other human being and also to the environment”.

BROWN: In a temple in the capital Denpasar is a man who should have the power and authority to guide Bali’s future. Made Pastika is familiar to many Australians, after all he was the Police Chief who helped bring the Bali bombers to justice. Now he’s Bali’s governor.

MADE PASTIKA: “Tourists is not destroying Bali, the greedy investors are destroying Bali. Tourists is okay. They are good people..... but the greedy investors – that’s the problem”.

BROWN: “Isn’t part of the problem that greedy investors are all mixed up in the political system of Bali and of Indonesia?”

MADE PASTIKA: “Yes of course there is an influence of that but still the people on the right side are still strong and we hope this becomes more and more strong”.

BROWN: Made Pastika knows he’s up against some powerful forces, exploitative foreign investors and a who’s who of local influence. This luxury hotel is part owned by Tommy Suharto, son of Indonesia’s late dictator. This one belongs to the Bakrie Group whose favoured son runs one of the nation’s biggest political parties. A few years ago Governor Pastika issued a decree banning new hotels from this part of the island but developers and local mayors have taken little notice and the cranes keep on coming.

MADE PASTIKA: “You know everybody want to invest in Bali. On one side maybe that is good, creating jobs, moving the economy – but on the other side because some of this investor are greedy, exploitation of the environment, exploitation of the land, exploitation of the people, exploitation of the culture – that is the problem. Those who really love Bali, they will invest with their heart”.

BROWN: Jering has invested plenty of heart in his own business, turning his family’s old bed and breakfast into a rockabilly punk venue. “Twice Bar” as it’s known is popular with local kids unwelcome in the tourist traps on main street, where foreigners walk in for free but Balinese must pay for entry.

JERINX ASTINA: “It takes a lot of our dignity and pride and somehow we feel like this is not our home you know? This is another country.
What I love the most about Twice Bar is first anyone can just go in there. It’s a symbol of resistance. You know locals have the right to have fun in Bali. That’s what I’m trying to say, my sermon like – tourists is not God here you know?”

BROWN: Jering’s loyal followers – the punks and rockers – are not the archetypal Balinese featured on postcards and travel brochures.

JERINX ASTINA: “You know we’re adopting like western culture but it doesn’t mean we have to be the slave of western civilisation right? What I believe is you know you can look like, not like a Balinese, you can talk not like a Balinese but what you do and what you care about is for the island and for the community”.

BROWN: It’s the young locals, who know more about the world than their parents ever did, who also know they need to fight for their unique home and future.

MEGA SEMADHI: “Surfing has changed my way of life. Surfing took me abroad so I know what life is like in other countries. When I come back to Indonesia it gets me thinking. I need to hold onto this and appreciate what I have more”.

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