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Om Swastiastu ...
Full report available at http://www.balidiscovery.com/update/update734.asp
Our Bali news beat this week begins with a quiet and dignified ceremony commemorating the 2nd Bali Bombing held last Friday in downtown Denpasar. Also on the topic of terror, Australian and Indonesian special military forces held joint anti-terror drills last week at Bali's airport.
An Australian man with a commercial quantity of narcotics was arrested last week and is now in danger, if convicted, of a date before an Indonesian firing squad. Also in the news, Bali's new police chief gets tough on illegal gambling; promising dismissal to any officer involved in games of chance.
After much discussion, Bali seems to be on track for building underpasses at the Simpang Siur intersection, abandoning earlier plans for an overpass system.
HIV/AIDS totals in Bali now stand at an estimated 7,000 sufferers with heterosexuals listed as thos most at risk of infection.
There are articles on Indonesia's volcanic ring of fire and the threat posed by volcanoes. Indonesia's President came to Bali last week to deliver an address on financial credits for Balinese villagers and bestow praise on the Hollywood film 'Eat, Pray, Love." Good news from Jakarta is that Rp. 3 billion has been allocated from the 2011 national budget for the renovation of the Bali Museum.
Worried about the weather? Read our coverage about La Nina and what it means for Bali weather over the coming months.
Hotel coverage includes a special program in October to stay at the Hard Rock Hotel and fight cancer; the Asian Wall Street Journal names 3 Bali Spas to its favorite list of Asian spas; and pictures from a great party hosted by Westin last Friday night.
Looking for celebrities in Bali? Last week American Idol star Adam Lambert took a pause from his 'Glam Nation Tour' to relax in Bali. There's also news of a promised tour by rock mega-stars "Iron Maiden" set for next February.
Closer on your agenda:
A children's concert in support of the Smile Bali Foundation takes place on October 9th.
• Surfers can "Paddle for Peace" in Bali on October 10th
• Q!Film Festival - featuring gay and lesbian films visits Bali October 13-17.
• The BALINALE International Film Festival comes to Bali October 15-19.
• A fashion show featuring Bali's top young designers will be hels in Nusa Dua on October 17.
Om Çanti Çanti Çanti Om ...
J.M. Daniels - Bali Update
Bali Discovery Tours
Was Kasit's threat to return refugees after the poll a joke?
The general election orchestrated by the Burmese military regime, come November 7, will provide the much needed instruments for all concerned to adopt a variety of exit strategies regarding Naypyidaw. Again, the Burmese generals, especially General Than Shwe, have the correct reading on international hypocrisy and lack of conviction - explaining why they can outlast short-lived global sentiment and repeatedly deploy the same strategies over and over again. Just take as an example the latest measure to free opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi - a week after the poll.
Western countries which used to preach democracy and human rights are now in limbo because Burma is opening up with new plans to run the country with those same generals in civilian clothes. After more than two decades of engagement, they are suffering from severe fatigue related to Burma. Like Asean, they all want out of the quagmire as soon as possible. The love-hate poll has indeed become a necessary evil for all. After all, both the US and Europe want to do business and invest in Burma's energy sector and counter China's influence inside the country. Deep down, the generals' flirting with nuclear proliferation also worries the Western powers.
Doubtless, Burma - as it understands the helplessness of both regional and international communities - is astutely playing real politics. The final stage of the seven-point roadmap of installing a regime with new clothes could be accomplished within this year. It's regrettable the international community does not have an audacity of purpose and perseverance like the Burmese generals.
But the most disturbing aspect of all these exit strategies is the Thai attitude towards post-election Burma. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya told a US audience recently that Thailand had a plan to repatriate Burmese refugees and those in exile back to Burma. He said that the Thai government would even assist in their return to "half-democratic" Burma. Kasit, who used to be one of the strongest champions of Burmese in exile here, must be kidding saying that in front of a Washington audience. Obviously, he is testing local and international opinion regarding the future of an estimated four-million Burmese living in various capacities and status.
Thailand has been a haven for refugees from neighbouring countries since World War II. The Indo-China crisis in the 1970's saw more than three million refugees cross over to Thailand. Somehow we managed it and were given credit for their complete repatriation. By all means, we should continue to extend our hospitality to all of them. Certainly, there are ways to improve the lives of these people and ensure their eventual return to their homelands. However, international support must be forthcoming as the Thai government does not have sufficient resources to maintain them long-term.
The Abhisit government has made clear that it respects human rights and integrity of all concerned, including those residing in Thailand. The prime minister must make sure he follows every word he has uttered in the past. He should reiterate this message during his one-day visit to Burma on October 11 to impress on Burmese junta leaders that the world and Asean are watching the upcoming poll. Thailand, under his leadership, must not and should not tolerate any undemocratic exercise in Burma that would eventually lead to cross-border problems. The Nation, Bangkok
It’s Time to Remove Hate From Mosques
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has finally responded to a growing problem that already had many Indonesians worried. He has acknowledged that mosques are being used to spread violence, and has called for it to stop immediately. With the fall of the iron-fisted government of President Suharto in 1998, decades of strict surveillance of mosques also fell by the wayside. Now, it is well known that religious extremists often use mosques to spread messages of hatred, nurture dangerous radicalism and recruit jihadists.
“We should be providing comfort and peace to everyone and not turn mosques into places to encourage provocation,” Yudhoyono said after inaugurating the newly renovated Baiturrahim Mosque at the State Palace complex.
The president said that mosques should be places where brotherhood and close ties between all people were fostered and strengthened.
They should also be places where the purity of the Islamic creed and teachings are safeguarded, he said.
The president’s message is both timely and timeless, as places of worship are sacred and should be used for peaceful purposes only.
With hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of mosques spread across the country, places of worship can and should be used to unite the country.
Still, it cannot be denied that in numerous mosques on Java and other islands, messages of peace are not what is being taught. Some mosques have become centers where hard-line and radical forms of Islam are being preached and advocated.
It is not surprising then that a recent survey by a noted institution found that tolerance toward minority religions was on the decline in the country.
This alarming trend must be reversed, for the sake of national security and national unity.
Just hours after the president made his statement, a mosque belonging to the Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect considered deviant by many mainstream Muslims, was attacked and set on fire in Bogor.
It was just the latest in a series of violent attacks on the Ahmadiyah this year.
In response to this rise in religious violence, analysts have called on the government to more strictly monitor hate speech and messages of extremism.
And not only those messages spread from the pulpit, but also those readily available and accessible on the Internet.
If the government is attempting to filter pornography on the Internet, it should do likewise for hate speech and messages of extremism.
Firm measures are in order.
Recent events have reminded us that terrorism remains a menace to society.
One way to stop terrorists would be to prevent them from enjoying safe havens in mosques, which are holy places that should be reserved for the worship of God. Editorial, Jakarta Globe
BANGKOK: Bomb attacks are continuing in this Thai capital, with a bank branch in Pratunam being the latest target last night, and bringing to 11 such cases in about a month when hand grenades of the RDG-5 type landed on the roof of the bank at 11.30pm, with only one exploding and damaging part of the roof of the four-storey commercial building.
The other bomb malfunctioned and there were no casualties. The Russian-made bomb was not the type used by the Thai military and other security authorities. With the latest incident, six cases of bomb explosions and five cases of unexploded bombs have occurred in BANGKOK and in the neighbouring province of Nonthaburi over a month. The two provinces as well as Phatum Thani and Samut Prakan are still under emergency rule even after the anti-government protests ended on May 19, leaving 91 people dead and 1,800 injured following occasional unrest. The Department of Special Investigations recently issued a warning of possible politically-motivated bomb attacks in the capital until the end of the year.
China and President Obama have a lot to think about after the House voted, overwhelmingly, on Wednesday to give the Obama administration expanded authority to impose tariffs on nearly all Chinese imports
Protectionist impulses run far too strong on Capitol Hill, especially in an election year. But China’s aggressive undervaluation of its currency is providing a hugely unfair boost to its exports — hurting some American exports, but doing a lot more damage to others and hindering the recovery around the world.
If the House vote grabs Beijing’s attention, that would be a good thing. We are skeptical that punitive tariffs are the answer. They wouldn’t provide all that much redress to American companies because at this point, except for steel and a few other products, most of the things Americans buy from China: TVs, refrigerators, toys — are no longer made here.
As for whether tariffs would change Beijing’s thinking, we fear there is at least an equal chance that China will lash back. A trade war would be disastrous for bilateral relations, complicating efforts to contain nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, and disastrous for the world economy.
A more effective strategy would be to muster the support of the many other countries whose manufacturing industries have been mauled. China needs to hear and see that its currency policy is a global problem that is undermining the global influence it so clearly desires.
So far, Beijing has used its clout as a major foreign investor and the world’s biggest importer of raw materials to mollify or intimidate its potential critics. The Obama administration needs to be at least as determined in its efforts to persuade others to finally speak up.
A lot of that can and should be done with behind-the-scenes diplomacy. There is also an important public part to be played. One of the best venues to get the message across — to Beijing and other world capitals — is at the World Trade Organization. China, which relies so heavily on exports, keeps an especially close watch there.
Last month, Washington filed two W.T.O. cases against China for duties it slapped on American steel and its discrimination against American suppliers of electronic payment services. It would be unlikely to win a case on China’s currency manipulation (which the World Trade Organization does not define as illegal). A broad challenge against China’s illegal trade practices, including providing subsidized energy and cheap credit to its exporters, could help embolden others to put forth their own complaints.
This strategy also carries the risk of retaliation. But the United States can’t be paralyzed, and moving with others should lessen that threat. A few other countries are already speaking out. Japan has begun criticizing China’s currency policies. Brazil’s finance minister complained earlier this week about the “international currency war” set off by the manipulation of China’s currency, the renminbi.
As the vote in the House loomed, Beijing defiantly slapped steep tariffs on poultry from the United States. On the day of the vote, Foreign Ministry officials warned of potentially dire consequences to bilateral trade relations, and China’s central bank let the renminbi fall a little. Still, over the last three weeks, the bank allowed the currency to rise about 1.5 percent against the dollar, roughly three times as much as it appreciated in the previous three months.
Hours before the House vote, China’s central bank issued a statement pledging to “increase currency flexibility,” and “gradually improve the exchange rate setting mechanism.” Beijing has made these promises before. Which is why the United States and other countries need to push harder, together. Editorial New York Times
Neighboring Myanmar is preparing for elections in early November, but it is a non-event because of the exclusion of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The military junta has kept her locked up for nearly 20 years since her party’s unrecognized election victory in 1990. Her party, the National League for Democracy, is boycotting the elections, arguing that the polls will only serve to legitimize military rule. We agree. To blunt criticisms of its sham elections, however, the military junta is reportedly considering the release of the 65-year-old Suu Kyi, perhaps within a week before the national polls. We hope that will materialize, although it is unlikely that the junta will risk it.
Like in the past administration, President Aquino should take an unequivocal position on the release of Myanmar’s only beacon of hope for positive change. Manila should continue the policy of engagement to prevent the isolation of Myanmar, but at the same time, exert pressure on its leaders to do what’s right.
The other icon of democracy, the late mother of the President, once stood up to a dictator and his generals. We welcomed the support of the international community for her cause. And in today’s policy toward Myanmar, we should return the favor and push for the release of Suu Kyi and the peaceful restoration of freedom and democracy.
WHEN he woke up in Lilliput, bound by a lattice of slender ligatures, to find dozens of tiny men disporting themselves on his chest, Lemuel Gulliver let out a roar “so loud that they all ran back in fright”. Another waking giant, China, seems these days to be adopting a similar foreign policy. It has found it just as effective. But as Gulliver discovered, it has its drawbacks.
The loudest roar has been aimed at Japan. After a Chinese trawler on September 7th rammed two of its coastguard vessels in waters off the disputed, Japanese-administered, islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, Japan detained the captain for a fortnight. China’s reaction was, in the words of Seiji Maehara, Japan’s foreign minister, “fairly hysterical”. And Mr Maehara saw signs of Chinese pressure “in various places”.
Indeed, as Chinese officials issued dire warnings of unspecified consequences if their skipper were not freed, some odd things started happening. Sino-Japanese trade was held up by unusually thorough customs inspections. Exports of rare earths were subject to an unannounced weeklong ban. And it was hard to see the detention of four Japanese construction-company employees on mysterious charges of photographing military facilities as mere coincidence.
Japan seemed to take fright. On September 24th local prosecutors freed the captain. Bizarrely, they cited the importance of relations with China, as if the foreign ministry had subcontracted its diplomatic responsibilities to a low level of the judiciary. China refused to be mollified, insisting it was owed an apology and compensation. Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, smarting from criticism for the climb-down, demanded that China pay for the repair of the damaged boats. But after the initial exchange of indignation, tempers seemed to cool (and China released three of the four Japanese detainees). Just as well. A crowded calendar of multilateral talkfests looms. After the Asia-Europe meeting in Brussels on October 4th come, in a few weeks, the G20, East Asian and Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summits. It would be embarrassing if all were dominated by speculation about whether the Chinese and Japanese leaders shake hands.
As diplomatic trials of strength go, this one seems fairly easy to score: China 1, Japan 0. Mr Kan’s administration has appeared unco-ordinated, confused and weak. It has made a mockery of the idea of judicial independence, and managed to make China seem to have greater respect for legal process. China, on the other hand, has forcibly demonstrated that it regards the islands as its own, despite Japan’s control of them, and has shown that it has the commercial and diplomatic clout to make its point.
The message was heard elsewhere. Members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), alarmed by China’s vague, unexplained but sweeping claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, encouraged America to involve itself in the issue. In July Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, obliged. She told a regional forum in Hanoi that the sea was an American national interest, and made an oblique rallying-call to unity among China’s various rival claimants for bits of the sea.
A mild iteration of this was included in a draft of the joint statement to be issued after the second America-ASEAN summit—held by President Barack Obama in New York on September 24th. The draft deplored the “use or threat of force by any claimant attempting to enforce disputed claims” in the sea—ie, it was a warning to China. When the statement emerged, however, cooler heads in ASEAN prevailed. It avoided mention of the sea at all, merely reaffirming “the importance of regional peace and stability, maritime security, unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation”. Also motherhood and apple pie.
India, too, has been watching carefully. Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, has voiced concern about China’s maritime ambitions. His government has been worried by China’s provocative refusal to give a proper visa to an Indian general, apparently because he served in a “disputed” region, Kashmir. China has in the past couple of years seemed eager to prod the two countries’ huge but dormant territorial quarrels—over what India thinks of as Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh—back into life.
As a vigorous rising power, China is predictably prickly about its sovereignty. But it must be debatable whether its “victory” over Japan has really furthered its own interests. As Japan’s Mr Maehara puts it, its behaviour over the disputed islands gave “quite a few countries a glimpse of the essence of China”. It is fair to guess they did not entirely like what they saw.
China sneezes, Asia shivers
To list some of the effects of China’s fierce—almost bellicose—reaction: forcing America to confirm that its security treaty with Japan covers conflict over the disputed islands; concentrating Japanese minds on seeking other sources of raw materials such as rare earths; and pushing South-East Asian countries closer to America. As China’s own officials might say: it picked up a rock only to drop it on its own feet.
Japanese officials see this in terms of the growing clout of China’s armed forces, a power struggle ahead of the transfer of leadership to a new generation at the next Communist Party congress in 2012 and the search for something (such as nationalism) that might give the party a new source of legitimacy. But perhaps such rationalisations miss the point. The second time Gulliver wakes up in Lilliput, it is after passing out, having drunk wine laced with a sleeping-draught. A curious Lilliputian, inspecting his comatose form, puts the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up his nostril. It tickles. Gulliver sneezes violently. Sometimes, awakening giants simply can’t help themselves—which was of scant comfort to the Lilliputians. The Economist
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