Warming to the Fight

(5/16/2011)

Bali Post reports that Commission A of the Badung House of Representatives (DPRD-Badung) have branded the legal threats made against the region's government by the Best Western Kuta as baseless. Commission members say it is clear that the hotel has broken the law by erecting a building that violates zoning laws and with no legal operating licenses.

The Commission is calling on the regional administration to be bold in confronting the threats from the hotel's lawyer. Moreover, the legislators think now is the time for the Badung government to take even firmer action against the Best Western which now has changed its name to Sapta Petala. The chairman of Commission A, I Nyoman Satria, said: "We completely support the efforts of the Badung Administration to confront the charges being made by the Best Western. We also consider the sealing of the hotel was not misdirected to the Best Western as the steps taken were intended to enforce the region's laws."

Satria explained that a sudden attempt to change the name of Best Western Kuta to Sapta Petala may prove to be a legal boomerang for the hotel and an opportunity for the Badung administration to take even stronger steps against the hotel and its owner. Satria said the Badung administration should merely look at the permits held by the "old" Sapta Pesona with the actual conditions existing at the site. If it is proven that the permits do not match the structure now standing there, then the hotel should be torn down.

The original permit for the Sapta Petala was issued in the 1970s and was apparently for a local guest house comprised of several bungalows, not the 111-room modern hotel now standing it that location.