A report in the Indonesian-language Bali Post highlights the growing level of tension in local communities resulting from the current boom in real estate development across the island of Bali.

Villa developments at Seririt beach and Tangguwisia village in Bali's North have created community conflict on several level over matters relating to land use and the compensation paid by developers for use of land.

Tegalenge Village, Sririt Beach

On September 16, 2007 villagers in Tegalenge filed a formal police report against 6 fellow villagers who erected a barrier across an access road leading to a new villa development. While villagers had negotiated a public right-of-way through their lands to allow the construction of a villa project, the 6 men who have closed the road are now insisting they are not a party to any access agreement that transects land on which they claim to be the registered owners.

The villagers who have reported the six men to the police, meanwhile, claim the six were signatories to the original agreement making the barrier illegal.

Tangguwisia Village

At another villa project in North Bali, Tanngguwisia villagers are seeking explanations and transparency on how Rp. 520 million (approximately US$55,300) paid to the village by a villa investor for communually-held land was used. In a third community meeting convened to discuss the matter on September 16, 2007, a crowd of 250 villagers forcefully demanded accountability from village officials who now admit that Rp. 382 million of the total paid by the developer has already been used "for various projects" and that only Rp. 128 million remain of which Rp.20 million is still held by the villa developer.

Villagers are demanding that the remaining funds be distributed to local community leaders and villager organizations.

Despite the fact that the developer has paid the majority of the agreed funds to the local village chiefs, local residents are adamant in their demand that the villa project be halted until the dispute over the funds is resolved.

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A group of disgruntled commercial villa and private home owners in Bali's Petitienget area are trying to increase pressure on local authorities to enforce anti-noise pollution regulations on bars and restaurants operating in the area.

In a letter sent to the Regent of Badung on September 17, 2007, the group complained of the lack of action by authorities against business places who electronically amplify music. Those who signed the letter underlined how the bars often play music on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 11:00 p.m. until the early hours of the following day.

In the letter, business operators report they are losing revenues when disgruntled guests check out early from their villas and pledge not to return until the noise pollution problem is remedied.

In a related development, the Indonesian-language DenPost reports that officials from the Regional Government have been thwarted in their efforts to compel bars and restaurant operators in Petitenget to keep noise levels below the stipulated 40 decibel level, with levels reaching as high as 75 decibels during late evening hours.

I Wayan Adi Arnawa, the Head of the Regency's Public Order Police (Satpol), told the Denpost that violations of the noise code have been documented with some of the offending businesses also discovered to be operating illegally without beenfit of the required permits and licenses.

Attempts by local officials to achieve a written commitment from businesses to follow the rules have reportedly been refused by at least one bar that refuses to sign the agreement.

Arnawa told the press that some toleration will be given to local businesses still in the process of obtaining permits for closed-stage attractions, but he warned that his department will not hesitate to take stern action against businesses who continue to disturb the peace.

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The Jakarta Post reports that the Indonesian government plans to abolish the unpopular fiscal tax in 2010. According to the paper quoting Metro TV, Indonesia's Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani, has confirmed that a formal draft abolishing the tax is now before the government.

A Word of Caution

Over recent years there have appeared numerous reports in the local press stating the fiskal tax was to be abolished only to eventually be repudiated by official source.

Indonesian's and residents of the Republic must currently pay a Rp. 1 million (approximately US$106) tax each time they depart the country via an international gateway.

Those departing Indonesia via a seaport pay a reduced fiscal rate of Rp. 500,000 (approximately US$53).

The fee, which can eventually be offset against personal or corporate income tax liabilities, is widely unpopular among both Indonesians and Indonesia's ASEAN neighbors who claim the tax inhibits regional tourism development and cooperation.

Garuda Indonesia is providing an additional 1620 seats from Sydney to Bali by operating a Boeing 747-400 on its Wednesday and Saturday services from September 19 to October 27, 2007.

The airline's Regional General Manager, Southwest Pacific, Suranto Yitnopawiro, says the additional 135 seats per flight will help travel agents cater for the increase in passenger numbers to Bali.

"Demand for Bali is high, especially during the school holidays, and we are delighted to have this extra capacity to offer during this busy period, and into the rest of October," he says.

The Wednesday and Saturday flights are supplemented by three Airbus A330 services from Sydney to Bali, departing Monday, Thursday and Sunday.

OZ Business on the Rebound

Figures just released show that in August 2007, some 18,030 Australian visitors came to Bali, improving +48.58% over arrivals recorded in the same month one year before (12,135).

Bali's Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay, Waterbom Park and M&M Catering have joined forced to help raise funds for worth Bali Charities on Saturday, September 29, 2007.

An off shoot and continuation of the Terry Fox Fun Run organized by Four Seasons to raise funds for the battle on cancer, the Hope for Life Charity Run aims to raise funds for important community projects while also providing an fun afternoon for runners and friends.

10 K Fun Run

Runners will meet near the Four Seasons PJ's restaurant at 3:15 p.m. for warm-up aerobics with a 10 km race to South Kuta's Waterbom Park starting at 3:30 p.m..

"Semi-runners" are welcome to join the warm ups and recreate along picturesque bay before boarding a bus leaving for the Waterbom Park at 4:00 p.m..

"Non-Runners" are also enjoyed to join the fun and join the race by going directly to Waterbom where the doors open at 4:00 p.m..

Participants paying Rp. 100,000 (approximately US$10.65) will receive:

. Admission to Waterbom Park

. Dinner

. T-Shirt

At Waterbom Park a grand finishing party has been organized including live music and prizes.

For more information or to register contact Elisa at the Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay at ++62-(0)361-701010 - extension #8503.

Enjoy a fun run, great food, great prizes and great entertainment while running to help save someone else's life!

Following the very successful completion of the The Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have announced a new tournament that will feature the next generation of Tour stars and best performers in the Tour's international level tournaments. The tournament, to be named the Commonwealth Bank International Championships, will be staged in Bali, Indonesia beginning in 2009 and will complement the Tour's traditional season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, which features the world's Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams.

The Tour's previously announced 2009 provisional Calendar features 20 premium events, anchored by four mandatory events with equal prize money in each of Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing, and 30 international events across the globe. The best seven performers in these international level tournaments (who have not otherwise qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships), along with one wildcard, will participate in the round-robin format Commonwealth Bank International Championships. The tournament, to be held in Bali from November 3-9, 2009 (the week following the Sony Ericsson Championships), will feature $600,000 total prize money and a winner's check of $200,000. The tournament is initially scheduled to be held in Bali for the three year period 2009-2011.

"The Commonwealth Bank International Championships promises to showcase the Tour's most exciting future stars and best performers in international level Tour events," said Larry Scott, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. "The international events within the 2009 circuit structure will provide fans with world class tennis and an opportunity to see future champions. We are excited to be able to shine a spotlight on these stars through the support of Commonwealth Bank in beautiful Bali."

As the Commonwealth Bank is growing steadily and rapidly in the Asian Region, we are very proud to be able to support this first and finest kind of Championship in Asia and we hope that the tournament will inspire a lot of young talent in Indonesia, Asia and the world to compete and excel in the Championship for many years to come," said President Director PT Bank Commonwealth Symon Brewis-Weston.

"It's great that we will be featuring and promoting in their very own end-of-year finale a group of world class players who are vying to one day be No.1 in the world," said Daniela Hantuchova, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour world number 12. "I have always loved playing in Bali and am sure the Commonwealth Bank International Championships will create great excitement among those players competing in the 2009 international level events with the hope of qualifying for Bali."

"The Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic already has an enviable reputation for showcasing not only the very best players, but players who are about to establish themselves at the very top of the game," said Bali tournament director Kevin Livesey. "Now these players will be able to end their season competing for a major championship title in one of the most beautiful tournament locations in the world."

Bali has hosted a successful Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tournament since 2001, and featured champions such as Lindsay Davenport, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva. The Commonwealth Bank International Championships will replace the regular Bali event during the period 2009-2011.

The 2009 provisional Calendar will feature 56 tournaments in 32 countries, a longer off-season and record prize money of over $84 million. The Commonwealth Bank International Championships will take place the week following the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, to be held in Doha, Qatar in 2009.

Bali is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Mads Lange - a Danish businessman who left an indelible mark on the island of Bali during an affiliation with the island that spanned the years 1834 until his death in 1856.

Leaving his native Denmark at the age of 17, he spent ten years trading throughout the Far East before landing in Bali's near neighbor of Lombok in 1834. Forging an alliance with the Balinese King of Karangasem who was at war with the Lombok ruler of Mataram, Lange eventually relocated to Bali where he established a residence and trading center on Kuta beach.

An astute businessman who maintained active social and business relations with a number of Balinese rulers, Lange established a diversified portfolio of business interests encompassing a trade in keping coins from China, arms, gold, rice, silk, opium, slaves and the operation of a local casino.

Record of the time relate how the Danish businessman, accompanied by his two wives presented to him by the King of Kesiman, would regularly hold dinner parties for both European guests and Balinese royalty at his Kuta home. Defying colonial tradition by including the local population on his guest list, these programs also included food, drink, billiard tournaments and the proud display of a Lange's much-loved kennel of Dalmatian dogs. Reportedly disliked by Dutch colonial officials for his fraternization with local elements, Lange's skills as a negotiator were nonethless frequently called upon to help maintain the peace among the contentious nine kingdoms of Bali. With the Dutch eventually forced to concede surrender to the "charm offensive" of "Tuan Lange," officials in Jakarta reluctantly appointed the businessman as their official representative in Bali for the Dutch Indies Government.

A Special Reunion to Mark 200 Years

This year, in honor of the 200th anniversary of Lange's birth, over 180 relatives from 15 countries - including members of Malaysia's and Brunei's Royal households, gathered in Bali for three days coinciding the Mads Lange's birth date. The celebrants were joined by Denmark's Minister of Education, Brian Mikkelsen, who traveled to Bali to commemorate one of his nation's famous Sons and uncredentialed diplomats.

Two books are soon scheduled to be published retelling the story of "Tuan Lange" - "Mads Lange- The Bali Trader & Peace Maker" and "Mads Lange- A Man of His Time." A current show at Ubud's Arma Museum displays photos and historical artifacts dating from Mads Lange's time on the island of Bali.

During this year's Bali gathering simultaneous celebrations were also held on the namesake island of Langeland in Denmark.

Mads Lange: 1807-1856

On the eve of a planned return to Europe, Mads Lange died in somewhat uncertain circumstances in Bali on May 13, 1856, at the age of 47. His grave can be still be found on a side street - Jalan Tuan Lange - just off Bali's busy Bypass in Kuta, not far from his former homestead. Visitors may be surprised to find flowers and traditional Balinese offerings are regularly placed on Lange's gravesite. Careful observers will also occasionally encounter Bali street dogs whose pelts bear the black-spotted imprint of their distant Dalmatian ancestors; maintaining a macabre vigil for a long-departed master.

Indonesia's Mandala Airlines have announced three new routes from their new secondary air hub of Bali with the addition of Denpasar-Jogjakarta, Denpasar-Banjarmasin (Kalimantan) and Denpasar-Balikpapan (Kalimantan) - effective October 1, 2007.

Bali as Airline's Second Air Hub

Part of an aggressive plan to make Mandala a contender among Indonesia's aviation players, the airline is investing an estimated US$140 million at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport as part of its expansion and secondary air hub plans.

As part of its aggressive expansion plans, Mandala signed a deal at the Paris Air Show in June 2007 for the purchase of 30 Airbus A320 and Airbus A319 aircraft. 4 of the new aircraft are expected to commence service before the end of 2007, with the first A319 scheduled to arrive from the European manufacturing center in September 2007.

To ensure professional management drives their expansion programs Mandala have appointed leading interational aviation experts to head their management team including Warwick Brady as CEO, Brian Bradbury as Director of Engineering and Steve Wilks as their Company's Chief Operating Officer.

The Airline has also entered into an agreement with Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC) for the maintenance of their growing armada.Special Prices to Celebrate Manadala's Growth

To help launch the new services Mandala is offering very special on-line ticket prices from its website from October 1-8, 2007.

More information: Mandala Airline Website

As reported in the authoritative Indonesia Digest, Bali economist, Prof. Nyoman Erawan has recently predicted that Bali's rate of economic growth may reach 6% in 2007.

According to Erawan, while the island's economy is gradually improving, such growth remains precarious when dependent solely on business trends in the tourism sector. In comments carried in the Bali Post, He warned that Bali must develop other sectors, such as agriculture, which can provide a significant contribution to public welfare.

The respected economist from Bali's Udayana University also predicted that Bali's economy will continue to grow a rate above 6% in 2008 and beyond, as long as the province's economic stability is guarded and other sectors beyond tourism are developed.

The Director of Bank Indonesia in Denpasar, Bali, Ketut Sanjaya, agrees with this assessment. Compared to neighboring provinces, Bali recently achieved a 5.27% economic growth rate while in adjoining West Nustenggara the economy expanded by only 1.65%, East Nusatenggara by 4.96% and East Java by 5.5%.

Sanjaya is confident that Bali's economy will continue to improve this year, although still dominated by the trade, hotel and restaurants, transportation and communications sectors.

Bali's banking sector also improved standing at Rp 24 trillion (approximately US2.6 billion) in assets until June 2007, up from Rp. 15.63 trillion (approximately US$1.7 billion) at the same time last year. Growth remains dominated by consumption (at 42%) compared to investments which reached only 4%, according to the Bank Indonesia official.

Bali Discovery Tours and www.balidiscovery.com have introduced a new mobile point of sale (POI) terminal to process credit card payments for Bali visitors.

The new credit card machines now allow passengers to be met on arrival at Bali's airport or at their accommodation where credit card charges can be electronically processed and approved on-the-spot and in the direct presence of the customer. Operated in cooperation with one of Bali's leading banks, customers' credit cards can be electronically read on a wireless terminal, processed and approved in a matter of seconds, and a printed receipt documenting the transaction handed back to the client together with his or her credit card.

Bali Discovery's Finance Director, Desak Nyoman Sutari, said: "our new mobile credit card machine is an important addition to the growing list of method-of-payment options available to our customers. This new technology is especially attractive to those clients uncomfortable with providing credit card information over our secured-link on the Internet or for people booking last minute tours and excursions whilst in Bali."

To address strong demand on its Asian routes to Kuala Lumpur and Bali, Qatar Airway is upgrading its current service utilizing Airbus A300 aircraft to the larger and more modern Airbus A330 aircraft from its fleet of 58 airplanes. The A330 planes will feature up to 53 more seats per flight with Qatar operating two versions of the A330 on the route: A330-200 featuring 22 business class seats and 259 in economy or the A330-300 with 30 business class seats and 275 in economy.

Qatar flies ten services per week between Doha and Kuala Lumpur with four of these flights continuing on to Bali.

The upgraded aircraft also offer an upgraded level of passenger comfort and on-board amenities including an interactive audio and video entertainment system providing a choice of 80 channels of movies, 70 television programs and 16 music channel. Passengers can also select from more than 300 compact disks of music covering the entire milieu of musical tastes.

Qatar Airways flies to 78 destinations in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Indian subcontinent and North America.

Qatar Airways has declared its intent to eventually expand its Bali service to daily operations once additional aircraft are introduced to its fleet.

At 166,633 foreign tourist arrivals to Bali for August 2007, the Island's record-breaking arrivals pattern is continuing apace, exceeding arrivals recorded in August 2006 (118,104) by +41.09%.



Click Image to Enlarge

Passing the 1 Million Mark

On a year-to-date basis through the end of August 2007, arrivals have passed the 1 million mark hitting 1,077,200, a full +35.9% ahead of the first 8 months of 2006 (792,665). Arrivals thus far for 2007 also exceeded the "previous best" first 8 months of any year in the Island's history, beating by +7.2% the previous high of January-August 2005 of 1,004,656.



Click Image to Enlarge

Shown on balidiscovery.com are graphics tracking the recovery in foreign arrivals following the October 2002 and October 2005 terrorist attacks. Clearly, the negative impact on arrivals following the 2005 bombing was less pronounced than was the case in 2002. Moreover, the recovery in arrivals in the year after the second bombing (2006) was steadier and consistently stronger than in the year following the first attack (2003).

1.7 Million Visitors for 2007?

If the current trend of improvement in arrivals is sustained through the end of the year with untold icnident, balidiscovery.com's trend-line analysis indicates Bali is on course to recording a historically impressive 1.7 million foreign arrival total for the current year.

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