Bali also wants to become spiritual tourism destination

Antara News, Thu, October 27 2011

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Gianyar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Bali has spiritual tourism potentials that should be more seriously developed by the government, local community members said.

Apart from conventional vacationers, Bali was now already often visited by American and European tourists who meditate at its temples to seek spiritual peace or fulfilment, they noted.

"With its temples held sacred by the Hindu population and its many centers of artistic and cultural activity, Bali has all the makings to become a spiritual tourism destination," I Wayan Aksara, marketing manager of Puri Ageng Blahbatuh, said here on Tuesday.

Wayan, who is also an artist, hoped the government would become aware of and seriously develop Bali`s spiriitual tourism potentials.

"Spritual tourism development, of course, must be done with due respect for the rules in each region and avoid violating the essence of religious activities at temples," Wayan said.

A member of the Gianyar Legislative Council, Dewa Anom Astawa, said he hoped many parties would be involved in the efforts to develop Bali`s e spiritual tourism potentials.

"Local spiritual leaders should also take part in these efforts because they know the essence of spiritual activities," Anom Astawa said.

Spiritual tourism, according to Anom Astawa, was not only for r foreigners but also for Indonesians because they too needed opportunities to reinvigorate or revitalize their spirit.

"Therefore, the infrastructure of spiritual tourism needs to be packaged in efficient but attractive ways so it will really help to bring peace, not problems, to the tourists" Anom Astawa added.

Anom said Balinese people had for a long time wanted to see spiritual tourism being developed on their island but they realized it would take time.

Meanwhile, according to Bali`s statistics bureau, as many as 49,989 US tourists visited Bali in the January-July 2011 period or up 25.58 percent compared with the number in the same period last year which was recorded at only 39,806

A total of 78,082 French tourists visited Bali in the January- August period in 2011, or up 6.92 percent from 73,027 in the same period last year. Tourist arrivals from Britain rose 7.67 percent from 62,358 to 67,143.

Meanwhile, the number of tourist arrivals from Germany fell 1.31 percent to 53,696 from 54,410.

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

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Moderate Islamist party claims election win in Tunisia

BBC News, 24 October 2011

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Tunisia's moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, is claiming victory in the country's first democratic elections.

Moderate Islamists say they are winning
Tunisia's elections

Official results are expected on Tuesday, but provisional results suggest that Ennahda will win most votes while falling short of a majority.

Its main rival, the secular centre-left PDP party, has admitted defeat.

International observers praised the conduct of Sunday's election as free and fair.

Former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown nine months ago after mass demonstrations - he had been in power for 23 years.

However, unlike its eastern neighbour Libya, Tunisia's transition from authoritarian rule has been largely peaceful.

'Greatest share'

Ennahda's leaders have pledged to create a multi-party, secular democracy, and not an Islamist state.

A spokeswoman for the party, Yusra Ghannouchi, said: "Tunisians have voted in fact for those parties that have been consistently part of the struggle for democracy and opposed to Ben Ali's dictatorship.

"At the forefront of those parties is Ennahda party, and we believe that, as expected, it has achieved the greatest share of the vote." 

The official result is due to be announced on Tuesday.

Tunisians are electing a 217-seat assembly that will draft a constitution and appoint an interim president, who will choose the new government.

Electoral commission secretary-general Boubaker Bethabet said more than 90% of the 4.1 million registered citizens had voted.

No turnout figures were available for another 3.1 million unregistered people who also had the right to vote.

More than 100 parties had registered to participate in the elections, along with a number of independent candidates.

Hundreds of foreign election observers and thousands of local ones monitored the poll and will be watching the vote counting.

The US and EU have praised Tunisia on the peaceful election process, with President Barack Obama saying the vote was "an important step forward".

Former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown nine months ago after mass demonstrations - he had been in power for 23 years until he fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 January. 

This is the first free election in Tunisia's history

Many voters emerged from polling stations holding up blue-stained index fingers - proud to show they had cast their ballots.

The mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young man whose self-immolation last December triggered the Tunisian revolt, told the Reuters news agency the election was a victory for dignity and freedom.

"Now I am happy that my son's death has given the chance to get beyond fear and injustice," Manoubia Bouazizi said. "I'm an optimist, I wish success for my country."

Campaigning in Tunisia was marked by concerns over splits between Islamists and secularists, party funding and voter apathy.

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"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....

... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."

Indonesian Woman Wins Peace Award

Jakarta Globe, October 19, 2011

Indonesian woman Electronita Duan, center, receiving the N-PEACE
award in Bangkok on Wednesday. (Photo supplied)  

      

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An Indonesian woman has won a United Nations Development Program-sponsored peace award for helping to build peace and prevent conflict in North Maluku.

Electronita Duan, from Halmahera, was awarded the N-PEACE award along with fellow peace advocates Filomena Barros dos Reis of East Timor, Purna Shova Chitrakar of Nepal and Shreen Abdul Saroor of Sri Lanka.

The awards were presented during a ceremony in Bangkok on Wednesday, a UNDP news release said.

The N-PEACE Network Web site, according to its Web site, operates in four high-risk crisis countries "that face chronic emergencies due to high-risk of conflict and susceptibility to natural disasters."

Electronita is one of the founders of Politeknik Perdamaian Halamahera, an institute of higher education for those whose studies were interrupted by conflict and who could not afford to resume their educations, the news release said.

“Electronita knew that normalcy could never return to conflict zones without a skilled and educated population,” it said.

The Indonesian activist was quoted as saying that she “believes and trusts in the work done by women at any level.”

She said she believed in the power of networking and advocates for “creating economic opportunities and providing education, the best strategies to prevent conflicts and ensure sustainable peace.”

Some 225 women who are community leaders in conflict prevention, dispute resolution, post-crisis reconstruction and peace-building, participate in the N-PEACE network and communicate online and through face-to-face consultations to share experiences and strategies in advocating, promoting and keeping peace in their countries, the release said.

The N-PEACE Network was launched in 2010 to mark the ten-year anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Jakarta Globe

RI,Vietnam to discuss remote indigenous community development

Antara News, Mon, October 17 2011 

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The social affairs ministry and the Tribes Committee of Vietnam will discuss efforts to empower remote indigenous communities (KAT) in the two countries, an Indonesian official said.

"This is good and the Vietnamese delegation`s visit here means that KAT empowering efforts in Indonesia have successfully been carried out so that we can share our experience with them," Rusli Wahid, director general of social empowerment and poverty alleviation at the social affairs ministry, said in Jakarta on Monday.

A Vietanese Tribes Committe delegation headed by Mua A Tua made a working visit to Indonesia`s social affairs ministry to exchange information about KAT, he said.

It was hoped the meeting with the Vienamese delegation would produce recommendations on KAT empowerment, such as ways to get people and local and central governments involved in the efforts.

"It is impossible to develop people in remote locations by depending on one ministry only. All parties should get involved," said Rusli.

Rusli added Indonesia, too, would make a comprehensive study in Vietnam on the implementation of KAT empowerment programs, Vietnam`s experience in the field or its successes.

The Vietnamese delegation was also scheduled to visit the land of the Baduys in Banten on Wednesday, October 19, 2011.

According to Social Ministry data in 2009, indigenous people in remote regions in Indonesia number 213.080 families. Around 75.621 had been empowered and 9.787 were being empowered.

"There are still 127.621 families who are not empowered yet," added Rusli.

Because of their isolation, KAT communities were still facing social, human rights and social and political integration problems.

KAT empowerment efforts start with social mapping, followed by identification of KAT existence, first assessment, categorical determination, feasibility study, identification of problems and needs of KAT people, program planning and preparations to improve their conditions.

In the third year of a given program, the efforts would focus on residential development along with counseling on social network relationship, social development counseling, medical, educational, clean water and other services, also group or institutional assistance.

Editor: Aditia Maruli

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Are contract marriages dying in Puncak?

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 10/17/2011

Little Arabia: Stores on Jl. Raya Puncak, one of the main roads in the
 resort city of Puncak, put up signs in Arabic to attract tourists from the
 Middle East, who flock to the area all year round. According to locals, many
 tourists have engaged in contract marriages with locals, who have
enjoyed windfall profits from the arrangements.

The laughter of two attractive young women in party dresses could be heard across the hotel parking lot in the Puncak resort area in Bogor, West Java.

The pair joined another woman waiting in a Suzuki minivan and disappeared into the night.

“They are prostitutes like me. They are heading to villas where tourists from the Middle East stay,” a woman who asked to be identified as N., 24, told The Jakarta Post. “The woman in the front seat was their pimp.”

Similar vehicles go from villa to villa in Puncak throughout the night, transporting prostitutes in search of customers. Tourists pay Rp 400,000 (US$45) per hour for the women’s services, or Rp 1.2 million for the

entire evening.

For decades, Puncak has been a magnet for foreign tourists, particularly from the Middle East, due to its fresh air, cool weather and mountain views.

One village, Warung Kaleng, has even been dubbed “kampung Arab”, due to its large number of Middle Eastern tourists.

Stores in the village sport signs in both Indonesian and Arabic. Many cater to Middle Eastern clientele, offering items such as water pipes, flavored tobacco, olive oil and pita bread.

The area has also been infamous as a hub for so-called “contract marriages” between foreign tourists and local women.

However, local residents said that the practice has been declining in recent years due to frequent raids led by the police and public order officers and village authorities.

Rusli Doelbari, head of South Tugu village in Cisarua district, said that the crackdown, which began in 2007, was aimed at restoring the village’s reputation.

“Numerous news reports labeled this village a den of debauchery, saying it was offering young women to foreign tourists — when in fact the girls did not actually come from here,” Rusli said.

The prostitutes in Puncak mostly came from nearby towns in West Java, such as Sukabumi, Cianjur, Indramayu, Kadipaten, he said. Some came from big cities, including Jakarta and Bandung.

“It’s just because they are having their so-called honeymoons here with their newlywed Mideast husbands that this place got a bad image,” Rusli said.

“All the girls who are natives of Cisarua are well-behaved, and would not offer themselves to tourists just for money,” he added.

N., however, said that she was born in the area and lived there all her life, although her mother came from Cianjur.

A local security guard who declined to be named said things had been looking up over the past few years.

The situation had been out of control before the crackdown, he said.

“Tourists often had parties with loud music, fireworks and women dancing at the villas. These garden parties could go on from eight at night until three or four in the morning,” he said.

Contract marriages were also rampant then, with prices for brides reaching Rp 50 million, split between the bride, her middleman and her pimp, although prices have dropped to Rp 3 million following the increased scrutiny.

The women found ways around Islamic marriage rituals.

Taxi and motorbike taxi drivers often served as witnesses or pretended to be members of a prospective bride’s family, N. said. “Those foreigners couldn’t possibly tell the difference, whereas the cleric was usually an off-duty marriage registrar from the local office of the Religious Affairs Ministry. Once the deal was done, the marriage would last for a week.”

N. described three types of police raids. First were joint operations, directed at all types of prostitution.

“If you are caught in this type of operation, there’s nothing you can do but pray. You can’t pay them to release you,” N. said.

“The second type is the ‘Arab operation’, which only targets foreign tourists who keep local prostitutes in their villas. If the tourists want the officers to release the women, they have to pay Rp 3 million per girl.”

The third and most common type of raid was the “payable operation”, N. said, which meant you could bribe the arresting officers to let you go.

“They ask for Rp 3 million, with the [pimp] and the girl splitting the costs.”

Rusli said foreign tourists contributed to local economic growth, despite contract marriages.

“Many motorbike taxi drivers say that, while local tourists will only pay Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000, foreign tourists will give them Rp 50,000 to Rp 100,000,” he said.

Local traders, grocery store owners, housemaids, and tour guides also benefited from tourists.

“I’m not saying that tourists shouldn’t be allowed to come here. I urge them all to come and bring their families and friends,” Rusli said.

“However, they have to respect local customs and traditions while they’re here.” (mim)

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Ready to go: Several drivers sit in a car rental shop in North Tugu village. 
They are on standby, ready to take Arab tourists around or pick them up
from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Indonesia's transgender couples surrounded by fear and persecution

Kate Hodal reports on the dangers of defying taboos in the world's most populous Muslim country

guardian.co.uk, Kate Hodal in Jakarta,   Sunday 16 October 2011

Noah and Dian (names changed) could face jail for being married before
Noah has completed his gender realignment surgery.
Photograph: Javad Tizmaghz

It was anything but a normal wedding. The identity cards were forged, the groom's parents refused to attend, and only a handful of friends were invited. The event was so taboo it could have end with the bride and groom in jail.

"That day I felt like a freedom fighter, like liberty itself," says 28-year-old Noah of his Indonesian wedding, with the photograph album of last year's ceremony spread open across his knees. "But the truth is, we have no choice but to keep it a secret."

"It" is the fact that Noah, a small-boned man with teenage acne, a gelled-back crew cut and wispy moustache, is not yet – in the eyes of his government – a man.

One of a growing number of Indonesia's transgender people, Noah – who was born female, but is now pre-op female to male – is defying considerable sociocultural taboos in the world's most populous Muslim country to become who he feels he is: "A man who just wants to be with the person I love."

"There's no shortcut for this," he says, quietly, of his transgender life. "You have to plan everything – how to fit into society, how to act like a man, how to behave 'normally'. If you don't, you face discrimination – and physical, sexual and verbal abuse."

There are no official figures for the number of transgender people currently living in Indonesia. "She-males" – or waria – are some of the most socially visible, with the most famous among them, talkshow host Dorce Gamalama, considered the Indonesian Oprah.

But the transgender life is not easy in Indonesia. While legally allowed to marry, they can do so only after successfully completing realignment surgery, a prohibitively expensive process which costs 200m rupiah (£14,300). They must also wait for a government-issued identity card declaring their new gender.

In a nation where the average annual income is 20m rupiah, (£1,430) many transgenders and their partners are forced instead to lead what are, technically, same-sex relationships.

"This is a grey area in Indonesian law," says Yuli Rustinawati of the Jakarta-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) charity Arus Pelangi (Rainbow Stream). "The national government recognises sex but not gender, or – in other words – the result of realignment surgery, but not the process."

While neither LGBT persons nor same-sex relations are prohibited by the Indonesian state of 240 million, 80% of whom are Muslim, local governments vary in how they handle it.

Many states, such as south Sumatra, use anti-prostitution laws to restrict the rights of LGBT people, where "prostitution" is widely defined to include homosexual sex and lesbianism, as well as pornography and sexual abuse. In the sharia state of Aceh, gay sex is punishable by jail, while waria, once nationally deemed cacat, or mentally ill, are now categorised along with the homeless as a "social welfare problem".

According to Sardjono Sigit, of Gaya Nusantara, an LGBT rights group based in Surabaya, east Java, such laws simply prove that "LGBT people in Indonesia are still regarded as freaks who are part of some 'special community'."

"As an 'entertainer', an LGBT person can be free to express their sexuality as part of their 'performance'," he says. "But in daily life, they're still expected to behave as heterosexuals."

LGBT rights have recently gained exposure thanks to the Indonesian human rights commission and a new, official network of HIV/Aids programmes. However – and possibly as a response to the nation's exacting cultural mores – reports of unusual marriages such as Noah's have surged in the past few months, from small villages in Aceh to the capital city of Jakarta.

Mainly involving seemingly heterosexual couples who are later found to contain a transgender partner, the stories have flummoxed locals and officials alike. The latest report, of two women who married as a heterosexual couple but were later exposed by neighbours to be lesbians, created a stir when the local religious police threatened to behead the women and set them alight as punishment for their "embarrassing and forbidden" behaviour.

While local rights groups concede that the Indonesian LGBT movement has gained considerable ground in the last five years, so too has the fundamental Islamic movement, says Rustinawati.

"Many communities now send LGBT people to pasantran (Islamic boarding schools) for 'sexual re-education'," she explains. "LGBT conferences have been cancelled and the Q! (queer) film festival was attacked by the Islamic Defenders Front — but the police don't protect us, because they don't want to get involved with the Islamicists." Last year's attack on the festival — when masked people threatened to burn down participating cinemas — was supported by the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country's highest religious body.

For Noah, who faced abuse at school, was beaten with brooms and stones by his family, and twice tried to kill himself, the only way to live as a self-declared devout Muslim and transgender in Indonesia is to "have a strategy.

"You have to be careful with everything you do. I've moved house and changed jobs since starting the testosterone, and I have almost no friends. " In the bedsit she shares with her husband, Noah's wife Dian, 28, confides that she, too, fears for her own life. "I must follow every tradition of being 'normal'," she says, "because if my parents knew I was living like this, they would kill me."

"And if they didn't," adds Noah, "then the neighbours would."The couple, who hope to one day adopt children, have contemplated moving to Thailand — where realignment surgery is cheaper and life as a transgender couple arguably easier — but their hope for a safer future in Indonesia surpasses their current fear.

"I believe in God and I surrender to him — he will protect me on this path," explains Noah.

"I prayed every day that I would one day wake up a man. And I am getting there, step by step."

Some names have been changed to protect identity.

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About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”

"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)  New !

Hindu Statue Sheds Tears After Quake: Bali School

Jakarta Globe, October 14, 2011

A number of people have flocked to a junior high school in Bali’s Bangli district to view a statue of a Hindu goddess that students say began shedding tears after Thursday’s earthquake.

The statue, which is of the goddess Saraswati, sits three meters high in a water fountain in the courtyard of SMPN 1 in Susut.

The alleged tears were first spotted by students, and their claims are now being taken up by school officials who say the tears are a symbol of Thursday’s disaster, which saw dozens of people injured.

“The statue looks like a person crying,” said Dewa, a student at the school. “We were surprised.”

Sukarsana, the school’s headmaster, said that after inspecting the statue, he believed it was in fact shedding real tears.

“We, the school, plan to ask for suggestions from paranormal experts to understand the phenomenon of the goddess Saraswati crying,” he said, as quoted by Okezone.

Trouble in paradise

The Jakarta Post, Thu, 10/13/2011

Foreigners stand by their belongings carried out from their office after an
 earthquake in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia Thursday. A powerful earthquake jolted
 Indonesia's popular resort island of Bali on Thursday, causing widespread panic
 and injuring at least 50 people, many with broken bones and head wounds.(AP/Firdia Lisnawati)

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Maria Selena Crowned as New Miss Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, October 08, 2011

The winner Miss Indonesia 2011 Maria Selena, left, reacts as she wins
 the title during the Grand Final of the Miss Indonesia beauty pageant in
Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday night. The first runner up is Liza Elly, left,
from East Java. (EPA Photo)  

            

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Maria Selena from Central Java was crowned as the new Miss Indonesia on Friday.

Maria, who beat 37 finalists from 33 provinces, was crowned by last year’s Miss Indonesia Nadine Alexandra and Miss World Leila Lopes from Angola.

The first runner-up was Liza Elly from East Java and the second runner-up was Andri Tentri from South Sulawesi.

Maria, a business major at Bandung’s Institute of Technology and a basketball player, said she would use her new title to contribute to the public.

“I am grateful for my victory and I want to contribute to people socially. I may have to take a break from my studies, but I’m willing to take the risk because this victory is my first step. I haven’t given becoming a model much thought,” she said.

Maria will represent Indonesia at the 2012 Miss Universe competition. The location of the event has not been decided, but reports suggest that the event’s organizers have set their eyes on Panama City.

Miss Indonesia 2010 Nadine Alexandra, right, crowns Miss Indonesia 2011

 Maria Selena during the grand final Miss Indonesia 2011 in Jakarta on

 Friday night. The 25-year-old beauty from Angola attended the Miss

Indonesia 2011 pagean.

Lombok International Airport starts operations

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Sat, 10/01/2011

Premier landing: A Garuda Indonesia airplane carrying West Nusa
 Tenggara Governor Zainul Majdi and his entourage from Jakarta lands
at Lombok International Airport on Saturday. The plane was the first
 commercial aircraft landing at the new airport, officiated on Saturday.
(Antara/Ahmad Subaidi)

The West Nusa Tenggara administration officially opened, on Saturday, Lombok International Airport in a move to boost tourism in Lombok, an island next to Bali which is becoming popular among both local and foreign tourists.

The new airport is located in Pujut district in Central Lombok regency, about 40 kilometers to the south of Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara.

It is managed by state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I, and replaces the old Selaparang Airport, which had been the main portal for entering Lombok.

A Boeing 737-800 JR airplane operated by national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia was the first commercial aircraft to land at the new airport, carrying West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zainul Majdi and his entourage, as well as Transportation Ministry director general for air transport Harry Bhakti, from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Antara reported.