Bali paradise turns to tourist nightmare as volcano rumbles

Yahoo – AFP, Bagus SARAGIH, November 28, 2017

The structure of a typical volcano and the phases of an eruption (AFP
 Photo/Patrice Deré)

Denpasar (Indonesia) (AFP) - Cancelled flights, missed connections and expiring visas have turned Bali into a nightmare for thousands of tourists scrambling to leave, as a volcano on the Indonesian vacation paradise threatens a major eruption.

Hundreds of flights have been grounded as the main international airport was shuttered for a second day on Tuesday, leaving 120,000 stranded visitors in need of shelter -- or an exit plan.

Hundreds joined the mad rush to board buses headed to an international airport in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya -- 13 hours' drive and a ferry ride away -- as torrential rains dampened spirits even more in one the world's top tourist draws.

The imminent eruption of Mount Agung may mean more five-star hotel living for some well-heeled visitors who are happy to sit out the minor inconvenience, but Mukesh Kumar Gupta and two-dozen members of his family aren't going to be staying at the Four Seasons.

"We are practically helpless -- how can we get back to India?" said the Chennai-based member of the heaving 26-member clan.

Gupta's family -- 23 adults and three kids -- arrived in Bali 10 days ago from different Indian cities.

They were all supposed to fly back Tuesday but now they say they are stuck, and nearly broke, as chaos ensued at the airport with frustrated travellers and overwhelmed staff.

"The refund money (from the airline) won't be enough to buy us new tickets," another family member, Navin Saraf from Kolkata, told AFP at Bali's main airport.

"We booked everything online beforehand, so we don't have much cash right now," he added.

Towering columns of thick grey smoke have been rising from Agung since last week, and in the last few days the volcano has begun shooting smoke and ash into the sky, forcing all flights to be grounded until at least Wednesday morning.

Ash is dangerous for planes as it makes runways slippery and can be sucked into their engines.

A flight information board shows the list of delayed flights due to the volcano at the
Ngurah Rai International airport in Denpasar, Bali on November 28, 2017 (AFP Photo/
JUNI KRISWANTO)

'Nobody's fault'

Agung is 75 kilometres (47 miles) from the beach-and-sandal tourist hub of Kuta, but that wasn't making German student Alex Thamm feel much better.

"We are supposed to go back to Germany via Singapore on (Friday) but the situation seems not good," he said nervously.

"Is it dangerous here? Do you think [the volcano] will explode?"

The delays weren't putting a smile on Juan Gajun's face either, after he missed a connecting flight Monday.

"We have to leave the island and we can't. We were planning to go to Singapore but we have to stay here for I don't know, maybe two or three days more," said the 30-year-old Argentine.

Colin Cavy, a French dive master who has been in Indonesia for a couple of months, had other problems.

"I've just come to Bali two days ago to leave the country," he told AFP.

"My visa has expired...I need to go to the immigration office."

Meanwhile, cash-strapped Gupta and his bulging brood were weighing their options, which he lamented would not include help from India's consulate in Bali.

"No one can beat nature, but at least people can help," said Gupta's relative Abhisek Garg, who lives in Delhi.

They might want to call inn operator I Wayan Yastina Joni, who is among the few hoteliers willing to take up an appeal by Bali's governor and tourism agency to supply free rooms to out-of-luck visitors.

"I don't mind giving free accommodation for tourists I already know," said the owner of the Pondok Denayu Homestay.

"This is nobody's fault. It's a natural disaster that no one expected."

Tourists scramble to leave Bali as a volcano on the Indonesian vacation paradise threatens a major eruption https://t.co/ChsKBVmiKs pic.twitter.com/tL3uJQZrgX

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 28, 2017

Tourists have been left stranded on the Indonesian island of Bali after a volcanic eruption

Tourists have been left stranded on the Indonesian island of Bali after a volcanic eruption pic.twitter.com/Ti1cSfshqW

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 26, 2017

West Java Celebrates Angklung Day

Jakarta Globe, November 19, 2017

West Java held Angklung’s Day at the Sate Building in Bandung, on Sunday (19/11),
to celebrate the traditional bamboo musical instrument's entry into Unesco’s Intangible
Heritage list seven years ago. (Photo courtesy of Tourism Ministry)

Jakarta. West Java held Angklung Day at the Sate Building in Bandung, West Java, on Sunday (19/11), to celebrate the traditional bamboo musical instrument's entry into Unesco’s Intangible Heritage list seven years ago.

"Through the event, participants will always remember the ancestral culture and preserve it," Wawan Gunawan, the ministry's head of cultural promotion, said in a statement.

Art communities Saung Angklung Udjo and Keluarga Besar Bumi Siliwangi of the Indonesia Education University (UPI) participated in arranging the event, which was joined by 6,000 people.

The participants came from regions across West Java, including students of kindergarten, elementary, junior and high schools.

Kenny Kaniasari, head of the Bandung Tourism Agency, hoped that by inviting students as participants, they can appreciate local culture more.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the event is a real manifestation of West Java community in an effort to preserve and improve the art of Angklung.

Local people battle to free nine beached sperm whales stranded in #AcehBesar, Indonesia

Local people battle to free nine beached sperm whales stranded in #AcehBesar, Indonesia pic.twitter.com/zdYYSAFVN5

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 13, 2017

Drone camera photo shows Nature Conservation Agency officers and environmental activists trying to refloat stranded sperm whales in #AcehBesar, Indonesia on November 13 pic.twitter.com/z8MlQRJ8AJ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 13, 2017

Indonesian museum removes Nazi-themed exhibit after outrage

Yahoo – AFP, November 11, 2017

An Indonesian woman take a selfie with a life-size wax sculpture of Adolf Hitler
at a museum in Yogyakarta (AFP Photo/Henryanto)

An Indonesian museum that allowed visitors to take selfies with a life-size wax sculpture of Hitler against a backdrop of Auschwitz concentration camp has removed the exhibit following international outrage, the manager said Saturday.

De ARCA Statue Art Museum in the Javanese city of Jogjakarta drew swift condemnation from rights groups after details of the controversial display were published in foreign media.

The exhibit features a sure-footed Hitler standing in front of a huge photo of the gates of Auschwitz -- the largest Nazi concentration camp where more than 1.1 million people were killed.

The museum’s operations manager, Jamie Misbah, said the the wax sculpture had been removed after the building was alerted to criticism from prominent Jewish human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

"We don’t want to attract outrage," Misbah told AFP.

"Our purpose to display the Hitler figure in the museum is to educate."

The Hitler sculpture is one of about 80 figures, including world leaders and celebrities, at the wax and visual effects centre.

The Nazi-themed exhibit was a popular attraction for visitors to take selfies, and photos circulating on social media show customers -- including children -- posing with Hitler and in some cases using the Nazi salute.

Misbah said he thought it was "normal' for visitors to take photos in front of displays, but said the museum respected the exhibit had upset people from around the world.

Historians have blamed poor schooling for the lack of awareness and sensitivity about the Holocaust in Indonesia, which is home to the world's biggest Muslim population and a small number of Jews.

In January, a controversial Nazi-themed cafe in the western Javanese city of Bandung closed.

The venue, which featured swastika-bearing walls and photos of Hitler, sparked global uproar when reports about the unusual venue surfaced several years ago.

Riyadh's palatial Ritz-Carlton has reportedly morphed into a makeshift prison after the kingdom's unprecedented crackdown on its coddled elite

Riyadh's palatial Ritz-Carlton has reportedly morphed into a makeshift prison after the kingdom's unprecedented crackdown on its coddled elite https://t.co/F3DQZMuHCu

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 10, 2017

Advocacy Groups, Celebrities Call for End to Barbaric Dog Meat Trade in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Dhania Sarahtika, November 09, 2017

An animal rights collective, known as Dog Meat Free Indonesia Coalition,
together with world-renowned celebrities launched a global campaign to stop
the trade in dog meat on Thursday (02/11) at Hotel Gran Mahakam in South
Jakarta, in light of recent disturbing findings of animal cruelty in the Southeast
Asian country. (Photo courtesy of Dog Meat Free Indonesia Coalition)

Jakarta. An animal rights collective, known as Dog Meat Free Indonesia Coalition, together with world-renowned celebrities launched a global campaign to stop the trade in dog meat on Thursday (02/11) at Hotel Gran Mahakam in South Jakarta, in light of recent disturbing findings of animal cruelty in the Southeast Asian country.

The coalition consists of the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), Animal Friends Jogja (AFJ), Change for Animals Foundation and Humane Society International. Celebrities taking part in the initiative include British actors Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley and Peter Egan, as well as Indonesian singer Gamaliel Tapiheru and actresses Sophia Latjuba and Chelsea Islan.

The campaign video, titled "I Didn’t Know," shows terrified-looking dogs in sacks and trucks being transported to slaughterhouses. The celebrities have invited viewers to join the campaign and sign an online petition.

"I didn’t know the magnitude. Literally millions of dogs are slaughtered for food in Indonesia every year. It has to be condemned and we have to stop it," Gervais said in the video.

"We have the ability to be their voice and defend them. Though they don’t talk, it doesn’t mean that they want to be killed, especially in a cruel way," Sophia said during the press conference.

Other celebrities, who did not take part in the official video campaign yet are animal activists, also spoke up.

"Dogs are like my children. If something happens to them, I will chase the criminal to court or to hell if I need to," singer Melani Subono said.

Cruelty Beyond Belief

Halting animal cruelty is the main impetus behind the initiative. According to JAAN co-founder Karin Franken, a series of investigations that have been carried out since late 2014 revealed that about a million dogs in Indonesia are brutally killed every year.

The investigations started after an increase in the number of reports of missing dogs and passersby seeing dogs roughly snatched from the streets and private properties.

Several key areas in the meat trade chain include Manado (North Sulawesi), Java, Bali, Sumatra, and Flores (East Nusa Tenggara).

Dogs are usually crammed onto the back of trucks for a long drive with their legs and mouths bound with string.

"I tracked the suppliers up to the slaughterhouses. The dogs were all in terrible fear and some even died en route," AFJ co-founder Angelina Pane, who conducted investigations in Solo (Central Java) and Yogyakarta, said.

She witnessed dogs being beaten to death by their handlers.

National Health Threat

Less than 7 percent of Indonesians eat dog meat, but are still at risk due to the transmission of rabies and other zoonotic diseases due to a lack of reporting on the animals' health before being slaughtered and miserable and unsanitary slaughterhouse conditions.

"One of our investigations shows that dogs from Cianjur [West Java] were butchered and the leftovers were thrown into the gutter," Franken said.

Provinces that have achieved rabies-free statuses, like Jakarta and Yogyakarta, are still vulnerable to the disease since they import dog meat from places like Bali and Cianjur, where there are many reported cases of rabies. The country has set a target of achieving zero rabies cases by 2020.

Progress in Law Enforcement

So far there are no laws banning people from eating and trading dog meat in the country. Because eating dog is already part of some cultures, particularly among non-Muslim Manadonese and Bataknese communities, deeming it illegal is not an easy process.

Existing animal welfare laws are not a reliable measure to stop the barbaric slaughtering because they do not pose severe enough punishments against people who commit animal cruelty. According to Law No. 41/2014, which is the revised version of Law No. 18/2009 on Husbandry and Animal Health, a person who abuses an animal faces only one to six months in prison or a maximum fine of Rp 5,000,000 ($370).

However, AFJ has held meetings with the Solo Legislative Council (DPRD) on the matter.

Focus group discussions have also been held in tandem with the Yogyakarta Provincial Administration to draft a new regulation on the meat trade. The regulation will state that sold meat must comply with a series of principles, abbreviated to "ASUH," which translates to safe, healthy, undamaged and halal.

Since dog meat is commonly considered non-halal by Muslims, the provisional regulation is expected to be a baby step towards ending the trade, though Angelina claimed that religion actually has nothing to do with the dog trade because most of the butchers she met were Muslims.

In Jakarta, JAAN has collaborated with the Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Security Agency (Dinas KPKP) to educate the public by hosting workshops on spaying and neutering pets, vaccination and responsible pet ownership to avoid an increased population of stray or ill dogs.

They are also in talks of introducing pet microchips to help owners track their stolen pets.

Indonesia to open first contemporary art gallery

Yahoo – AFP, Harry PEARL, November 3, 2017

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of more than 250 million people, is home
to a vibrant art scene but lacks high-quality museums (AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia's first international gallery of contemporary art opens Saturday, bringing together works by Ai Weiwei, Mark Rothko and Indonesian masters in a freeflowing modern space overlooking the Jakarta skyline.

The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN) holds nearly 800 paintings and sculptures, and aims to provide a world-class gallery to a country starved of quality museum infrastructure.

The collection, mostly acquired by businessman Haryanto Adikoesoemo over the past 25 years, is showcased in an airy 4,000 square metre space on the fifth floor of a city tower.

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of more than 250 million people, is home to a vibrant art scene but lacks high-quality museums.

"What we are offering is something very different to what already exists in Indonesia. We are one of kind in a sense of our international and national focus," museum director Aaron Seeto told AFP.

The opening underlines growing interest in Southeast Asian art and comes amid a number of high-profile gallery launches this year outside of Europe and North America.

Cape Town’s Zeitz MOCAA opened in September and the Louvre Abu Dhabi is set to open this month.

Seeto said Museum MACAN is uniquely positioned to boost the profile of Southeast Asian art.

"We really want to encourage cultural exchange, but also working relationships with other museums around the world."

Around half the museum's collection is Indonesian, and the remainder takes in international works including paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Willem de Kooning, and sculptures by Yayoi Kusama and Damien Hirst.

Designed by London’s MET Studio, the museum will also feature conservation and education spaces, which Seeto hopes will help boost the appreciation of art within Indonesia.

The museum occupies an airy 4,000 square metre space on the fifth floor of 

a city tower (AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

Civic role

The gallery's inaugural exhibition "Art Turns. World Turns" features 90 pieces from Indonesian and international artists.

Works by Raden Saleh, the founder of modern Indonesian painting, hang alongside pop artist Andy Warhol and Chinese realist Luo Zhongli.

Several pieces tackle issues pertinent to current political debate in Indonesia.

FX Harsono weighs in on the treatment of ethnic-Chinese minorities in his painting "Wipe Out #1", while Balinese artist Dewa Ngakan Made Ardana addresses Indonesia’s 1960s anti-communist massacres in "A Father is Trying to Collect the Memories of His Family".

Arahmaiani Feisal’s painting "Lingga-Yoni", meanwhile, is being displayed for the first time since she was forced to flee Indonesia in the 1990s.

The painting, which overlays Hindu iconography of male and female genitalia on Arabic script, infuriated Islamic hardliners who threatened to kill her.

Seeto said the piece was an important acquisition for the museum and highlights the future role it can play in fostering discussion.

"Even though we are a private museum we very much consider that what we do occurs within the public sphere," he said.

"The museum has a civic responsibility".

Indonesia opens first contemporary art gallery #MuseumMACAN #Jakarta pic.twitter.com/7DjvZd7pwy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 4, 2017

Climbing Australia's giant red rock Uluru banned

Yahoo – AFP, November 1, 2017

Traditional owners and National Park representatives have decided to ban the
 climbing of Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, from October 2019 amid fears it
was being treated as a 'theme park' (AFP Photo/Greg Wood)

Sydney (AFP) - Climbing the world's largest monolith Uluru was banned Wednesday amid concerns it was becoming a "theme park", undermining the giant red rock's deep cultural significance.

Scrambling up the symbol of the Outback, also known as Ayers Rock, is seen by many tourists as a must-do on their visit to Australia.

But they do so against the wishes of the traditional Aboriginal owners, the Anangu, to whom the site is sacred.

At a meeting of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board, made up of traditional owners and National Park representatives, a unanimous decision was made to ban the activity.

It will come into force in October 2019.

"This decision is for both Anangu and non-Anangu together to feel proud about; to realise, of course it’s the right thing to close it," board chairman Sammy Wilson said.

Speaking to state broadcaster ABC after the decision, he added that the site was not a "theme park".

"Some people in tourism and government for example might have been saying we need to keep it open but it's not their law that lies in this land," he said.

"It is an extremely important place, not a playground or theme park like Disneyland."

The rock's traditional Aboriginal owners' connection to the site dates back tens of thousands of years and it has great spiritual and cultural significance to them.

Wilson urged tourists to respect the ruling.

"If I travel to another country and there is a sacred site, an area of restricted access, I don’t enter or climb it, I respect it," he said in the statement.

"It is the same here for Anangu. We welcome tourists here. We are not stopping tourism, just this activity."

Park authorities have long looked to close the climb permanently. It is currently left up to visitors to decide whether to tackle the sandstone monolith, which soars 348 metres (1,148 feet).

About 300,000 people visit each year and, while there are no official figures on how many climb, their numbers are reported to have declined significantly.

Tackling Uluru's sandstone slopes is not an easy exercise and there have been numerous deaths over the years on the rock, where summer temperatures often hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

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