Which is the best beach in Bali? We haven’t been before and want to get it right. We like nice sand and clear water of course, some palms if possible, but nothing actually deserted ­ a beach bar and somewhere to walk to lunch would be great. And not a huge drive from the airport please.

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: I’d say to avoid Kuta Beach, which is great fun for a day, but not for a week, and Nusa Dua, which in fencing out local people and culture from its enclave of hotels, has rather passed its sell by date.

So Sanur is the one for you. It’s a lovely stretch of white sand, with a mild surf, and a much more villagey atmosphere than its brasher cousins around Kuta. It seems sleepy at first, on first squint, and it¹s true that it doesn’t have the beach parties and surfie goings on of the western beaches, but it has some terrific hotels and restaurants, a more relaxed and less hassley ambiance, and walking along the pathway at the back of the beach is a real pleasure.

If you need a burst of Kuta it’s only five miles away, and easily reached by taxi ­ the airport is a little farther on past Kuta.

On the downside though, it is on the eastern side of southern Bali, so while it’s perfect for sunrise gazing, the sun sets behind tress and hotels. For something even quieter, and more secluded, you might try Candi Dasa beach.

It’s about 30 miles to the northeast. There are good hotels and restaurants, but the beach has suffered terrible erosion thanks to the landside development and destruction of much of the reef as building material.

By Richard Green

The yoga bug is fast catching on among the people of Indonesia, especially in the island of Bali, who are seeking better health, cure of ailments or beauty through the ancient Indian practice despite the ban on certain elements of yoga.

“I have been learning yoga for the past one year at the Bali India Foundation under the aegis of professor Somvir. The benefits have been amazing – I feel good about myself,” A.A. Ayu Sri Wariyani Se, a 43-year-old entrepreneur, said.

“My son has also started learning yoga now. And I have also turned vegetarian because of this…although I do give in to the temptation of fish at times,” she added.

Like many others, Sri was introduced to yoga by her friends.

“My friend was learning yoga from a Balinese instructor here and told me about the great benefits of the art. Then when I came to know about an Indian spiritual guru teaching yoga here, I joined in. Now I follow all the dietary advice that he gives me,” she said.

Among the modifications in her diet are having a glass of warm milk with a pinch of turmeric at night. For common ailments like indigestion, she again trusts ayurvedic medicine.

T. Apriyani, a yoga instructor here, said that she was introduced to the art by her friends.

“I learnt from a Western instructor here and then went to Malaysia to learn more about yoga. Although I have become an instructor now, I want to learn hatha yoga for which I plan to go to Mysore in India sometime this year,” Apriyani said.

For a country that saw its topmost Muslim body implement regulations on certain elements of yoga, the fan following for the art is overwhelming.

According to Somvir, an Indian academic who set up the Bali India Foundation to teach yoga more than a decade ago, there are more than 10 million people practising yoga in Indonesia.

“People here are realising the therapeutic effect of yoga. That is why we have 10 doctors from government hospitals learning yoga. And if all goes well, we will introduce yoga in two private hospitals here too,” Somvir told IANS.

“And it’s not just people from one community learning yoga. In the past two years I have trained more than 100 Muslims and students from other communities. We are trying to tell people that yoga is beyond religion…it’s just a means to a healthy life.”

Source: The Times Of India

Hotels in Bali are slashing room rates amid falling occupancies as the global economic downturn takes its toll on the tourism-dependent economy.

Total foreign arrivals hit a record 1.97 million last year as the island recovered from the impact of the 2005 terrorist attack. The second biggest market behind Japan, Australia accounted for more than 300,000 visitors, up 51 per cent from 2007.

However, the recovery is expected to be disrupted amid the international credit crunch, with the Bali Tourism Authority estimating foreign visitor numbers will drop 8.6 per cent to 1.8 million this year.

Hotels are scrambling to fill rooms. Budget and mid-range properties popular with Kiwis are offering the steepest discounts, with some halving published rates, while upmarket resorts hit by a slowing in the executive market are trying to be more creative in their response to the downturn.

“Some two- and three-star hotels are panicking and cutting their rack rates,” said Bali Hotels Association executive director Djinaldi Gosana.

“That’s a bad idea. We know from experience after the Bali bombings that once we cut the rate, it’s very difficult to put up again.”

The three-star Melasti Beach Hotel in Legian is offering its standard room at US$45 (NZ$87) net per night, down from US$96, and is throwing in breakfast for free, while the four-star Dynasty Hotel in Tuban has cut its standard rate to US$80 from US$145.

The price war is prompting a rethink from many Australians who would otherwise be reluctant to travel in the current economic climate.

“I know a lot of people who have cancelled European trips and are instead coming to Bali,” said Fiona Healy from Melbourne, who spent two weeks on the island.

Meanwhile, although top-end hotels are sharing the pain, they are more reluctant to reduce rates, Djinaldi said.

Instead, they are offering bonus nights, meals or spa treatments to wealthy guests who are reining in lavish lifestyles.

The exclusive Amanresorts group, which has three properties in Bali, said it had no plans to reduce rates, but had cancelled a planned hike that would have taken its minimum published rate from $US908 to US$1029.

“We are not dropping our rates,” said Amanresorts Indonesia area manager Monty Brown.

“However, we recently took a decision to maintain our 2008 rates throughout 2009 rather than introduce a planned increase.”

Some hotels such as The Bale in Nusa Dua were quick to increase rates at the height of peak season last year before tourist numbers started dropping.

Now, they are loathe to bring them back down. The Bale’s general manager Jose Luis Calle said he believed bookings would pick up in the next few months. He is holding prices steady despite a 20-30 per cent drop in occupancy this month from a year ago.

“We just put our room rates up by 10 per cent last August to September following a refurbishment and we are maintaining those, but with added values from bonus room nights and meals depending on the market, which makes the rate pretty much the same as before the hike,” he said.

“We are offering more value for money because people are thinking twice about going on holiday now. This time it’s not just a Bali issue, it’s global.”

This sentiment is echoed by The Legian, whose top villa carries a US$3000 per night price tag in the fashionable seaside resort of Seminyak.

The hotel is experiencing a 10-15 per cent dip in occupancy, sales and marketing director Samuel Gacos said.

“Our focus is not rate adjustment but rather extending more value to our offers,” he said, adding “There’s a shift in travel patterns generally. The frequency of travel is reduced, the average length of stay is shorter, and bookings are made last minute”.

By MARIAN CARROLL

Source: Stuff Co NZ

THE first Jetstar flight from Darwin to Bali left last night.

The new service will also connect to Brisbane and the budget airline says it is the next step in Darwin becoming an international hub.

The Denpasar-bound flight had the first Territory-trained flight attendants on board.

Jetstar customer service manager Casey Lahiff was among the Darwin-based graduate class to crew the new international flight.

She told the Northern Territory News she was looking forward to the flights.

“I’ve always wanted to be a flight attendant, ever since I can remember,” she said.

“Three years ago I was a domestic flight attendant – when Jetstar extended their Darwin services, they offered me this opportunity.”

Darwin to Denpasar is the third international flight Jetstar operates from the NT capital.

Flights to Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City have been running for some time.

Jetstar chief executive officer Bruce Buchanan said the new service demonstrated the airline’s commitment to the development of Darwin as an international and domestic flying hub.

BY DANIEL BOURCHIER

Source: Northern Territory News

Speaking in Washington ahead of the recent Group of 20 global economic summit, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, popularly known as SBY, said his country offered a “shining example where democracy, Islam and modernity thrive together”.

In the same address, he praised President George W Bush as “one of the most pro-Indonesia American presidents in the history of our bilateral relations” while hedging, “There is no better story, no better example, of the virtue of people-to-people connections than the powerful impact of Barack Obama’s election to today’s Indonesians.”

With the world’s single-largest Muslim population stretched across a vast archipelago of over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is an important regional actor and counterterrorism ally for the US. As Southeast Asia’s biggest and the world’s fourth-largest country, Indonesia’s complex domestic politics will represent a significant challenge to Obama’s foreign policy, which is expected to de-emphasize Bush’s counterterrorism initiatives towards the region.

Just days before SBY’s US visit, Indonesian authorities executed three of the men involved in the 2002 Bali bombings, a terror attack that killed 202 civilians, many of them Australian and European tourists. The potential for a backlash after the executions remains hard to quantify, but for now appears to be minimal, according to experts.

“Commentary on Indonesian websites indicates that most people have got the message that the Bali bombers were just common murderers, and there does not seem to be any indication that their potential martyrdom has recruited anyone,” said Adrian Vickers, professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Sydney.

Yet others say the possibility of future anti-Western attacks in Indonesia cannot be ruled out. Ahmad Suraedy, executive director of Jakarta’s Wahid Institute, linked to the former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, said “there are some groups that gave public support for the actors and groups, including for those executed. [The eventual outcome] will depend on the Indonesian government’s terrorism policy”.

That US-backed policy has in general been a success, at least over the short term. But questions remain over its long-term viability. The widespread revulsion and fears caused by the Bali bombings, coming so soon after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the US, focused minds in Jakarta’s political and security establishment.

A US- and Australian-backed joint intelligence effort, fronted by a local police unit known as Detachment 88, snared a number of high-profile Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror suspects, including Abu Dujana, who was arrested in July 2007 and thought to be the militant group’s military leader.

JI had carried out numerous attacks, first against Indonesian Christians in 2000, before changing tack to focus on Western interests and civilians. Still a legal entity in Indonesia, JI is widely deemed a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaeda and a desire to impose a caliphate across Southeast Asian Muslim regions, encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand and the southern Philippines. Since the Bali bombings, JI is thought to have been severely weakened with the arrests of hundreds of its suspected supporters and operatives. Yet analysts say risks remain.

“Detachment 88 is the most capable counterterror unit in Southeast Asia,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of Singapore’s International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research and the author of numerous books on international terrorism.

Yet he argues that Indonesia’s overall counter-terrorism strategy is flawed, lacking the political vigor and strategic direction necessary for the longer-term. “Indonesia’s political and religious leaders must build new platforms to counter ideology,” he said, expressing concerns Indonesian authorities are reluctant to confront radicalism.

Gunaratna believes Abu Bakr Bashir, the radical cleric widely regarded as JI’s founding father who spent 26 months in jail for his alleged role in the Bali bombings, has been handled too leniently. “Bashir must be dealt with – he should go back to jail,” Gunaratna said. Referring to Bashir’s stated plans to jump into party politics ahead of 2009 elections, he added: “The Indonesian authorities must not allow him become a political figure.”

Conservative constituency
Some say fears of a conservative Islamic backlash factored into the secular government’s handling of the Bali bombers, which over the course of six years became a long-drawn media saga in which the accused were given ample publicity opportunities to profess their lack of remorse before their eventual executions. They were executed amid much media fanfare earlier this month.

“The three terrorists most responsible for the carnage in Bali in October 2002 have finally been executed after months of uncertainty that turned the waiting into a public spectacle that only upset and infuriated relatives of the victims and prolonged their pain,” the Jakarta Post said in an editorial the day after the sentences were carried out. (See Media-savvy ending for Bali bombers, Asia Times Online, November 17, 2008.)

Other potential flashpoints across this 240 million-plus country, comprising hundreds of different languages and ethnic groups, include the Sulawesi and the Maluka regions where Muslims and Christians have clashed in the past. Ahmad Suraedy believes that “the Indonesian government provides little protection to minorities, including Muslim minority sects” leaving the country “vulnerable to violence given the many religions and ethnicities”.

Despite these concerns, Obama’s recent election success has energized many Indonesians, enhancing at least temporarily perceptions of the US and the West at the expense of JI and other homegrown radical and intolerant groups.

Just days after Obama’s win, SBY stated, “He spoke our language, knew our culture, ate our food, played with Indonesian friends from various ethnic backgrounds.” He regaled listeners in Washington on how students and teachers at Besuki Elementary, Obama’s old school in Jakarta, danced and wept when the election result came through.

Tricia Iskander, Jakarta representative of the US-Indonesia Society, told Asia Times Online that “Indonesians have high expectations of Obama, as he is considered familiar with Indonesia where he spent his childhood. Many people perceive that his win will boost bilateral relations”.

Ahmad Suraedy added: “The Obama election will change perceptions in Indonesia. Not only of the US, but it could have a positive impact on inter-religious relations across the archipelago.” If so, there are still conflicting signals. The recent passage of a broadly written and long controversial anti-pornography law was widely viewed as a government sop to conservative Islamic forces in an election season.

And there are still radical groups such as the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which brought 90,000 supporters out to a rally at a Jakarta stadium in August 2007 where its leaders condemned democracy as contrary to Islam, lurking in the wings. And it wasn’t that long ago that a 2006 poll found that one out of every ten Indonesians supported terrorist attacks if they were carried out to “protect the faith”.

Such conservative views, to be sure, are still in the minority. Nadlatul Ulama and Muhammidiyah, Indonesia’s two main mass Muslim organizations with a combined membership of over 70 million adherents, both condemned the executed Bali bombers as terrorists and insisted they should not be glorified as martyrs. Both groups have branched out into multifaceted social and educational portfolios and have softened their previous calls for an Islamic state to be established in Indonesia.

That’s in line with the wider popular aspiration for prosperity in a country that has recovered more slowly than others from the debilitating 1998 Asian financial crisis. Economic rather than counter-terrorism issues could, for better or worse, define a new era of US-Indonesian relations under Obama. “Some Indonesians are worried that the Democrats will focus on issues that this country might not like, such as human rights, and will have a protectionist economic policy,” said the US-Indonesia Society’s Iskander.

By Simon Roughneen

Source: Asia Times