Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 1 July, 2011 : – - Kuta, Bali — Australian 5-time World Champion Surfing Legend Mark Richards joined fellow previous surfing world champions Martin Potter and Cheyne Horan as well as Pipeline Master Jake Paterson in a press conference at the Harris Hotel on world famous Kuta Beach on Friday afternoon July 1st to support the inaugural Big Bali Eco Weekend environmental event that will take place on Kuta Beach this weekend on July 2-3rd.

“I haven’t been to Bali since 1980,” said Richards during the press conference, “and to say it has changed a lot is a huge understatement. I hardly recognized the place, with the heavy traffic, big buildings and cars and motorbikes everywhere. But was hasn’t changed are the waves, which is what made Bali the tourist destination that it is today.

“I have such great memories of Bali and I hope that we can start to change things by making the public, politicians and business aware of their responsibility to the environment with this event. As surfers we all love this place and don’t want it destroyed, but rather returned to a more natural state so we and future generations can continue to enjoy it.”

Potter and Horan echoed Richard’s sentiments, expressing their support for the effort to bring Bali back to a more natural and clean condition, with Horan giving Steve Palmer kudo’s saying “Every since I can remember, Steve has always been at the forefront of the environmental efforts here in Bali to clean things up, trying to get the government on board.

Today we had the Governor of Bali and also the Minister of the Environment in the same room and listening to us, a first and very significant step in the right direction. Congratulations to Steve and the rest of the team and thanks for the invitation to come here and be a part of this event.”

The press conference was officially opened by Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia President Director Peter Kelly, with additional speeches by Quiksilver Indonesia CEO Paul Hutson, Martin Potter, Jake Paterson, Bruce Waterfield, and last year’s King of the Grom winner Andre Julian.

Earlier in the day, also at the Harris Hotel, the Bali Clean and Green Muliti-Stakeholder Networking for Solutions Forum was held and was officially opened by Indonesia’s Minister of the Environment Prof. DR. Ir. Gusti Muh. Hatta and the Governor of Bali I Made Mangku Pastika. It is the first in a series of events whose purpose is to bring all the stakeholders together to create practical solutions to the current environmental challenges Bali faces, starting with waste management.

The Big Bali Eco Weekend is a combined effort by Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia and Quiksilver Indonesia to heighten awareness of the environmental issues facing Bali and to generate support for their efforts to clean up the beaches, preserve the turtle population, clean up the water supply and educate the local population on how to properly dispose of their trash.

Gusti Muhammad Hatta, the Minister of the Environment, has voiced his full support to a program of the provincial government’s “Bali Clean and Green” – especially in the control of trash in Bali.

According to the State News Agency Antara, the Minister, who spoke at a press conference launching “Bali Clean and Green – Stakeholder for Solutions Forum” at the Harris Resort Kuta on Friday, July 1, 2011, said: “The Ministry of the Environment completely supports the government of Bali’s program, particularly as it applies to the perpetual problem of trash. It is for this reason that I have come to Bali.”

The Ministry has formulated trash control policies and is working to educate the public on the need to reduce waste and handle trash correctly.

Governor Pastika said he hope that community leaders would not merely make a show of their desire to make Bali clean and green, but take concrete steps to save Bali’s environment. “I hope this movement will be the first giant step. We don’t need to debate; let’s get to the core of the issue,” said Pastika.

The governor called on the public to reduce the use of plastics, by reducing their use of plastic bags by one piece per day, and by demonstrating their commitment to cleanliness by throwing trash in the correct place.

Said the governor: “Reducing the use of plastic by one piece per day can be very meaningful. We have to force people to stop making the use of plastic a part of their lives. If we force them now, later it will become a habit.”

The governor said a provincial law on trash has been written and is awaiting ratification by the provincial House of Representatives (DPRD-Bali) and final implementation.

The Bali Clean and Green Multi-Stakeholder Group is an alliance comprised of non-government organizations, local communities, and businesses. The groups are supported by the chief of Bali Environmental Agency (BLH-Bali), A.A.G.A. Sastrawan.

On Bali’s first sunny day after months of wet season, about 1000 beach vendors were scooping rubbish on Kuta’s famous beach. Patrols of garbage collection officers driving along the sand yelled from loud speakers for other hawkers to pitch in.

Since the resort island’s recent bad rap in a US magazine, dubbing it a risk for “holidays in hell”, the reverberations have gone viral. Authorities concur that rising crime, rubbish, pollution, traffic bottlenecks, shoddy infrastructure and overdevelopment are problems. But beach rubbish is the easily achievable priority.

There’s nothing like politicians under pressure to get things moving. The beach looked almost pristine as clean-up crews waited for a nod of approval from visiting Indonesian Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik. When Indonesia’s tourism jewel is under threat, communications run like clockwork.

Wacik is anticipating the 4500 daily foreign tourist arrivals, sometimes swelling to 7000, to boost Indonesia’s tourism profits to $US8.5 billion this year, an 11.8 per cent increase over last. “I am optimistic this year’s target can be achieved,” he said recently.

Bali generates 30 per cent of national tourist revenue, an estimated $US3.5bn a year. However, about 60 per cent of tourist income leaves the island, according to Bagus Sudibya, a senior member of the Bali Tourism Board, the industry body, and a local travel agency leader.

But how can the modest island of Bali, about half the size of greater Sydney, sustain another forecast massive tourist and development surge, mostly consigned to its south?

Government and industry officials have been warning for years that rampant development eventually will erupt into environmental disaster. But now the defining underlying deficiencies of planning in the island province — lack of regulation, weak law enforcement and corruption — are subjecting tourists to obnoxious effects.

As well, a security alert warning Australian travellers — still Bali’s greatest supporters — of “the very high threat of terrorist attack” after the foiling of a Good Friday bomb plot in Jakarta, may also put a dampener on tourist influxes. Although the strong Aussie dollar perhaps has more pull and visitor numbers are strong. Bali has bounced back from the horrific 2002 and 2005 Bali terrorist attacks in which scores of Australians were killed.

Australian arrivals, making up a quarter of foreign visitors, jumped 28 per cent to 156,000 in the first three months of this year, compared with the corresponding period last year. Overall, foreign arrivals rose 10 per cent. If sustained, the island will host a record 2.7 million touriststhis year. Japan, which has declined dramatically as a source, ranks second after Australia, followed by China.

Yet if Bali is to retain its mantle as a top global tourist destination it needs to clean up its act quickly and enforce planning regulations, officials say.

“It’s urgent,” says the head of the Bali Tourism Board, Ngurah Wijaya, welcoming the critical media spotlight he hopes may unlock a political stalemate impeding development regulations.

“(The Time magazine article) was good [as a warning]. We have been complaining to the government for four years about the lack of infrastructure and over-issuing of hotel licences,” he says. “The problem comes from the mayors [regency heads, of which there are eight] issuing the building licences.”

Though Bali’s Governor, Made Mangku Pastika, has issued a moratorium on hotel construction and new licences in tourism areas, mainly in the southern tourist hub, local mayors are fighting to retain the revenue drip.

The cost of development is seen in traffic congestion and hazardous roads on which an estimated 2.4 million vehicles vie for space, paralysing access and causing frequent accidents. There is a sense of trepidation in the lead up to the annual July-August tourist rush, with business owners questioning how the place will function.

Jason Childs, an Australian expatriate photographer and surfer who has lived on Bali for 18 years with his family, says the lure of the island, with its surf, small-town vibe and Balinese culture, is fading as its natural beauty diminishes.

“As a photographer it’s one of the most amazing places to live in the world. But I didn’t come to live in a city and all the other problems that come with it,” says Childs. “The pace slowed after the [terrorist] bombings, but it has accelerated since 2005 at a pace nobody could have planned for. The sad thing is there’s a lot of talk, but there’s no action at the moment, and it’s a scary thing. For the amount of development that’s going on . . . there’s no infrastructure being put in,” he says. Roads, sewerage and rubbish collection are in need of urgent attention.

“A standard half-hour trip can take three hours now,” he says.

How long does he believe it will be before tourists have had enough? “It’s already happening,” says Childs. “We have Australian friends who are regulars saying ‘We don’t want to come back.’ The surf, the traffic, the whole deal, it’s getting too crowded. People are becoming prisoners in their hotels or villas because they prefer not to venture into the traffic chaos. If it’s not urgent, you don’t go out. Or you walk. You can still have a great holiday, but with less of a Balinese [cultural] experience.”

Sitting on Kuta beach with friends, West Australian tourist Melanie Reynolds describes a two-hour evening taxi trip from one part of Kuta’s hub to another, usually a 10-minute walk or five on a motor bike. She and her friends have stopped taking taxis, preferring a drenching in tropical downpours to sitting in traffic jams.

“We go on bikes or walk. I won’t sit in a taxi for two hours. The weather has been so bad, but I don’t care if I get wet. A lot of tourists have ended up with motorbikes, but it’s dangerous,” she says citing heavily potholed roads. Residents and expats compare the snarling mass of congested motorbikes, cars and trucks to Jakarta’s crippled queues. The difference is Bali is a small island.

In theory, there are moves to make Bali more amenable again, but a whole vision is lacking. There are plans to build a 560km rail system around Bali by 2014 and a road underpass all the way from Kuta to the hotel enclave of Nusa Dua in the south, although neither has been started. A toll road linking the airport to Nusa Dua is due to be finished in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in 2013. A $US210m revamp for the dilapidated Ngurah Rai international airport is scheduled for completion in 2013, but it may add to overcrowding woes.

“Nothing much has been done about the traffic problems,” says environmental advocate Wayan Suardana, who is a participant in devising the urban masterplan under protracted discussion.

Suardana is also chairman of the Indonesia Environment Forum (known as Walhi) in Bali. He says “no matter how many new roads are build, they will not be sufficient unless the government develops adequate and easily accessible public transport”.

Undoubtedly, the provision of a comprehensive public transport system, not more roads, is the solution, agrees Gusti Ayu Made Suartika, a lecturer in architecture, urban planning and development at Udayana University in Bali. “If high-density tourism is to be sustained the government must establish subsidised public transport and control the number of vehicles on the roads. But there is no incentive,” Suartika says.

“The government doesn’t regulate the numbers of vehicles and ownership because it’s a source of revenue . . . every vehicle [owner] pays tax and registration,” she says. “That’s an income for the government. If the government puts a stop on cars, where are we going to get next year’s budget?”

Road users would also oppose it. The rising middle class of Balinese enjoys its wealth and would be reluctant to swap cars for public transport. Nor would the ubiquitous motor scooter owners be happy to abandon their cheap but high-polluting modes of transport.

Citing the tourism imperative, Suartika, who is also a researcher at the University of NSW, says Bali “needs a sustainable blueprint and, at the end of the day, money will solve everything. It will save our environment and our culture. When the environment is not there to support the culture, where is the revenue?”

She describes the complexity, which includes Bali’s cultural beliefs and sanctity of land to the Balinese, in her 2009 book, Morphing Bali: The State, Planning and Culture. Arguing for culturally sensitive urban planning, she writes: “Combined with corrupt practices, preferential treatment to elites and monopolistic intervention, it is clear that a modern planning system is barely present.”

The Balinese have had regional autonomy since 2001, but outside money drives development. Ngurah Karyadi, a member of Walhi and founder of Bali’s Legal Aid Institute, fears more business investment from Jakarta will precipitate a “recolonisation of Bali”. Research shows investment, particularly for big projects, is dominated by wealthy investors from Jakarta and Surabaya in Java.

At Bali’s southern surfers’ paradise of Bukit, a 400ha project, the Bali Pecatu Indah Resort, is being developed by controversial figure Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Suharto. Tommy, as he is generally known, is said to be the face behind the fledging National Republic Party that was registered at the end of April in Jakarta. He served four years of a 15-year jail sentence for funding the murder of a judge who convicted him of graft before being released in 2006. His huge project will include five-star hotels, a golf course, schools, hospitals and a desalination water plant.

Another big development is the Anantara Resort Uluwatu, built into a cliff facing Impossible Beach, a favourite surfing hangout. Bukit, a dry, clifftop region renowned for its wild surf and international competitions, has until now had little investor interest, mainly due to a lack of fresh water.

“One or two decades ago, no one was interested in that area because of bad infrastructure, no water, nothing to plant there,” says Michael Gunawan, manager of Ray White Kuta, Bali, the marketing agent for one of the hotels planned for the site.

“But now it has almost become the future Beverly Hills of Bali . . . a real, fully integrated tourism resort. It’s also creating employment and providing infrastructure,” he says, reflecting the pro-development sentiment of many locals in the tourism sector.

The governor’s objective is to place future tourism development away from the south — including from Bukit — so as to lessen environmental effects and create alternative tourism hubs, but this may prove arduous. As part of the decentralisation aim, there are plans for a new international airport for Singaraja in the north, and new facilities in the east, linking to other islands. However, Bahal Edison Naiborhu, director for spatial land management at the Public Works Ministry in Jakarta, while supportive, acknowledges that investment in remote areas is unattractive.

One of a growing band of development dissenters, Bayu Susila, from an environmental and urban development non-government organisation called Balifokus, says: “I want my government to develop other regions [in Indonesia] and stop developing Bali. It’s enough. The problem is Bali is a captive market for tourism and investors are not confident they will make good returns elsewhere.”

Says Edison, who represents the central government in Bali’s planning meetings: “The main obstacles to getting things done are poor co-ordination, lack of infrastructure, lack of co-operation from local government, mostly sectoral development, ineffective development control and law enforcement and corruption.”

Under regulations, 30 per cent of land is zoned green, but laws are increasingly flouted as locals sell coveted rice paddies at escalating profits. Though a bylaw regulates development of tourism facilities near temples, on cliffs and coastlines, it is little deterrent.

Childs calls the Bali boom “rape and pillaging” by Western speculators, but many people have their fingers in the pie. From Kuta to Seminyak, even in tiny gangs (laneways), frenetic construction noise lasts deep into evening and narrow roads are choked by lumbering concrete mixers, cranes, trucks, cars and plagues of motor bikes.

Bizarrely, about half a dozen cranes overhang the foreshores of Kuta beach, spitting dust and noise where tourists sunbake and swim. On a 5.2ha site, a multi-billion-dollar complex developed by a Jakarta company incorporating hotels, restaurants and retail is underway. Carparks will accommodate 1000 cars, but getting to the heart of Kuta’s beach may be problematic. As Childs says, what’s the point of building new hotels if you can’t get to them?

Last year’s census shows, minus tourists and migrants, that Bali’s population swelled to 3.9m , up 20 per cent in a decade and far exceeding a supposed ideal of 2.5m people.

Foreign arrivals, at 2.5m a year, are additional along with the growing domestic tourist market at about five million visitors a year.

Bali’s Statistics Office estimates that there are roughly 400,000 unregistered internal migrants in Bali, mainly from east Java and Lombok, but authentic figures are unknown.

Many, drawn to the promise of regular construction work, for which the wages are unacceptably low to the Balinese, rarely return to their original homes. Rather, they invite their relatives to join them.

“Usually they are people with no education, they cannot fund a living . . . they steal . . . these are things that decrease the security of the place,” Suartika says.

Concern that domestic immigrants are swamping the island, contributing to a rising crime rate in which foreigners are frequent victims, is a common complaint. The immigrants “threaten the safety and comfort of the island”, bemoans Wacik.

When Bayu Susila from Balifokus asked Governor Pastika to find a way of bringing in internal migrant working visas, Susila recalls Pastika replied: “We can’t do that, we are a unity.”

Susila is concerned Muslim migrants are buying land and building small enclaves for relatives that exclude the Balinese and erode the island’s unique Hindu culture. “Most are moderate Muslims, but a few may swing to the Right,” he says.

In Morphing Bali, Suartika writes: “Uncontrolled numbers of internal migrants invading Bali for the last two decades and their resistance to blend with local ways of life has also added to the list of endangering impacts that Bali has to bear.”

Politics is fickle and at the beginning of April Pastika said he would waive his own ban to allow the construction of a convention centre and hotel complex on 250ha to host the 2013 APEC meeting in Jimbaran, in the south near Kuta. The land’s green zoning will be changed to allow the development despite the fact the area already has many five-star hotels and conference facilities.

“This is in the framework of projecting a good image for Indonesia, especially Bali,” he was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Globe. “Especially for that [project], the government will review its moratorium on new hotels in southern Bali which was issued in January.”

Numerous requests by Inquirer to interview Pastika were declined.

Hotels are not the only culprits in the development war. Illegal villas without building permits have mushroomed, many occupying soughtafter rice fields.

Says the vice-chairman of the Bali Tourism Board, Bagus Sudibya: “According to statistics there are more than 700 illegal villas, with over 10,000 people, mostly foreigners, not calculated to be using the infrastructure.”

Beneath that layer, says Bali litigation lawyer Simon Trombine, is a bevy of unscrupulous foreigners fraudulently selling villas to gullible compatriots who believe it’s safer to buy from a Westerner, and they can own the land themselves instead of leasing it or buying it through an Indonesian nominee whose name goes on the title.

Foreigners are ineligible to own Indonesian land and, by the time they realise, it’s too late: they’ve been fleeced, plus they now own an illegal villa.

In a pocket of Bali’s Kerobokan, a traditional Javanese warung (restaurant) has retained a feel from the past. Facing rolling emerald rice paddies, the sensation is one of eating within a picture postcard. Recently, the Balinese owner saw people measuring one of the rice fields. He shivers: “There’s no order here, and it seems like there is no government.”

Childs puts it more succinctly : “It’s anarchy,” he says referring to the consequences of government inaction on development.

Clearly, many are pondering if Bali’s halcyon days are numbered. Will the island bow to deleterious forces? Will it kill the proverbial goose?

Childs pauses, then says: “The uniqueness of the people and their culture is what separates Bali from other island holidays. That’s its magic and allure. Development is going to happen, but the environment needs to be factored in. It’s not too late.”

- Deborah Cassrels | http://www.theaustralian.com.au

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Indonesian Packaging Association held their annual gathering at the Bali Beach Hotel in Bali last week. Little Tree attended:

We brought over Robert Bobroff who is a degradable plastic expert from d2w in England to help us give a presentation about how most of the plastic presently used here could be made using degradable plastic. The big floating plastic Island in the Pacific would not be there if the plastic in it was made from degradable plastic. Of course in even using degradable plastic we still have to use the 4 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Responsibility…

Plastic is a big issue in Bali…

The Kalpataru Award is an annual recognition bestowed by the Indonesian government to individuals or groups who have pioneered conservation and environmental preservation efforts. Wayan Patut received his award at a special ceremony held at the National Palace in Jakarta on June 7, 2001, held only two days after World Environment Day on June 5th.

Beritabali.com cited Patut’s hard work dating from 2003 to re-grow coral reefs near the reclaimed beaches of Serangan that began after he saw the massive destruction coral reefs caused by reckless development of his island home.

“Before 2003, the fishermen and coral miners at Serangan, including myself, actively destroyed the surrounding reef. We cut and picked away at the coral to sell as building materials at a pretty high price,” explained Patut.

A transformed man and now a devout conservationist, Wayan Patut now dedicates himself to rebuilding the coral he once destroyed and exploited with his fellow villagers. Over the past seven years, Wayan Patut’s days have been filled with acquiring the know-how and skills to plant and encourage new coral growth off the shores of Serangan island.

At a shore-based workshop, Wayan Patut and fellow villagers build the frames with nicknames such as “reef ball” and “pyramid” on which new coral reef will be planted, take hold and grow. The group, calling itself “Karya Segara,” also make the “base rock” that is attached to the frames, acting as the catalyst for the reef that will eventually cover the frames.

The man who once destroyed coral reef is now a tireless campaigner, reminding everyone he can of the key roles played by coral in the ocean’s food chain. In this way, he warns the coming generation that the destruction of the natural environment can’t be tolerated for any reason.

Wayan Patut warns: “The coral reef is very important for the life of the sea. In addition to be the place where a variety of fish live, the coral reef also absorbs carbon, helping to clean pollution from the atmosphere.”

Despite recent criticism about severe land and water pollution, Bali has the best environment of all of the provinces, a government study shows.

The report on Indonesia’s environmental quality index in 2010 conducted by the Environment Ministry showed that Bali had a score of 99.65, the highest of all the 33 provinces.

The score takes into account the level of total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) — common parameters to measure water quality.

The province ranked third in the ministry’s previous review.

“Changes in the index for every region is determined by the amount of polluting substances and water volumes of its rivers,” said the report, officially launched last week.

The parameters also explain whether the water in the area could be utilized for drinking water or for other purposes such as irrigation, aquaculture, farming or water recreation.

International media have reported that Bali is no longer the “Island of Gods”, citing heavy polution.

Time magazine reported that Bali was a dirty and unsafe tourism destination.

“Rivers swell and flush their trash and frothing human waste into the sea off Kuta Beach, the island’s most famous tourist attraction, where bacteria bloom and the water turns muddy with dead plankton,” the report said.

It listed tap water shortages, blackouts, uncollected trash, overflowing sewage, traffic congestion and crime as major problems on the island.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry, however, has denied the accusations of poor management and tourist overload in the province.

The Bali administration has set a target of creating 130,686 hectares of green space on the island, which is 5,780 square kilometers in area.

The environment report, which was released for the second time this year, showed that Jakarta was the worst performer.

The nation’s capital, which is also the most densely populated region in the country with an average of 14,460 inhabitants per square kilometer, maintained its spot at the bottom of the list with a score of 41.81.

Of its total area of 664 square kilometers, Jakarta has only 571 hectares of green space, compared to Bali’s 176,547 hectares.

A recent survey conducted by the Clean Air Initiative (CAI) concluded that Jakarta was one of the cleanest cities in terms of air pollution, along with Bangkok, Hanoi, Jinan and Manila.

Deputy minister for environmental communications and people empowerment affairs Henry Bastaman said that 19 provinces scored higher than the national average on the environmental quality index.

The report showed that Sulawesi was the cleanest island, and that Java was the least clean.

“This proves that the environmental quality of Java is still the worst compared to other islands,” the report said.

The ministry has said it wants the environmental quality index report to be used as the basis for the argument that development programs should be focused outside of Java, as Java is too densely populated and burdened by manufacturing.

Infrastructure development in the country is also largely focused on Java.

The Environment Group WALHI is accusing provincial and local governments officials in Bali of lacking commitment in taking action against those who violate zoning laws. As reported by Beritabali.com, WALHI blames this lack of commitment and follow through as the root cause of tourism’s unrestrained expansion into every corner of the island and a blatant disregard for established zoning laws and regulations.

The Bali chairman of WALHI, Wayan Gendo Suardana, during an exchange of views with the Bali House of Representatives (DPRD-Bali), on Wednesday, June 7, 2011, cited the Beach World Complex at Nusa Dua as an example of a major project that violates the provincial zoning law Number 16 of 2009. WALHI also reminds that from its very outset, the people of the surrounding community opposed the restaurant-recreational-entertainment complex, seen to be limiting public access to the beach area.

“This project clearly violates provincial zoning laws and those who issued permits for the complex are subject to criminal prosecution, yet, the regency government remains committed that the Beach World, formerly known as the Waterpark, will go ahead,” commented Gendo.

Gendo told the legislators that, as a first step, he wants the government to institute a moratorium on development. He explained, “the moratorium is need to distance ourselves from the problems (of rampant development) in order to find a comprehensive and long-term solution.” The WALHI leader said that the moratorium promoted by Bali’s Governor in 2010 was rejected by the island’s regents who claimed the moratorium would slow the rate of investment.

Separately, Gendo asked about the status of the Bali International Park Project  (BIP) – a large conference and hotel complex which he characterized as an “order” from Jakarta in preparation for the coming Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC).

© Bali Discovery Tours. Articles may be quoted and reproduced if attributed to http://www.balidiscovery.com. All images and graphics are copyright protected.

The potential of consistent future growth on the back of rich resources, expanding domestic consumption and commendable resilience in international export markets is correctly pointed out.

Equally areas where there is a lack of competitiveness such as infrastructure woes or higher education inadequacies are also being pointed out.

The BRIC (Brazil-Russia-India-China) countries have been growing impressively for over two decades while South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia and a few others have made a deserving claim to be considered as part of the BRIC plus group since the turn of the century.

Various aspects of their competitiveness are being assessed such as soundness of their banking systems, integration with globalized economies, policy reforms, development of capital markets and others.

However, another vital barometer for economic progress needs to be increasingly debated — the case for ethical competitiveness. This issue is to be examined from two dimensions — internal to the country and external in terms of benchmarking with best practices seen in developed countries.

The internal dimension is best understood by referring to a quotation from former US president, Theodore Roosevelt, presciently made in 1900 “The biggest corporation, like the humblest private citizen, must be held to strict compliance with the will of the people.”

Fortunately, the winds of democracy have been sweeping at various speeds across some key emerging markets and for open societies having access to free flow of information the Roosevelt Test can be applied.

Are corporations in these emerging markets being held to the same standards of compliance as are the hundreds of millions of ordinary citizens?

Are companies able to fix the system, perpetuate oligopolies and unfairly rig outcomes in capitalist models increasingly prone to manipulation and distortion?

There is no doubt about the growing clout of the corporate sector of emerging markets and in some notable instances this is also now increasingly seen as an instrument of economic empowerment for surrounding communities and clusters.

The trends pointing to wider adoption of corporate social responsibility practices, expansion of philanthropic activities and emergence of social entrepreneurs are to be encouraged and socialized further.

However, there is also a growing sense of alienation over the appearance of one set of rules for the corporate sector and another for the populace.

From tax planning to debt restructuring to land acquisition at throwaway prices to industrial accidents to environmental degradation to insider trading to disproportionate access to scarce resources like water to the ability to ride out of scandals with nominal consequences — there are several black sheep in the corporate sector that appear to routinely get away with serious acts of omission and commission.

There are two major reasons for the lack of internal ethical competitiveness. The first relates to the continued complexity, duplication, confusion and obfuscation of rules and regulations.

Misconduct and corruption thrives in the gray zone and one of the areas of serious weakness in the BRIC plus emerging markets is the lack of regulatory clarity.

Urgent steps need to be made to simplify regulations and using the transformative power of IT, make these fully and freely available.

Simplified, commonsense regulations will help eliminate fixers and middlemen. When multiple interpretations are eliminated compliance will be facilitated.

The second relates to improving enforcement capability and consistency. White collar crime is an ugly reality of modern societies and regulators need to be on top of their game in detecting violations and prosecuting with speed and uniformity.

The old excuses of untrained judiciary, inadequate enforcement manpower, underdeveloped systems or outdated laws have no credence in countries that are members of G20 or have aspirations to change the global economic order.

The growing currents of protectionism and misplaced nationalism when it comes to adoption of higher industry standards also need to be guarded against.

While emerging countries justifiably need time to catch up on higher standards relating to wages, anti discrimination, carbon assessments and mitigation or sector sustainability the trend must be towards progressive convergence with internationally acceptable practices.

Lowering the bar by rigidly sticking to laggard local standards is unsustainable as markets open up.

Unnecessary talk of foreign conspiracies and non trade barriers distracts from the need to get one’s own house in order.

If the Indonesian mining, paper and palm oil industries balance resource development with strict controls on the environment then the real beneficiaries are Indonesian citizens not Euro ‘greens’.

Likewise, if garment, shoes and furniture exporters are held accountable for minimum wages, prevention of child labor etc. benefits first accrue to the Indonesian workers rather than to global brands.

External ethical competitiveness has to do with benchmarking of ethical practices with peer country standards.

Thus, as an example the government needs to undertake a serious review of the ethical competitiveness of state oil and gas company Pertamina with peers like Petronas of Malaysia, Petrobras of Brazil, Petro China and Indian Oil.

This should cover key aspects like procurement integrity, financial transparency, independent oversight and environment, health and safety compliance.

Since Indonesian SOEs continue to dominate the corporate landscape robust benchmarking will help them reform and prepare better for the competitive times ahead. Their owners, who are ordinary taxpayers, will welcome efforts aimed at improving performance — financial as well as ethical.

The same applies to the private sector which despite some shining examples also has serious catching up to do.

The pace needs to quicken since scandal weary societies are running out of patience on unchecked ethical compromises.

The columnist is CEO of international strategic advisory firm IndonesiaWISE which is also co-lead on a pioneering emerging markets focused project tracking trends in environment, social and governance in the corporate sector. Insight appears on the second Saturday of each month.

Image via Wikipedia

TABANAN

More than 30,000 Balinese farmers have left their jobs on the land in the past 12 months, according to figures released last week by the government statistics agency, with officials saying the increasing demands of the tourism industry on both water and land are likely behind the decline.

Head of the Bali branch of the Central Statistics Body (BPS) Gde Suarsa said there were currently 643,029 farmers out of Bali’s total 3.8 million population.

“Last year, the number of farmers was still at 673,928,” he said, adding that agriculture accounted for 28.45 of the island’s workforce.

Suarsa said the increasing pressures on land resources from new tourism developments and villa projects were taking more and more former agricultural land out of use, especially in the south of Bali.

He said some farmers forced off their land did find other jobs in hospitality, as reflected by rising levels of employment in the tourism sector.

“The number of workers in the accommodation and restaurant sector is now 620,045, which is up compared to the 472,840 counted in 2010,” he said.

Figures from the Bali Agriculture Department show a year on year drop in rice production in the island, as land falls out of agricultural use. During 2010 6,479 hectares of land in Bali ceased to be used for farming, with much of it being given over to tourism developments.

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The island generates up to 20,000 cubic meters of trash daily and 75 percent is left uncollected on the roadside and at illegal dumps, posing a mounting problem and health hazard to the surrounding
community.

“On a daily basis around 15,000 cubic meters of trash does not end up in the official government-owned final garbage dump facility. Instead, trash is strewn along the roadsides, alleys and at illegal waste disposal sites,” provincial environmental agency head Alit Sastrawan said.

The garbage agency’s lack of sufficient human resources and equipment was one reason behind this chronic trash problem. Yet, Sastrawan also blamed the public’s low awareness on good trash management as an aggravating factor.

“A large number of people still think they can dump their trash anywhere,” he said.

He added that trash had become one of the most crucial problems in Bali.

“Trash has disturbed our social and spiritual life, and it has also impacted on our economic sources, the tourism industry in particular,” Sastrawan said.

He cited Andrew Marshall’s story “Holiday in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes”, published in Time magazine in early April, as an example of the negative effects poor trash management inflicts on Bali.

The story portrayed Bali as a place that is gradually losing its charm as a friendly and desired holiday destination due to scores of problems the administration and the Balinese have yet to address effectively.

Trash, traffic jams and crimes were mentioned in the story as the island’s pressing problems.

Sastrawan said that Bali would follow the steps taken by the Singaporean administration in dealing with the trash problem. One of those steps was stronger law enforcement.

“The provincial administration has finished drafting a bylaw on trash and has submitted the proposed bylaw to the provincial legislative council. The council is currently still deliberating the bylaw,” he said.

Once the council passes the bylaw, the administration will have legal ground to take firmer action against individuals who discard their trash in careless ways or at illegal sites.

The administration is also to construct a high-end waste disposal facility to replace the current landfill at Suwung in South Denpasar.

Suwung landfill’s outdated technology and limited capacity cannot cope with the rising amount of garbage from the island’s four regions.