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Showing posts with label Tourists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tourists. Show all posts

Bali to build int’l standard hospital

Posted by Aldie at 1:33 AM | 0 comments

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 11/26/2010 10:52 AM

The Bali administration announced plans to develop an international-standard hospital in Sanur to cater to local and foreign visitors.

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said Thursday that his administration was conducting a comprehensive feasibility study on the construction.

“We have allocated Rp 4 billion [US$446,000] from the 2011 provincial budget to plan and design the project,” he said, adding that an additional Rp 100 billion from the 2012 budget would be used for the construction.

“We expect to complete the project by 2013 when Bali hosts the APEC meeting,” Pastika added.

The hospital, which the administration claims would feature high-tech facilities, would be built on 3.4 hectares in Sanur.

“Bali is an international tourist destination. We have to provide excellent healthcare services for our guests. Visitors may be able to spend their holidays while also having medical check-ups done here,” Pastika said.

There are a number of so-called “international” hospitals in Denpasar despite the Health Ministry’s ban on using the word “international” in the names of the hospitals.

In addition to an international hospital, the local government also announced plans to build another hospital for patients covered by Bali Mandara Healthcare Insurance.

The scheme is a free healthcare program for Balinese residents across all eight regencies and one municipality. The program began in 2009 using Rp 181 billion in funds from the local budget.

The scheme allows residents to get free medical treatment at Denpasar’s Sanglah General Hospital and a number of other hospitals.

Pastika said profits from the operation of the planned international hospital would be used to fund the Bali Mandara hospital.

Karyasa Adnyana, the deputy chairman of the Bali Legislative Council’s Commission IV, said he fully supported the idea of a “cross-subsidy”.

“The development of an international-standard hospital will certainly enhance the image of Bali as a world-class tourist destination. Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have been doing this for a long time,” he added.

Adnyana said the construction of the two hospitals would be funded by the provincial budget, and that therefore the administration had to be cautious in using public money. “We hope the money is spent in a transparent manner.”

— JP/Ni Komang Erviani

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Lombok Hotel Staff Struggle to Have Aussie Boss Charged With Sexual Abuse

Posted by Aldie at 11:11 AM | 0 comments

Jakarta Globe, Fitri R. | November 16, 2010

Mataram. Four residents of a village in West Nusa Tenggara have reported an Australian to the police for alleged pedophilia and sexual assault but their complaints have been rejected.

The locals, from Pandanan village in West Lombok, claimed Paul Robson, 55, the owner of an unnamed hotel in the Senggigi resort area, sodomized and otherwise sexually abused them five years earlier.

It is not known if Robson is still in the country.

Police said they rejected the case because of incomplete paperwork, which they said needed to be in order before they could investigate.

West Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Lalu Wirajaya said that while he could not go into detail, it was a matter of paperwork.

“That’s the common reason for a complaint being rejected,” he said. “But if they complete their paperwork, we’ll accept their report.”

Three of the accusers, two of whom were minors at the time of the alleged assault, claim they were hired by Robson to work as security guards at his hotel.

They said they were called into Robson’s office and asked to strip naked for a “ritual,” during which they were sodomized by the Australian and later paid to keep silent about it.

One of the victims, Sah, said he was 15 at the time and married, and that the repeated sex acts with Robson had caused him to become homosexual.

“I went off women completely and divorced my wife after being with Paul,” he said. “What he did to me ruined my life.”

The fourth accuser, who was 12 at the time of the alleged crime, said Robson had offered to pay his school fees if he allowed the Australian to touch him in “inappropriate places.”

“I felt I had to allow him to do it and I didn’t dare report it to anyone because he threatened me,” he said.

“He also made me sleep with him naked. He said it was a ritual.”

Fauzi Yoyok, a lawyer for the alleged victims, said Robson might have sexually assaulted up to eight men and boys over the past five years.

“This kind of crime has for far too long been tolerated in our community for the sake of tourism, but it’s ruining our younger generation,” he said.


Related Article:

Lombok Sex Abuse Claims Dismissed as ‘Unsubstantiated Slurs and Rumors’


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Italian tourist died in hiking accident

Posted by Aldie at 1:25 AM | 0 comments

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, Mataram | Tue, 06/29/2010 3:00 PM

An Italian tourist was killed Monday when she fell after losing her footing during a hiking trip on Mount Rinjani, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, local police said.

The body of Federica Protora (28) was evacuated Tuesday morning and was taken to Bhayangkara Police Hospital.

Adj. Comr. Lalu Wirajaya, the provincial police spokesman, told The Jakarta Post that the victim and her friend Guillaume Antoniolo (30) of France started the hike in Senaru, West Lombok, on Sunday morning, accompanied by a number of porters.

“They reached Segara Anak Lake area and were on their way home when the accident occurred at around 3:00 a.m. Monday. She slipped of a cliff,” Lalu said.

Lalu said the authorities were coordinating with the victim's family to send the body home.

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Busted

Posted by Aldie at 7:50 AM | 0 comments

The Jakarta Post, Antara, Sat, 04/03/2010 5:58 PM


Three drug trafficking suspects of foreign nationalities (wearing orange shirts) are shown to journalists after being arrested on Saturday at Jakarta's Soekarno Hatta International Airport for allegedly smuggling 7.55 kilograms of ketamine, worth an estimated street value of Rp 8.85 billion (US$973,500), in their luggage. (Photo: Antara/Salis Akbar)


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Swedish Tourist Falls Into Bali's Mount Batur Crater

Posted by Aldie at 1:32 AM | 0 comments

Jakarta Globe, Made Arya Kencana, March 31, 2010

Rescue teams on Wednesday were racing to the scene of an accident after a Swedish tourist reportedly fell into the active crater of Mount Batur in Bangli district.

Daniel Petersen, 25, remains missing after he climbed the 1717-meter-high Mount Batur with two friends at 4 a.m. on Wednesday.

Bali's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said they received report at 7:25 a.m from a guide identified as Komang that Petersen had fallen into the mountain's crater.

“We are still climbing to the crater,” Basarnas official Ketut Parwa said.

Basarnas was being assisted by police, paramedics and local volunteers.

Parwa said Petersen's friends survived and were waiting for the rescue team though evacuation efforts were being hampered by bad weather.

Mount Batur is about 90 minutes drive from the provincial capital, Denpasar. According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, it has erupted 26 times since 1840

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Cheers to Jeers: Indonesia Trades One Alcohol Tax for Another

Posted by Aldie at 1:56 PM | 0 comments

Jakarta Globe, Irvan Tisnabudi, March 23, 2010

A laborer lifts a crate of beer at Sunda Kelapa port in Jakarta on Monday. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

Just over a week after the country’s producers of alcoholic beverages applauded the government’s move to scrap the luxury tax on their products from April, they are now indignant over the government’s sudden decision to increase the excise tax by up to threefold.

A Finance Ministry decree signed on March 17 but released only on Tuesday raised the excise tax on alcoholic beverages by 100 percent to 214 percent, depending on their alcohol content. The luxury tax currently imposed on alcoholic beverages ranges from 40 percent to 150 percent of their sales price.

“We appreciate the government’s efforts in scrapping the luxury tax on alcoholic beverages, but the increase in the excise is just way too much,” Ipung Nimpuno, a representative of the Indonesian Malt Beverages Association (GMMI), told the Jakarta Globe.

He said the increase in the excise tax could undermine the objective behind scrapping the luxury tax: reducing the black market in alcoholic beverages.

“I haven’t figured out how much is the proper excise the government should charge in order to compensate for the scrapped luxury tax, but the current figure is too much,” Ipung said. He added that he expected prices of alcoholic beverages to increase by 20 percent to 40 percent with the new excise duty.

The government divides alcoholic beverages into three categories: type A, containing up to 5 percent of alcohol, type B, with 5 percent to 20 percent, and type C, with more than 20 percent.

The new decree raises the excise tax on domestically produced type A drinks from Rp 3,500 (38 cents) per liter to Rp 11,000. The excise on type B beverages is increased from Rp 10,000 to Rp 30,000 per liter and on type C beverages from Rp 25,000 to Rp 75,000 per liter.

Meanwhile, for imported alcoholic drinks, the excise for type A is increased from Rp 5,000 to Rp 11,000 per liter, for type B from Rp 20,000 to 40,000 per liter and type C from Rp 50,000 to Rp 130,000 per liter.

The decree says the new excise tax rate is aimed at compensating for the expected drop in revenue from the abolition of the luxury tax on alcoholic beverages.

Ipung said that when the luxury tax was still in place, Indonesian brewers had been contributing about Rp 4 trillion annually to the state coffers.

“With the luxury tax scrapped and the excise tax increased, we [GMMI] predict that beer producers will now have to contribute Rp 4.8 trillion yearly,” he said.

Evi Suhartantyo, a spokesman for the Directorate General of Customs, said the current level of excise duty for alcoholic beverages was “ideal.”

“Objects that are charged with excise have their excise tax increased every year, because it is done to protect the health and well-being of our people,” Evi said.

He added that because the issue was related to health, consumption should be limited, as with cigarettes. The tax on cigarettes is increased by 10 percent to 30 percent yearly.

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Polish tourist found dead in Bali hotel room

Posted by Aldie at 2:40 AM | 0 comments

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 02/09/2010 5:27 PM

Polish tourist Miroslaw Andrezj, 48, was found dead after allegedly drinking homemade distilled arak-type liquor in his hotel room in Badung, Bali, on Tuesday.

“South Kuta Police chief Adj. Comr. Nanang Prihasmoko said the victim’s death might have been caused by alcohol poisoning.

“The victim’s wife said that [Andreszj] drank the arak before lying on the bed. When she tried to wake him up, he was already dead,” Nanang said.

According to kompas.com news portal, the victim’s wife, Danuta Gromelska, 44, reported Andrezj’s death to officers of the hotel, where the pair were staying.

The victim was immediately taken to Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar for a post-mortem examination. (nkn)


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