Government Blames Wind for Garbage Piles of Bali’s Beaches

Jakarta Globe, Camelia Pasandaran | April 06, 2011

A scavenger picking through trash at Bali's Kuta Beach. Culture and
Tourism Minister Jero Wacik has blamed the terrible condition of many
of Bali’s famed beaches, including Kuta, on the wind and defended the
resort island against international criticism. (JG Photo/J.P. Christo)

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Indonesia’s Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik has blamed the terrible condition of many of Bali’s famed beaches, including Kuta, on the wind.

The second-term minister, who has in the past faced criticism from the tourism industry about his ineffectiveness, said strong winds blew the garbage, dirt and other detritus onto the beach from the ocean.

He said a task force was cleaning the beaches.

Jero, himself from Bali, also defended the resort island against a scathing article in Time magazine, which was titled “Holidays in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes.”

In the article, writer Andrew Marshall didn’t hold back.

“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.”

He said skin infections caused by spending just 30 minutes in the ocean was just one of Bali’s problems: “water shortages, rolling blackouts, uncollected trash, overflowing sewage-treatment plants and traffic so bad that parts of the island resemble Indonesia’s gridlocked capital Jakarta.

“And don’t forget crime. In January, amid a spate of violent robberies against foreigners, Bali police chief Hadiatmoko reportedly ordered his officers to shoot criminals on sight. You’ve heard of the Julia Roberts movie Eat Pray Love, which was partly filmed in Bali? Now get ready for its grim sequel: Eat Pray Duck.”

Jero said the article exaggerated the problems and “in the end, [the tourists] come back.”

He said other than a decline in tourists from disaster-struck Japan, tourist numbers were holding at 7,000 visitors per day.

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