Balinese Development Expert Outlines How Balinese are Becoming Disenfranchised from the Land that was Once their Birthright. (8/15/2009) An article below was originally published in The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, August 4, 2009. Written by Balinese Ketut Kartika Inggas, it underlines impact the tourism industry is having on the island's culture and traditional life style.

Estimated 75% of Commercial Villas in Bali's Gianyar Regency are Operating Illegally. (8/15/2009) A special committee of the Regional House of Representatives from the regency of Gianyar in Bali has estimated that 60% of that district's potential hotel and restaurant tax income is lost via illegal commercial villas who side-step their tax obligations.

While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations may be notching up successes in the free-trade arena, with an agreement signed on Thursday with India and one due to be signed with China on Saturday, the trade picture within the bloc itself may not be quite so rosy. One of the key planks in Asean’s project is the establishment of the Asean Single Window. But, according to Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, Singapore is refusing to play ball.

The nation has dropped two places on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Doing Business Survey 2009, which was published on Friday. Indonesia came in at 129 out of 181 countries, just behind Morocco at 128 and far behind Malaysia at 25. However, the country remained in front of the Philippines at 140 and Iran at 142.

In a city known for its chaotic, unplanned growth, an apparently sudden conversion of the Jakarta administration to the merits of urban planning and the enforcement of zoning rules has small businesses in residential areas both up in arms and worried about the future.

The central bank and two economists on Friday cast doubt on a report from financial-services firm Morgan Stanley that predicted the rupiah would slump to 11,000 to the dollar by the end of the year. Stewart Newnham, Morgan Stanley’s Hong Kong-based currency strategist, wrote in a research report released on Friday that the rupiah would depreciate because it had been overvalued, Bloomberg reported.