Balinese ill-prepared for crises

Balinese ill-prepared for crises

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The ongoing dysentery fiasco has, once again, underscored the
inability of the island's government agencies and the tourist
industry to handle a crisis in a responsible and effective
manner.

When on Nov. 23 international and Taiwan media outlets began
running news of 25 Taiwanese tourists who contracted dysentery in
Bali, a local high-ranking tourism official quickly dismissed the
news.

"Don't worry, there has not been any outbreak of cholera in
Bali," he said.

The official was either misinformed or simply could not
distinguish between cholera and dysentery, two distinctively
different intestinal infections.

This denial gained currency when the head of the local health
agency, Molin Yudiasa, joined the chorus, claiming that it was
not a case of dysentery but a mild gastrointestinal problem
commonly found in Bali.

However, when he was pressed by journalists, Molin admitted
the health authorities had not completed the sample-collection
process, or finished the necessary laboratory tests on samples
taken from various restaurants.

Although obviously based on assumption rather than scientific
findings, Molin once again reiterated there was no dysentery when
questioned by a group of Taiwanese journalists who came to Bali
to investigate. No wonder the journalists were not impressed by
the explanation.

At about the same time, The China Post reported that the
number of confirmed dysentery cases in Taiwan had risen to 42 and
another 24 people who had visited Bali had developed dysentery-
like symptoms. All of the infected were members of 13 groups that
purchased tour packages to Bali and returned to Taiwan by Nov.
22.

Denial was not the only response government agencies, the
tourist industry and the local media could offer. Shifting the
blame was the second favorite response, with themes ranging from
"Why did only the Taiwanese suffer from this problem while
tourists from other countries did not?" and "You know that the
Taiwanese are careless about the kind of food they eat and the
places where they eat", to "The Taiwanese have weaker stomachs
compared to the Balinese, who can handle spicy food without any
problems."

This lame response was further aggravated by the obvious
communication breakdown between the tourist industry,
particularly those in the industry involved in handling Taiwanese
visitors, and the government health authority.

This breakdown was evident in the fact that health authorities
did not begin collecting food and water samples from suspected
restaurants until Nov. 28, five days after the first reported
case, because, as Molin said: "We found difficulties in
pinpointing the restaurants that served the Taiwanese visitors."

As of Wednesday, samples had been taken from at least 17
restaurants all over the island. So far, the health authorities
have finished testing samples from six restaurants, of which only
one was found to be free from any bacterial contamination.

The rest were identified of having unspecified levels of
Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria.

Although not the cause of dysentery, E. coli can cause
intestinal problems.

The laboratory test on samples from 17 restaurants are
expected to be completed on Saturday. Equipped with the results
of the tests, the head of the Bali Tourism Authority, I Gde
Pitana, will fly to Taiwan sometime next week, about half a month
after the first reported case of dysentery.

Consequently, the denial, pointless finger-pointing, the lack
of a scientific, evidence-based response and the broken line of
communications and coordination to some extent have damaged the
image of Bali tourism, particularly in Taiwan.

This could have been prevented or at least contained with a
well-coordinated, straightforward and swift response.

An example of this damage was, as reported by The China Post,
the tourism boycott against Indonesia called for by the Taiwan's
influential Consumers' Foundation because of the response of the
Indonesian media to the dysentery outbreak.

The Taipei Times reported that at least 100 Taiwanese had
canceled trips to Bali, some switching to Phuket, Thailand.

The Oct. 12 Bali bombings, the SARS epidemic, the Iraq War and
the dysentery outbreak have shown that the local government and
the tourist industry are ill-equipped and unprepared to deal with
a crisis.

A recently published report by the APEC International Centre
for Sustainable Tourism underlined the need for each and every
tourist destination to have an established and well-maintained
tourism risk management system to deal with possible crises and
disasters.

Quoting a few of the report's recommendations, in the
occurrence of a health crisis, officials and institutions should
"monitor hospital admissions involving tourists, be honest and
transparent, act fast, remember the victims and avoid speculation
and categorical reassurances".

Bali's administration and tourist industry should begin to
address this issue. The island cannot afford another uncontrolled
crisis.