Bali's economic success is environment's loss: Emil Salim

Bali's economic success is environment's loss: Emil Salim

Text and photos by Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): The resorts, hotels and newly-built homes in
Bali have adopted the island's traditional harmony of
architecture, landscaping and gardens. This abundant cultural
wealth has led to the island's exotic nicknames of "Garden
Island", "Ultimate Paradise", "Island of a Thousand Temples" and
"Morning of the World".

Thanks to the meticulously landscaped hotel gardens, last year
Bali won the Indonesian garden contest. Landscape architects,
empowered by state-of-the-art technology, have improved the
environmental structuring of the resorts while preserving
Balinese architecture. At least that is what it looks like.

In reality, a regional administration in Bali, despite its
promotion of environmental conservation and appreciation of
cultural heritage, has actually devastated its area's
environment. This was revealed by Emil Salim, former minister of
the environment, who spoke of the "environmental rape" of Gianyar
regency.

After attending a March 25 conference of international real
estate agents at the Bali Intercontinental Resort in Jimbaran,
Emil Salim charged: "If all (Balinese) towns follow the
development pattern of Gianyar with Ubud as its center, the
ecosystem will be destroyed."

He was referring to the decimation of the rice fields and
forests of Ubud, much of which has been concreted.

Ubud and its surrounds was turned into a village of artists in
the 1930s when painters Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet started to
promote the works of Ubud painters in Europe. The rapid growth
since the 1970s has made houses into homestays and galleries, and
surrendered rice fields to hotels. Many villagers have become
millionaires, but the exoticism of 1930s Ubud has vanished.

There is nothing new in Emil Salim's statement. During the
1980s, under the administration of Gianyar regent Tjokorda Raka
Dherana, hotels, bungalows, private houses and restaurants
swallowed the rice fields surrounding Ubud. Buildings were
erected not only along the roads in Desa Mas, Pengosekan,
Peliatan, Sanggingan, Penestanan, Sayan and Kedewatan, but also
in the ravines, which are protected by Indonesian law. Many
permanent houses now tower above the Campuhan River precipice,
and on the Gianyar and Badung border star-rated hotels sit
precariously in the ravine carved by the Ayung River. The river
is used for rafting, a popular sport among tourists.

Country houses, bungalows, hotels and restaurants -- most of
their building permits were issued during Tjokorde Raka Dherana's
administration -- are a main tourist draw to Ubud. If Kuta sells
its beach and sunset, Ubud offers art, culture and artists set
alongside nature. Tourists can sit in front of their hotel room
or at the Cahaya Dewata cafe in Kedewatan, contemplating the
rice fields or the Ayung River, far below at an angle of nearly
50 degrees. The western slope of the Ayung ravine is a green
expanse of long grass and swaying coconut palms. Similar scenery
is sold by other big hotels in Kedewatan, like the Kupu-kupu
Barong and Amandari hotels.

The hotels, most of which were built in the 1980s, have been
sharply criticized for damaging the environment -- they dump
their waste into the river -- and because of concern about the
safety of the structures on the landslide-prone slopes. The
engineers who planned and built the hotels boasted they had
accounted for the factors and had eliminated the risk by using
sophisticated technology.

"The capital owners are not stupid, they would not invest in
buildings that easily collapse," an engineer said at the time.

Now, buildings modeled after Cahaya Dewata, Kupu-kupu Barong
and Amandari have spread to Begawan in the Payangan regency.
Emerald, an American from the Rockefeller family, has built a
terraced house south of Begawan. The building looks like a cave
and overlooks the Ayung ravine and Carangsari village in the
Badung regency. The farmers working the rice fields look like
black spots in the expanse of land. Emerald lives in the spacious
house with an intimate friend and a number of servants. Emerald
is said to have built the house in the quiet place to find inner
calm. The landslide hazard seems to be no problem.

"If you take the trouble, you will see other similar buildings
along the Ayung river," a rafting guide from Begawan village told
The Jakarta Post.

M. Lingga, the chairman of the regional house of
representatives in Gianyar, refuted Emil Salim's environmental
rape accusation.

"There are indeed rice fields which have been converted in
keeping with development needs but these have not destroyed the
environment," he said. Besides, the change is in accordance with
the regency's spatial plan that was jointly prepared by the house
and the Gianyar regent.

The change is most profound in the center of Ubud, where
scores of bungalows, small hotels, and private houses -- for the
greater part inhabited by expatriates -- are conspicuous amid the
rice fields. The bumper crop of buildings spoils the natural
beauty, even though many of the houses mirror Bali architecture.

"I live very happily here," said Yuko Ishimoru, a musician
from Japan who lives in Bali to study Balinese bamboo music. His
house in the middle of a rice field in Penestanan has electricity
and tap water. At night Yuko is serenaded by frogs and crickets.
Next to his house is a multistory wooden building inhabited by
Japanese girls. A Caucasian lives in the house farther down the
cement path. The area residents are generally expatriates
operating small-scale businesses while enjoying the artistic
lifestyle of Ubud. Their dwellings are hidden from the road and
only accessible by foot.

"The houses are accessible by bicycle but people prefer to go
on foot," said Made Suama, a waiter at Wayan cafe, which is also
in the middle of a rice field.

Putu Suasta, from the environmentally-active Wisnu Foundation,
said: "If we look at Ubud's environment on a macro scale, it has
indeed lost its beauty. The buildings and people have reduced its
breathing space. But if the government has skilled and
environment-oriented personnel, Ubud could be neatly arranged."

More complicated than neatly arranging people in harmony with
the environment is trying to define environmental esthetics.

When Tjokorda Budi Suryawan was appointed Gianyar regent in
1993/1994, he immediately ordered the felling of shade trees
along roads frequented by tourists. The regent wanted to make
Ubud beautiful -- according to his perception of course -- with
multicolored flower gardens. He was sharply criticized by the
community and by the tourists.

"It is those shade trees which protect pedestrians from the
sun's heat," said tourist John Blair.

Artists and environmental activists voiced their disagreement
to the Gianyar regional administration office. The felling of the
trees continued. Now, the roadsides around Ubud have been
transformed into shadeless gardens.

"Beauty is not enough. Parks must give coolness. They should
be conceived for the tropics. These ones resemble parks in
Europe," said Made Wianta, a Balinese painter who once lived in
Europe.

The administration seems not to care about the criticism,
especially rebukes from only a former government official.