Debate rages over distribution of Bali's tourism wealth

By Nyoman Suwela

SINGARAJA (JP): Look at the map of the Indonesian archipelago, Bali is only a dot, minute compared to the other provinces in Indonesia. However, its world-wide fame as a tourist destination is disproportionate to its size, and the methods on how best to distribute wealth generated by the tourism industry has raised controversy and heated debate.

The province itself is divided into eight regencies and one mayoralty. As an autonomous province, it has to be self- sufficient with all the resources. Fortunately, Bali has been blessed with scenic beauty blended with a unique culture based on Hinduism. That is why it is no exaggeration to say that it is easy to see why Bali has earned the status "the island of gods", "the morning of the world".

Because of its uniqueness, Bali has been attracting tourists and travelers alike since the Dutch colonial period. During the Dutch era, the capital was Singaraja in Northern Bali. Bali was only a part of the province of Sunda Kecil, the province of Lesser Sunda Islands, encompassing Bali in the west and West Timor in the east.

Buleleng harbor was the main entrance for tourists arriving in Bali by sea. From there, they usually traveled to the southern part of Bali by car.

In l959, the province of Sunda Kecil was divided into three provinces namely Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara. The capital of the new province of Bali was moved from Singaraja in the north to Denpasar in the south.

The opening of Ngurah Rai International Airport in the south during the l960s made Bali easily accessible from all four corners of the globe.

Tourist arrivals have been increasing steadily as has the proliferation of tourist facilities. Two main tourist resorts namely Sanur and Kuta, both located in Badung regency are already congested and have suffered a decline in environmental quality.

Based on projections of a future increase in tourist arrivals made by the provincial government, the idea to develop an integrated resort was launched.

The idea was later realized in the development of Nusa Dua tourist resort financed partly by the World Bank and managed by state-owned Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC). The resort has now become one of the island's most luxurious, well- integrated holiday and business resorts operating at international standards.

Based on the tourism master plan, the main tourist attraction in Bali is its rich and diverse cultural assets and therefore such valuable property should always be protected from any possible threat.

Cluster

All tourism development projects should only be clustered in resort areas designated specially for the construction of hotels, restaurants and other tourist facilities. Such projects must not be carried out in places where the island's cultural assets including holy temples, ancient buildings and specific banjar traditional villages are located.

According to the master plan, there are 21 resort areas in Bali but, due to a number of developments, the number has been increasing substantially over the last few years. The construction of new resorts have expanded to areas as remote as the mother temple of Besakih in Karang Asem, East Bali, Tanah Lot holy temple, and Mount and Lake Batur in Tabanan regency.

Sadly all these developments are taking place in areas that were previously protected from any tourist development projects.

The provincial government requires each regency to impose a 10 percent development tax on any transaction at any hotel and restaurant. Because of this tax requirement, tourist-designated areas such as Sanur, Kuta and Nusa Dua have received a huge amount from tax revenues. These areas have reaped the financial benefits of tourism.

But this situation has also created a wide income disparity among regencies in Bali.

A number of regional governments have argued that all tax revenue from the province's tourism business must be distributed fairly to each of regencies in the province.

To solve this problem, the central government, in particular the Ministry of Home Affairs, obliged the Badung regency and other rich regencies to distribute 30 percent of their tax revenues to less developed regencies to be used for the development of tourist facilities in each regency.

Unfortunately, many regents and regional officials have allegedly used these funds for their own interests. Some officials have reportedly bought luxury cars and houses with the money.

Such unscrupulous action was uncovered by the Governor of Bali during an official tour he made to Bangli regency.

The implementation of the new law on regional autonomy last January also touched upon this issue. The Badung regional legislative council DPRD has proposed to reduce the regency's tax distribution from 30 percent of total tax revenue to only 15 percent.

Regional legislators argued that Badung regency would need a substantial amount of money to finance various development projects as a consequence of the new law on regional autonomy.

Other regencies openly opposed the Badung regency's idea and have threatened to impose levies on every tourist visiting or staying at their regencies.

Many people have accused Badung legislators of being arrogant. Whatever the reason, every official and member of society must realize that Bali belongs to every Balinese person. If Badung regency insists on implementing their plan to cut tax distribution by half, the income disparity among Bali's regencies will be wider than ever and it may create social and economic unrest amongst locals. Badung regency is only a small part of Bali. Badung people and officials should think and act wisely and responsibly, not just concerning their own regency, but about the effects of their decisions on the entire island.

The writer is a travel observer and former head of Buleleng Tourism Office.