Filth and sloth on Kuta Beach

Filth and sloth on Kuta Beach

I have visited Bali at least 20 times and have always been
very happy to meet the very friendly Balinese people, to see the
great culture and the beauty of the island.

After the first bomb (2002) I even came twice a year to help
and to promote tourism in Bali again. The problem I noticed last
year, was that the beach in Kuta was very dirty, but now, this
December 2005, the situation is unbearable.

Every day that I went down to the beach it was full of plastic
bags, rubber sandals, other manmade rubbish and even condoms.
Every day the same rubbish and the local people sitting around
talking and talking and not cleaning the beach.

It has nothing to do with the rainy season or the wind from
the west, those are only cheap excuses. I was recently in
Thailand, also on the West Coast. Early every morning the beaches
were cleaned up and it was wonderful to have a swim. I was
recently in a hotel for two weeks in Kuta close to the beach, but
not once did I dare go into the sea, because of the plastic
hanging around my feet if I ever started to wade in.

Many tourists in Kuta have been complaining about this and
many have said, they want to go to Thailand for their
next holiday. I might too! It would be great, if you could not
only publish my comment, but also inform the respective
authorities in Jakarta and Bali.

As a friend of Indonesia, I want Bali to be as nice as before.
With an attitude like there is now, Bali will lose even more
tourists!

HORST GEERKEN, Bonn, Germany