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