More on Kuta Beach
More on Kuta Beach
As much as I also detest the litter that periodically plagues
Kuta/Legian beaches, in response to the letter from Jolie E.
Dorey (The Jakarta Post, Dec. 28) I can only say: "Sorry, Jolie,
I believe you've got it all wrong, when putting most of the blame
on Western tourists!". The unfortunate fact is that the seasonal
combination of winds and tides leads to a near-daily dumping of
consumer rubbish on Kuta/Legian beaches around and during the
month of December. At least it has done so for the past five
years, to my knowledge.
I was always struck by the sheer volume and spread of the
rubbish on some days in December. Although there is a lot of
natural vegetation debris, the annoying stuff consists mainly of
plastic sachets, and packaging for hair shampoo, washing
detergent, toothpaste, instant noodles, soy sauce, candy bars,
and so on.
A check of the packaging, on any day, consistently shows
Bahasa Indonesia labels on these items of rubbish. This, and the
very nature of the products, leads to the fair conclusion that
this rubbish is not from Western tourists. They are unlikely to
engage in mass teeth cleaning, hair shampooing or soy sauce
consuming on these beaches.
Whether the tides bring in this rubbish from further up the
West Bali coast, or from the numerous, small, fishing boats
offshore, or from elsewhere, I cannot tell. However, I seriously
doubt that "the majority of it is contributed by Westerners", as
Jolie claims.
As for the responsibility for cleaning up this mess, it was a
positive move when several enthusiastic, organized teams of
Balinese first came out in December 2002 to clear Kuta and Legian
beaches from all this rubbish. Presumably, this initiative was
taken to offset the effects of the Kuta bombings in October of
that year. So where has that local enthusiasm for clean beaches
gone? I do hope that the appropriate adat (traditional law)
committees will revive and continue all these earlier, fine
efforts.
It is hardly the responsibility of Western tourists to clean
up, or even organize the clean up, of this domestically-sourced
rubbish. Jolie's angst and assignment of guilt seems
inappropriate.
MICHAEL ASHURST
Singapore