In Reply to: I have a concern about this, posted by Filo on Sunday, 8. June 2008 at 07:19 Bali Time:
and the answers have been suggested by the Balinese themselves.
Here are some examples from the Bali Discovery Tours News:
(5/20/2006) Quoted in the Indonesian language Bali Post, former Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave says it's time that the incentives given to hotel and tourism infrastructure projects be ended.
(1/7/2006) Repeating a warning made during her presidency, Megawati Soekarnoputri was in Bali last week renewing her call on the Balinese to maintain their control of the island's real estate and renew their interest in agriculture.
(12/19/2005)Bagus Sudibya has warned that one of the fundamental weaknesses in Bali's current course of development is the absence of a master zoning plan. The resulting laissez faire approach to development amidst the glamorous backdrop of international tourism has had the ironic effect of seeing Bali's reserve of agricultural lands steadily diminish as people sell their land to make way for hotels, strip malls, villas and other tourist developments.
Another tourism and community leader, Professor Dr. Adnyana Manuaba, traced Bali's current problems back to 1986 and the increasing competition for natural resources, pressures on the environment, and the displacement of culture. The noted academic said there was a need for a common perception between the various elements of the tourism sector that provides for the interests of the agricultural and small industry sectors.
(3/3/2007) Government targets to increase local rice production in Bali as part of a national plan to grow 2 million more tons of rice nation-wide in 2007 are going to be hard to achieve. In the case of Bali, the major obstacles to more rice production are lower-than-average rainfall and the uncontrolled conversion of agricultural lands to other uses.
(2/2/2008) The Chairman of Bali's Chapter of the Indonesian Tourism Think Tank (MPI), I Wayan Budarmaja, recently told the Bali Post that the Island is becoming increasingly unfriendly to the Island's endemic culture.
Budarmaja complained, "there is a tendency as though the design of tourism is only concerned with serving the desire of tourist visitors, with no orientation to the needs of the people of Bali and their culture."
(8/20/2005) According to the Chairman of Bali Tourism Think Tank, Masyarakat Pariwisata Indonesia - Bali (MPI-Bali), I Wayan Budarmaja, his group will focus on the preservation of traditional customs and culture as the foundation currency of tourism development in order to preserve the uniqueness of the island of Bali in the eyes of the world.
(12/13/2004) In long-overdue recognition of the potential major contribution that tourism can make to national development, President Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono has announced his intention to convene a special cabinet-level meeting focused solely on issues related to culture and tourism January 14-15, 2005, in Bali.
(2/14/2005) The February 9, 2005, editorial in the Indonesian-language Bali Post published an urgent appeal to the people of Bali to take steps to preserve their quickly diminishing ancestral lands.
Year after year, the editorial goes on, valuable tracts of agricultrual land change hands in Bali only to be transformed into tourism projects, owned and controlled by non-Balinese.