In Reply to: if only you made half a good argument posted by clovis on Friday, 30. April 2010 at 15:53 Bali Time:
Yep, I feel as sad as the next person about the trees but think if there was anything to be done the local beach traders would have taken care of it. One of the guys who work for the beach chair/drinks lady in Legian (north) told me (tongue in cheek) that he thought "they" just want them to be even hotter.
Interestingly, on that stretch of the beach several (if not all) of the beach eskies/drinks/chairs concessions are owned by local people from that "village" and they were as displeased as anyone but were powerless. They may not like the fact that money talks but they know it to be so and probably know when further protests are are going to be productive or not.
What Australians or any other nationalities think about it is largely irrelevant. I believe that sometimes SOME Westerners think that they can "fix" this kind of thing for the Balinese who are actually quite capable of fixing issues within the various Banjars for themselves if they are fixable or of knowing when the fight is lost.
I struggle to imagine a case where an Indonesian tourist would be able to, or think he/she could, influence issues on Bondi Beach, Cottesloe Beach, Venice Beach , Brighton Beach (either one) or any beach from the Costa del Sol via Mauritius to Goa.