Village passing the ‘wayang wong’ baton

Just hours before playing the role of the little monkey in the wayang wong dance drama that Wednesday evening in Tunjuk village, Tabanan regency, 10-year-old Adi Wiryatama, fondly called Detu, sat among the colorful costumes. 

“I’ll go take my bath first. I’ve a performance coming up,” said Detu excitedly, without any trace of nervousness in his face.

When asked whether he felt any jitters, the youngest of the Tunjuk wayang wong performers said, “No. This is just performing among the people I know. I did feel some jitters when I played for unfamiliar crowds though.”

Next generation: One wayang wong performer in Tunjuk village, Tabanan regency, is outfitted with a mask before he performs.

I Nyoman Adi Saputra, the 31-year-old performer of the heroic white monkey Hanoman in that evening’s wayang wong, recalled: “I was just about his age when I played my little monkey part. The elders told me that I was still too young. But I insisted on playing [him]. When they didn’t let me play, I cried loudly.” 

“At that time, I was the only youngster, while the rest of the group was several decades older. Kids were limited from playing because the use of the kawi language was considered too difficult for youngsters,” said the elementary school English teacher who now also leads the Pasak Gede Bendesa clan’s wayang wong troupe.

Every 210 days of the saka (Hindu Balinese) calendar, Tunjuk’s 90 Pasak Gede Bendesa clan families celebrate the birth of their extended family’s temple in a sacred Odalan ceremony, featuring a 45-minute-long wayang wong that unravels one of the thousands of stories in the seven episodes of the epic Ramayana.

Continuing tradition: Wayang wong is performed every 210 days of the saka (Hindu Balinese) calendar in Tunjuk.

That Wednesday night, the story was about Hanoman’s quest for a precious stone called Manik Kapuraga, which is guarded by a demonic female creature named Diah Sidarkara in the vast ocean of Tasik Kencana. The precious stone was a necessity for a Melaspas traditional ceremony to be held by King Rama in his ancient kingdom of Ayodyapura.

While little Detu played one of the monkey warriors under the leadership of Hanoman, another performer, Kadek Mahadi, 23, faced a more challenging role. He was the female demonic creature Diah Sidarkara.

Amid the rhythm of the gender (one of the instruments in a gamelan orchestra), Mahadi successfully infused the monster’s horrid character into his dances, gestures and voice. “I learned how to perform
autodidactically by watching the older people,” he said after the performance. Mahadi started performing in wayang wong in the role of one of Hanoman’s monkey soldiers.

“I started because it was cool to perform in front of my peers. Now, there’s also some pride to take part in preserving our own tradition. Who else if not us, the youth?” said Mahadi, who began performing wayang wong when he was in junior high.

He acknowledged that the use of kawi in wayang wong forced him to work extra hard.

“At first, I just memorized the lines. Then, I tried to understand the meanings. As I performed more often, I got used to using the language. But sometimes I run out of the kawi vocab, which forces me to mix it with some Balinese words. It’s better I do that than be speechless,” Mahadi said. 

Balinese culture expert I Made Bandem, a professor of Balinese dance and music at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, categorizes wayang wong as a form of sacred art when it is performed for religious ceremonies at places of worship on certain significant days.

“The most crucial aspect that determines wayang wong sacredness is the use of sacred masks, which from the time of their creation from piles of wood to carved masks are always accompanied by religious rituals.”

To show respect for their sacred masks, just hours before the performance the various masks that will be worn by the performers were also prayed over in a nyambleh ceremony to ask for the power of Pasupati. Among the most sacred is the mask of the goddess of evil, Rangda.  

The Ramayana wayang wong, Bandem continued, is classified as a form of semi-sacred dance drama because it is performed for the gods and can be watched by people.

“Because the Ramayana wayang wong has the nature of total theatrics, with all the elements of drama — singing, dance, gamelan and others — it is not easy for children to perform it,” said Bandem, pointing to the importance of mature appreciation of each of the characters in the stories.

Vivid: Wayang wong stories are taken from the Ramayana, and performers wear elaborate sacred masks during the performances.

“The dialogue in the performance also uses Old Javanese, which is a language difficult to learn. The manner of speech has to be spoken in the right style, similar to the wayang kulit parwa. Not every child or teen is able to perform it,” said Bandem.

Bandem listed the villages in Bali that still have well-preserved wayang wong heritage, which include not only Tunjuk but Tejakula village in Buleleng; Den Tiyis, Mas, Telepud and Madangan villages in Gianyar; Bambang village in Bangli; Kamasan village in Klungkung; Sidemen village in Karangasem; and Yeh Poh village in Jembrana.

Bandem said the preservation of wayang wong is not an easy task due to the complex theatrical substance  and the sacred nature of its equipment and masks.

The clan’s elder, I Made Tiaksa, 66, a former monkey warrior performer himself, and his 76-year-old brother I Wayan Larsa, 76, were pleased that their clan’s wayang wong legacy has been preserved until today because of the presence of the younger generation.

“I have been playing the monkey soldier role since 1967 until the 90s. Being on stage was always my proudest time, but now it is time to pass the baton,” said Tiaksa, with an apparent smile of pride for his successors.

By Agnes Winarti
Photographs by Agung Parameswara
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post, Thursday, May 24, 2012

**This piece on cultural preservation was shortlisted by board of judges of the Adinegoro Journalism Award as  the Winner of National Press Day award in 2013 in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Time flies in Bunaken

By Agnes Winarti

Published in Bali Daily-The Jakarta Post   |  Saturday, February 16, 2013

Once you put your face into the water, a bizarre, colorful and somehow tranquil underwater world is ready to captivate you. Indeed, time will be the first thing you’ll forget once you’re under.

“It’s like having your own world down there,” said one visitor, while another fellow snorkel said: “Whenever I’m under the water, I just wish I had gills so that I could stay longer.”

During my recent visit to Manado, the world-famous diving destination of Bunaken was on the must-do list in my travel itinerary.

I am a novice in snorkeling, with very limited underwater experience, only diving to the bottom of the swimming pools and a brief encounter with snorkeling off Phi Phi Island in Thailand.

However, being a novice did not deter me from discovering how addictive this underwater activity can be.

Bunaken, which was declared a national marine park in 1991, is about 45 minutes travel by boat from Manado. Smaller catamaran boats are available for visitors who are reluctant to get wet. However, observing the colorful corals and lively fish through the catamaran’s glass window can do nothing to replace the true experience of being underwater yourself.

The special characteristic of Bunaken’s waters lies in its amazing vertical wall of coral reefs, which in some spotsvary from 40 meters to 1,500 meters deep. More than 390 varieties of coral and 91 species of fish call this vast area their home. It was a jittery, yet delightful, feeling snorkeling above these seemingly bottomless waters.

Despite the scenic colorful corals and playful fish that can still be enjoyed off Bunaken’s most visited shore, Tawara, to the west of the island, boatman Fandy Yusuf, who is a native of the island, estimated that around 50 percent of the corals in the area had been damaged. According to www.bunaken.org, damage of the island’s precious corals was caused by coral mining, inexperienced visitors, boatanchoring, fish bombing, cyanide and trash.

“Luckily, on the eastern side of the island, off Pangalisan Beach, the corals are mostly still preserved, because fewer tourists go there,” he said.

Hearing this, as a cub snorkeler, I was taken up with guilt at being responsible for coral damage myself, because, honestly, I occasionally still stepped on them.

Waiting for their turn: Customers are ready to pay in the diving gear rental shop. For a pair of fins, a mask and snorkel, and the diving gear, each person pays Rp 150,000 (US$15.48). BD/Agnes Winarti

Indeed, snorkeling in Bunaken was a very memorable experience, which gave me a couple of mementos to bring home: Currently recovering scars as I hit my knee on the corals, and the important lesson that I had to better prepare with proper diving training before I jump into any other remarkable dive sites. Being in Bali, Tulamben Beach and Padang Bai Beach in Karangasem regency are surely on my next must-do list.

Time surely flies in Bunaken. What was planned as a one-hour snorkeling trip ended up in a four-hour long session. My friends and I were left behind by the ferry that took us out there in the first place. Nevertheless, an authentic boat hitch-hiking experience back to Manado on a boat rented by a pair of our generous new acquaintances wrapped up my snorkeling adventure in Bunaken with a nice twist.

Firms must be responsible in handling packaging waste

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, June 25 2013

Despite the 2008 waste management law, hardly any companies committed to packaging waste management, acknowledged an Environment Ministry official.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR), is one of the crucial waste management paradigm shifts stipulated in Law No. 18/2008 that also requires individuals and communities to take responsibility through reusing, recycling and recovering waste.

After being ratified in November last year, the law’s implementing regulation, PP No. 81/2012, came into effect this year.

Deputy environment minister for environmental communication and community empowerment, Ilyas Asaad, urged companies to move beyond corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.

“We’ve seen more companies implementing CSR programs for environmental preservation. That’s a good thing. But companies must move beyond CSR. EPR is a responsibility that they must take. They need to see the difference,” Ilyas told Bali Daily recently on the sidelines of Bali’s Big Eco Weekend organized by Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, Quiksilver and Garuda Indonesia on Kuta Beach.

“Companies in Indonesia have been asking for time, around 5 to 10 years, as a transition stage to realize EPR because it requires more funding. The government understands that. But we want to see that these companies are making some progress from year to year,” he said.

Ilyas acknowledged that a change in the waste handling paradigm, which previously was seen as an act of collecting and dumping waste at the landfill, required time. This was why awareness programs needed to be performed continuously.

Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia business services director Bruce Waterfield pointed out that over the years, the company’s main efforts in handling its waste were through ensuring that responsible waste disposal information was being communicated properly on product packaging.

“As we design the packaging, we include information on the side of the packaging because at the end of the day they have the bottle in their hands. The producer’s main responsibility is to communicate to the consumers, ‘What should you do once you consume the products?’”

When asked whether the company allocated special funding for the retrieval and recycling of its packaging waste, Waterfield only stated: “Our packaging department has a special budget to make sure that information on the packaging is taken care of correctly.”

“But internally, we also continuously look for innovative ways to reduce the amount of waste that we produce. Things like the weight of our bottles. In the last few years, we have been able to reduce the weight of our bottles, which actually means less waste,” he said.

Separately, bottled water company Danone Aqua has been implementing a CSR program providing social and welfare empowerment to around 5,000 scavengers in South Tangerang, Bandung and Bali since 2010.

“The key is providing price stability for plastic bottles they collect because they cooperate with a plastic reprocessing factory that is supported by Aqua,” said Danone Aqua’s PT Tirta Investama sustainable development director Sonny S Sukada.

“These approaches are made as our efforts to prepare for the implementation of the 2008 law. The government does not even have a roadmap but we already have. I believe we are one step forward,” said Sonny, while adding that the company also established a coalition for sustainable packaging with other brands, including Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Tetra Pak and Indofood.

Slowly but surely, Sonny said, the scavenger networks built by Aqua had been able to recycle 5 percent of the plastic bottles produced by the company. The company has set an initial target of engaging in the recycling process of around 10 percent of the plastic packaging it produces annually. Nevertheless, Danone Aqua was unable to disclose any figure on the volume of plastic used in the production of their bottles each year.

Creating added value from coconut shells

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post, Monday, June 17 2013

Discarded coconut shells are plentiful around Tanah Lot. Previously a headache for the destination management, now they generate additional income for local waste collectors.

Recently, Ni Wayan Nomer, 48, was trained to collect and process shredded coconut shells and sawdust, making the mixture into briquettes that can be sold as stove fuel.

Nomer expressed her hopes that the briquettes would bring extra income to keep the stove in her own home burning as well.

“We have been promised a share when the briquettes are sold to the public,” said Nomer, who has worked for 30 years as a trash picker at Tanah Lot in Beraban village, Tabanan regency. For extra income, she also collects and sells plastic trash and dried frangipani flowers picked up from around the 3.6-hectare area.

Tanah Lot, with its iconic temple perched atop a gigantic chunk of rock in the open sea, has long been a magnet for domestic and foreign tourists. Up to 8,000 visitors come on regular days, while in peak season over 10,000 visitors can throng around the destination.

However, waste is also a constant visitor, amounting to around 100 kilograms of plastic and other inorganic materials, as well as over 1,000 coconut shells; young coconut juice is a favorite beverage for visitors watching the sun set over Tanah Lot temple.

“We were overwhelmed with discarded coconut shells. Our waste collectors can only pick up a small number of them; they sell them to roof tile producers. By processing them into fuel briquettes, we hope to be able to create added value,” said Tanah Lot tourism destination manager, I Ketut Toya Adnyana. He estimated that a kilogram of briquettes could be worth Rp 4,000-5,000 (40-50 US cents), slightly higher than the usual wood charcoal.

“The Bali Hotels Association, under the Tri Hita Karana Foundation, has shown interest in purchasing the briquettes,” he said. He stated that 90 percent of the income would serve as revenue and business capital for the Gemaripah group, an acronym standing for Gerakan Masyarakat Mandiri Peduli Sampah (Independent Community Waste Movement). The group currently has 45 members mostly comprising the Tanah Lot management’s sanitation staff. Toya said that in future, the hundreds of snack and beverage vendors based at Tanah Lot, as well as the villagers of the 15 hamlets in Beraban village, would be expected to take part in the group’s activities.

The remaining 10 percent of the income is to be shared with Yayasan Kesejahteraan Korpri Bali and lecturers from Warmadewa University that have encouraged coconut shell briquette processing since 2011.

The processing was planned and financed by the corporate social responsibility program, Aqua Lestari, of bottled mineral water company, Aqua. In addition to establishing the Gemaripah group, the program also includes tree planting, training and workshops, purchasing coconut shredding machinery, equipment, dump trucks, and trash bins and trash carts.

Private sector sought for Trans Sarbagita investment

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Wednesday, May 15 2013

Since its launch in 2011, Bali’s first integrated public transportation system, Trans Sarbagita, has yet to attract private investors, a necessary factor to expand the network across the whole Sarbagita area, an acronym that stands for Denpasar city, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan regencies.

Until now, the two main Trans Sarbagita bus corridors, connecting Batubulan–Nusa Dua and Denpasar–Jimbaran, rely on the operation of 25 buses, all of which were donated by the Transportation Ministry.

While the ministry expects this grant of buses to stimulate each of the respective areas and the province to be proactive in its own expansion, Bali still faces investment hurdles to develop the bus rapid transit system, which is expected to have 17 corridors by 2019.

“It is hard to find private investors willing to invest not just in Badung but also in Bali because it’s difficult for them to measure the breakeven point investing in transportation. If there are any, most of them are large companies already established in Java,” Badung transportation agency’s head of public transport division Made Widiana told Bali Daily.

Aiming to establish a more integrated network through Trans Sarbagita, Badung administration cooperates with a Cikarang, West Java-based minibus operator to run 14 feeder minibuses along two routes, while Denpasar administration also works with local enterprises that operate 48 modified, old minibuses on four routes. Badung allocated Rp 3.7 billion (US$378,000), while Denpasar earmarked Rp 5 billion, annually for the operational costs of these routes.

The provincial administration has similarly purchased third-party transportation services from state-owned public transportation company DAMRI and local firm Restu Mulya for the main Trans Sarbagita corridors. This year, the province has allocated around Rp 9 billion for the operation and maintenance of its two existing corridors.

“The private sector may have been willing to invest as a service operator, but so far no one has been interested in placing multifold investments for bus procurement,” said Bali Transportation Agency head Dewa Putu Punia Asa, who recently publicly urged more investors to join the administration in developing Trans Sarbagita.

Despite the steadily increasing average number of daily passengers, from 1,508 people per day in 2011 to 2,886 in 2012, Punia still argued that the public’s decades-old dependency on motorcycles and private vehicles made it difficult for the public and investors alike to fully embrace public transportation now.

Director of Urban Transport System Development at the Land Transportation Directorate General in the Transportation Ministry, Djoko Saksono, emphasized an equally crucial factor for the successful implementation of public transportation: a proactive effort from the local administrations to convince the private sector to jointly develop the transport system.

“The local administrations in Bali have to invest not just capital but also policies that are in favor of public transportation, while providing protection and comfort for the users. To successfully implement public transportation, supporting facilities must go hand-in-hand. That includes making available adequate sidewalks and banning on-street parking that clearly disrupts the Trans Sarbagita buses when operating along the routes,” Djoko told Bali Daily on Tuesday.

Previously, the president of Indonesia Transportation Society, Danang Parikesit, had also urged the central government to increase the fiscal capacity of local administrations by allocating some of the savings made from the fuel subsidy reduction to support the self-financing of provincial and regional urban transportation development.

“The government must set a clear plan so when it decides to reduce the fossil fuel subsidy, it will simultaneously boost investment in the transportation sector. The government needs to increase the fiscal capacity of local administrations so they can use more of their regional budget to self-finance in developing their urban transport sector,” said Danang.

“It’s impossible for the ministry to continuously subsidize buses for the 400 cities and regencies nationwide to develop their transport sector,” he declared.

Bicycle lanes dying out due to lack of leadership

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Saturday, May 04 2013

Denpasar may have initiated bicycle lanes in some parts of the city since 2009, however, the eco-friendly mode of transport appears to be dying out, as further development and maintenance has not been carried out since 2010.

Since the Car Free Day launch in Renon in 2009, bicycle lanes throughout Denpasar remain the same length of 16.4 kilometers, with many of the lanes and traffic markers fading away due to the lack of maintenance. The bicycle lanes comprise roughly around 4 percent of the capital’s more than 470 km of streets.

“There has not been any maintenance budget for the bike lanes in the past few years. However, this year, we expect to get some Rp 100-200 million (US$10,250-$20,500) from the revised provincial budget,” Denpasar Transportation Agency’s traffic division head Nyoman Sustiawan told Bali Daily on Friday.

Nyoman said: “The sum will be used for maintenance of the fading lanes and maybe extending the lanes to a length of some 20 km.” More lanes would be made in specific areas that have schools, tourist destinations, markets or shopping outlets.

The upcoming lanes are expected along Jl. Gunung Agung, Jl. Teuku Umar and Jl. Imam Bonjol. Nevertheless, Nyoman said developing bicycle lanes was hard to implement due to the limited space and motorized vehicles commonly parking along public streets. “We are unable to enforce regulations that ban on-street parking, because we receive little backup from the traffic police,” he said.

“Most walkways also end up as parking space anyway,” he said. Among the streets in Denpasar that are equipped with quite generous pedestrian walkways are Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Kamboja –regretfully both of which have turned into parking lots.

Bali Transport Agency recorded in 2011 that Bali was home to 2.35 million motorized vehicles –motorcycles and cars, around 1.9 million of which were focused around Denpasar city and Badung regency.

The neighboring regency, Badung, also faces similar traffic headaches, especially in the crowded tourist areas along Jl. Pantai Kuta and Jl. Legian. Reportedly, the Badung Transportation Agency expects to implement zoning rules for vehicle parking in the overcrowded areas.

At the Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum held in Bali recently, executive director of Jakarta-based Leaded Gasoline Eradication Committee (KPBB) Ahmad Puput Safrudin highlighted the urgency of enhancing urban walkability in many of Indonesia’s cities.

“There is an urgent need to reclaim pedestrianized areas, such as Taman Fatahillah in Jakarta, the Kuta tourism area in Bali, Malioboro street in Yogyakarta, Cihampelas in Bandung and many others. The presence of reliable and accessible public minibuses is crucial to successfully enhance urban walkability,” he said.

Puput cited a success story from a similar tourist destination in Thailand, Pattaya Beach, where the administration managed rid the area of traffic congestion by strictly banning private vehicles from the area.

“Unlike Kuta Beach, where private vehicles rule the streets, tourists visiting the streets of Pattaya can walk or rely on public transport,” he said.

Michael Replogle, the founder and managing director for policy at the Washington DC-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), also stated that even in a city as advanced as New York, changes had been made to accommodate more pedestrian zones and less car traffic, by learning from best practices in Paris, as well as Chinese cities that have their own public bicycle system.

“Some of the biggest streets in New York, like Broadway, have been closed to car traffic. It used to be very congested but now large parts are pedestrian zones with bike paths, and tables and chairs for people to sit out and enjoy the green space and parks in the city. Right through the heart of Times Square, the densest part of Manhattan, is now partially a pedestrian zone.”

“Jakarta, Manado, Denpasar could easily develop public bike systems and allocate more space to bicycles to make it more attractive for people to ride bicycles in the city and to make it safer to cross the street. But this requires political leadership and developing leadership coalitions between businesses, civil society and government. It could be done in a single mayor’s term of office. With leadership, important changes can be made in the right direction,” assured Replogle.

Vehicle quotas crucial for sustainable transportation

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Saturday, April 27 2013

The seventh Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia in Nusa Dua, Bali, concluded on Thursday with a commitment by Asian countries to implement sustainable transportation systems with the signing of the Bali Declaration on Vision Three Zeros — Zero Congestion, Zero Pollution and Zero Accidents.

The international forum welcomed representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam, as well as international organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, NGOs, research organizations and sustainable transportation professionals.

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) founder and managing director for policy Michael Replogle underlined that among several crucial sustainable transportation measures to realize the Vision Three Zeros was the implementation of a vehicle quota system.

“The automotive industry has a lot of political and economic power in Indonesia. I think every place that is dealing with this issue has to deal with the politics in its own way. It takes political leadership,” Replogle told Bali Daily.

“Shanghai, for example, is a major center of vehicle manufacturing, yet it was the first city in China to adopt a motor vehicle quota. And they have succeeded; as Shanghai has had a motor vehicle quota for the past 15-20 years, they have been able to limit the growth of traffic to half of what it would have been had they pursued an non-managed motorized vehicle policy,” said Replogle.

He also cited China’s capital, Beijing, known for its horrendous traffic congestion, which has in the past year adopted a motor vehicle quota, while India’s government has also taken steps to encourage larger cities like Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad to adopt a vehicle quota system and traffic management system.

 “It is timely for Indonesia, to manage car use before there’s no way back. Indonesia’s city leaders, civil society and business leaders need to find ways to work together and overcome the political challenges and to adopt these policies to strengthen the economy and the environment. This will be in Indonesia’s long-term interest to make it an attractive place to invest and do business,” urged Replogle.

After decades of heavy reliance on roads and motorized vehicles as the country’s backbone of land transportation, Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono acknowledged that it was high time for cities nationwide to develop integrated transportation systems that did not solely depend on roads.

“We have started to massively reduce the load on roads by developing railways and sea transportation that will connect the coasts of our archipelago,” said Bambang.

Citing World Bank data showing that Indonesia’s medium-sized cities with populations above 500,000 displayed the greatest economic growth, of around 7 percent annually, Bambang added: “We are accelerating the development of mass transportation systems in our 14 major cities. Soon, we will also perform those measures in other medium-sized cities, so that it will not be too late for them.”

Bali itself was among the places backed by the ministry to initiate its own integrated mass transportation system, called Trans Sarbagita, in late-2011. The Trans Sarbagita public transportation system recorded 2,886 passengers daily in 2012, and is estimated to have reduced the number of motorcycles roaming the roads of southern Bali by 1,449 per day.

However, the head of Bali’s Transportation Agency, Dewa Putu Punia Asa, expressed his doubts on the implementation of Vision Three Zeros. “Our regional revenue comes mainly from motorized vehicles, which are the main source of pollution and congestion. Meanwhile, the central government has not applied any quota on motorized vehicles marketed in this country.”

Around 80 percent of Bali’s annual revenue comes from motorized vehicle taxes.

Since 2009, Indonesia has set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 41 percent by 2020. The target was internationally announced by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the G20 Pittsburgh Summit back in 2009. Indonesia is regarded as a major emitter of greenhouse gases due to its heavy dependence on fossil fuels, especially in the transportation sector.

Bali needs integrated transport system

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Tuesday, April 23 2013

Focusing on developing an integrated multi-mode public transportation system for the growing major cities and regencies across the archipelago, including Denpasar and Badung in southern Bali, the Transportation Ministry expects the regional administrations to take a larger role in developing their own sustainable urban transport systems.

“At present, Bali still has very limited public transportation. Nonetheless, we have initiated the Trans Sarbagita [in 2011] and we expect it to develop and integrate with railways and intelligent transportation systems to reduce traffic congestion,” Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said on Monday on the sidelines of the Indonesia Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum, a pre-event for the seventh Asia Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum on April 23-25 that will be held in Nusa Dua.

“We understand that this requires behavioral change, which is not easy. We are currently at the stage of a pre-feasibility study to develop the railways, which would both connect the entire island and its urban areas,” he added.

An integrated multi-mode public transportation system involving buses and railways is believed to be the most sustainable public transport solution.

“In major cities, with more than 1 million population, an integrated system between urban railways and rapid transit buses like the Trans Solo, Trans Semarang, Trans Bandung, Trans Kawanu and Trans Sarbagita systems, is the most feasible to implement sustainable transport,” Bambang said.

Bali’s capital city, Denpasar, and its neighboring regency, Badung, are home to a rapidly growing population, respectively 788,445 people and 543,332, according to the national census in 2010. Denpasar Mayor Ida Bagus Rai Dharmawijaya Mantra once estimated that during the daytime, around 1.5 million people travelled around Denpasar.

The ministry’s director general of railways, Tundjung Inderawan, stated that either a monorail or light train were viewed as the most feasible transportation systems to be developed for Bali.

“Either the monorail or the light train, it must be integrated with the bus routes, to Ngurah Rai airport and Benoa harbor, as well as [tourist destinations] like Nusa Dua, Kuta, Seminyak and Sanur,” said Tundjung.

“Basically, the local administration has positively welcomed this plan. But the administration does not stand alone. Wide acceptance from local society is the key to make this plan work,” emphasized Tundjung, who estimated that the railway plan for Bali might still need another five years to be realized.

Meanwhile, Bambang also highlighted the urgency for the local administrations to take a greater degree of responsibility in developing their own urban transport system.

“In principle, the development of public transport is the responsibility of the local administrations. As the central government, we will help them initiate the system, provide technical support and further reward them, for example with bus grants, if the administrations display serious commitment,” said Bambang.

Nationwide, there have been 14 major cities developing their own BRT (bus rapid transport) system: Jakarta, Tangerang, Solo, Semarang, Bandarlampung, Palembang, Yogyakarta, Badung, Bogor, Pekanbaru, Gorontalo, Batam, Manado and Ambon.

The development of integrated mass transportation systems for cities around the archipelago is part of the government’s effort to fulfill its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 41 percent by 2020, a pledge made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the G20 Pittsburgh Summit back in 2009. Indonesia has been viewed as a relatively major emitter of greenhouse gases due to its heavy dependency on fossil fuels, especially in the transportation sector.

According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2011, the transport sector produces 30 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and 23 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. Land transportation contributes the largest amount at 89 percent, followed by sea transport (6 percent), air transport (4 percent) and railways (1 percent).

President of Indonesia’s Transportation Society, Danang Parikesit, stated that the ambitious target would only be achieved if the government implemented integrated policies in the sectors of transport and energy.

“The 26 percent reduction in emissions is almost impossible if Indonesia does not create joint-policies in the transport and energy sectors. The government must set a clear plan so that when it decides to reduce fossil fuel subsidies, it will simultaneously boost investment in the transportation sector. The government needs to increase the fiscal capacity of the local administrations so that they can use more of their regional budget to self-finance the development of their urban transport sectors,” said Danang.

Let the trash battle begin

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Monday, March 11 2013

While the Balinese Hindu faithful perform a series of religious rites to welcome their sacred Day of Silence, or Nyepi, which is fast approaching, the capital city Denpasar will again silently fight its largest battle of the year — against trash. 

“Indeed it’s true. We fight our largest war against garbage every year during the Nyepi holidays,” head of trash collection services at the Denpasar Sanitation Agency Nyoman Astawa told Bali Daily on Saturday.

He acknowledged that the trash accumulated through the days of Nyepi’s series of various rituals, including Melasti (the purification), Pengerupukan (the battle against evil) and Ngembak Geni (family gathering) amounted to the largest quantity compared to that produced during other Balinese Hindu religious days, like Kuningan and Galungan.

On regular days, Denpasar produces around 2,500 cubic meters (cbm) of garbage. Astawa estimated the accumulation of trash throughout the Nyepi holidays could reach up to 6,000 cbm per day, mostly in the form of religious offerings, the remains of the ogoh-ogoh effigies burnt during the night of Pengerupukan, and household waste, both organic and inorganic.

About 4 to 5 cubic meters of trash equals 1 ton.

Manager of Cemara waste depot in Sanur Kaja village in Denpasar, Made Sunarta, recently said: “I’m having a headache with the growing amount of trash. This upcoming Nyepi, the accumulation of trash will be at its worst, as my staff will all be off for the holidays.”

During religious days, the depot usually takes at least twice the daily volume of 8 cbm of trash, equivalent to the capacity of four garbage trucks.

As Melasti already started on Friday, the volume of trash, especially along the beaches of Denpasar —Sanur, Padanggalak and Mertasari, was up to 120 cbm, triple the norm.

Nevertheless, Astawa gave his assurances that the Denpasar Sanitation and Parks Agency was ready to battle the trash. “We will deploy our emergency squads to handle the trash produced during Pengerupukan night. They will work all out until dawn on Nyepi and work again from early morning the day after Nyepi to ensure the streets are clear of rubbish,” said Astawa.

Squads of 600 sweepers and a battalion of 1,000 garbage collectors will be cleaning up the trash on 113 streets around Denpasar. The garbage collection battalion is equipped with a total of 19 garbage trucks with a capacity of up to 12 cbm each. These vehicles are deployed by both the sanitation and parks divisions at the agency.

“This is truly a war. That’s why we call our guys the emergency troops and battalion,” Astawa said.

When asked whether the local communities themselves would engage in the cleanup after the rituals, Astawa said: “Well, we cooperate with a few traditional villages, such as Sanur and Kesiman, to clean up the beaches. On a daily basis, we have also urged the residents to initiate community-based waste management and to reduce plastic use when performing their rituals.”

“But we have to understand that this is how the religious rites have always been performed in Bali. We can’t demand much from the residents. Instead, the administration is adapting to the way the Balinese perform these traditions,” said Astawan, who is also a senior pemangku (temple priest) in his village in Canggu, which is in the neighboring regency, Badung.

Last year, reportedly, a troop of 1,500 street sweepers and trash collectors were sent out. Yet, piles of trash equivalent to some four garbage trucks were left unpicked and scattered in the Sesetan area, as well as suburban streets like Jl. Gunung Agung, Jl. Supratman Timur and Jl. A. Yani.

Anyone care to join this year’s trash battle, then?

Who cares about Denpasar’s trash?

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Saturday, March 09 2013

In 2002, the Cemara waste depot in Sanur Kaja village in Denpasar was initiated by a group of some 10 housewives out of concern about their neighborhood waste. Today, some 11 years afterwards, although still operating, the initiative has not yet infected the rest of the community.

“Today, out of 30 residents, there can be only two or three who are willing to sort their waste before collection. The rest continue to leave their trash unsorted,” Wayan Winata, who drives the depot’s trash truck, as well as collects and sorts the trash, said on Friday at the Cemara depot located on Jalan Tukad Nyali No. 1 Sanur.

“Ever since this depot started, the residents have been encouraged to sort their own waste. Today, that remains as a mere discourse,” said Wayan.

Years ago, 12 people did the chores that Wayan does, but today, only five personnel are left operating the depot, while the mountain of trash continues to grow.

Cemara waste depot coordinator, who is also a founder of the local NGO Wiguna Bali, Made Sunarta, acknowledged the overwhelming situation. The Sanur Kaja village has a total of eight hamlets with 5,121 families — only 40 percent of which are willing to use Cemara waste management service.

“Most prefers to dump their trash on the streets pavements or elsewhere as the administration still provides free waste collection services. They are also still unwilling to pay any waste collection fee,” said Sunarta, whose depot charges a Rp 5,000 (51 US cents) to Rp 30,000 monthly fee depending on the volume of trash being collected.

The depot collects a total of 8-16 cubic meters of daily waste, which equals to four trucks of waste. Sunarta claims the depot is able to sort 80 percent of the organic and inorganic waste, and process the organic as compost fertilizers, while the inorganic garbage with economic value is sold to collectors of used papers, plastics and cardboard.

For years, Sunarta said that Cemara depot along with the village caretakers has conducted training for residents to independently process their organic waste into compost and to sort out their waste. “But such training never really brings much behavioral change,” he said.

“As long as the administration continues to provide free trash collection, people opt for the easy way out, which is to simply dump their trash,” he said, urging the administration to take braver action and discontinue the free service.

This year, he said that he had proposed Rp 80 million worth of budget allocation for the operation of so-called environmental monitoring personnel (Jumaling-Juru Pemantau Lingkungan) personnel, who are expected to teach residents to change their behavior in handling waste.

Separately, at the 1,000 square meter depot, Wayan and his colleague Agus, continue the impossible daily race to sift the organic and the inorganic waste before transporting the residue to the Suwung landfill.

“In the old days, we could complete sorting out the day’s trash by the end of the day. Nowadays, more and more carts of trash can not be handled properly. We are just overwhelmed. This depot is overloaded,” Wayan said. In January, the depot was overloaded by piles of untreated trash equal to the volume of 10 trash trucks, Sunarta recalled.

According to Sunarta, operation of Cemara depot since 2007, has been fully-funded by revenue obtained from the sales of compost fertilizers, the sales of plastics and cardboard garbage, and the collection fee from residents. He said that the cost of operation remains allocated at Rp 100 million per year, thus forcing the depot to cut down the numbers of its personnel from 12 to 5 people.

Cemara is not the only trash depot in the capital city. Others include the Palasari depot in Sanur Kauh village and the Cempaka depot in Ubung Kaja village, the Ubung Lestari depot in Ubung district, as well as others in Tegal Kerta, Panjer and Serangan villages.

“There are many more waste depots in Denpasar. Most of them have become inactive,” said Sunarta.

Based on last year’s Denpasar Sanitation Agency data, the city saw a total of 1,175,161 cubic meters of garbage. The agency claimed that it had successfully transported around 71 percent of the city’s garbage to the Suwung landfill. The remaining garbage was processed by the city’s garbage banks (11.2 percent), private companies (7 percent), self-management entities (3.5 percent) and PD Pasar traditional market management (2.3 percent).

Every day, around 700 tons of garbage is sent to Suwung landfill. About 45 percent of the load comes from Denpasar municipality.

Denpasar urges residents to sort waste

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Wednesday, February 27 2013

Overwhelmed by the growing garbage piles on every corner of the city, Denpasar Sanitation Agency is attempting to implement its latest, and arguably most innovative, breakthrough in waste management, involving its residents in sorting their waste prior to collection.

“By March 1, during trash collection every Friday, I have instructed my collectors to only collect garbage that has already been sorted by the owners. We aim to engage the residents to reduce the volume of garbage right from its source,” Denpasar Sanitation Agency official I Ketut Wisada told Bali Daily on Tuesday, while stating that in major cities, every person produced at least 4 cubic meters of waste on a daily basis.

Wisada said that organic waste would be brought to the agency’s five organic waste depots around the city, while the inorganic waste with economic value would be brought to the 15 trash banks that jointly work with the agency. “This is a learning process for the residents. That’s why we would only apply this measure on
Friday collections. After a three-month trial, we may apply such collection methods on other days,” he said.

Wisada said that in mid-February, the agency had begun campaigning about the program to the heads of villages, sub-districts and districts, schools at all levels, as well as via Republic of Indonesia Radio (RRI). “Even last year, we also held meetings with the heads of villages and hamlets, so that they would agree to include the residents obligation to sort their own waste in the awig-awig adat [traditional regulations],” said Wisada. He claimed about 40 percent of the 390 hamlets in the 43 villages throughout Bali’s capital city had already included the measure in their awig-awig.

Nonetheless, as of Tuesday, or three days prior to the start of the new waste collection policy, many residents remained clueless about it.

Former head of Tegal Asah hamlet, Ida Bagus Rai Sujana, who is now an active member of the Community Empowerment Board in Sanur Kaja village, which is home to eight hamlets, said, “We have not heard about it. Usually information from our village head will be passed on to us, because we are sort of the legislative house in our village.”

“But we have paid Rp 25,000 [US$2.57] every month for the waste collection service,” cried Intan Indasari, a resident of Kertalangu Kesiman hamlet.

While the idea to involve its residents may sound like a ground-breaking solution, real implementation is yet to be seen.

Based on last year’s Denpasar Sanitation Agency data, the city saw a total of 1,175,161 cubic meters of garbage. The agency claimed that it had successfully transported around 71 percent of the city’s garbage to the Suwung landfill. The remaining garbage was processed by the city’s garbage banks (11.2 percent), private companies (7 percent), self-management entities (3.5 percent) and PD Pasar traditional market management (2.3 percent). “Only 5 percent, or 59,388 cubic meters was not handled properly. That is the trash illegally dumped on empty land and in streets,” said Wisada.

A 2011 official report by the Denpasar Sanitation Agency, as quoted on its website http://dkp.denpasarkota.go.id/, revealed that within the five years 2005-2011, the agency had seen a steady decline in the volume of city waste transported to the final dumping ground in Suwung. In 2005, the agency transported about 73 percent of the year’s total 839,434 cubic meters of garbage to Suwung landfill, but 2011 saw the agency only transport some 60 percent of the year’s total 1,151,341 cubic meters of garbage.

The report further stated that the agency and other private entities overall had only been able to transport 71 percent of the city’s total volume of waste to the final dumping ground. In 2005, the report cited 92 percent of Denpasar waste went to Suwung landfill.

Despite the presence of his signature on the 2011 report, Wisada insisted, “The report was erroneous. We only tolerate 5 percent of unhandled garbage.”

The Denpasar Sanitation Agency is currently gearing up for the national annual Adipura competition, which awards cities nationwide for their excellence in environmental conditions. Denpasar has failed to win the award in the past three years because of — among other factors — the ubiquitous garbage on the city’s street corners and empty land.

Sarbagita Forum delays action as trash escalates

By Agnes Winarti

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Monday, February 25 2013

While the mountain of garbage accumulates in the Suwung landfill, the Sarbagita Forum continued to delay taking any firm action to correct the improper waste management at Bali’s largest landfill by providing more time for the private operator to comply with requirements in the nine-year-old agreement.

“If by the end of the year, it [the private operator] still fails to fulfill its contractual obligation to build gasification infrastructure, the Sarbagita administrations will terminate all activities,” Sarbagita Forum chairman I Ketut Sudikerta told Bali Daily over the weekend.

Sudikerta is currently also Badung deputy regent and is running for deputy governor alongside incumbent Governor Made Mangku Pastika in the ongoing gubernatorial election.

The Sarbagita Forum itself consists of the deputy mayor and deputy regents of the four administrations Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan. The forum has known of the performance failure of the operator since 2010, however, no action has been taken to penalize the breaches of contract.

Currently, under a 20-year contract signed in 2004, the 38-hectare Suwung landfill in Denpasar is operated by private company PT Navigat Organic Energy Indonesia (NOEI). In the contract, PT NOEI has agreed to apply a waste-to-energy technology called GALFAD, which consists of gasification, landfill gas extraction and anaerobic digestion, commonly known as composting. The company had boasted that it would be able to produce 9.6 megawatts (MW) of electricity per day, 5.6 MW of which would be produced from the gasification technology.

However, the company has been generating a mere average 500 kilowatts to 1 MW of electricity daily since December 2008 and has never fully implemented all the promised technology, leaving the gasification machinery out of their operations.

During a recent interview with Bali Daily, the president director of PT NOEI, Agus N. Santoso acknowledged that his company had never installed the gasification machinery at Suwung.

“We have not imported the machine yet,” Agus said.

“Importing the machine would be a fatal investment decision for us, after we learned that the waste moisture level and the waste characteristics in Bali are problematic,” added Agus. He argued that he had only learnt about the unsorted waste collection in Indonesia after taking on the project, having previously assumed that Bali had a proper waste sorting system just like in European countries. Out of the some Rp 160 billion (US$16.4 million) investment that PT NOEI claimed to have made in Suwung, Agus said some had been spent on erecting a waste sorting facility, which as of today remains idle.

Agus stated that PT NOEI had proposed contract revisions to the Sarbagita Forum since 2010. “Without any contribution from the administrations, it would be difficult for us to perform,” he said, citing the implementation of a dumping fee for private operators was the norm for successful waste management in various countries worldwide. During the project bidding process from 2001 to 2004, PT NOEI, which was newly established in 2003, was the only company that submitted a waste management project proposal without a dumping fee required from the administrations.

Nonetheless, Sudikerta said that the forum remained firm on declining the payment of any dumping fees. “That’s impossible. Badung regency is not willing to do so, nor are the other administrations,” said Sudikerta.

Every day, around 700 tons of garbage is sent to Suwung landfill. About 45 percent of the load is transported from Denpasar municipality, 10 percent from Badung regency, and around 3 percent from Tabanan regency.

A source inside the Denpasar mayor’s office said: “Obviously, PT NOEI has breached its contract. We prefer contract termination because we see that the company is unlikely to make any improvements, while it’s burdening Denpasar administration. We want a new operator that is more competent in terms of management and technology.”

Denpasar deputy mayor IGN Jaya Negara, who is a member of the decision making authority Forum Sarbagita, was unreachable for comments.

Firm action urged on Suwung landfill

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Wednesday, February 20 2013

Despite the performance failures of the private landfill management company PT NOEI and the alarming mountain of garbage in Suwung landfill, the four administrations whose trash is managed there are still reluctant to make a move, either to revise or terminate the contract, and seek a more competent operator.

In 2004, the company signed an agreement with the administrations of Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan, locally known by the acronym Sarbagita, to jointly manage and process waste at Suwung landfill.

However, nine years later, PT NOEI is considered to have failed to properly manage the waste and comply with the agreement.

“Since 2010, BPKS Sarbagita Sanitation Agency has reported to the four administrations about the breaches, including the absence of gasification machinery. But the decision must be taken by the administrations. Apparently, they still doubt whether they will be able to continue operating the landfill without a dumping fee,” said head of BPKS, I Made Sudarma.

“The Sarbagita administrations, during a meeting in Jakarta on Jan. 21, announced they were ready to contribute. However, they have not agreed on the fees,” said Sudarma.

While acknowledging insufficient knowledge of waste management back in 2004, PT Navigat Organic Energy Indonesia (NOEI), today still expects a revision of its 20-year waste management contract.

“Back in 2004, waste characteristic was not a consideration. We assumed that the waste here was similar to Europe, which is already sorted into organic and inorganic waste. Waste management techniques were not understood well by us and other people in Indonesia back then,” PT NOEI’s president director Agus N. Santoso told Bali Daily on Tuesday, despite the fact that the company has never operated in any European country.

When the 20-year contract to manage Bali’s largest landfill in Suwung was signed in 2004, PT NOEI was a newly established company, having been founded in 2003.

The unsorted waste, high-level of dampness and seawater penetration due to the proximity of the 38-hectare landfill to the ocean, were among the factors Agus claimed to be causing the company’s failure to comply with its 2004 contract.

In the contract, PT NOEI had declared that it would be able to produce 9.6 megawatts (MW) of electricity daily by managing the waste dumped in Suwung landfill through three types of technology, referred to as GALVAD, or gasification, landfill gas and anaerobic digestion.

The 9.6 MW of electricity was to comprise 4 MW from methane gas extraction and anaerobic digestion, also known as composting, and 5.6 MW from a high-tech gasification technique that requires heavy machinery.

It took the company around four years from the signing of the contract before it began producing electricity. Nonetheless, the production volume of only 1 MW daily has never reflected the target boasted of in the contract. As of today, PT NOEI has only been able to produce a mere 500-kilowatts per day from composting.

Agus admitted there had been a decline in electricity production since October as a result of a one-week fire that had occurred in the landfill.

Since October, the so-called integrated waste management facility has also been operating without the direct supervision of an operational manager because the in-charge manager has been assigned to work at PT NOEI’s other massive project, the Bantar Gebang waste management facility in Bekasi, West Java.

Agus acknowledged that today, nine years after the contract, the gasification machinery from the UK had never been installed in Suwung.

“We have not imported the machine yet,” said Agus, citing that the company had spent Rp 160 billion (US$16.4 million) to fill the Suwung peat land, pay salaries to some 100 staff, build a bridge and roads in the compound, and to build an office building.

The company has also installed an electricity network and generator, as well as a waste sorting facility, which remains idle to date due to the absence of the gasification equipment.

“Currently, there are many scavengers on the landfill. They are the ones who sort the waste,” said Agus.

In response to questions on the long queue of garbage trucks at the landfill, mentioned by the Denpasar Mayor Ida Bagus Rai Dharmawijaya Mantra in a recent public hearing, Agus also had his reason. “The long queue was caused by the damaged road to the landfill. But it is not PT NOEI’s responsibility to fix that road, there is 28 hectares of landfill not under our authority. It is still under the authority of the public works office,” he said, arguing that PT NOEI’s jurisdiction covered only 10 hectares of the Suwung landfill compound.

PT NOEI has requested revisions to its contract since 2010. Among the revisions demanded was for the 38 hectares of land to be under the company’s authority. After previously saying he forgot the details of the proposed revisions, Agus admitted that a dumping fee, or fee charged to the administrations to manage their waste at the landfill, was one of them. Reportedly, PT NOEI has proposed a fee of Rp 250,000 per ton of waste.

‘Barongsai’, alive and kicking in Kuta

By Agnes Winarti 

Photo by Anggara Mahendra 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post, Wednesday, February 06 2013

Acrobatic: Young performers of Dharmayana Temple troupe rehearse an acrobatic maneuver for their barongsai dance. BD/Anggara Mahendra

Bali’s world famous tourism district of Kuta is mainly known for its frenzied nightlife, but that is not the only thing it offers.

Kuta’s Vihara Dharmayana dance group has ensured that the barongsai (lion) and liong (dragon) dances remain alive and kicking, preserving the ancient Chinese traditions while firmly instilling positive values in the neighborhood’s young ethnic Chinese.

“You have to be highly self-motivated to be able to keep performing barongsai and liong. It requires a lot of discipline, hard work and courage. Once you are serious about practicing it, you won’t have the time or energy to do other stuff, especially staying up all night partying,” said performer and coach Andre Wijaya.

The 27-year-old is part of the second generation of a barongsai and liong group, Pusaka Tantra. The group is from the young community of Sekaha Teruna Teruni Eka Dharma, of Vihara Dharmayana Kuta, located in banjar (hamlet) Dharma Semadhi.

Since high school, the graduate of Bali Tourism Institute STP Nusa Dua fell in love with the barongsai dance for its similarities with the basic movements of Chinese martial arts such as wushu, Shaolin kung fu and tai chi.

“At first, I never imagined that movements in kung fu films could be performed in real life, but when I started practicing barongsai, I realized it was possible,” said Andre, who idolized Chinese martial artist Yip Man and movie actor Jet Li.

“Being a member of this barongsai group has brought us profound benefits. We get to win many championships, travel to other cities and abroad, and bring Bali’s name to many prestigious barongsai competitions,” said Andre. He was the winner at the 2009 Mayor Cup barongsai competition in Surabaya, East Java.

Andre acknowledged that his love for the performing arts had motivated him to continue returning to the group to share his experiences and skills with his juniors. “Because of my age, it’s not possible to compete in the barongsai world championships, but I hope one of these kids gets there one day,” he said.

That hope does not appear to go unfounded. Since it was created in 2002, Pusaka Tantra has won trophies in competitions in Semarang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya, with the latest national achievement of coming first in the junior traditional category at the National Open Championship of the barongsai and liong dances in Tuban, East Java. For their achievements, some of the members, including Andre, attended a summer camp in Guangzhou,
China.

The three-generation barongsai group has now around 40 members from the tender age of 8 to 17. They train twice a week, but for competitions and special ceremonies, the group intensifies its preparations.

“Usually, we let the youngest kids start by playing the tambur [traditional drum]. If they show enthusiasm and talent, we’ll then coach them in barongsai or liong movements,” said Adhi Dharmaja, 48, the group’s coordinator, who is also the father of one of the junior barongsai performers.

The barongsai group has also performed in many special ceremonies, not only during Chinese New Year celebrations and weddings, but also at Balinese Hindu temples like the Ngusabha Pura Batur and at Kuta Karnival events.

“This group has shown a profound acculturation between our Chinese community and the rest of the Balinese people,” Adhi said.

Pusaka Tantra will parade around and present prayers and offerings at every intersection of Kuta district on the evening before Chinese New Year, known locally as Imlek, which falls on Feb. 10. Meanwhile, during Imlek at 7 p.m., the group will host a performance inside the Vihara Dharmayana compound.

Escorting the Chinese gods back to heaven

By Agnes Winarti 

Photos by Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, February 05 2013

Sturdy structure: The temple’s facade with one of its two pagodas on the right side.

On the seventh day prior to Chinese New Year, locally known as Imlek, Chinese-Indonesians, who still hold tight to their Confucian traditions, believe the Chinese gods and goddesses are making the journey home, ascending to heaven.

This day is called Sang Shin (in the Hokkien dialect) or Song Shen (in Mandarin).

As this fell precisely at midnight on Sunday night, some faithful Chinese Indonesians took the time amid their busy schedules to visit the temple, presenting prayers that may escort their gods and goddesses safely back to heaven.

Among these faithful Chinese-Indonesians were young couple Meta Herlina and Kenny, who visited Vihara Satya Dharma on Jl. Pelabuhan Benoa, Denpasar, last Sunday afternoon.

Praying for prosperity: A pair of visitors pray to Cu Seng Nian Nian, the goddess of birth.
“Tonight at midnight is Sang Shin. All the Chinese gods will be returning to heaven. That’s why we’ve come here to pray,” explained Lina, who is originally from Medan, North Sumatra, but has been living in Denpasar for over a year.

Her husband Kenny, who originates from Riau, has been working for a tour guide company in Bali for the past five years.

“We will not be returning to our hometown this year. Usually my husband is very busy entertaining the Chinese visitors who are holidaying in Bali during this period. Even now, the visitors have started coming in,” said Lina, when asked whether they would be gathering with their family back home.

A humble servant of the Vihara Satya Dharma, A. Kheng, 47, said that Sang Shin would mark a very busy week ahead for the temple as it must conduct its spring cleaning. “As the gods have left for heaven, we can start cleaning the whole temple and wipe the gods’ statues, as well as renewing the fruit offerings,” said A. Kheng, while pointing to a pack of some 5-meter-long bamboo brooms that would be used to dust the high ceiling of the temple.

The 8,000 square-meter Vihara Satya Dharma is home to 18 gods and goddesses, who include the temple’s main god, Na Cha, the great fighter of injustice. Na Cha is depicted as a youthful deity, flying in the sky, riding on wind fire wheels, holding the universe ring in his left hand, the red armillary sash around his shoulders and a fire-tipped spear in his right hand.

Meaningful symbols: A large wall inside the Vihara Satya Dharma, boasts paintings of dragons, a lion and a tiger.

Although the temple was just inaugurated in August last year, A Kheng said there had been hundreds of people coming to pray, especially during the first day (ce it) and the 15th day (cap goh) of every month of the Chinese calendar. The temple opens daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“I believe there will be thousands of people coming here on Imlek, because we will also present a musical concert by Taiwanese singers to celebrate Chinese New Year here,” said A Kheng. At the entrance of the temple, a poster of the event was displayed, announcing four FTV superstar singers, namely Hsu Fu Kai, Tsai Chia Lin, Kuo Ting Yun and Chang Wen Chi would perform.

The 2564th Chinese New Year will fall on Feb. 10.