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.