Bike to school, not for the faint-hearted

By Agnes Winarti 

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post 

 | 

Saturday, June 16, 2012

  

With the almost non-existent public infrastructure for bicycles, the growing number of vehicles on the roads and motorists’ low level of tolerance, to name just a few hurdles, the implementation of the Bike to School program is a hard sell indeed.

“The bike to school program is only realistic for junior high school students who live just a stone’s throw from their schools,” junior high school (SMP) PGRI 2 Denpasar headmaster I Gede Wenten Ariyasudha told Bali Daily on Thursday.

“Other than that, I believe parents’ priority will be their children’s safety. Letting the children bike through the bustling main roads for long distances would not be an option,” said Ariyasudha. The school has about 1,600 students, 200 of whom cycle to school daily, while most others are picked up by their parents from homes as far away as the Batubulan area in neighboring Gianyar regency.

The Bike to School program, an effort to reduce traffic jams and create a less-polluted environment, was initially launched in 2010 by the Denpasar-based bicycling community SAMAS, and was supported by the Denpasar municipal administration. Last year, SMP PGRI 2 welcomed SAMAS’ Bike to School campaign. This year, SAMAS secretary Endra Datta said that the community had also been campaigning at junior high schools, including SMP Dwijendra, SMP 1 Ubud, SMP 8, and senior high school SMA 1 Ubud.

Since 2009, Denpasar has only provided 20 kilometers of special cycling lanes, which cover Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Raya Puputan, Jl. Tjok Agung Tresna to Jl. Hang Tuah and Jl. Danau Tamblingan in Sanur. However, the lanes cover only a miniscule part of the route required for the 58 junior high schools and 45 senior high schools around the capital. Also, the lanes can’t be properly used, as they are often full of parked cars, not to mention that cyclists have to compete for space against motorcyclists who dominate the main streets of Denpasar.

Last year’s data from the Denpasar Transportation Agency’s traffic division showed that the streets of the capital city were packed with 575,111 motorcycles, the number of which has grown rapidly throughout the years. In 2010, there were 492,285 motorcycles on the streets of Denpasar, while in 2009, there were only 457,772.

Even the prestigious state senior high school, SMA Negeri 3 Denpasar, that had a compulsory policy for 30 years obliging all its students to bike to school, has now surrendered this policy and has allowed students to ride motorcycles since 2006.

The school might have won the 2012 Adiwiyata Nasional award from the Environment Ministry for its numerous environmental efforts, such as waste sorting, composting, making biopore holes and building greenhouses for plants, as well as academic writings and films on the environment, but it currently has to rent a 2,500 square meter plot of land to continue expanding its parking lot for its students’ motorcycles.

“The consideration to terminate our compulsory policy for students to cycle to school initially surfaced in 1992. We were overwhelmed performing daily raids on the students, who secretly rode motorbikes to school,” said teacher Anak Agung Ayu Sri Adi, who is also the school’s environment coordinator.

The bike to school policy was terminated in 2006, with the claim that it would ease the journey for students coming from homes more than 10 kilometers away in Kuta, Jimbaran, Sukowati, Peguyangan, as well as Singapadu. “We are still urging those living nearby to bike to school, but now almost all of them drive motorbikes,” Sri Adi said.

Only about 10 students at SMA 3 still routinely cycle to school every day, while the other 851 students in the 10th grade to 12th grade ride their own motorbikes, despite the fact that it is illegal to have a driving license below the age of 17.

And what do the students have to say about Bike to School?

“Studying at class covered in sweat won’t be convenient. Besides, when it’s time for us to return home, at noon, it’s hot and the streets are too crowded with motorcycles. So it’s better we ride our own,” said 11th grader Putu Sri Adnyasari, 17, who has been driving her own motorbike since 10th grade and lives just about 1.5 kilometers from school.

Another student, Diah Gayatri, 16, who drives without license, said, “I have too many activities after school. Riding a motorcycle saves my time and energy, I couldn’t bike all the way.”

Most students also said that having no driving license was not a problem, as long as they knew how to avoid streets where traffic police were on watch. Some parents even slip Rp 20,000 notes in their children’s motorbike STNK (vehicle registration card), so that the child can use the money to bribe the police, just in case they are caught.

“It happens,” regretted teacher Sri Adi, highlighting just another attitude that will block the realization of the Bike to School program.

Mercury phase-out at hospitals faces uphill battle

By Agnes Winarti

Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Wednesday, June 13 2012

The phasing-out of mercury-based equipment is proving to be an uphill struggle as it faces resistance from hospitals in Denpasar. This is despite the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) planning a global legally binding treaty on mercury.

In 2013, the UNEP expects to launch a global legally binding treaty on mercury to gradually terminate the use of mercury worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Care Without Harm have also targeted a 70 percent reduction in the usage of thermometers and sphygmomanometers at worldwide medical facilities by 2017.

“Resistance comes from some hospitals, as they argue that digital thermometers and sphygmomanometers are lacking in accuracy. Speaking subjectivity, the mercury-based blood pressure measurement tools are actually more subjective and less accurate due to mercury leakages inside the measurement tube that are often left unnoticed,” Bali-based environmental NGO Balifokus founder Yuyun Ismawati told Bali Daily recently.

For the past five years, Prima Medika private hospital in Denpasar has been promoting the use of digital thermometers to service patients. The hospital’s general affairs manager, Dr Dian Ekawati, said that currently some 80 percent of the thermometers used in the hospital were digital, while the remaining 20 percent were mercury-based.

“Digital thermometers are easier to use. When measuring patients’ temperatures with the mercury-based thermometers, we sometimes need to wait longer for the Hg movement,” said Dr. Dian.

“However, to monitor blood pressure we prefer using the mercury-based equipment, because when we are reading the blood pressure we also feel and listen
to the systolic and diastolic pressure [of the heart muscles when relaxing and contracting]. If we use a digital monitor we have to fully rely on the equipment, so the result is less convincing and sometimes erratic,” Dian added.

Sanitation coordinator at Bali’s top referral hospital, Sanglah, Ketut Gede Surata, acknowledged that the process of gradually ending the use of mercury equipment was a matter of changing the medical staffs’ behavior and mindset, which he said, “is not as easy as turning the palm of your hand”.

Money matters also speak volumes in hampering hospitals to terminate the use of mercury-based equipment.

“The purchase of the non-mercury equipment would cause a bulging allocation from the hospital budget. A mercury sphygmomanometer only costs between Rp 700,000 [US$74.2] to Rp 1 million, while the digital or aneroid ones are Rp 3 million to Rp 5 million,” said Surata, adding that Sanglah currently planned to reduce the use of mercury fluorescent lamps and was working on setting its own Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) to cope with the chance of mercury spills in the hospital’s compound.

Balifokus staffer specializing in toxic waste, Luh Putu Kusuma Ririen, said that all 20 hospitals in Denpasar had yet to have a special storage for their mercury waste due to budget constraints.

Yuyun highlighted that the mercury phase-out efforts were seen as disrupting the long-standing business cooperation between hospitals and vendors of mercury-based equipment.

“We hope the vendors are willing to share responsibility with the hospitals to recycle the waste from their products. Equipment vendors are only concerned with selling their products, but they have no idea what to do with their products’ waste,” said Surata, citing that Sanglah also faced confusion in dealing with its silver bromide liquid waste, which was the end-product of developing x-ray films.

Every month, Sanglah’s x-ray lab uses 60 liters of liquid and at the end of the month there is about 1.5 liters of silver bromide chemical waste. “There are currently about four cans, or 20 liters, of silver bromide chemical stored in our warehouse. We still don’t know what to do with it,” said Surata.

Medical waste from 45 Bali hospitals: Where does it go?

By Agnes Winarti 

Photo by Anggara Mahendra

Published in Bali Daily/ The Jakarta Post Saturday, June 09 2012

Alone: 
BD/Anggara Mahendra
A technician pushes a cart filled with medical waste in an alley at Sanglah Hospital, which operates the only industrial-grade incinerator on the island.
Due to urgent calls to lower the operational capacity of its eightyear- old incinerator, Sanglah Hospital has, since March, ceased receiving medical waste from 45 private and public hospitals and clinics around Bali.

“We are trying to prevent our incinerator from breaking down. Previously, it could burn up to 700 kilograms of medical waste daily, but now we are limiting the total to 500 kilograms per day,” head of household and supplies at Sanglah Hospital Dr. I Wayan Aryana Yudiasa told the Bali Daily recently.

Since the initial operation of the incinerator eight years ago, Sanglah waste facility has served as the disposal point for medical waste from 93 hospitals and clinics throughout Denpasar, Gianyar, Klungkung, Tabanan and Bangli. Most of these are private institutions, 87 of which actively renew their yearly contract with Sanglah.

Between March and April, 45 hospitals and clinics had their yearly contracts ended. Sanglah is mulling whether to continue the heavy workload that has been taking a toll on the one-and-only incinerator for the whole island.

Among those with yet-to-be renewed contracts is BIMC Hospital, near Simpang Siur intersection. BIMC’s monthly medical waste amounts to 300 kilograms and is among the largest amount arriving at Sanglah. As Sanglah itself generates up to 350 kilograms of daily medical waste, a staggering 8,000 kilograms monthly, the incinerator can only accept an additional 150 kilograms daily from other hospitals, forcing Sanglah to halt the over-100- kilograms senders.

BIMC Hospital housekeeping manager Ari Prana Indra acknowledged to the Bali Daily on Friday that its contract with Sanglah had ended on April 1. However, when asked what measures had been taken for the past two months to handle their medical waste, he was reluctant to reply. Asked the whereabouts of BIMC’s medical waste since the contract ended, Ari said: “It is not here [at the hospital’s disposal area] anymore. It’s been transported for disposal, but it’s not a public disposal site. I’ve no further comment.”

Other hospitals that have been served by Sanglah’s incinerator also include private hospitals Prima Medika and Surya Husadha, just a stone’s throw away from Sanglah.

Surya Husadha’s household manager, overseeing sanitation and waste management, Desak Mahayani, declined to comment and suggested the Bali Daily contact a member of the hospital’s marketing team instead.

Surya Husadha’s daily medical waste, claimed to weigh up to 29 kilograms, is disposed of at a temporary disposal site and picked by trucks predawn. When asked where the trucks transported the waste, head of night-shift security, I Dewa Ketut Edi Adnyana, replied, “Please direct the question to the hospital’s public relations.”

Prima Medika’s general affairs manager, Dr. Dian Ekawati, said the hospital’s 15 kilograms daily medical waste was still transported to Sanglah as usual. “We’ve been cooperating with Sanglah since 2002,” said Dian, citing the contract had been renewed earlier this year.

“We’ve not thought about selfmanaging our own medical waste due to limited space. Building a waste management installation is difficult with regard to permits, not to mention a costly investment,” she said.

Among the 20 hospitals in Denpasar, only four are governmentowned, the rest are private hospitals. Sanglah’s incinerator was purchased with a grant from Australia in 2004. Every year, the incinerator requires up to Rp 80 million for maintenance, with a total allocation of Rp 150 million (US$8560) for operational expenses for both solid and liquid waste. Sanitation coordinator at Sanglah Hospital Ketut Gede Surata said, ideally, the annual allocation for the waste management system would be about Rp 600 million.

“This year, we requested a new incinerator with the same specification from the Health Ministry. But we are not sure whether the unit will arrive this year,” said Surata, who suggested that the hospital waste management system should have been divided into four zones, east, west, north and south Bali, to ease the burden of Sanglah as the island’s sole medical waste facility as it is today.

Good things come in small ‘furry’ packages

While the cheerful four-legged golden retriever has secured an eternal spot in the hearts of most dog-loving people, nowadays, smaller sized pure-bred dogs and other petite cuddly pets have also captivated animal enthusiasts in Denpasar.

“The smaller dogs eat and poop less than their larger canine counterparts. So saying, they are relatively easy to groom and friendlier on the pocket,” said visitor Ngurah Gustra, while looking for a pug and a beagle at a pet shop in Jl. Setiabudi in Denpasar on Thursday.

The shop’s grooming and spa services, for instance, are all based on the size of their furry clientele. The prices for grooming treatments, which include bath, blow dry and nail cutting, range from Rp 50,000 (US$5.4) for petite dogs to Rp 150,000 for extra large ones.  Meanwhile, canine spa and massage treatments vary from Rp 150,000 to Rp 500,000 according to size.

Coming from a family of animal enthusiasts with a love for reptiles and larger dogs, Gustra, who already owns a mini pinscher and Pekingese, said he was thinking of opening a pet shop of his own that would specialize in selling small pedigree dogs. He estimated that start-up capital of Rp 50 million would be enough to begin his small-dog shop. “The start-up investment is affordable, while the selling prices are promising,” he said.

A dog’s small size does not necessarily indicate a small selling price.

At the shop, a shar-pei costs Rp 8 million, a shih tzu Rp 6.5 million, a cocker spaniel Rp 12 million, a Chihuahua Rp 8 million, while a toy poodle can be up to Rp 15 million. The larger canines are just as expensive, a Labrador costs Rp 5 million, with a rottweiler Rp 7.5 million, the same prices as an imported breed of golden retriever, while locally bred ones are about Rp 4 million.

Pet vendor War, whose tiny shop on Jl. Hayam Wuruk offers Pomeranians, mini pinschers and pugs, to name a few, highlighted some of the qualities of the smaller breeds. “Although they are small, some of them are noisy enough. They can serve as good house guards too,” said the former trader of larger breeds, including German shepherds, pit bulls and golden retrievers, who prefers to go by his one syllable name, War, while pointing at his continuously barking mini pinscher.

A senior member of staff at a pet shop-cum-kennel with 32 air-conditioned rooms on Jl. Teuku Umar, Komang Suryani, acknowledged that the fad for small-sized dogs in Denpasar has grown over the past year or two. “Since six years ago, large purebred dogs, like golden retrievers, Labradors and rottweilers, have been warmly welcomed here, and they still are. The smaller breeds are now following suit over this last year,” said Suryani.

Today, apparently, it’s not only the large and small pooches that are capturing the hearts of animal enthusiasts throughout the capital, as the cuddly rodent pet known as the golden hamster is also stealing some of the spotlight among the youngsters.

Hamster pet owner, Wayan Riska, whose parents have a Kintamani dog at home, said, “My dog only looked cute when he was still a puppy. I like my hamsters more because they stay small and are cute forever.”

The 17-year-old teenage girl has apparently already sniffed out some business opportunities from her rodent pets as they have been breeding; she initially had three, but now has 15. “They breed so fast. Sometimes I give away the pups for free, other times I sell them from Rp 25,000 to Rp 250,000, according to their type,” giggled Riska.

By Agnes Winarti 
Photo by Anggara Mahendra
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post, Friday, May 25 2012

Dog’s day: A member of staff at a pet grooming service trims a dog’s fur. BD/Anggara Mahendra

Italian wines: Poetic respect for nature’s simplicity

Italians call their wines “poems of the earth” as wines are considered the best thing that agriculture can give them. This explains how the taste of simplicity and naturality are the very traits in every drop of Italian wine.

“Italian wine means simplicity, respect for nature and for the raw materials. They smell just like their vineyards and the flowers of their grapes,” the owner of Distilleria Bottega, Sandro Bottega, passionately explained during a recent Italian wine tasting and seminar.   

Bottega is the third generation of the Italian wine distillery in Bibano, 45 kilometers north of Venice, in the heart of the Veneto region, which has a strong tradition in Italian wines and grappa production. Sandro inherited his love for wines from his grandfather, Domenico Bottega, a passionate enologist and wine trader in the 1920s.

Bottega cited the similarities between Italian wines and cuisine: “Our cuisine really appreciates raw materials. We want pasta to taste like pasta, tomato as tomato, meat as meat, cheese as cheese, fish taste [like it’s] from the sea. Not much cooking. It’s the same with Italian wines.”

Italian wines are characteristically fresh, fruity, simple, natural, light and therefore versatile. “Thus, you can drink Italian red wine with fish, while the white wine with barbecued meat and vice versa,” he said.

Seventy-five percent of Bottega’s wines are exported to more than 100 countries and have now reached Indonesia, mainly Bali and Jakarta, answering to the flourishing wine-drinking culture among Indonesians.

For Bottega’s initial market penetration into the archipelago, six wine producers have been introduced, including Italy’s most popular sparkling wine Prosecco Doc Brut, the fruity Chardonnay; the sweet flowery aromatic Moscato; the light Fragolino Rosso and the elegant Brunello di Montalcino. 

Bottega pointed out that the spicy yet fresh Indonesian cuisine was a perfect match for Italian wines. “I understand that Indonesians might prefer the sweet taste of Fragolino and Moscato, however, I personally recommended the Prosecco and Chardonnay because they are fresh and fruity,” said Bottega.

Italy produces about 300 different types of grapes, more than the grape varieties in France. Both Italy and France are the biggest producers of wines in the world, each comprising 25 to 30 percent of the worldwide wine market. Italy impressively produces about 7 billion liters of wines per annum. 

By Agnes Winarti 
Photo by Anggara Mahendra
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Thursday, May 24 2012

Lavish liquid: A bottle of very fine Bottega wine. BD/Anggara Mahendra

Bonsai lovers hope to revive local, int’l markets

The Bali chapter of the Indonesia Bonsai Lovers Association (PPBI) expects to revive the huge potential of bonsai and open up Bali’s opportunity to export these artistic miniature trees to overseas markets.

“As Indonesia’s international window, Bali has welcomed many wealthy visitors and foreigners who show huge market potential for purchasing bonsai,” PPBI Bali chairman, Winarto Selamat, told Bali Daily on Monday.

He cited demand for bonsai from European countries such the Netherlands and Germany, as well as South Asian countries like India.

“However, Indonesia has not been able to make the most of these demands,” said Winarto, stating that currently bonsai buyers from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand usually make individual purchases from Indonesian collectors, while large-scale bonsai exports are monopolized by a Belgian national who only buys mass-produced bonsai plants from farmers in Malang, East Java.

“We hope to break that domination,” said Winarto, who is hopeful that within the next two years bonsai hobbyists in Bali would be able to break into the global market with more professional promotions in online media and at various exhibitions.

Winarto emphasized that Bali has been home to numerous bonsai hobbyists-cum-artists who are highly skilled at training the trees, planted in shallow tray-like pots, into the beautiful forms required; bonsai literally means “planting in a tray” in Japanese. There are more than 500 bonsai lovers here on this island alone, he estimated.

Winarto’s initial efforts since he started chairing the PPBI Bali last year include inviting more bonsai hobbyists in Denpasar to collaborate in reviving the bonsai market and take up places among the rows of decorative plant and landscape businesses along part of Jl. Hayam Wuruk.

One of the hobbyists joining the collaboration is bonsai lover I Made Simon, who has 300 bonsai in his collection, worth around Rp 500 million (US$54,000), displayed at an outlet belonging to the street’s most senior bonsai trader, Hadi Subeki, whose father Mohammad Tawi was the one of the island’s first generation of bonsai traders.

“The creative process for making bonsai never ends, which makes this art an eternal kind of hobby,” said the garment businessman, who developed his passion for bonsai over the past 20 years and started bonsai trading only three years ago. As more bonsai hobbyists join the collaboration, it will lead to better transfer of knowledge among hobbyists, who will be able keep improving the artistic form of bonsai from many kinds of plants, which in turn will result in increasing value.

“For example, I learned from Pak Winarto to prune the ficus species of bonsai, while he learned my specialty, pruning the santigi species [Phempis acidula],” said Simon.

According to Hadi, bonsai prices have a huge range, from as cheap as Rp 50,000 for a dwarf plant that simply looks pretty to the eye, to a starting price of Rp 200,000 for a bonsai that adheres to the basic movement of the tree and shows a certain character and style.

“The most expensive bonsai, however, could be worth up to Rp 1 billion,” said Hadi, citing a number of elements that determined its value, including the rarity of the tree, the visual balance, the basic movement, the harmony it creates, as well as the tree’s health, impression of age and the anatomical balance between its main stem and branches.

“In Bali, bonsai art has been a remedy for the Balinese who were previously addicted to gambling. That’s a good effect for the Balinese people, I believe,” said Hadi, whose father started bonsai trading in 1980s.

By Agnes Winarti 
Photo by Zul Trio Anggono
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Wednesday, May 16 2012

Miniature: Bonsai enthusiasts stroll through a spacious garden showcasing a variety of their beloved plants. BD/Zul Trio Anggono

Nusa Penida people spread wings

Previously a wild bird poacher, Nengah Sudipa is now enjoying what seems to be the unlikeliest chance of repentance as a birdwatcher at the Bali Starling bird sanctuary on his home island, Nusa Penida, just off the southeast of Bali.

Eleven years ago, Nengah was a nine-year-old boy with a skillful flair for trapping birds in the wilds of Nusa Penida with only one intention: sell them for extra cash.

Nengah said, though, this was now a thing of the past for him; he’s no longer interested in making money from wild birds. Since being recruited by the Friends of the National Parks Foundation (FNPF) that initiated the Bali Starling bird sanctuary, Nengah’s tasks include feeding the quarantined birds, monitoring the birds in the wild and taking visitors and newly arrived volunteers on guided tours.

“I would have been rich by now from selling wild Bali Starlings. I can easily catch them if I want to, because I know where they nest. But I just don’t want to anymore,” said Nengah, citing around 15 different spots throughout the island where the birds breed. It is estimated a pair of mature Bali Starlings costs up to Rp 50 million (US$5,450), while the chicks cost Rp 10 million each.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and natural resources declared the Bali Starling an endangered species in 1966. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species placed the Bali Starling on its critical list in 1978. As early as the 1980s, the government and bird protection organizations worldwide saw the urgency for immediate action to prevent the bird going into extinction. Captive breeding programs were successfully run in Bali, yet, the birds released into the wild were quickly poached and their population continued to plummet. In 2005, FNPF founder, veterinary I Gede Nyoman Bayu Wirayudha, estimated there were fewer than 10 birds left in the wild at the Bali National Park, the bird’s native home.

After thorough studies on the environmental situation between the West Bali National Park and Nusa Penida, as many as 70 first-generation Bali Starlings were released throughout Nusa Penida from 2007. The latest FNPF data shows that there are currently more than 100 starlings living in the wild, some of which have even flown across to the neighboring Nusa Lembongan island.

The Manager of the FNPF base camp in Ped village on Nusa Penida, Si Nyoman Sukarta, acknowledged the challenges faced during the early establishment period on the island.

“At first, it wasn’t easy to introduce the concept of conservation to the Nusa Penida villagers, who had never even heard of the term.” Sukarta recalled the first two years of the program was spent approaching the 40 villages to gain agreement on the creation of an awig-awig (traditional law) to prohibit the capturing of wild birds. The awig-awig stipulates that anyone capturing wild birds on Nusa Penida would have to pay a penalty worth the market price of the birds and release the captured birds into the wild again. They would also be obliged to make a public apology.

“We assured the villagers that the presence of the Bali Starling would eventually grow tourism on the island and thus generate more income for them,” said Sukarta. He stated that in recent years, the island has indeed started welcoming more local and foreign visitors, while some of the villagers have also discovered new sources of income, such as tour-guiding. The six people employed at the FNPF center are also local villagers.

FNPF also embraces the community through various programs, including providing scholarships for students from each of the villages, building water catchments, land reforestation, distribution of free saplings to village communities and promoting the island’s traditional cepuk cloth weaving. In addition, financial rewards worth Rp 1 million are also disbursed to every village that continues to support the conservation project.

“I love this island and I truly believe in this project. It would be very hard if we only supported the wildlife, without involving the community. Protection comes first and foremost from the locals,” said the sanctuary’s self-proclaimed “permanent volunteer” and a retired special-education expert, Mike Appleton, 60, who has called Nusa Penida home for the past year, unwilling to return to his native United Kingdom.

By Agnes Winarti 
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post, Friday, May 04 2012