Protestors have calmly crowded the capital in Bali, calling for a stop to the controversial mega project that would reclaim 700 hectares of south Bali’s Benoa Bay.
Local newspaper Tribun Bali is reporting that as many as 30,000 people have taken to the streets in Renon, Denpasar this afternoon where the island’s regional council is located. (Kompas news reported a more modest estimate of 10,000.)
The proposed reclamation is nothing new: Balinese have long been calling for the overturning of Presidential Regulation no. 51/2014. Former Indonesian president SBY issued the decree shortly before leaving office, which pulled the 700 hectares out of protective zoning.
Despite incessant protesting from local communities and even a contingent of well-known Balinese musicians, along with numerous pleas to President Joko Widodo himself, many spectators believe there’s too much vested interests for the project not to go through. That too much money has changed hands in securing the lucrative deal.
Heck, even the land being designated as “sacred” by Hindu high priests has apparently not been enough to save it from likely getting turned into a super-tourism zone of Dubai-esque artificial islands, more hotels, and an F1 track.
But the last two years have been much of a stalemate, with little news on developments of the proposed project, other than chatter about a feasibility study needing to go through. Non-violent demonstrations have been steady.
Plenty of fingers have been pointing at Bali’s governor himself, for allowing Bali to be sold off, but Governor Made Mangku Pastika has said he is “powerless” to do anything.
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