November 5, 2021
Tourism Association proposes one-day quarantine + Bali airport traffic up 98% + Indonesia & Singapore collaborate on vaccinated travel lane + more
Good morning!
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With the island reopening to visitors and the success of the government’s vaccination program, we here at The Bali Beat are happy to mark this new era by including a Local Events section in the newsletter. Starting next week, in the Monday, November 8 issue, we’ll be making space for up to 5 announcements per day from businesses and community organizations that want to let readers know what they’ve got going on.
This is, by far, the single most requested feature for the newsletter, but we don’t want to clutter the reading experience, so these announcements will be limited in length — no more than 100 characters — and they will run after the “Of Interest” stories. Also, as a way to support the reopening efforts, for the first two weeks we’re making these listings available for free on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information and to get your event included, please click here.
Weather & Tides
Today’s Weather for Southern Bali
Today’s Tides
Meteorology, Climatology & Geophysics Council (Link)
Tide table from Tide-forecast.com.
Daily Covid Update
National Figures
Local Figures
The Big News
“Bali Tourism Industry Association Proposes a One-day Quarantine” from Antara Bali (Indonesian): Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana, chairman of the Bali Tourism Industry Association, hopes that the government can reduce the length of the quarantine period for foreign tourists visiting Bali to just one day. "We respond favorably to (the policy) from five days of quarantine to three days. However, the "benchmark of Bali" is Phuket Sandbox, Thailand. Our hope is at least one day," Agung Partha said on Thursday. Although the "border" for international flights and foreign tourist visits to Bali has been opened since October 14, he said until now there have been no foreign tourists who have made hotel reservations. "No one has booked a hotel yet," said Agung Partha. Regarding the previous information submitted by the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, who said that there were 20,000 foreign tourists who had made hotel reservations for November 2021, he said he did not know where the source of the data came from.
Context: Other media outlets reported the tourism industry as being satisfied with a three day quarantine. Wayan Koster’s statement regarding the 20,000 hotel reservations was made in mid-October and was widely reported at the time. He has not released a source for the 20,000 figure.
“Ngurah Rai Airport Sees 98% Increase in Passengers” from Bali Express (Indonesian): I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali recorded a positive growth of passengers in October 2021 of 98%. This achievement is data on domestic air transport traffic coming and going, namely the comparison between the period September and October 2021. Passengers during October 2021 were 464,390 compared to September passengers of 234,939. The three most popular origin routes in October 2021 are Jakarta with 136,529 passengers, Surabaya with 29,973 passengers, and Ujung Pandang with 16,173 passengers.
“Indonesia, Singapore Collaborate on Vaccinated Travel Lane” from Antara: Indonesia is cooperating with Singapore to prevent COVID-19 transmission by implementing the Vaccinated Travel Lane program for overseas travelers, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force said on Thursday. "Currently, the Indonesian government, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, is collaborating with other ministries and institutions as well as the Singaporean government for establishing the VTL program,” Wiku Adisasmito said.
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Other Headlines
“Bali Tax Revenue Drops Due to Pandemic” from CNN Indonesia (Indonesian): The Tax Service Office on Bali stated that the pandemic was not only suppressing the income of the people and MSMEs in Bali. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had an impact on local tax revenues. Understandably, Bali's main revenue depends on the tourism sector and its derivatives. Head of Denpasar Madya KPP, Agus Kuncara, said that last year's revenue growth for KPP Bali contracted 30.25% from the previous year. This year the contraction improved to minus 18.95% as of October 2021. "2020 is the greatest blow, so there is a free diving pandemic minus 30%," he said on Wednesday.
Vaccination Update
“Jakarta Awaits Ministry Policy on Vaccinating Children Aged 6-11” from Antara: The Jakarta Health Office said it is awaiting the Health Ministry’s decision on vaccinating children aged 6-11 despite the National Agency of Drug and Food Control approving COVID-19 vaccinations for the age group. “We still have to wait for an official policy from the government through the Health Ministry,” head of disease prevention and control at the Jakarta Health Office, Dwi Oktavia, said on Thursday.
More ...
Nation: “Vaccination Rate in Five Provinces Below National Average” from Antara
Nation: “Indonesia Receives 680,100 Doses of Astrazeneca” from Antara
Health Protocols (Prokes) & Health Services
“Governor Koster Reminds of Strengthening Prokes” from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): Bali Governor Wayan Koster, on Thursday conveyed important information related to the development of Covid-19 in Bali Province. "Today, November 4: 19 new cases appeared, 18 people recovered, 2 people died, and the number of active cases continues to consistently decline to 280 people. The cumulative number of cures continues to increase and has reached 96.41%," explained Governor Koster. Nevertheless, he reminded the public that they should not respond with excessive euphoria, but must remain vigilant considering that we are still in the Covid-19 Pandemic, which is very dangerous for transmission to occur, moreover, new variants of Mu have emerged which have occurred in several countries.
More...
“Ministers Under Scrutiny Over Alleged PCR Test ‘Business’” from Coconuts Jakarta
“Influencer Apologizes After Being Charged With Quarantine Escape” from Coconuts Jakarta
Economy & Infrastructure
“Garuda Indonesia Business Restructure Persists” from Tempo: State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir on Thursday said steps to save Garuda Indonesia from bankruptcy persist, one of which is Garuda's shift to focus on domestic flights. However, Garuda is set to sign a cooperation with Emirates to preserve international air travelers which is signalled with code sharing amidst a company restructure. The signing was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “Negotiations on Garuda’s debts that reach US$7 billion due to high leasing costs that reach 26% and also because of corruption are being negotiated with the lessors,” Erick wrote on November 4. The Minister is pinning his hopes on the domestic market as a positive step that Garuda would venture in the future, while also making available alternative options apart from official partnerships.
Context: An outline of some of the corrupt behaviour of management at Garuda can be found here.
More ...
Nation: “Airlangga Wants Indonesia in Top 10 by 2030” from Antara
Nation: “13 Countries to Help Indonesia Pursue Overseas Taxpayers” from The Jakarta Post (Metered Paywall)
Province: “Governor Wayan Koster Invites to Stop Importing Rice and Salt” from Bali Express (Indonesian)
Province: “Ahead of Galungan, Penjor Traders Faced with Decline in Buyers” from Suara Bali (Indonesian)
Karangasem: “Cattle Prices in Karangasem Skyrocket, Merchants Complain” from Radar Bali (Indonesian)
Education
“1,470 PTM Students Will Undergo PCR Test” from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): A total of 1,470 kindergarten/PAUD, elementary, and junior high school students who have been registered by the Denpasar City Youth and Sports Education Office to the Health Office, will take the PCR test to be able to take part in face-to-face learning (PTM). The Head of Junior High School Education of Denpasar City Disdikpora, Anak Agung Gede Wiratama, said that for this PCR test, Disdikpora took random samples from several schools from the TK/PAUD, SD, and SMP levels. For the TK/PAUD level, 230 students from 23 TK/PAUD in Denpasar will participate. Apart from students, teachers and school staff are also planned to take the same test. At the TK/PAUD level, 69 people from 23 schools participated, each of these schools being represented by 3 teachers and staff.
Bali Reopening
“Four International Events Will Soon Be Held on Bali” from Kumparan (Indonesian): Bali Province was chosen as the venue for four international-scale events to be held starting at the end of November 2021. This event is in line with the ongoing sloping COVID-19 case on the Island of the Gods. "With the better achievement of handling the Covid-19 Pandemic in Bali Province, the central government has given confidence and planned several international events," said the Governor of Bali, I Wayan Koster, on Thursday. Koster said that the four major events are the 2021 Indonesian Badminton Festival, the 4th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 4), the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the G-20 Presidency conferences, which will be held for a year, starting in December 2021 and the G-20 Presidency summit.
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Weekend Reads
“Politically Connected Firm Seeks to Profit as Indonesian Government Cuts Down Orangutan Habitat” from The Gecko Project
“Amitav Ghosh on the Lies of History and How the Natural World Fights Back” from LitHub
Of Interest
“Jokowi’s Cop26 Speech Falls Flat” from The Jakarta Post (Metered Paywall)
“The Great Pakelem Pamahayu Jagat Held in Sanur” from Tribun Bali (Indonesian)
“Indonesia’s Battle Against Dog Meat” from The Jakarta Post (Metered Paywall)
“Upon Return to USA, Woman Is Charged in Killing of Mother on Bali Vacation” from The New York Times (Metered Paywall)
“Foreigners Wear Indomaret Uniforms While Serving Customers” from Suara Bali (Indonesian)
How You Can Help Bali
Due to the collapse of the tourism sector in Bali, tens of thousands of families have found themselves with a greatly reduced income—if any. If you’d like to support organizations working to help those in need, you can see a list of some here.
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