Indonesia

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Indonesia names new capital Nusantara, replacing sinking Jakarta
Government offices will relocate to province of East Kalimantan, easing burden on Java metropolis as it battles environmental problems

Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent
Tue 18 Jan 2022 06.50 GMT

Indonesia plans to name its new capital Nusantara, which translates as “archipelago”, when government offices are relocated to the province of East Kalimantan from Jakarta, on the island of Java.

President Joko Widodo first announced the plan to move Indonesia’s capital in 2019, in an effort to relieve the huge environmental challenges facing Jakarta, and to redistribute wealth. The move has been delayed due to the pandemic, but could go ahead in 2024.

The government hopes it will reduce the burden on Jakarta, a city of 10 million, which is notoriously congested, suffers regular flooding, and is one of the fastest sinking cities in the world due to the over extraction of groundwater. Parts of north Jakarta are falling at an estimated 25cm a year, due to subsidence – including even the seawall designed as a buffer for communities.

The new name had been selected from more than 80 options by Widodo and was chosen because it reflected Indonesia’s geography, and was iconic internationally, said Suharso Monoarfa, the national development planning minister.

Some have pointed out that the choice could prove confusing since Nusantara is also used to refer to the archipelago nation as a whole. Others have questioned why Nusantara, an old Javanese term, was selected when the new capital was being built in Kalimantan.

Construction could start this year, after a bill on the new capital was approved by parliament on Tuesday.

By relocating the capital, the government also hopes to redistribute wealth. Java is home to 60% of the country’s population and more than half of its economic activity - even though Kalimantan is almost four times bigger.

Under the project, Jakarta will remain the country’s commercial and financial centre, but government administrative functions will move to East Kalimantan, about 2,000km (1,250 miles) north-east of Jakarta. The new capital will be based in the regions of North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... of-jakarta

[RTH10260]

Bali influencer backlash intensifies as island cracks down on problem tourists
Locals on the Indonesian island have been enraged by behaviour that includes visitors driving motorbikes dangerously and posing nude at sacred sites

Tamara Davison
Thu 27 Apr 2023 00.42 BST

Luiza Kosykh claims she didn’t know the 700-year-old tree she posed naked in front of was sacred. However, the viral shot captured by the Russian national in Bali was enough to infuriate the local community and resulted in her swift arrest and deportation.

The case is one of a growing number of incidents involving unruly visitors, as tensions between foreign influencers and locals on the Indonesian island reach boiling point.

Once known as a laid-back surfer’s paradise, Bali has in recent years become a popular backdrop for “content creators” looking to promote their picture-perfect lifestyles. The streets of towns like Canggu and Ubud are now lined with aesthetically pleasing cafes and bohemian clothes stores seen as perfect settings for attracting Instagram and TikTok likes.

According to the local bureau of statistics, the number of foreign visitors entering Bali jumped to more than 300,000 every month at the start of 2023. The numbers were dominated by Australian nationals, as well as Indian and Russian tourists. A byproduct of the uptick in tourism has been more traffic, construction and pollution. These shifting dynamics, combined with a perceived lack of respect for Bali’s Hindu culture and beliefs shown by some influencers, has prompted the local community to take action.

“Our hospitality has been taken for granted,” Niluh Djelantik, a Balinese business owner and activist, told the Guardian.

Referring to a video of a foreigner riding a motorbike around Bali while standing on the seat, Djelantik says: “If you wouldn’t do these things in your own country, don’t do it in Bali.

“Don’t blame us if we take action, don’t blame us if we speak up, don’t blame us if we stand up and … tell you it has to stop.”

Short-term “business or tourism visas” that cost about 3m rupiahs (£162/$202) and allow foreigners to remain in the country for six months have served as a loophole for thousands of digital nomads who have made Bali home without paying taxes, adding to tension among some locals who feel the visitors are not contributing.

“A lot of people stay long-term without the right visa and they promote this remote lifestyle,” says Rosie Lakusa, founder of Wings Canggu restaurant. The 29-year-old says the situation is complex and a symptom of mass tourism.

Examples of tourists coming under fire for their behaviour have increased. Russian influencer Alina Fazleeva was forced to undertake a cleansing ceremony before deportation after posing naked at a holy site in 2022. The same year, immigration officials stepped in after Canadian actor Jeffrey Craigen filmed himself performing the haka ceremonial dance naked at Bali’s Mount Batur.

[RTH10260]

Sex tourism in Indonesia sells itself as Islamic temporary marriage

Stephanie Yang, Dera Menra Sijabat
Wed, September 11, 2024 at 11:00 AM GMT+2·

KOTA BUNGA, INDONESIA-AUG. 26, 2024-Cahaya, 27, who requested to use a pseudonym, was first married at age 14 to a boy from her village. When he divorced her three years later, she turned to temporary contract marriages with Arab tourists to make money. Kota Bunga, a resort in near Indonesia's Puncak mountain pass, is a popular travel destination for tourists from the Middle East. It is also well known as a place for contract marriages with Indonesian women, who collect the dowries as a means of income. (Kaleb Sitompul / For the Times)

One Indonesian woman said she has illegally married Middle Eastern tourists at least 15 times to support her family. To her temporary husbands, she calls herself Cahaya.

Her first contract marriage was to a tourist from Saudi Arabia. He was in his 50s, and she was 17. They wed in a small ceremony in a guest room at a three-star hotel in Jakarta under a controversial provision of Islamic law.

An older sister came as her guardian, and the agent who brokered the deal served as the witness.

The man paid a dowry of about $850, and after the agent and the officiant took their cuts, she was left with about half that.

The newlyweds decamped to the man's vacation villa in the mountain resort of Kota Bunga, a two-hour drive south. When they weren't having sex, she mopped the floors and cooked, watched TV or chatted with the Indonesian maid. But mostly she just waited for it to end.

Kota Bunga, a resort in Indonesia's mountainous Puncak region popular with Middle Eastern tourists

Kota Bunga, a cluster of vacation villas in Indonesia's mountainous Puncak region, is a popular resort for tourists from the Middle East. It is also the top destination for contract marriages with Indonesian women, who collect the dowries as a means of income.
That took five days. The man got on a plane back to Saudi Arabia, where he unilaterally ended the marriage by saying the Arabic word for divorce: "talaq."

She had never even told him her real name, instead calling herself Cahaya, an alias she has used ever since in a decade's worth of contract marriages. She lost track of the exact number long ago, but believes it is at least 15 — all tourists from the Middle East.

“It’s all torture,” she said. “All I had in mind, every time, was I wanted to go home.”



https://www.yahoo.com/news/sex-tourism- ... 45409.html
(original: LA Times)