Page 13

Malaysia launches talks amid Asia’s growing migrant crisis

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Monday, May 18, 2015

Monday, May 18, 2015

16 Pages Number 1057th year

e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com.

Price: Rp 3.000,-

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

DPs 23 - 32WEATHER FORECAsT

Page 6

Burundi president makes first appearance since failed coup

News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http://globalfmbali.listen2my-

radio.com or live video streaming at http://radioglobalfmbali.com and http://ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.

Page 8

Anfield bids a heartfelt farewell to Steven Gerrard

Clooney, who fired up his thrusters only two years ago in Oscar-winning space drama “Gravity,” stars as a burned-out en-gineering genius in the film to be released next week, just in time for the summer blockbuster season.

The actor said the movie, which is difficult to categorize, was a courageous gamble by the studio giant, going up against sure-fire box office hits like the lat-est “Avengers” sequel, “Age of Ultron.”

“It’s a really bold thing for Disney to be willing to do a film that isn’t a sequel and isn’t a comic book and truly invest in a summer film of this sort of ilk,” he said, presenting the film ahead of its US release on May 22.

The movie’s plot has been shrouded in secrecy and, without giving away spoilers, it certainly provides a rollercoaster cin-ematic ride worthy of Disney’s Tomorrow-

land theme parks whose name it shares. It tells the story of teenage rebel Casey,

played by Britt Robertson, who finds herself sucked into a mission to unearth the secrets of “Tomorrowland,” a future realm ruled by a despot played by British “House” star Hugh Laurie.

Clooney plays inventor Frank Walker, who found his way into Tomorrowland as a young boy but became cynical and was thrown out by Laurie’s character, David Nix.

The climax comes after some spec-tacular scenes, including one featuring the Eiffel Tower, showcasing computer-generated imagery by director Brad Bird, who won an Oscar for animated film “The Incredibles” in 2005.

It is unclear what Tomorrowland rep-resents -- some kind of collective con-sciousness of the future might be a best bet

-- but the basic theme of the movie is that optimism should overcome cynicism.

“What I loved about the film was that it reminds you that young people (are) not... born and start out their lives cynical or angry or bigoted, you have to be taught all of those things,” said Clooney.

Robertson said climate change was also a key theme.

“It’s us that’s creating that issue, it’s not anything other than the people and the environment and what we’re doing to the environment,” the 25-year-old actress told AFP.

The Disney film is also a tribute to the studio giant’s founder, Walt Disney.

“Walt was a futurist. He was very inter-ested in space travel and what cities were going to look like and how transportation was going to work,” said Damon Lindelof, who co-wrote the movie with Bird. (afp)

NEW YORK - Janet Jackson on Saturday announced that she would release a new album this year in a first since the death of her brother Michael.

Jackson released a video that showed a sound system, with her voice speaking gently over background chatter and urban music.

“I promised you’d hear it from my lips, and now you will. This year -- new music, new world tour, a new movement,” she said.

She was apparently referring to her message on Twitter last year that played down specula-tion of a new album, with Jackson saying at the time that “you’ll hear it from my lips” if new music is coming.

Jackson called her latest announcement “Conversations in a Cafe,” presumably the title or at least the theme of the upcoming album.

The youngest member of the Jackson family, Janet broke through in her own right with her 1986 album “Control” which was a landmark in merging R&B and the growing genre of hip-hop.

Jackson, who has sold more than 140 million albums, last released a studio album in 2008, the electronic-driven “Discipline.”

She briefly retreated from public view to grieve after Michael Jackson died in 2009, but has since returned to acting and went on an 80-date tour in 2011 to promote a greatest hits collection.

In 2012, she quietly married Qatari tycoon Wissam Al Mana. (afp)

IBP/Net

Janet Jackson announces album after

absence

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Amal Clooney, left, and George Clooney arrive at the world premiere of “Tomorrowland” at AMC Downtown Disney on Saturday, May 9, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif.

Clooney goes back to future in ‘Tomorrowland’

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney straps on a jet pack again for Disney’s new movie “Tomorrowland,” a retro-futuristic spectacle mixing environmental themes with sci-fi wizardry -- and some good old-fashioned fun.

IBP/AP Photo

Balinese conducted Ngaben ritual at one of beaches in Bali. The Benoa Bay reclamation plan is said to be contrary to Hinduism. Palm-leaf manuscripts un-equivocally mention that Hinduism oes not allow for the reclamation of an estuary, confluence, creek nor sea.

Reclamation contradicts Hinduism

Sutedja added that this fact was also been revealed by the Hindu Dharma Council of Indonesia (PHDI) before the Bali House on April 24 and 27. There are bound to

be adverse affects if the Benoe Bay reclamation place is continued. “I see a very bad future. Indeed, the plan appears to be instantly profitable -in quotation marks. But

actually if we examine and assess things further, there are four do-mains that will be affected, namely the political, legal, economic and cultural domains,” continued the

patron of Merah Putih Bali As-sociation.

It is said that it terms the politics, the Benoa Bay reclamation plan is a neoliberal tactic designed to pit Balinese people against each other. In terms of legality, the customary laws of Bali would be trampled and manipulated under the pretext of national law.

“Our customary laws that clearly reffererence palm-leaf manuscripts

are apparently being abused,” he said.

DENPASAR - The Benoa Bay reclamation plan is said to be contrary to Hinduism. Palm-leaf manuscripts unequivocally mention that Hinduism oes not allow for the reclamation of an estu-ary, confluence, creek nor sea. A.A. Gde Agung Bagus Sutedja, a public figure from Jembrana Palace recently stated this fact. “The manuscript unequivocally mentions that reclaiming an estuary, confluence or creek, let alone reclaiming part of the sea is not permitted by our religion (as described in the palm-leaf manuscript),” he affirmed.

International2 Monday, May 18, 2015 15International Activities

Bali News

EvEry Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annual Ceremony, or “ Odalan “, every 210 days according to Balinese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine which each family possesses. Because of this practically every few days a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in some Village in Bali. There are also times when the entire island celebrated the same Holiday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day, Tumpek Wayang day etc.

The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is con-sidered its birth day and celebration always takes place on the same day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used. When new moon is used then the celebration always happens on new moon or full moon. The day of course can differ the religious celebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some temple celebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakih temple, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and most of the time it lasts for 11 days, depending on the importance of the occasion.

The celebration is very colorful. The shrine are dressed with pieces of cloths and sometimes with brocade, sailings, decorations of carved wood and sometimes painted with gold and Chinese coins, very beautifully arranged, are hung in the four corners of the shrine. In front of shrine are placed red, white or black umbrellas depending which Gods are worshipped in the shrines.

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful attire, carrying offerings, arrangements of all kinds fruits and colored cakes, to the Temple. Every visitor admires the grace with which the carry their load on their heads.

Balinese Temple Ceremony

Monday, May 18, 2015

Founder : K.Nadha, General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Diah Dewi Juniarti Editors: Gugiek Savindra,Alit Susrini, Alit Sumertha, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Suana, Sueca, Sugiartha, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Dewa kusuma, Gianyar: Agung Dharmada, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Bagiarta. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Development: Alit Purnata, Mas Ruscitadewi. Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605 Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp.

(0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

Considered to be one of the world’s most complex cuisines, Balinese food is an elaborate blend of fresh ingredients, intricate flavours and aromatic spices accomplished with an extraordinary dedication to preparation and cookery. There are no artificial flavourings or additives in Balinese food, only natural, local ingredients are used, while colour-ings are obtained only from natural plant sources such as red hibiscus flowers and green pandan leaves.

Everyday Balinese fare is comprised of rice, vegetables, egg and maybe a little meat or fish; this is known as ‘Nasi Campur’, and is usually cooked in the early morning, and consumed whenever the need arises. In contrast, ceremonial food is prepared in an elaborate and decorative manner and is eaten com-munally. Women prepare the daily meal, but only men may prepare the festival dishes, with the creation of a ritual feast being a full day’s work.

Balinese cuisine has been influenced by the diverse cultures of the Indonesian archipelago. Many of the distinctive tastes and cooking styles were inspired by the early Chinese, Indian, Arabic and Dutch traders and settlers. The founda-tion of an authentic Balinese meal is rice. Sauces are created with coconut

milk and the fundamental coriander, pepper and garlic. flavour some curries rely on freshly ground spices; common seasonings include ginger, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and tamarind. Balinese ‘bumbu’ is a basic spice paste that varies from village to village. Hot fresh chili can be found in fiery accompanying sauces known as sambals, and peanuts are typically present as a garnish, or ground into a paste to form a sweet and spicy peanut sauce.

Some of Bali’s most distinctive and popular dishes include ‘Babi Guling’, which is Bali’s famous delicacy – a festive dish comprising slow-cooked spit roasted pig stuffed with aromatic leaves, onion, garlic and peppercorns, brushed with crushed turmeric and often served with ‘lawar’, a spicy raw meat mash. ‘Bebek Betutu’ is duck stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a coconut-husk-fuelled earth-oven – this Balinese specialty is usually served with a tangy lemon sauce together with traditional accompani-ments. ‘Satay’ is a serving of small ke-babs of fish, chicken or beef, barbequed in the traditional style on hot coals and served on a bamboo stick with peanut sauce. ‘Pepes Ikan’ is a dish of fragrant, spiced local fish, traditionally wrapped,

steamed and baked in banana leaf pack-ages; the juices are contained inside the parcel and the experience is an explosion of moist smoky flavour.

Balinese desserts include ‘Kue Da-dar’, which are little crepe parcels filled with palm sugar, vanilla and grated co-conut. ‘Bubuh Injin’ is a sweet and sticky black rice pudding, named after the colour of the rice husk and served with coconut milk sauce. ‘Pisang goreng’ is banana fried in batter and served with syrup, and ‘Es campur’ is fruit salad with shredded ice. Finally, ‘Jajan Pasar’ is the name given to classic market-style cakes.

Relishan extensive buffet dinner of traditional hot and cold Balinese classics at ‘The Spirit of Bali’ – a cultural tribute to Balinese dance, music and culinary delights, every Saturday evening from 7pm onwards at Intercontinental Bali Resort’s Taman Gita Terrace. Be capti-vated by a series of sacred dance rituals performed by local villagers, showcasing the traditional artistry of Balinese dance and music. These culturally-inspired performances are all part of InterCon-tinental Bali’s ongoing commitment to preserve and showcase the island’s cul-tural heritage and actively support local communities and their artistic legacies.

IBP/Courtesy of InterContinental

Traditional cuisine of Bali at InterContinental Bali Resort

JIMBArAN - Every Saturday evening, InterContinental Bali resort offers its visitors and guests the opportunity to enjoy traditional Balinese cuisine at ‘The Spirit of Bali’ cultural dinner, accompanied by ‘Okokan’, ‘Tektekan’ and ‘Calonarang’ dance performances.

DENPASAR - Waste problem remains to become a scourge for Bali so far and even for the next few years. Just imagine the Island of the Gods produces 10,030 cubic meters of waste every day. It re-spectively consists of 5,300 cubic meters of urban waste and 4,700 cubic meters of rural waste.

“So, each resident produces 2.7 ki-lograms of waste each day. Without a proper management, in one year the waste can amount to be as huge as the Mount Agung,” said the Head of the Bali Envi-ronment Agency (BLH), Gede Suarjana, in Denpasar, recently.

His party noted that waste production continues to increase from year to year. In 2005, the waste polluting the environment reached approximately 1.7 million cubic meters. In 2014, the waste production reached 1.9 million cubic meters more or nearly two million cubic meters.

“Estimation of the waste production

in 2020 reaches 2,271,846 cubic meters,” said Suarjana. Further, he added that the carrying capacity of Bali can actually ac-commodate 1.5 million people. However, the current population has reached 4.2 million, not to mention the additional 3.5 million foreign travelers and 12 million domestic travelers. Thus, the carrying capacity and supporting capacity is not balanced.

“We will compete to utilize the place against the waste because the area of Bali is only 3,632.86 square kilometers. This means that the load will be immense,” he explained. Suarjana added that 29 percent of the amount consists of inorganic waste that is difficult to decompose. Then, 12 percent or as much as 680 cubic meters consists of plastic waste. He also urged people to begin to sort out the waste and not to throw waste haphazardly in the effort to reduce environmental pollution caused by waste. (kmb32)

means of backfilling with soil, rocks and concrete creating foundations that jutt out along 200 meters into the sea. The location of this sea reclamation starts at Penerusan Bay, with foundations being laid at 15 meter intervals, is allegedly being created to build

a hotel. Unfortunately, many mangrove trees seem to have been cut down.

Dozens of trucks transporting rocks and soil, have been seen coming to and from the location. Pejarakan village resident, Iboy, explained that he was very sad to see the condition of nature suddenly damaged, especially the mangrove trees. The backfilling that the investors have been doing for over a month, ap-parently plans to cover 2 hectares and used as tourist faciltities, including a hotel.

The reclamation at Penerusan Bay clearly damages mangrove plants. The reclaimed land is alleged to be owned by a resident who sold it to investor. Actu-ally Iboy questioned the legality of the certificate of ownership (SHM) because of the backfilling that protrudes into the

ocean. “The project has been going on for a month and

we heard that the plan is to build a hotel. But why should they backfill? Can a this Bay be used as private property? There must be an explanation. Otherwise the project could harm the mangroves and the sur-

roundingenvironment” said Iboy loudly.Headman of Pejarakan, Made Astawa, explained

that the location of Penerusan Bay reclamation was owned by a resident name Komang Milik who then sold it to an unknown investor. Later, it was discovered that the backfilling was being done, potentially to build a hotel. Astawa does not know the details about the building to be established. “The land belonged to a resident who had the ownership title (SHM) of the

land. Then, his land was sold to another person (investor—Ed), who is apparently building a hotel there. For now, there is only a road and the construc-tion is far from complete - it could take as long as five years to finish the project” he explained.

Astawa said firmly that not permit had been issued for this project. “I never issue any recommendation for such a permit, and so far we have received no re-quest for permission. The status of the land is private property and as long as they are not disturbing the environment, it does not matter what they build” said Astawa. Law No.27/2007 after the revision of Law No.1/200 on the management

of coastal areas and small islands mentions that that a person or company is not allowed to construct buildings 100 meters from the highest tidal point landward. (kmb34)

Announcement of graduation has become a tradition for high school and vocational school students of grade XII in Denpasar to be filled with graffiti ac-tion on their school uniform. After that, it is resumed with a convoy around the street. It was also done after graduation announcement on Friday (May 15). This time, the action was even worse than the previous year.

Field observation of Bali Post indi-cates that the convoy action also involved a number of cars and big motorcycles. Incredibly, female students were no lon-ger ashamed of joining this action and they were even in the frontline during the convoy.

Even though schools have implement-ed the announcement through praying together, the students remain to keep their uniform in their motorcycle. After pray-ing, they persisted on doing the graffiti action as an expression of their bubbling excitement. All the principals could not stem the action.

Surprisingly, the action was even led by students of state school. They have promised to meet in front of the Ngurah Rai Stadium and then moved in convoy to main roads in Denpasar. The most severe action occurred on Jalan Kamboja when the student action would pick up the students of the SMAN 1 Denpasar high

school (Smansa).Police had upset by hitting the convoy

participants because of disturbing secu-rity. Dozens of students were secured at Bali Police Headquarters for not wearing a helmet when doing the convoy. Three students were secured in front of the KONI tennis court because they were proved to bring liquor when doing the convoy.

Tow education observers, I Ketut Mu-dita and Ida Bagus Suyasaputra, judged that such an action can be considered reasonable as long as it is an expression of momentary excitement. However, if it has disturbed safety and other road users, he agreed that the students must be given learning, education as well as coaching.

Mudita said that the future of high school and vocational school graduate stays long. To that end, he hoped that po-lice officers are necessary to be deployed at all critical points in Denpasar. I.B. Suyasaputra admitted that it is difficult to prevent but can be redirected. It is the task of the national police to keep the order in the streets. If necessary, from now on it needs to impose decisive action in order that the other students will not imitate the negative action next year. “Naturally, those who are tippling and not wearing a helmet must be disciplined because they have disturbed others,” he said. (025)

Students do graffiti, convoy and tippling action

Waste production in 2020 predicted to reach 2.2 million cubic meters

IBP/Dewa Kusuma

The Penerusan Bay is filled with rocks and sand

Investor overtly reclaims Penerusan Bay

SINGArAJA - The coast of Penerusan Bay in Banyuwedang hamlet, Pejarakan village, Gerokgak, Buleleng, is openly being reclaimed by

3Monday, May 18, 2015 14 InternationalInternational Bali NewsTraveling Monday, May 18, 2015

So walk round the winding cob-bled streets of panoramic Mont-martre or stroll through the historic Marais with its devastatingly chic fashion boutiques.

And for budget-conscious food-ies — forgo the world-class restau-rants in favor of the local artisan shops where you can stock up on delightful cheeses and wines for a picnic in Paris’ oldest monumental square, the Place des Vosges, or in the gardens of the majestic Louvre museum.

To encourage Parisians to walk around and fight rising air pollution by ditching their vehicles, car-free pedestrian zones are cropping up all over the city — especially near the river Seine.

Enjoy walks on the arty left bank, which was transformed in 2013 when a stretch was pedestrianized

from the Musee d’Orsay museum all the way to the popular Quai Branly museum near the Eiffel Tower.

And from 2016, you’ll be able to walk down a 3-kilometer (2-mile) car-free stretch of the Seine’s right bank — past Notre Dame cathedral, the beautiful island Ile Saint-Louis and end up at the beautiful blooms of Tuileries gardens.

If you want a break from Paris’ classical beauty, head to the once-gritty suburb of Pantin, which has been dubbed the “Brooklyn of Paris.” Its derelict, graffiti-covered warehouses by a canal have been taken over by galleries and artists, turning it into the hippest place in the City of Light.

The incredible Versailles Palace has been given a new feature — to celebrate 300 years since the death of the palace’s founder, Sun King

Louis XIV.This week, it inaugurated the

newly renovated Water Theater grove — fittingly, to great fanfare.

It’s an incredible contemporary fountain with gilded sculptures com-posed of 2,000 pearls and 20,000 pieces of gold leaf. It’s fit for a king, even though the king is dead.

And what would a trip to Paris be like without a visit to the new-look Eiffel Tower? The 324-meter (1,063-foot) monument was given a vertigo-inducing face-lift last fall as organizers celebrated its 125th anniversary — and now has see-through glass floor panels on its first level.

The four small viewing sections, which cost 30 million euro (US $38 million), allow visitors to see 57 meters (187 feet) below their feet. (ap)

AP Photo/Christophe Ena

In this photo dated Tuesday, May 12, 2015 visitors take photos of “Les Belles Danses” (The beautiful dances) by French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, one of the three fountain sculptures installed at the Water Theatre Grove in Ver-sailles outside Paris, France.

Airbnb, the house rentals website, is hugely popular among Parisians. Visitors can save hundreds by opting to stay in a private accommodation instead of a hotel, and an organized tourist can find something for every area, taste and price range — from a small room to an apartment in a historic town house.

If you’re on a shoe-string budget, check out the new 1,000-bed Genera-tor hostel in the city’s funky 10th district, with a shared room for 25 euros per person per night.

For getting around, nothing is more fun than the free-bicycle rental initia-tive called the “Velibe.” Bike stations are located around the city — and all you need is a pair of legs and a credit card (that won’t be billed — it’s just to insure the bike return). The famed pedestrian street Rue Montorgueil, near metro Etienne Marcel, is a perfect place to sit and people-watch. It’s as popular with fashion-conscious hipsters as it is with queens — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth’s favorite bakery Patisserie Stohrer is here!

Paris is famed for its beautiful gardens and parks. So sit, talk philosophy, nibble Camembert and sip fine Bordeaux wine in the Parc Monceau in the 17th district. Or picnic in Paris’ “Central Park,” the awe-inspiring Buttes Chaumont in the 19th district. A verdant beer garden called Rosa Bonheur, found within the Buttes Chaumont, is a particular hit with Parisians.

For those not afraid of getting their feet wet, go boating in the large lake at the Bois de Vincennes, in the east. (ap)

Essentials for visiting Paris

What’s new, classics and morePARIS — The City of Light is not just one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals. Because of

its small size, just 8 kilometers (5 miles from north to south), Paris is also perfect for exploring on foot. Tips for visiting Paris

AP Photo/Michel Euler, File

This Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 file photo shows a man passing by the glass-pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris, France.

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File

This Monday, Dec 9, 2013 file photo shows the white-domed Basilica of the Sacre Cœur in Montmartre district in Paris, France.

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File

This Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014 file photo taken with extreme wide angle lens shows a general view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

DENPASAR - Government policy to import rice indicates a disregard for the interest of farmers and will cause adverse effects on rice prices, an observer has said.

“Rice imports will show that the revitalization of the agricul-ture sector to achieve rice self sufficiency, as has been declared by the president, seems merely rhetorical,” agriculture observer

Gede Sedana said on Saturday.Sedana, the dean of Dwijendra

University’s Faculty of Agricul-ture in Denpasar, Bali, noted that until now, farmers have not been assisted by government policy.

Sedana remarked that the policy to open the country to rice imports does not favor farmers and is inconsistent with the spirit of the revitalization of the agri-culture sector.

“The farmers will be greatly harmed by imports of rice, be-cause they will damage the do-mestic rice market and lower the income of farmers,” he noted.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said rice imports are always an option, especially when the government has to deal with shortages of rice.

“The tap is always open, in case our production does not

meet demand and it is required to make up for the deficit,” the vice president stated in his office last Friday.

Citing an example, he pointed out that in case there is a shortage of rice during the Islamic fasting month in June, it is possible that the country will import rice.

However, the vice president added that the government had yet to study the agricultural re-

“From 98 countries, there are currently 58 delegations arriving to attend the ICMM,” Army Chief of Staff of the Ninth Regional Military Command (Kodam IX) Udayana Brigadier General Hadi Kusnan said on Sunday.

The delegations comprised high military officials and mili-tary doctors who will attend the conference that will be hosted by The Indonesian Ministry of Defence and the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM), in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of For-eign Affairs, Surgeon General of Indonesian Defence Force and Indonesian Military Medicine

Association (IMMA).Topics of interest will consist

of health aspects of protecting the health condition of armed forces personnel, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, chemical-bio-logical-radiological and nuclear, emerging infection diseases and re-emerging diseases in specific military population, environmental and preventive medicines, emer-gency management of battlefield injuries, military health Education and training, military health pro-motion and rehabilitation.

The conference was scheduled to be opened by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Monday at 9:30 a.m. local time, followed by a

general lecture by Minister of Defence General (ret.) Ryamizard Ryacudu.

The congress will also invite local, regional, and international speakers and academicians to share their knowledge and experiences in various fields of military medicine in a plenary meeting, a workshop, round tables and poster sessions.

The plenary sessions will dis-cuss some topics such as Ebola Hemorrhagic Disease as a Novel Virus in Emerging and re-emerging Infectious Disease, Peace Keeping Force in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operation, Chemical Biologic Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Hazards in

Delegations arrive for 41st ICMM World Congress

NUSA DUA - International delegations have started arriving in Bali to attend the 41st Inter-national Committee on Military Medicine World Congress on Monday that will be held at Bali Nusa Dua Center (BNDCC), Bali, on May 17-22.

Military Personnel and Combat Casualties Care and War Surgery.

Doctors from the World Health Organization (WHO) such as Dr. Eric Bertherat and some mili-tary doctors from United States, France, China, United Kingdom and Thailand will present their paper on the Ebola topic.

ICMM was established in 1921, after World War I, to increase the cooperation between the health services of the Armed Forces Medical Services. It is an interna-tionally recognized organization located in Belgium.

DeployedAs many as 1,869 personnel

of the Indonesian Military and National Police were deployed to secure the 41st World Congress of the International Committee

on Military Medicine (ICMM) on Monday that will be held at Bali Nusa Dua Center (BNDCC) Bali on May 17-22.

“The airport should be antici-pated as the location is a high pri-ority for security,” Chief of Bali Police Office Inspector General Ronny Sompie said.

In addition to military and police personnel, the author-ity involve Balinese traditional guards, locally known as pecalang to secure the event.

“The power of Balinese tra-dition to secure their culture is remarkable. The involvement of pecalangs will complete the se-curity measure,” Ronny Sompie said.

Meanwhile, Kusnan added that from 1,869 joint personnel, 1,200 were from the military. (ant)

Rice imports disregard for farmers’ interest

IBP/Budana

Government policy to import rice indicates a disregard for the interest of farmers and will cause adverse effects on rice prices, an observer has said.

ports collected from the fields.“We will wait and see until

after the end of May, because a grand harvest usually lasts until May,” he affirmed.

The vice president noted that after the harvest, the government will be able to determine whether there is a shortage in the national rice stock and whether imports will be needed. (ant)

International4 Monday, May 18, 2015 Monday, May 18, 2015 13InternationalBali News

Malaysian Foreign Minister Ani-fah Aman met with his counterpart from Bangladesh, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, ahead of meetings scheduled with the Indonesian and Thai foreign ministers in the com-ing days, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Boatloads of more than 2,000 members of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya Muslim community fleeing persecution and migrants from Bangladesh trying to escape poverty have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks. But thousands more are stranded at sea after a crackdown on human traffickers prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their human cargo.

Malaysia is the current chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has been criticized for long ignor-ing the plight of the Rohingya. On Friday, Malaysian Prime Minister

Najib Razak vowed to take action as urgent calls to address the grow-ing humanitarian crisis poured in from the United Nations, the United States and others.

“This is an issue of international and regional importance,” Najib said. “We are in contact with all relevant parties, with whom we share the desire to find a solution to this crisis.”

ASEAN adheres to a strict policy of non-interference, which in the past has blocked public criticism of Myanmar and critics say enables member states to commit abuses without consequences.

The U.N. has called the Ro-hingya one of the world’s most persecuted groups. For decades, they have faced state-sanctioned discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. In the past three years, Rohingya have been targeted by violent mobs of Bud-dhist extremists that left hundreds dead and sparked an exodus of boat people fleeing on rickety, over-

crowded vessels operated by human trafficking syndicates.

Most are trying to reach Malay-sia, a Muslim-majority country that has hosted more than 45,000 Roh-ingya over the years but now says it can’t accept any more. Indonesia and Thailand have voiced similar stances — fearing that accepting a few would result in an unstop-pable flow of poor, uneducated migrants.

The Malaysian and Bangladeshi foreign ministers met in Sabah state on Borneo island Sunday as part of a pre-planned annual consultation between the two countries, the of-ficial said.

Malaysia’s Anifah is also ex-pected to meet with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Monday and hold talks with his Thai counterpart, Gen. Tanasak Patimapragorn, in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, the official said. Ef-forts were being made to meet with representatives from Myanmar, he said, without elaborating. (ap)

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. train operator Amtrak will expand its use of a speed restriction system on Philadelphia’s northbound rails and abide by other federal directives is-sued after one of its trains crashed in the city last week, killing eight people, after speeding into a curve, the company said Saturday.

The automatic train control system already is being used for southbound trains approaching the curve where Tuesday’s derailment occurred. The system notifies an engineer when a train is above the speed limit and automatically applies the brakes if the engineer doesn’t slow down the train.

The U.S. Federal Railroad Ad-ministration on Saturday ordered Amtrak to expand use of the sys-tem. Amtrak said it would comply, adding that its “overarching goal is to provide safe and secure rail passenger travel.” The company hopes to resume limited service between Philadelphia and New York on Monday and full service on Tuesday.

The train was traveling from Washington, D.C., to New York when it flew off the tracks in Phila-delphia. About 200 people were injured, and at least eight people remained in critical condition in Philadelphia hospitals Saturday. All

were expected to survive.Investigators have been looking

into why the train hit the speed of about 106 mph in a 50 mph zone. The FBI also is looking into the possibility that the windshield of the train was hit by an object shortly before the train derailed. The engi-neer, who was injured in the crash, told authorities he did not recall anything in the few minutes before it happened.

The Federal Railroad Admin-istration also ordered Amtrak to analyze curves to assess risks on the Northeast Corridor, the busy stretch of tracks between Washington and Boston, and determine if more can be done to improve safety.

“In areas where approach speed is significantly higher than curve speed, the appropriate technology intended to prevent over-speed derailments must be implemented immediately,” the agency said. Amtrak also will have to increase the amount and frequency of sig-nage alerting engineers and conduc-tors of the maximum authorized speed.

Amtrak posted a message on its website Saturday touting a “very strong” safety record, including a claim that yearly derailments fell from 80 to 28 between 2000 and 2014. (ap)

PARIS — France has joined a chorus of voices opposing a Euro-pean Union plan to ease pressure on nations dealing with an influx of Mediterranean migrants by es-tablishing a quota system to share the burden.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls says he opposes the proposed plan to set maximum refugee limits for each country in the EU based on population, employment levels and other factors. In comments made

Saturday on French TV, Valls said a quota system “was never part of the French propositions.”

Last week Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told RTL radio that France supported the plan, which was already unraveling in the face of opposition among other EU countries.

Exact details of the plan haven’t been hashed out, but countries in-cluding Hungary, Slovakia and Esto-nia have already rejected it. (ap)

France joins opposition to EU quota plan for migrants

Amtrak to expand speed control at deadly

US train crash site

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

In this May 13, 2015 photo, emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train wreck in Philadelphia.

AP Photo/Joshua Paul

Mahamuda Rohim Boksoh, an ethnic Rohingya, 38, prepares lunch for her family while her sons, right, looks on in her shanty on the fringes of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday, May 17, 2015.

Malaysia launches talks amid Asia’s

growing migrant crisisKUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia launched a series of high-level talks with its neighbors Sunday,

seeking a solution to a deepening crisis in which boatloads of refugees are stranded off Southeast Asia’s shores, with no country willing to take them in.

When asked about the economic growth of Gianyar, Suamba could not disclose exact figures, but he did say that tourism remains the prominent sector followed by the processing industry sector including handicrafts as well as the agricultural industry. “I would have to check the data from the Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda), but obviously since 2009 the economic growth in Gianyar has relied on the tourism sector” he said.

At his home on Jalan Jagaraga, Celuk village, Sukawati, Wayan Suweta was seen sitting at his work table, illuminated by a long neon light. Wayan Suweta produces various kinds of silver handicrafts. “My employees no longer work for me here. Other than due to lack of orders, they can also work on their own orders at home,” he said.

Suweta explained that around 1915 under Dutch colonial rule, the region of Celuk village be-came the center of silversmithing in Bali. However, at that time people only produced tools for ritual paraphernalia such as cant-

ing, ceraka and cangku. Around 1935, the local craftsmen started making jewelry from silver for the kings and the Dutch people. “At that time, the colonialists also introduced the craft products of our society to kings like the king of Gianyar because only those kinds of people could be close to the king,” he said.

Around 1966 Bali became in-creasingly open to the outside world. As a result, more and more travelers came to Bali, especially to Celuk village, specifically look-ing for silverworks. “It was not unlike the way that the Dutch had introduced our silver works to the Europeans,” he said.

Silverworks from Celuk village experienced a rapid development and by 1970 the craftsmen could export their silverworks overseas. Suweta said that the design of necklaces, bracelets and earrings by Celuk village craftsmen were in great demand at that time. This golden period went on until the 1990s. “During the glorious pe-riod, even unfinished handicrafts were sometimes ordered by travel-

ers or businessmen,” he said while smiling.

Aournd 1995, jewelry products from outside of Bali, from places like Thailand, China and India began to enter the world market. This was the beginning of the stiff competition faced by Celuk sil-verworks on the world stage. The Bali bombing incidents also made the sale of the

silverworks at Celuk village increasingly rare. “Undeniably, we are losing competitiveness on the world market and even in Bali there are minimal orders for silverworks,” he said.

When asked about the number of orders since Indonesia’s econ-omy recently began to weaken, Suweta said that even though the industry is slumping he is still re-ceiving orders from several loyal customers overseas. “Since 2009, the condition remains about the same, meaning

there are still some orders from a number of customers, but no-where near the number of orders that we received during the glori-ous period,” he said. (nik)

TABANAN - Roof tile craft businesses at Pejaten village, Kediri, even before the economy of Bali said to come down con-tinues to face price decline. One of the roof tile craftsmen of two generations, Dewa Made Rai, 60, said that currently the roof tile craft business is sluggish. His business is running modestly. The advan-tage is no longer as much as ever before in line with quiet orders and the falling price of the tile. “In the past, the price of roof tile was IDR 1,000 per piece, but now drops to IDR 850 per piece,” he said.

Due to lack of order, Dewa Rai which normally produces 1,000 pieces of roof tile has a lot of stock in the warehouse. Shortage of or-der has begun to be experienced by roof tile craftsmen at Pejaten vil-lage since the beginning of 2015. Admittedly, the onslaught of Java roof tile costing far less is one of the causes of the shortage of the order faced by the Pejaten roof tile. “Our stock has reached 20,000 pieces, but no one has placed an order,” he said. Dewa Rai admit-ted that formerly he had a regular customer from Lombok. But so far, there is no information about the order from his customer.

Nevertheless, there are still individuals coming directly to buy tiles. He also admitted to run out of clay raw materials at Pejaten village. In the past, he got raw ma-terials from his home yard but now it has used up. “In the past, this home yard was high. But it is now lower because the clay continues to be taken,” he said. To meet the raw material, he buys from another village for IDR 550,000 per truck, while he also buys coconut fiber for IDR 700,000 per truck to burn roof tiles.

Due to uncertain income from roof tile craft, Dewa Rai encour-ages his sons to look for another job in urban areas. “Similarly, none of my sons wants to continue this craft business. All of them are working in the city,” he said. As a little man he just hopes that amid the difficulties experienced the government can stabilize the prices of basic commodities so that they are affordable.

The dropped price of Pejaten tile product is recognized by the headman of Pejaten, I Nyoman Alit Wijaya. The roof tile price cur-rently touches IDR 850 per piece, while Plentong roof tile with bet-ter quality is sold for IDR 12,000. “The price indeed drops. Standard roof tile was formerly sold for IDR 1,000 per piece and Plentong tile IDR 15,000 per piece, but now respectively drops to IDR 850 and IDR 12,000,” he said.

The price drop is caused by many stocks of tile coming from Java offering cheaper price. Ac-cording to Alit, the lower price can be offered because the raw materi-als in Java remain available a lot. On the other hand, the tile raw materials at Pejaten are no longer available and even have to order from outside the village. “Labor cost in Java is also cheaper so that the roof tile craftsmen in Java can sell their products cheaper,” said Alit.

His party has attempted in order that the Pejaten roof tile business continues to survive and one of them is patenting the name of Pejaten. Unfortunately, the patent right was copied by artisans from East Java. To follow up on the in-fringement against the Pejaten pat-ent, the village authority has sent a team directly to the area producing roof tile with the brand name of Pe-jaten mold. “Two villages in East Java using the name are Kalianyar village in Bondowoso and Pandak village in Situbondo. From this visit is found that there are artisans producing roof tile with the name of Pejaten mold,” said Alit.

The team then held a meeting with headman of local village and gave information if the brand name Pejaten has become the patent right of craftsmen at Pejaten village, Kediri, Tabanan. At least this ef-fort has given a result. From the last visit, 40 percent of craftsmen at Kalianyar village have changed their roof tile mold into Paten while at Pandak village 100 per-cent of the artisans have changed their mold to Pandak. In the mean-time, 60 percent of craftsmen at Kalianyar village remaining to use the Pejaten mold, according Alit, from recognition of local village figures it really takes time because they have large market in Bali. The brand Pejaten becomes the booster of their product market-ing in Bali.

“Their order even largely comes from Bali. The collectors are in Negara and Singaraja. Their roof tiles are in high demand because of the Pejaten brand name,” said Alit. To that end, the team will also conduct searches to tile collectors in Negara and Singaraja.

Having got the name and ad-dress of the collectors, the team will report them to local Industry and Trade Agency. “The Industry and Trade Agency will send repri-mand letter to the collectors so as not to sell the roof tiles under the brand name of Pejaten from Java,” he said. If collectors still violate after getting reprimand letter for three times, a legal action will be taken. (kmb24)

Roof tile craftsmen at PejatenPrice slumps,

business runs modestly

IBP/Manik

The silver cratfsman is working in his shop in Celuk, Gianyar.

Stiff competition, Celuk’s silverworks

losing competitivenessGIANYAR – The Head of the Gianyar Trade Agency, I Wayan Suamba, said that the export

of processed products -particularly from the handicraft industry, is strongly influenced by the creativity and innovation of the craftsmen. He admitted that the tight competition in foreign markets has made some handicraft products from Gianyar County, such as silverworks, struggle to survive. “I persistently remind the craftsmen to be creative and make innovations s that they can compete with other countries” he said.

Bali News Monday, May 18, 2015 5InternationalMonday, May 18, 201512 International

BUSINESS

Despite a spike in sovereign bond yields in the past couple of weeks, levels still remain ultra-low. The rate of return to investors on benchmark 10-year German and French bonds has stayed be-low one percent in recent months and the yields on long-term Swiss debt even went negative.

Sovereign bonds are very im-portant for long-term investors as they are a safe investment that allows them to lock into guaran-teed returns.

For life insurance companies and pension funds which are investing the savings of others, the safety of sovereign bonds has

led regulators to require them to place certain percentages of their investments in bonds.

But the unprecedented rock bottom interest rates are posing a problem as many life insur-ance polices offer guaranteed interest higher than current bond yields.

Last year in France, life insur-ance contracts paid on average 2.5 percent.

Life insurance companies can temporarily dig into investment funds to continue to pay high rates and attract investors, but this is a strategy experts said cannot con-tinue if rates remain low.

“This drop in rates and the uncertainty that has accompanied it is affecting life insurance re-turns,” said Claude Chassain, an actuarial expert at Deloitte.

The level of interest rates has been worrying the industry for months, and analysts and ratings agencies are concerned about the industry.

German insurers, which offer much higher guaranteed returns than their French counterparts, have been particularly critical of the European Central Bank’s ultra-low interest rate policy, and its 1.1-trillion-euro ($1.2-trillion) bond buying stimulus

programme that has driven down bond yields.

According to Karsten Eich-mann, president of German in-surer Gothaer, that situation has left companies like his caught in an agonising pinch.

“The insurance sector in Ger-many is currently facing a consid-erable degree of damage, in the order of several billion, provoked by the European Central Bank’s policy of very low rates,” Eich-mann wrote in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in early May.

Pension funds are also sound-ing the alarm.

PensionsEurope, the trade or-ganisation for European pension institutions, warned regulators in a report in late April that “pen-sion funds can not be considered

collateral damage of the ECB’s (quantitative easing policy) when the problem involves retirement savings of millions of Europe-ans”.

Chassain says low interest rates like those currently in place are destined to make life difficult for any insurer with long-term guar-antees on return.

For insurance companies, the strategy is to invest in high-risk assets like corporate bonds, stocks and infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, most also encourage clients towards options that do not guarantee savings invested, such as unit-linked plans.

That same trend has already taken hold in Japan, where interest rates have remained low for quite some time. (afp)

BEIJING - China’s foreign minister worked on Saturday to allay concerns that Beijing’s new regional infrastructure bank would not meet inter-national standards as he met with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The US declined to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) amid doubts over how it would be managed, but several of Washington’s closest allies signed up, including Britain, France and Germany.

The concerns include transparency of the AIIB, which will fund infrastructure in Asia, as well as Beijing using it to push its own geopolitical and economic interests as a rising power.

“The United States welcomes new multilateral institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure In-vestment Bank provided they share the international community’s strong commitment to high quality standards,” Kerry said at a press conference with Wang Yi in Beijing.

Those standards include “including genuine multilateral decision-making, ever improving lend-ing requirements and environmental and social safeguards”, he added.

A total of 57 nations have applied for founding membership, including China, and Wang rebuffed Kerry’s concerns, saying: “The AIIB is a multilateral institution, so naturally its operation will observe international rules.”

“The AIIB is also ready to carry out cooperation with other multilateral institutions, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,” he added.

Under President Xi Jinping, China is pushing to build on the ancient Silk Road trade routes on land and sea, through its “One Belt, One Road” initiative expected to be partly funded by the AIIB. (afp)

Low interest rates make saving nearly mission impossible

PARIS - While borrowers rejoice at the ultra low and even negative interest rates in Europe, savers fret and life insurance companies and pension funds face what is virtually a mission impossible.

AP Photo/Andy Wong, File

Under President Xi Jinping, China is pushing to build on the ancient Silk Road trade routes on land and sea, through its “One Belt, One Road” initiative expected to be partly funded by the AIIB.

China infrastructure bank will uphold standards

The rector added that it has been given this recognition due to its high philosophical value.

“The philosophic values in-clude the embodiment of the strength of the superstructure (the universe), cosmological value and authoritative value,” Duija stated.

Kris also has esthetic values of completing clothing, customs, culture and art, as well as high economic value.

The Indonesian kris, includ-ing the one from Bali, has been acknowledged as a world heritage in terms of use in human activities,

including as a hobby and in Hindu rituals.

According to Duija, besides showing cultural excellence, kris is also a cultural symbol of hu-man civilization on Earth that has been able to survive through the centuries.

He added that kris also reflects a value of solidarity as it can be used across cultures and as a national souvenir.

The recognition of a masterpiece of human civilization given by the UNESCO to the Indonesian kris has made it known to the world. Therefore, it requires conservation

and maintenance.The Bali community upholds

the meaning and sacred value of kris with a ritual known as Tumpek Landep Day, which is celebrated every 210 days.

This is a sacred ritual that in-volves offerings for all types of sharp objects, including kris and other traditional weapons.

This time, Tumpek Landep for the Hindus in Bali will be celebrated on Saturday, May 16.

People will pray for safety to the manifestation of the God of Weapons in the form of iron, silver and gold. (ant)

ON Saturday, May 16, you definitely saw a lot of cars, motor-cycles, bicycles and other equip-ment made of iron were installed on with a variety of offerings. Or you might also watch Balinese people dressed in customary attires busy praying. Understandably, it was the celebration of Tumpek Landep, a ritual prepared for weapon used by Balinese people in surviving their life.

A lecturer of the Hindu Dharma Institute (IHDN) of Denpasar, Ni Putu Winanti, said that tumpek was a sacred day denoting the conflu-ence of a five-day week (Kliwon) and seven-day week (Saniscara). Unfortunately, Balinese people only understood it in terms of ritual alone, whereas the holy day retained many meanings.

Tumpek Landep falls every six months in Balinese calendar or every 210 days. The objects given ritual are all the equipment and weapons made from iron or other metals, to be invoked Lord Shiva Pasupati in order the weapons can be endowed with power and sharp-ness. Ultimately, they can be used according to their function. While the human mind can be adjured a sharpness and intelligence, so that

they can use them appropriately.“When Lord Shiva blesses the

weapons and human, it will create a harmony. Otherwise, it brings in a hazard. In essence, it is an invoca-tion of harmony of the weapon for the users,” said Winanti.

Winanti described that Sun-darigama palm-leaf manuscript mentioned that tumpek ngaraning caniscara Kliwon yewekasang tuduh ikang sarwa janma, ayuwe lali sira ngastiti sanghgyang para-mawisesa. It meant that on the night of tumpek was prohibited from doing any activities, because it was the conferment of happiness. “Lord Paramawisesa endows hap-piness to those who perform sacred contemplation,” she said.

According to her, the night of tumpek was also a literary appre-ciation night that should be carried out to purify the mind, deepen the religious literature as well as ponder the deeds (introspection).

In subsequent development, the Hindu community in Bali did not only give ritual to the weapons, but also all the things that could help them live the life. Some of them were cars, motorcycles, engines and other devices helping to make their work easier. (kmb)

Tumpek Landep, a spiritual ascent

IBP/Wawan

Tumpek Landep falls every six months in Balinese calendar or every 210 days. The objects given ritual are all the equipment and weapons made from iron or other metals, to be invoked Lord Shiva Pasupati in order the weapons can be endowed with power and sharpness.

Unesco acknowledges kris as world heritage

DENPASAR - The Indonesian kris has been acknowledged by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world heritage, Rector of the Hindu Dharma Indonesia Institute (IHDN) Professor Dr. I Nengah Duija said.

ANTARA FOTO/Aditya Pradana Putra

The Indonesian kris has been acknowledged by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world heritage, Rector of the Hindu Dharma Indonesia Institute (IHDN) Professor Dr. I Nengah Duija said.

Monday, May 18, 2015 Monday, May 18, 2015 6 11International International

From page 1

INDONESIAW RLD

Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thai-land have triggered international outrage by turning away boatloads of desperate Rohingya migrants from Myanmar as well as Bangla-deshis, who are now in limbo at sea with little food and nowhere to go.

Yudhoyono, whose presidency ended in October after ten years as leader, said the situation -- South-east Asia’s biggest migrant crisis since the end of the Vietnam War -- needed an urgent regional response, not endless finger pointing.

“It is not fair that the blame is Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand’s alone,” he wrote on his official Twitter account on Sunday.

“Myanmar and Bangladesh can-not wash their hands of this.”

Myanmar ’s cooperation is deemed vital to solving the crisis as thousands of those at sea are Mus-lim Rohingya fleeing oppression in the mainly Buddhist country.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is scheduled to travel to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to meet her Malaysian and Thai counterparts to discuss the surge in boat people.

But Myanmar -- which denies the Muslim Rohingya citizenship -- has already rejected a Thai call for a regional summit on the issue on May 29.

Yudhoyono, who during his presidency grappled with a major uptick in refugees arriving in In-donesia en route to Australia, said

the crisis was not a “test” for any one nation.

“I sincerely hope ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Asian Na-tions) and the UN could soon look for solutions and not just blame,” he said.

“Action is needed quickly and appropriately so that hundreds of refugees do not die at sea.”

Nearly 3,000 migrants have been rescued or swum to shore in the three countries over the past week.

Activists say thousands more are feared to be drifting at sea in rickety boats after a Thai crackdown on human-trafficking disrupted busy smuggling routes to Southeast Asia. (afp)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo said he was not worried about his popularity declining for implementing unpopular policies as long as they were brought into effect for the good of the people.

“When (we) diverted the fuel subsidies last November, I was warned it would risk my popu-larity. It was a risk, and (as it turns out,) there is no problem,” Jokowi, as the president is fondly called, stated while attending a Jokowi Volunteers Community Jamboree at the Cibubur camping site on Saturday.

The president remarked: “It admittedly hurts and I know that. Changes must be started with something that hurts. Many (people) cursed me. I come here prepared to lose my popularity. I am ready to be cursed. So please do not think that Jokowi is a coward.”

“This is part of our work towards our middle- and long-term goals, and they all need sacrifice,” he added.

The head of state further noted that although the economic chal-

lenges were tough, he was con-fident that economic growth this year would be better than that last year.

“If there is a jarring voice, it should be corrected. The goal is, in fact, like that. It will be seen in the end, or else it will spread a bad rumor,” he pointed out.

On the occasion, Jokowis vol-unteers, who are grouped in the Jokowi Volunteers Community, made a five-point statement, which contained the need for the evaluation and strengthening of the cabinet and evaluation of policies that are not in line with the presidents Nawacita and Tri Sakti concepts, among others.

Nawacita is a Sanskrit term for nine national priority programs, and the Tri Sakti policy covers political sovereignty, economic independence and cultural dig-nity.

The statement also stressed the importance of ensuring economic development and acceleration of infrastructure development, which are carried out on the ba-sis of self-supporting principles. (ant)

JAKARTA - Indonesia has the most excellent market pros-pects in the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Agus Mu-harram said.

“As Indonesia has the highest number of people in the ASEAN region, it will have the best mar-ket in the AEC,” Muharram stated on Friday.

According to the ministry sec-retary, these conditions can trig-ger a single market and regional production base in Indonesia because each region has unique economic potential.

With the development and ad-vancement of information, global changes and regional economic cooperation cannot be avoided,

Muharram pointed out.In addition, he also urged

Indonesians to prepare for the implementation of the AEC by improving their skills, services and products.

“There will be a region with an equitable economy, but there are also areas with high competitive-ness. If we cannot compete, we may lose in the AEC competi-tion,” he emphasized.

With the implementation of the AEC, he noted, each Indonesian can conduct economic transac-tions freely, either in the form of commodities or as services, in the member states of the ASEAN.

“Anyone can work here, in-cluding investors and venture capitalists. Foreign banks can provide microfinance services,” Muharram affirmed. (ant)

AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara

Migrants sleep at a temporary shelter in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia, Sunday, May 17, 2015. Indonesia’s former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on Sunday urged na-tions to seek a solution instead of assigning blame over the migrant crisis engulfing Southeast Asia, warning that hundreds of lives are at stake.

President Widodo not worried about declining popularity

Indonesia has best market potential in AEC

Migrant crisis

SBY urged nations to stop the blame game

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on Sunday urged nations to seek a solution instead of assigning blame over the migrant crisis engulfing Southeast Asia, warning that hundreds of lives are at stake.

In terms of the economy, added Sutedja, the reclamation plan would in fact make a lot of money it instantly indeed makes a lot of money but this would teach the young generation that rampant consumption is normal. While in terms of culture, the 200,000 jobs promised by the investors of the project, are likely to be filled by migrants. Thus, the local communities of

Bali would potentially be dis-placed, including local customs and Hinduism.

“What will they bring here? Their habits will spread here and we will be shifted,” he ex-plained.

In the meantime, Chairman of the Love Bali Forum, I Made Mandera, said that the Benoa Bay reclamation is tantamount to exploitation. Moreover, with the promise of 200,000 jobs, ac-cording to him, will only make the South of Bali increasingly crowded.

“The entire population of Bali will move southward, so that it will be totally congested. Currently, the carrying capacity of the roads have already been exceeded. So, if the government cares for the people of Bali, it should start by creating a proper East-West road, so that the travel time between Denpasar-Negara or Denpasar-Karangasem could be shortened to an hour, and liberate some of the congestion of Badung. What is most urgently needed?” he asked.

Mandera added that what is ac-tually required today is to reduce the burden on Badung or South Bali, as well as the building up of the other regions of Bali. The reclamation plan is said to be too hasty, and it ignores the socio-cultural studies that have been done and also ignores the environmental carrying capac-ity, as well as Tri Hita Karana (a concept of harmony) that is the philosophical basis of Balinese Hinduism. (kmb32)

Reclamation...Burundi is one of the African

countries contributing troops to the African Union force in Somalia that is battling al-Shabab. The extremist rebels have carried out violent at-tacks in Kenya and Uganda in retali-ation for sending troops to Somalia. “You know that Burundi is among the countries that is contributing troops in Somalia and that’s why I came here to contact my friends and my fellow presidents in Kenya and Uganda and these countries are being targeted by al-Shabab,” Nkurunziza said French.

He said his aim in contacting fel-low presidents was to look at strate-

gies to stop threats to the security of Burundians. Nkurunziza was in neighboring Tanzania on Wednes-day when a general announced a coup. Loyal forces put down the rebellion and Nkurunziza returned to the country, but he had not been seen in the capital.

The coup attempt came after weeks of street protests against Nkurunziza’s efforts to stay in power by standing in elections for a third term in office.

Seventeen security officials, in-cluding five generals, accused in the attempted coup appeared Saturday before a prosecutor who charged

them with an attempt at destabilizing public institutions, lawyers of some of the suspects said. The general who announced the coup, however, remains at large.

In Rome on Sunday, Pope Francis called for a sense of responsibility to prevail in Burundi following the attempted coup. Francis made the appeal during his Sunday noon blessing from St. Peter’s Square.

He said: “I would like to invite you to pray for the dear people of Burundi, which is undergoing a deli-cate moment: May the Lord help all to avoid violence and act responsibly for the good of the country.” (ap)

ACCRA — Ghana’s movie stars have joined blue-collar worke r s i n demons t r a t ions against power cuts, marching through the streets of the capital to demand a resolution to this West African nation’s ongoing energy crisis.

Ghanaian actors Van Vicker and Yvonne Nelson were the most high-profile celebrities to participate in a march Saturday in eastern Accra, the first time the stars took on the government

over the issue.They joined hundreds of pro-

testers who dressed in black and carried torches and lanterns to signal their frustration with the erratic power supply.

Unpredictable outages lasting as long as 48 hours have been a fact of life in Ghana for the past several years.

The Ghana Chamber of Com-merce and Industry says 3,000 people had been laid off as a result of the cuts. (ap)

LONDON — Britain’s Prince Harry says being in the army has kept him out of trouble, and that he dreaded to think where he would be if he had not joined up.

Harry, who attracted hordes of enthusiastic female fans during his trip to New Zealand and Aus-

tralia, also said he is content being single.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, the prince said he’s “very happy not having a girlfriend.”

The 30-year-old prince, who just completed a decade-long military career, was speaking at the

end of his weeklong visit to New Zealand.

Harry said the army had given him a chance to “escape the lime-light.” He suggested that his nephew and niece, George and two-week-old Charlotte, should also be involved in the military one day. (ap)

KATHMANDU — Nepalese and U.S. military officials say they’ve identified all eight bod-ies recovered from the crash site of a U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared while delivering aid after two major earthquakes hit Nepal.

Nepal’s army said in a state-ment Sunday that the bodies of the six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese soldiers have been flown to the Himalayan nation’s

capital, Kathmandu.The wreckage of the UH-1

“Huey” was found Friday fol-lowing days of intense search-ing in the mountains northeast of Kathmandu. The first three charred bodies were retrieved the same day by Nepalese and U.S. military teams, and the rest on Saturday, according to Ne-pal’s army. The helicopter went missing while delivering aid on Tuesday. (ap)

AP Photo/Jerome Delay

President Pierre Nkurunziza makes a brief statement at the presidential palace in Bujumbura, Burundi, Sunday May 17, 2015. This is the first time Nkurunziza has been seen in public since he returned to Burundi and the attempted coup against his government last week.

Burundi president makes first appearance since failed coup

BUJUMBURA — Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has made his first appearance in the capital since the attempted coup against his government last week, said. Nkurunziza ap-peared before journalists at his presidential palace in Bujumbura Sunday morning. He made a brief statement saying that he is concerned with the threat from Somalia’s Islamic extremists, al-Shabab.

Prince Harry: Army kept me out of trouble

Ghana movie stars lead protest march against power cuts

Bodies of 6 US Marines, 2 Nepalese in crash identified

Monday, May 18, 2015 7SportsMonday, May 18, 201510 InternationalInternationalDestination

JIMBARAN - The beach which is located only 3 kilome-ters south of Ngurah Rai Airport offers a white sandy beach. The

beach is flat and the water is calm so it is very suitable for swim-

ming and sun bathing.On the northern part of Kedon-

ganan Beach, there is a traditional fish market with several “jukung” (traditional boat) which is beauti-fully placed and it can give a nice view for the tourists. Sailing the beach using boat is also another

attraction for the tourist.

IBP/File Photo

Kedonganan Beach

Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) put on another masterful performance in his adopted home, knocking down Monroe twice in the second round and again in the sixth round of his 14th consecutive title defense.

The former Kazakh Olympian has stopped each of his 20 opponents since June 2008, and even a sur-prisingly strong fourth round from Monroe couldn’t throw Golovkin off his path to the top. “It was a good big drama show,” Golovkin said. “I was happy with my performance. Willie is a very tough fighter. I felt very strong tonight. I knocked him down twice, but I didn’t want an easy round the next round. I wanted to keep working.”

When Golovkin floored Monroe (19-2) with a long series of heavy punches in the sixth, the challenger declined to continue after his final trip to the canvas. “I’m done,” Monroe told referee Jack Reiss. Nicaragua’s Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez also defended his WBC flyweight title in style at the historic Forum with a furious second-round stoppage of Mexican veteran Edgar Sosa.

But Golovkin delighted a South-

ern California crowd of 12,372 backing the Kazakh champion who has gone from anonymity to stardom in less than three years. Golovkin realized a southpaw coun-terpuncher with Monroe’s pedigree would provide a new challenge while he waits for the world’s best fighters to take him on, and Mon-roe proved to be tough and elusive while hitting Golovkin regularly.

Yet Golovkin still delivered for his large fan base in Southern Cali-fornia, where he now lives with his family. After Monroe tagged the champion repeatedly in the fourth, Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, implored his fighter to “not show how tough we are. Let’s start work-ing.” So Golovkin went back to work and finished with force.

“I think Gennady wanted to give the fans a little more value for their money, because the Rubio fight only lasted two rounds,” promoter Tom Loeffler said, referring to Golovkin’s second-round stoppage of Marco Antonio Rubio in his California debut last fall. After a solid first round, Golovkin backed Monroe against the ropes in the

second and knocked him flat with a textbook-perfect left hook to the head. Monroe wobbled while get-ting up slowly, and Golovkin put him back down moments later with a big right hand.

Monroe made it to the bell and even recovered to land several big shots in the fourth round, but Golovkin buckled his knees again in the fifth. Golovkin finished the sixth in style, pursuing a ducking Monroe around the ring until finally landing the knock-down punches in the sixth.

Golovkin made the fight with Monroe when he couldn’t entice bigger-name boxers into the ring, and he named names after the fight, calling out Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Golovkin intends to fight two more times this year, staying busy and growing his own reputation as one of the world’s pound-for-pound best fighters.

Golovkin wants to win every middleweight belt, He is the WBC’s interim 160-pound champion and the mandatory challenger for Cot-to’s permanent belt, but Cotto is fighting Daniel Geale in New York next month. (ap)

MeRcedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes the Formula 1 Strategy Group’s planned changes will create the fastest cars in grand prix history. A raft of proposals have been put forward with the intention of stemming the tide of a declin-ing worldwide audience. The aim is to make cars five to six seconds faster than at present via a number of aerodynamic rules, wider tyres and a reduction in car weight.

There will also be higher-rev-ving engines, technical change to increase noise and refuelling will be reintroduced. “The bottom line is we believe we can make cars five to six seconds faster than the current generation of cars, which means the fastest Formula 1 cars that ever existed,” Wolff told AU-TOSPORT.

“This is exciting. This was the major breakthrough where we all lifted our hands to push for such a

performance target. “What we want is to definitely make it the fastest car on the planet. This is happening and it’s really great news.”

A feasibility study will first be conducted to assess whether it is financially viable, although Wolff is in favour. “There were people [at the meeting] who said it is very spectacular,” he said. “It also means a lighter car in the race so a driver can push more, that the tyres aren’t killed with the weight of the car.

“There was a bit scepticism because we obviously banned re-fuelling a few years ago, and there are concerns about shipping the kit around. “But it makes the racing a bit more unpredictable for the fans; it means you are not quite sure what is going on. “We have agreed to explore the topic and to go for it if we can, as long as we don’t jeop-ardise the spectacle around pitstops in general.” (net)

THe HAGUe, Netherlands — The European Olympic Commit-tees have granted the Netherlands the right to host the second edition of the European Games in 2019.

The Dutch Olympic Committee says it will continue discussing its candidature with national and local authorities and should be able to announce whether the bid has government backing around the time the inaugural edition of the games is staged next month in

Baku, Azerbaijan.Dutch Olympic authorities say

in a statement that their vision for the games in the Netherlands is for a “mega-sports event that does not have to be megalomaniac.”

The European Games in Baku will feature 20 sports at 18 ven-ues. About 6,000 athletes from 49 countries are expected to compete. The hosting rights were awarded at a meeting Saturday in Turkey. (ap)

Action Images via Reuters / Hoch Zwei

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg crosses the finish line to win the race .

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Willie Monroe, Jr., right, is knocked down by Gennady Golovkin, of Kazakhstan, during the second round of a boxing bout, Saturday, May 16, 2015, in Inglewood, Calif.

Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin

stops Monroe in 6thINGLeWOOd, calif. — Gennady Golovkin’s latest big drama show had a few extra twists

and turns. The middleweight champion still finished it with his usual show-stopping flourish. Golovkin stopped Willie Monroe Jr. 45 seconds into the sixth round saturday night, retaining the 160-pound belts with his 20th consecutive knockout victory.

Netherlands granted right to host 2019 European Games

Strategy Group’s plans would make fastest F1 cars ever

98 InternationalMonday, May 18, 2015 International Monday, May 18, 2015

Sp rt

It was the end of an era at An-field on Saturday as Gerrard played his final home match in the red of Liverpool he has represented with distinction for 17 years. The game ended in a 3-1 loss to Crystal Pal-ace, but that didn’t really matter to Liverpool’s fans. Saturday was all about saying farewell to arguably the club’s greatest ever player.

“I’ve been dreading this mo-ment,” Gerrard said, addressing the fans, “and I’m absolutely devas-tated I won’t be playing in front of these supporters again.” There were no tears from Gerrard — perhaps out of disappointment at failing to mark his last home appearance with a win — just from his 3-year-old daughter Lourdes, and probably many inside the ground on an emo-tionally charged evening.

“These supporters here stand out more than any,” Gerrard said in his final words to the crowd of 44,673. “I’ve played in front of most sup-porters around the world, but you are the best.” Gerrard played all 90 minutes in his 709th and next-to-last game for his hometown team but couldn’t conjure up one final moment of brilliance at a stadium he has illuminated so many times.

Instead, the 34-year-old former England captain produced a fairly low-key display in a game that end-ed Liverpool’s slim hopes of quali-fying for the Champions League. Manchester United — Liverpool’s great rival — has qualified instead. Gerrard will leave Liverpool after next weekend’s match at Stoke — on the final weekend of the Premier League season — to join the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The final minute of the match was played to a soundtrack of “Steven Gerrard is a red,” which drowned out the fulltime whistle. Liverpool fans chanted songs about their captain of the past 12 years throughout a frustrating match for both Gerrard and the team. He had two shots — one that was well saved and another that was so far

off target that it drew mock derision from fans in The Kop. Gerrard sa-luted them with a thumbs-up.

The game was more a celebra-tion of an icon, a chance to say goodbye, than a football match. Liverpool went into it with virtu-ally no chance of finishing in the top four, and Palace was safe from relegation, so the whole evening could be dedicated to honoring the club’s best player in a generation — perhaps ever.

Gerrard’s name was the last to be read out — to huge cheers — when the teams were announced. Accompanied by his three young kids, Gerrard touched the “This is Anfield” sign one last time in the tunnel, and walked out to a guard of honor, high-fiving each Palace player. He clapped and waved to all four stands, two of which had mo-saics held out by fans that spelled “CAPTAIN” and “S8G.” As the club’s anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” rang out, Gerrard laughed and played with his daughters. By this time, Gerrard was trending on Twitter, which was awash with tributes throughout the game.

He couldn’t provide a final “Ger-rard moment” in his 354th home match, but fans here have been spoiled by memorable moments from the midfielder since he made his debut in 1998.

Few will forget the late goal scored against Olympiakos in front of The Kop that sealed Liverpool’s passage to the Champions League knockout stage in 2004. Liverpool went on to become European champions that season for a fifth time, beating AC Milan on penal-ties in Istanbul after rallying from 3-0 down at halftime to draw 3-3. Gerrard says it was the best night of his life.

Gerrard departs with 10 trophies for Liverpool but — much to his chagrin — no Premier League winner’s medal. He will have one more opportunity to add to his goal tally of 185 before heading to the

PARIS - Paris St Germain clinched a third successive Ligue 1 title, with a game to spare, and stayed on course for an unprece-dented domestic treble with a 2-1 win at Montpellier on Saturday. The Qatari-owned club needed only a point but ended the night eight points clear of their closest rivals Olympique Lyonnais who were held to a 1-1 home draw by Girondins Bordeaux.

The title kept Laurent Blanc’s side on course for a sweep of domestic homours, with the Parisians already winners of the League Cup and facing second tier AJ Auxerre in the French Cup final at the end of the month.

Monaco stayed third on 68 points, four adrift of Lyon, after beating Metz 2-0 in the principal-

ity while Olympique Marseille and St Etienne also won to stay tied on 66 in the battle for a place in next season’s Champions League preliminary round. Evian Thonon Gaillard joined Racing Lens and Metz in being relegated after losing 2-1 to St Etienne.

“I love watching the scenes of joy, whether on the field or in the locker room,” said a delighted Blanc. “The players on the field earn the titles, we play a small part. “We must let the players express themselves and the coach must always be behind them. It’s not up to him to be at the front of the stage.”

Midfielder Blaise Matuidi put PSG ahead in the 17th minute, slotting past goalkeeper Jonathan Ligali after a defence-splitting

pass from Adrien Rabiot. Eze-quiel Lavezzi made it 2-0 in the 25th minute, from a cross by Serge Aurier, his eighth league goal of the season but Montpel-lier pulled one back five min-utes before the break through Anthony Mounier’s shot into the top corner.

The win was the eighth in a row in the league for PSG who claimed their fifth French title. The match, watched by a 27,930 crowd at the Stade de la Mosson, ended with flares lit in the stands and thrown on to the edge of the pitch with stewards stamping out the flames. “I still enjoy doing this job,” said Blanc. “I have to thank my staff because without his staff a coach is nothing at all.” (rtr)

BERLIN — Nils Petersen scored late for Freiburg to beat Bayern Mu-nich 2-1 and escape the relegation zone while Stuttgart climbed off the bottom by beating Hamburger SV 2-1 in the Bundesliga’s penultimate round Saturday. Petersen scored in the 89th minute, three minutes after coming on as a substitute, for Freiburg to climb to 34 points, level with Hannover, which won 2-1 at Augsburg, and one point above Stuttgart in the relegation playoff spot.

Paderborn defender Uwe Huen-emeier’s 88th-minute own goal was enough for Schalke to secure Europa League football with a 1-0 win and leave his side bottom, one point behind Hamburg, which slipped a point behind Stuttgart with one round remaining.

“We still have a game at home. We want a win to make the relega-tion playoff place a possibility,” said Paderborn coach Andre Breit-enreiter, whose side hosts Stuttgart

on the final day of the season.Borussia Moenchengladbach

qualified directly for the Cham-pions League with a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen, thanks to two second half goals from Raffael.

“We didn’t get any pennants or trophies but still we’ve achieved something tremendous,” said ‘Gladbach sports director Max Eberl, whose side is assured of at least third place.

Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at Wolfsburg in a rehearsal for the German Cup final, Bayer Leverkus-en defeated Hoffenheim 2-0, Mainz beat Cologne 2-0 and Hertha Berlin is all but safe after drawing 0-0 with Eintracht Frankfurt.

“We still need a point. Now we’re in the situation we didn’t want,” said Hertha coach Pal Dar-dai, whose side can still be theo-retically caught on 35 points. Her-tha visits Hoffenheim, Hamburg hosts Schalke and Hannover faces Freiburg on the final day. (ap)

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Boca Juniors was kicked out of the re-mainder of this year’s Copa Liber-tadores competition Saturday night as punishment for its fans spraying a caustic substance on an opposing team in a tournament game. The announcement came after the gov-erning body of CONMEBOL, the South American football federation, met privately to discuss punishment for the Argentine team over the

Thursday night incident in game against bitter rival River Plate.

There had been speculation the body would also suspend Boca from international competition for a year and bar games at its La Bombonera stadium. But the body ruled only that Boca will have to play its next four home international matches without fans in the stands. The team also will not be able to sell its fans tickets for its next four away games

and it was fined $200,000.Before the meeting, CONME-

BOL’s secretary general had said that Boca Juniors should be se-verely penalized after the team’s playoff game with River Plate had to be suspended. “We have to meet the requirements of FIFA,” said Jose Luis Meiszner. “There will be severity in the penalties.”

The governing body’s ruling meant that River Plate will advance

to the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores. The second-leg match in the round of 16 on Thursday was stopped when River Plate players were sprayed with a caustic sub-stance as they took the field for the second half. Many rubbed their eyes or doused them with water to clear their vision.

River had won the first leg 1-0 last week, and Thursday’s match was 0-0 when it was suspended in

front of about 50,000 fans before the second half could begin.

The match turned to chaos when River players came out of a tempo-rary tunnel rubbing their eyes and pulling their shirts over their faces. Police and officials waited on the field for more than an hour before suspending the game. Thursday’s match was the third between them in 12 days, and they each had won once. (ap)

HULL, England — Hull manager Steve Bruce said he was “shocked, saddened, disappointed and angry” after his midfielder Jake Livermore failed a drugs test. The 25-year-old Livermore, who played once for England in 2012, was suspended by the English Football Association and Hull on Friday. He faces a ban of up to two years.

Bruce broke the news to Livermore of the failed test on Wednesday, and said his player “is obviously in a dark place.” “I can’t come to terms with it, if I’m being honest,” Bruce said on Saturday after his team’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham in the English Premier League. “The conversa-tion I had with him is the hardest conversation I’ve ever had with any footballer.”

Livermore has been a regular starter for Hull since joining from Tot-tenham, initially on loan, at the start of last season. Later Saturday, two other English clubs announced their players had failed drugs tests.

Third-tier club Sheffield United said Jose Baxter was found to have traces of a banned substance in his sample after an out-of-competition drugs test.

United said it temporarily suspended Baxter, and the 23-year-old midfielder “has informed the club that he engaged in no wrongdoing involving any banned substance.” Baxter began his career at Everton.

Later, Wolverhampton Wanderers said goalkeeper Aaron McCarey had failed an out-of-competition test for a non-performance-enhancing substance. (ap)

REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

Paris St Germain’s players celebrate at the end of their French Ligue 1 soccer match against Montpellier at the Mosson Stadium in Montpellier, France, May 16, 2015.

PSG clinch third French title in a row

Boca kicked out of South America tournament over fan attack

AP Photo/Michael Probst

Bayern’s head coach Pep Guardiola reacts during a German first division Bundesliga soccer match between SC Freiburg and Bayern Munich in Freiburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2015.

Freiburg beats Bayern 2-1 to escape Bundesliga drop zone

AP Photo/Jon Super

Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard walks on the pitch with his daughters ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 16, 2015.

Anfield bids a heartfelt farewell to Steven Gerrard

LIVERPOOL, England — Carrying one daughter on his shoulders and with his two others by his side, Steven Gerrard circled the field inside Anfield and received the acclaim of his adoring Liverpool fans one last time. Red-and-white scarves were thrown in front of him. He was serenaded with songs. Teammates past and present followed him around, all wearing jerseys with “Gerrard 8” on the back, and were careful to keep their distance, letting a club icon savor the moment.

United States.Gerrard’s departure will leave a

huge void in the Liverpool team, and at the club. He has worn the captain’s armband since 2003. He has been Liverpool’s symbol for the past decade, the local boy from the nearby council estate who the team has turned to in times of need, and has set the standard in matches and training.

“I don’t think there is a person who has come into the club who has given what he has done over the time,” Liverpool manager Bren-dan Rodgers said. “He has been a wonderful player and gave his all for the club.”

Flags held up inside Anfield summed up what he means to the fans. “Thank You Liverpool’s Gr8est” read one. Another said: “Gerrard one of a kind.” The pre-match playlist had songs entitled “End Of The World As We Know It,” ‘’No More Heroes,” and “Come Back.”

Gerrard no doubt will be back after his 18 months in Los Angeles, in some capacity or other. He will always be a red. (ap)

Hull manager in shock at player’s failed drugs test

98 InternationalMonday, May 18, 2015 International Monday, May 18, 2015

Sp rt

It was the end of an era at An-field on Saturday as Gerrard played his final home match in the red of Liverpool he has represented with distinction for 17 years. The game ended in a 3-1 loss to Crystal Pal-ace, but that didn’t really matter to Liverpool’s fans. Saturday was all about saying farewell to arguably the club’s greatest ever player.

“I’ve been dreading this mo-ment,” Gerrard said, addressing the fans, “and I’m absolutely devas-tated I won’t be playing in front of these supporters again.” There were no tears from Gerrard — perhaps out of disappointment at failing to mark his last home appearance with a win — just from his 3-year-old daughter Lourdes, and probably many inside the ground on an emo-tionally charged evening.

“These supporters here stand out more than any,” Gerrard said in his final words to the crowd of 44,673. “I’ve played in front of most sup-porters around the world, but you are the best.” Gerrard played all 90 minutes in his 709th and next-to-last game for his hometown team but couldn’t conjure up one final moment of brilliance at a stadium he has illuminated so many times.

Instead, the 34-year-old former England captain produced a fairly low-key display in a game that end-ed Liverpool’s slim hopes of quali-fying for the Champions League. Manchester United — Liverpool’s great rival — has qualified instead. Gerrard will leave Liverpool after next weekend’s match at Stoke — on the final weekend of the Premier League season — to join the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The final minute of the match was played to a soundtrack of “Steven Gerrard is a red,” which drowned out the fulltime whistle. Liverpool fans chanted songs about their captain of the past 12 years throughout a frustrating match for both Gerrard and the team. He had two shots — one that was well saved and another that was so far

off target that it drew mock derision from fans in The Kop. Gerrard sa-luted them with a thumbs-up.

The game was more a celebra-tion of an icon, a chance to say goodbye, than a football match. Liverpool went into it with virtu-ally no chance of finishing in the top four, and Palace was safe from relegation, so the whole evening could be dedicated to honoring the club’s best player in a generation — perhaps ever.

Gerrard’s name was the last to be read out — to huge cheers — when the teams were announced. Accompanied by his three young kids, Gerrard touched the “This is Anfield” sign one last time in the tunnel, and walked out to a guard of honor, high-fiving each Palace player. He clapped and waved to all four stands, two of which had mo-saics held out by fans that spelled “CAPTAIN” and “S8G.” As the club’s anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” rang out, Gerrard laughed and played with his daughters. By this time, Gerrard was trending on Twitter, which was awash with tributes throughout the game.

He couldn’t provide a final “Ger-rard moment” in his 354th home match, but fans here have been spoiled by memorable moments from the midfielder since he made his debut in 1998.

Few will forget the late goal scored against Olympiakos in front of The Kop that sealed Liverpool’s passage to the Champions League knockout stage in 2004. Liverpool went on to become European champions that season for a fifth time, beating AC Milan on penal-ties in Istanbul after rallying from 3-0 down at halftime to draw 3-3. Gerrard says it was the best night of his life.

Gerrard departs with 10 trophies for Liverpool but — much to his chagrin — no Premier League winner’s medal. He will have one more opportunity to add to his goal tally of 185 before heading to the

PARIS - Paris St Germain clinched a third successive Ligue 1 title, with a game to spare, and stayed on course for an unprece-dented domestic treble with a 2-1 win at Montpellier on Saturday. The Qatari-owned club needed only a point but ended the night eight points clear of their closest rivals Olympique Lyonnais who were held to a 1-1 home draw by Girondins Bordeaux.

The title kept Laurent Blanc’s side on course for a sweep of domestic homours, with the Parisians already winners of the League Cup and facing second tier AJ Auxerre in the French Cup final at the end of the month.

Monaco stayed third on 68 points, four adrift of Lyon, after beating Metz 2-0 in the principal-

ity while Olympique Marseille and St Etienne also won to stay tied on 66 in the battle for a place in next season’s Champions League preliminary round. Evian Thonon Gaillard joined Racing Lens and Metz in being relegated after losing 2-1 to St Etienne.

“I love watching the scenes of joy, whether on the field or in the locker room,” said a delighted Blanc. “The players on the field earn the titles, we play a small part. “We must let the players express themselves and the coach must always be behind them. It’s not up to him to be at the front of the stage.”

Midfielder Blaise Matuidi put PSG ahead in the 17th minute, slotting past goalkeeper Jonathan Ligali after a defence-splitting

pass from Adrien Rabiot. Eze-quiel Lavezzi made it 2-0 in the 25th minute, from a cross by Serge Aurier, his eighth league goal of the season but Montpel-lier pulled one back five min-utes before the break through Anthony Mounier’s shot into the top corner.

The win was the eighth in a row in the league for PSG who claimed their fifth French title. The match, watched by a 27,930 crowd at the Stade de la Mosson, ended with flares lit in the stands and thrown on to the edge of the pitch with stewards stamping out the flames. “I still enjoy doing this job,” said Blanc. “I have to thank my staff because without his staff a coach is nothing at all.” (rtr)

BERLIN — Nils Petersen scored late for Freiburg to beat Bayern Mu-nich 2-1 and escape the relegation zone while Stuttgart climbed off the bottom by beating Hamburger SV 2-1 in the Bundesliga’s penultimate round Saturday. Petersen scored in the 89th minute, three minutes after coming on as a substitute, for Freiburg to climb to 34 points, level with Hannover, which won 2-1 at Augsburg, and one point above Stuttgart in the relegation playoff spot.

Paderborn defender Uwe Huen-emeier’s 88th-minute own goal was enough for Schalke to secure Europa League football with a 1-0 win and leave his side bottom, one point behind Hamburg, which slipped a point behind Stuttgart with one round remaining.

“We still have a game at home. We want a win to make the relega-tion playoff place a possibility,” said Paderborn coach Andre Breit-enreiter, whose side hosts Stuttgart

on the final day of the season.Borussia Moenchengladbach

qualified directly for the Cham-pions League with a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen, thanks to two second half goals from Raffael.

“We didn’t get any pennants or trophies but still we’ve achieved something tremendous,” said ‘Gladbach sports director Max Eberl, whose side is assured of at least third place.

Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at Wolfsburg in a rehearsal for the German Cup final, Bayer Leverkus-en defeated Hoffenheim 2-0, Mainz beat Cologne 2-0 and Hertha Berlin is all but safe after drawing 0-0 with Eintracht Frankfurt.

“We still need a point. Now we’re in the situation we didn’t want,” said Hertha coach Pal Dar-dai, whose side can still be theo-retically caught on 35 points. Her-tha visits Hoffenheim, Hamburg hosts Schalke and Hannover faces Freiburg on the final day. (ap)

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Boca Juniors was kicked out of the re-mainder of this year’s Copa Liber-tadores competition Saturday night as punishment for its fans spraying a caustic substance on an opposing team in a tournament game. The announcement came after the gov-erning body of CONMEBOL, the South American football federation, met privately to discuss punishment for the Argentine team over the

Thursday night incident in game against bitter rival River Plate.

There had been speculation the body would also suspend Boca from international competition for a year and bar games at its La Bombonera stadium. But the body ruled only that Boca will have to play its next four home international matches without fans in the stands. The team also will not be able to sell its fans tickets for its next four away games

and it was fined $200,000.Before the meeting, CONME-

BOL’s secretary general had said that Boca Juniors should be se-verely penalized after the team’s playoff game with River Plate had to be suspended. “We have to meet the requirements of FIFA,” said Jose Luis Meiszner. “There will be severity in the penalties.”

The governing body’s ruling meant that River Plate will advance

to the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores. The second-leg match in the round of 16 on Thursday was stopped when River Plate players were sprayed with a caustic sub-stance as they took the field for the second half. Many rubbed their eyes or doused them with water to clear their vision.

River had won the first leg 1-0 last week, and Thursday’s match was 0-0 when it was suspended in

front of about 50,000 fans before the second half could begin.

The match turned to chaos when River players came out of a tempo-rary tunnel rubbing their eyes and pulling their shirts over their faces. Police and officials waited on the field for more than an hour before suspending the game. Thursday’s match was the third between them in 12 days, and they each had won once. (ap)

HULL, England — Hull manager Steve Bruce said he was “shocked, saddened, disappointed and angry” after his midfielder Jake Livermore failed a drugs test. The 25-year-old Livermore, who played once for England in 2012, was suspended by the English Football Association and Hull on Friday. He faces a ban of up to two years.

Bruce broke the news to Livermore of the failed test on Wednesday, and said his player “is obviously in a dark place.” “I can’t come to terms with it, if I’m being honest,” Bruce said on Saturday after his team’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham in the English Premier League. “The conversa-tion I had with him is the hardest conversation I’ve ever had with any footballer.”

Livermore has been a regular starter for Hull since joining from Tot-tenham, initially on loan, at the start of last season. Later Saturday, two other English clubs announced their players had failed drugs tests.

Third-tier club Sheffield United said Jose Baxter was found to have traces of a banned substance in his sample after an out-of-competition drugs test.

United said it temporarily suspended Baxter, and the 23-year-old midfielder “has informed the club that he engaged in no wrongdoing involving any banned substance.” Baxter began his career at Everton.

Later, Wolverhampton Wanderers said goalkeeper Aaron McCarey had failed an out-of-competition test for a non-performance-enhancing substance. (ap)

REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

Paris St Germain’s players celebrate at the end of their French Ligue 1 soccer match against Montpellier at the Mosson Stadium in Montpellier, France, May 16, 2015.

PSG clinch third French title in a row

Boca kicked out of South America tournament over fan attack

AP Photo/Michael Probst

Bayern’s head coach Pep Guardiola reacts during a German first division Bundesliga soccer match between SC Freiburg and Bayern Munich in Freiburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2015.

Freiburg beats Bayern 2-1 to escape Bundesliga drop zone

AP Photo/Jon Super

Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard walks on the pitch with his daughters ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 16, 2015.

Anfield bids a heartfelt farewell to Steven Gerrard

LIVERPOOL, England — Carrying one daughter on his shoulders and with his two others by his side, Steven Gerrard circled the field inside Anfield and received the acclaim of his adoring Liverpool fans one last time. Red-and-white scarves were thrown in front of him. He was serenaded with songs. Teammates past and present followed him around, all wearing jerseys with “Gerrard 8” on the back, and were careful to keep their distance, letting a club icon savor the moment.

United States.Gerrard’s departure will leave a

huge void in the Liverpool team, and at the club. He has worn the captain’s armband since 2003. He has been Liverpool’s symbol for the past decade, the local boy from the nearby council estate who the team has turned to in times of need, and has set the standard in matches and training.

“I don’t think there is a person who has come into the club who has given what he has done over the time,” Liverpool manager Bren-dan Rodgers said. “He has been a wonderful player and gave his all for the club.”

Flags held up inside Anfield summed up what he means to the fans. “Thank You Liverpool’s Gr8est” read one. Another said: “Gerrard one of a kind.” The pre-match playlist had songs entitled “End Of The World As We Know It,” ‘’No More Heroes,” and “Come Back.”

Gerrard no doubt will be back after his 18 months in Los Angeles, in some capacity or other. He will always be a red. (ap)

Hull manager in shock at player’s failed drugs test

Monday, May 18, 2015 7SportsMonday, May 18, 201510 InternationalInternationalDestination

JIMBARAN - The beach which is located only 3 kilome-ters south of Ngurah Rai Airport offers a white sandy beach. The

beach is flat and the water is calm so it is very suitable for swim-

ming and sun bathing.On the northern part of Kedon-

ganan Beach, there is a traditional fish market with several “jukung” (traditional boat) which is beauti-fully placed and it can give a nice view for the tourists. Sailing the beach using boat is also another

attraction for the tourist.

IBP/File Photo

Kedonganan Beach

Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) put on another masterful performance in his adopted home, knocking down Monroe twice in the second round and again in the sixth round of his 14th consecutive title defense.

The former Kazakh Olympian has stopped each of his 20 opponents since June 2008, and even a sur-prisingly strong fourth round from Monroe couldn’t throw Golovkin off his path to the top. “It was a good big drama show,” Golovkin said. “I was happy with my performance. Willie is a very tough fighter. I felt very strong tonight. I knocked him down twice, but I didn’t want an easy round the next round. I wanted to keep working.”

When Golovkin floored Monroe (19-2) with a long series of heavy punches in the sixth, the challenger declined to continue after his final trip to the canvas. “I’m done,” Monroe told referee Jack Reiss. Nicaragua’s Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez also defended his WBC flyweight title in style at the historic Forum with a furious second-round stoppage of Mexican veteran Edgar Sosa.

But Golovkin delighted a South-

ern California crowd of 12,372 backing the Kazakh champion who has gone from anonymity to stardom in less than three years. Golovkin realized a southpaw coun-terpuncher with Monroe’s pedigree would provide a new challenge while he waits for the world’s best fighters to take him on, and Mon-roe proved to be tough and elusive while hitting Golovkin regularly.

Yet Golovkin still delivered for his large fan base in Southern Cali-fornia, where he now lives with his family. After Monroe tagged the champion repeatedly in the fourth, Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, implored his fighter to “not show how tough we are. Let’s start work-ing.” So Golovkin went back to work and finished with force.

“I think Gennady wanted to give the fans a little more value for their money, because the Rubio fight only lasted two rounds,” promoter Tom Loeffler said, referring to Golovkin’s second-round stoppage of Marco Antonio Rubio in his California debut last fall. After a solid first round, Golovkin backed Monroe against the ropes in the

second and knocked him flat with a textbook-perfect left hook to the head. Monroe wobbled while get-ting up slowly, and Golovkin put him back down moments later with a big right hand.

Monroe made it to the bell and even recovered to land several big shots in the fourth round, but Golovkin buckled his knees again in the fifth. Golovkin finished the sixth in style, pursuing a ducking Monroe around the ring until finally landing the knock-down punches in the sixth.

Golovkin made the fight with Monroe when he couldn’t entice bigger-name boxers into the ring, and he named names after the fight, calling out Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Golovkin intends to fight two more times this year, staying busy and growing his own reputation as one of the world’s pound-for-pound best fighters.

Golovkin wants to win every middleweight belt, He is the WBC’s interim 160-pound champion and the mandatory challenger for Cot-to’s permanent belt, but Cotto is fighting Daniel Geale in New York next month. (ap)

MeRcedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes the Formula 1 Strategy Group’s planned changes will create the fastest cars in grand prix history. A raft of proposals have been put forward with the intention of stemming the tide of a declin-ing worldwide audience. The aim is to make cars five to six seconds faster than at present via a number of aerodynamic rules, wider tyres and a reduction in car weight.

There will also be higher-rev-ving engines, technical change to increase noise and refuelling will be reintroduced. “The bottom line is we believe we can make cars five to six seconds faster than the current generation of cars, which means the fastest Formula 1 cars that ever existed,” Wolff told AU-TOSPORT.

“This is exciting. This was the major breakthrough where we all lifted our hands to push for such a

performance target. “What we want is to definitely make it the fastest car on the planet. This is happening and it’s really great news.”

A feasibility study will first be conducted to assess whether it is financially viable, although Wolff is in favour. “There were people [at the meeting] who said it is very spectacular,” he said. “It also means a lighter car in the race so a driver can push more, that the tyres aren’t killed with the weight of the car.

“There was a bit scepticism because we obviously banned re-fuelling a few years ago, and there are concerns about shipping the kit around. “But it makes the racing a bit more unpredictable for the fans; it means you are not quite sure what is going on. “We have agreed to explore the topic and to go for it if we can, as long as we don’t jeop-ardise the spectacle around pitstops in general.” (net)

THe HAGUe, Netherlands — The European Olympic Commit-tees have granted the Netherlands the right to host the second edition of the European Games in 2019.

The Dutch Olympic Committee says it will continue discussing its candidature with national and local authorities and should be able to announce whether the bid has government backing around the time the inaugural edition of the games is staged next month in

Baku, Azerbaijan.Dutch Olympic authorities say

in a statement that their vision for the games in the Netherlands is for a “mega-sports event that does not have to be megalomaniac.”

The European Games in Baku will feature 20 sports at 18 ven-ues. About 6,000 athletes from 49 countries are expected to compete. The hosting rights were awarded at a meeting Saturday in Turkey. (ap)

Action Images via Reuters / Hoch Zwei

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg crosses the finish line to win the race .

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Willie Monroe, Jr., right, is knocked down by Gennady Golovkin, of Kazakhstan, during the second round of a boxing bout, Saturday, May 16, 2015, in Inglewood, Calif.

Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin

stops Monroe in 6thINGLeWOOd, calif. — Gennady Golovkin’s latest big drama show had a few extra twists

and turns. The middleweight champion still finished it with his usual show-stopping flourish. Golovkin stopped Willie Monroe Jr. 45 seconds into the sixth round saturday night, retaining the 160-pound belts with his 20th consecutive knockout victory.

Netherlands granted right to host 2019 European Games

Strategy Group’s plans would make fastest F1 cars ever

Monday, May 18, 2015 Monday, May 18, 2015 6 11International International

From page 1

INDONESIAW RLD

Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thai-land have triggered international outrage by turning away boatloads of desperate Rohingya migrants from Myanmar as well as Bangla-deshis, who are now in limbo at sea with little food and nowhere to go.

Yudhoyono, whose presidency ended in October after ten years as leader, said the situation -- South-east Asia’s biggest migrant crisis since the end of the Vietnam War -- needed an urgent regional response, not endless finger pointing.

“It is not fair that the blame is Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand’s alone,” he wrote on his official Twitter account on Sunday.

“Myanmar and Bangladesh can-not wash their hands of this.”

Myanmar ’s cooperation is deemed vital to solving the crisis as thousands of those at sea are Mus-lim Rohingya fleeing oppression in the mainly Buddhist country.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is scheduled to travel to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to meet her Malaysian and Thai counterparts to discuss the surge in boat people.

But Myanmar -- which denies the Muslim Rohingya citizenship -- has already rejected a Thai call for a regional summit on the issue on May 29.

Yudhoyono, who during his presidency grappled with a major uptick in refugees arriving in In-donesia en route to Australia, said

the crisis was not a “test” for any one nation.

“I sincerely hope ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Asian Na-tions) and the UN could soon look for solutions and not just blame,” he said.

“Action is needed quickly and appropriately so that hundreds of refugees do not die at sea.”

Nearly 3,000 migrants have been rescued or swum to shore in the three countries over the past week.

Activists say thousands more are feared to be drifting at sea in rickety boats after a Thai crackdown on human-trafficking disrupted busy smuggling routes to Southeast Asia. (afp)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo said he was not worried about his popularity declining for implementing unpopular policies as long as they were brought into effect for the good of the people.

“When (we) diverted the fuel subsidies last November, I was warned it would risk my popu-larity. It was a risk, and (as it turns out,) there is no problem,” Jokowi, as the president is fondly called, stated while attending a Jokowi Volunteers Community Jamboree at the Cibubur camping site on Saturday.

The president remarked: “It admittedly hurts and I know that. Changes must be started with something that hurts. Many (people) cursed me. I come here prepared to lose my popularity. I am ready to be cursed. So please do not think that Jokowi is a coward.”

“This is part of our work towards our middle- and long-term goals, and they all need sacrifice,” he added.

The head of state further noted that although the economic chal-

lenges were tough, he was con-fident that economic growth this year would be better than that last year.

“If there is a jarring voice, it should be corrected. The goal is, in fact, like that. It will be seen in the end, or else it will spread a bad rumor,” he pointed out.

On the occasion, Jokowis vol-unteers, who are grouped in the Jokowi Volunteers Community, made a five-point statement, which contained the need for the evaluation and strengthening of the cabinet and evaluation of policies that are not in line with the presidents Nawacita and Tri Sakti concepts, among others.

Nawacita is a Sanskrit term for nine national priority programs, and the Tri Sakti policy covers political sovereignty, economic independence and cultural dig-nity.

The statement also stressed the importance of ensuring economic development and acceleration of infrastructure development, which are carried out on the ba-sis of self-supporting principles. (ant)

JAKARTA - Indonesia has the most excellent market pros-pects in the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Agus Mu-harram said.

“As Indonesia has the highest number of people in the ASEAN region, it will have the best mar-ket in the AEC,” Muharram stated on Friday.

According to the ministry sec-retary, these conditions can trig-ger a single market and regional production base in Indonesia because each region has unique economic potential.

With the development and ad-vancement of information, global changes and regional economic cooperation cannot be avoided,

Muharram pointed out.In addition, he also urged

Indonesians to prepare for the implementation of the AEC by improving their skills, services and products.

“There will be a region with an equitable economy, but there are also areas with high competitive-ness. If we cannot compete, we may lose in the AEC competi-tion,” he emphasized.

With the implementation of the AEC, he noted, each Indonesian can conduct economic transac-tions freely, either in the form of commodities or as services, in the member states of the ASEAN.

“Anyone can work here, in-cluding investors and venture capitalists. Foreign banks can provide microfinance services,” Muharram affirmed. (ant)

AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara

Migrants sleep at a temporary shelter in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia, Sunday, May 17, 2015. Indonesia’s former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on Sunday urged na-tions to seek a solution instead of assigning blame over the migrant crisis engulfing Southeast Asia, warning that hundreds of lives are at stake.

President Widodo not worried about declining popularity

Indonesia has best market potential in AEC

Migrant crisis

SBY urged nations to stop the blame game

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on Sunday urged nations to seek a solution instead of assigning blame over the migrant crisis engulfing Southeast Asia, warning that hundreds of lives are at stake.

In terms of the economy, added Sutedja, the reclamation plan would in fact make a lot of money it instantly indeed makes a lot of money but this would teach the young generation that rampant consumption is normal. While in terms of culture, the 200,000 jobs promised by the investors of the project, are likely to be filled by migrants. Thus, the local communities of

Bali would potentially be dis-placed, including local customs and Hinduism.

“What will they bring here? Their habits will spread here and we will be shifted,” he ex-plained.

In the meantime, Chairman of the Love Bali Forum, I Made Mandera, said that the Benoa Bay reclamation is tantamount to exploitation. Moreover, with the promise of 200,000 jobs, ac-cording to him, will only make the South of Bali increasingly crowded.

“The entire population of Bali will move southward, so that it will be totally congested. Currently, the carrying capacity of the roads have already been exceeded. So, if the government cares for the people of Bali, it should start by creating a proper East-West road, so that the travel time between Denpasar-Negara or Denpasar-Karangasem could be shortened to an hour, and liberate some of the congestion of Badung. What is most urgently needed?” he asked.

Mandera added that what is ac-tually required today is to reduce the burden on Badung or South Bali, as well as the building up of the other regions of Bali. The reclamation plan is said to be too hasty, and it ignores the socio-cultural studies that have been done and also ignores the environmental carrying capac-ity, as well as Tri Hita Karana (a concept of harmony) that is the philosophical basis of Balinese Hinduism. (kmb32)

Reclamation...Burundi is one of the African

countries contributing troops to the African Union force in Somalia that is battling al-Shabab. The extremist rebels have carried out violent at-tacks in Kenya and Uganda in retali-ation for sending troops to Somalia. “You know that Burundi is among the countries that is contributing troops in Somalia and that’s why I came here to contact my friends and my fellow presidents in Kenya and Uganda and these countries are being targeted by al-Shabab,” Nkurunziza said French.

He said his aim in contacting fel-low presidents was to look at strate-

gies to stop threats to the security of Burundians. Nkurunziza was in neighboring Tanzania on Wednes-day when a general announced a coup. Loyal forces put down the rebellion and Nkurunziza returned to the country, but he had not been seen in the capital.

The coup attempt came after weeks of street protests against Nkurunziza’s efforts to stay in power by standing in elections for a third term in office.

Seventeen security officials, in-cluding five generals, accused in the attempted coup appeared Saturday before a prosecutor who charged

them with an attempt at destabilizing public institutions, lawyers of some of the suspects said. The general who announced the coup, however, remains at large.

In Rome on Sunday, Pope Francis called for a sense of responsibility to prevail in Burundi following the attempted coup. Francis made the appeal during his Sunday noon blessing from St. Peter’s Square.

He said: “I would like to invite you to pray for the dear people of Burundi, which is undergoing a deli-cate moment: May the Lord help all to avoid violence and act responsibly for the good of the country.” (ap)

ACCRA — Ghana’s movie stars have joined blue-collar worke r s i n demons t r a t ions against power cuts, marching through the streets of the capital to demand a resolution to this West African nation’s ongoing energy crisis.

Ghanaian actors Van Vicker and Yvonne Nelson were the most high-profile celebrities to participate in a march Saturday in eastern Accra, the first time the stars took on the government

over the issue.They joined hundreds of pro-

testers who dressed in black and carried torches and lanterns to signal their frustration with the erratic power supply.

Unpredictable outages lasting as long as 48 hours have been a fact of life in Ghana for the past several years.

The Ghana Chamber of Com-merce and Industry says 3,000 people had been laid off as a result of the cuts. (ap)

LONDON — Britain’s Prince Harry says being in the army has kept him out of trouble, and that he dreaded to think where he would be if he had not joined up.

Harry, who attracted hordes of enthusiastic female fans during his trip to New Zealand and Aus-

tralia, also said he is content being single.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, the prince said he’s “very happy not having a girlfriend.”

The 30-year-old prince, who just completed a decade-long military career, was speaking at the

end of his weeklong visit to New Zealand.

Harry said the army had given him a chance to “escape the lime-light.” He suggested that his nephew and niece, George and two-week-old Charlotte, should also be involved in the military one day. (ap)

KATHMANDU — Nepalese and U.S. military officials say they’ve identified all eight bod-ies recovered from the crash site of a U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared while delivering aid after two major earthquakes hit Nepal.

Nepal’s army said in a state-ment Sunday that the bodies of the six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese soldiers have been flown to the Himalayan nation’s

capital, Kathmandu.The wreckage of the UH-1

“Huey” was found Friday fol-lowing days of intense search-ing in the mountains northeast of Kathmandu. The first three charred bodies were retrieved the same day by Nepalese and U.S. military teams, and the rest on Saturday, according to Ne-pal’s army. The helicopter went missing while delivering aid on Tuesday. (ap)

AP Photo/Jerome Delay

President Pierre Nkurunziza makes a brief statement at the presidential palace in Bujumbura, Burundi, Sunday May 17, 2015. This is the first time Nkurunziza has been seen in public since he returned to Burundi and the attempted coup against his government last week.

Burundi president makes first appearance since failed coup

BUJUMBURA — Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has made his first appearance in the capital since the attempted coup against his government last week, said. Nkurunziza ap-peared before journalists at his presidential palace in Bujumbura Sunday morning. He made a brief statement saying that he is concerned with the threat from Somalia’s Islamic extremists, al-Shabab.

Prince Harry: Army kept me out of trouble

Ghana movie stars lead protest march against power cuts

Bodies of 6 US Marines, 2 Nepalese in crash identified

Bali News Monday, May 18, 2015 5InternationalMonday, May 18, 201512 International

BUSINESS

Despite a spike in sovereign bond yields in the past couple of weeks, levels still remain ultra-low. The rate of return to investors on benchmark 10-year German and French bonds has stayed be-low one percent in recent months and the yields on long-term Swiss debt even went negative.

Sovereign bonds are very im-portant for long-term investors as they are a safe investment that allows them to lock into guaran-teed returns.

For life insurance companies and pension funds which are investing the savings of others, the safety of sovereign bonds has

led regulators to require them to place certain percentages of their investments in bonds.

But the unprecedented rock bottom interest rates are posing a problem as many life insur-ance polices offer guaranteed interest higher than current bond yields.

Last year in France, life insur-ance contracts paid on average 2.5 percent.

Life insurance companies can temporarily dig into investment funds to continue to pay high rates and attract investors, but this is a strategy experts said cannot con-tinue if rates remain low.

“This drop in rates and the uncertainty that has accompanied it is affecting life insurance re-turns,” said Claude Chassain, an actuarial expert at Deloitte.

The level of interest rates has been worrying the industry for months, and analysts and ratings agencies are concerned about the industry.

German insurers, which offer much higher guaranteed returns than their French counterparts, have been particularly critical of the European Central Bank’s ultra-low interest rate policy, and its 1.1-trillion-euro ($1.2-trillion) bond buying stimulus

programme that has driven down bond yields.

According to Karsten Eich-mann, president of German in-surer Gothaer, that situation has left companies like his caught in an agonising pinch.

“The insurance sector in Ger-many is currently facing a consid-erable degree of damage, in the order of several billion, provoked by the European Central Bank’s policy of very low rates,” Eich-mann wrote in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in early May.

Pension funds are also sound-ing the alarm.

PensionsEurope, the trade or-ganisation for European pension institutions, warned regulators in a report in late April that “pen-sion funds can not be considered

collateral damage of the ECB’s (quantitative easing policy) when the problem involves retirement savings of millions of Europe-ans”.

Chassain says low interest rates like those currently in place are destined to make life difficult for any insurer with long-term guar-antees on return.

For insurance companies, the strategy is to invest in high-risk assets like corporate bonds, stocks and infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, most also encourage clients towards options that do not guarantee savings invested, such as unit-linked plans.

That same trend has already taken hold in Japan, where interest rates have remained low for quite some time. (afp)

BEIJING - China’s foreign minister worked on Saturday to allay concerns that Beijing’s new regional infrastructure bank would not meet inter-national standards as he met with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The US declined to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) amid doubts over how it would be managed, but several of Washington’s closest allies signed up, including Britain, France and Germany.

The concerns include transparency of the AIIB, which will fund infrastructure in Asia, as well as Beijing using it to push its own geopolitical and economic interests as a rising power.

“The United States welcomes new multilateral institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure In-vestment Bank provided they share the international community’s strong commitment to high quality standards,” Kerry said at a press conference with Wang Yi in Beijing.

Those standards include “including genuine multilateral decision-making, ever improving lend-ing requirements and environmental and social safeguards”, he added.

A total of 57 nations have applied for founding membership, including China, and Wang rebuffed Kerry’s concerns, saying: “The AIIB is a multilateral institution, so naturally its operation will observe international rules.”

“The AIIB is also ready to carry out cooperation with other multilateral institutions, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,” he added.

Under President Xi Jinping, China is pushing to build on the ancient Silk Road trade routes on land and sea, through its “One Belt, One Road” initiative expected to be partly funded by the AIIB. (afp)

Low interest rates make saving nearly mission impossible

PARIS - While borrowers rejoice at the ultra low and even negative interest rates in Europe, savers fret and life insurance companies and pension funds face what is virtually a mission impossible.

AP Photo/Andy Wong, File

Under President Xi Jinping, China is pushing to build on the ancient Silk Road trade routes on land and sea, through its “One Belt, One Road” initiative expected to be partly funded by the AIIB.

China infrastructure bank will uphold standards

The rector added that it has been given this recognition due to its high philosophical value.

“The philosophic values in-clude the embodiment of the strength of the superstructure (the universe), cosmological value and authoritative value,” Duija stated.

Kris also has esthetic values of completing clothing, customs, culture and art, as well as high economic value.

The Indonesian kris, includ-ing the one from Bali, has been acknowledged as a world heritage in terms of use in human activities,

including as a hobby and in Hindu rituals.

According to Duija, besides showing cultural excellence, kris is also a cultural symbol of hu-man civilization on Earth that has been able to survive through the centuries.

He added that kris also reflects a value of solidarity as it can be used across cultures and as a national souvenir.

The recognition of a masterpiece of human civilization given by the UNESCO to the Indonesian kris has made it known to the world. Therefore, it requires conservation

and maintenance.The Bali community upholds

the meaning and sacred value of kris with a ritual known as Tumpek Landep Day, which is celebrated every 210 days.

This is a sacred ritual that in-volves offerings for all types of sharp objects, including kris and other traditional weapons.

This time, Tumpek Landep for the Hindus in Bali will be celebrated on Saturday, May 16.

People will pray for safety to the manifestation of the God of Weapons in the form of iron, silver and gold. (ant)

ON Saturday, May 16, you definitely saw a lot of cars, motor-cycles, bicycles and other equip-ment made of iron were installed on with a variety of offerings. Or you might also watch Balinese people dressed in customary attires busy praying. Understandably, it was the celebration of Tumpek Landep, a ritual prepared for weapon used by Balinese people in surviving their life.

A lecturer of the Hindu Dharma Institute (IHDN) of Denpasar, Ni Putu Winanti, said that tumpek was a sacred day denoting the conflu-ence of a five-day week (Kliwon) and seven-day week (Saniscara). Unfortunately, Balinese people only understood it in terms of ritual alone, whereas the holy day retained many meanings.

Tumpek Landep falls every six months in Balinese calendar or every 210 days. The objects given ritual are all the equipment and weapons made from iron or other metals, to be invoked Lord Shiva Pasupati in order the weapons can be endowed with power and sharp-ness. Ultimately, they can be used according to their function. While the human mind can be adjured a sharpness and intelligence, so that

they can use them appropriately.“When Lord Shiva blesses the

weapons and human, it will create a harmony. Otherwise, it brings in a hazard. In essence, it is an invoca-tion of harmony of the weapon for the users,” said Winanti.

Winanti described that Sun-darigama palm-leaf manuscript mentioned that tumpek ngaraning caniscara Kliwon yewekasang tuduh ikang sarwa janma, ayuwe lali sira ngastiti sanghgyang para-mawisesa. It meant that on the night of tumpek was prohibited from doing any activities, because it was the conferment of happiness. “Lord Paramawisesa endows hap-piness to those who perform sacred contemplation,” she said.

According to her, the night of tumpek was also a literary appre-ciation night that should be carried out to purify the mind, deepen the religious literature as well as ponder the deeds (introspection).

In subsequent development, the Hindu community in Bali did not only give ritual to the weapons, but also all the things that could help them live the life. Some of them were cars, motorcycles, engines and other devices helping to make their work easier. (kmb)

Tumpek Landep, a spiritual ascent

IBP/Wawan

Tumpek Landep falls every six months in Balinese calendar or every 210 days. The objects given ritual are all the equipment and weapons made from iron or other metals, to be invoked Lord Shiva Pasupati in order the weapons can be endowed with power and sharpness.

Unesco acknowledges kris as world heritage

DENPASAR - The Indonesian kris has been acknowledged by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world heritage, Rector of the Hindu Dharma Indonesia Institute (IHDN) Professor Dr. I Nengah Duija said.

ANTARA FOTO/Aditya Pradana Putra

The Indonesian kris has been acknowledged by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world heritage, Rector of the Hindu Dharma Indonesia Institute (IHDN) Professor Dr. I Nengah Duija said.

International4 Monday, May 18, 2015 Monday, May 18, 2015 13InternationalBali News

Malaysian Foreign Minister Ani-fah Aman met with his counterpart from Bangladesh, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, ahead of meetings scheduled with the Indonesian and Thai foreign ministers in the com-ing days, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Boatloads of more than 2,000 members of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya Muslim community fleeing persecution and migrants from Bangladesh trying to escape poverty have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks. But thousands more are stranded at sea after a crackdown on human traffickers prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their human cargo.

Malaysia is the current chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has been criticized for long ignor-ing the plight of the Rohingya. On Friday, Malaysian Prime Minister

Najib Razak vowed to take action as urgent calls to address the grow-ing humanitarian crisis poured in from the United Nations, the United States and others.

“This is an issue of international and regional importance,” Najib said. “We are in contact with all relevant parties, with whom we share the desire to find a solution to this crisis.”

ASEAN adheres to a strict policy of non-interference, which in the past has blocked public criticism of Myanmar and critics say enables member states to commit abuses without consequences.

The U.N. has called the Ro-hingya one of the world’s most persecuted groups. For decades, they have faced state-sanctioned discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. In the past three years, Rohingya have been targeted by violent mobs of Bud-dhist extremists that left hundreds dead and sparked an exodus of boat people fleeing on rickety, over-

crowded vessels operated by human trafficking syndicates.

Most are trying to reach Malay-sia, a Muslim-majority country that has hosted more than 45,000 Roh-ingya over the years but now says it can’t accept any more. Indonesia and Thailand have voiced similar stances — fearing that accepting a few would result in an unstop-pable flow of poor, uneducated migrants.

The Malaysian and Bangladeshi foreign ministers met in Sabah state on Borneo island Sunday as part of a pre-planned annual consultation between the two countries, the of-ficial said.

Malaysia’s Anifah is also ex-pected to meet with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Monday and hold talks with his Thai counterpart, Gen. Tanasak Patimapragorn, in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, the official said. Ef-forts were being made to meet with representatives from Myanmar, he said, without elaborating. (ap)

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. train operator Amtrak will expand its use of a speed restriction system on Philadelphia’s northbound rails and abide by other federal directives is-sued after one of its trains crashed in the city last week, killing eight people, after speeding into a curve, the company said Saturday.

The automatic train control system already is being used for southbound trains approaching the curve where Tuesday’s derailment occurred. The system notifies an engineer when a train is above the speed limit and automatically applies the brakes if the engineer doesn’t slow down the train.

The U.S. Federal Railroad Ad-ministration on Saturday ordered Amtrak to expand use of the sys-tem. Amtrak said it would comply, adding that its “overarching goal is to provide safe and secure rail passenger travel.” The company hopes to resume limited service between Philadelphia and New York on Monday and full service on Tuesday.

The train was traveling from Washington, D.C., to New York when it flew off the tracks in Phila-delphia. About 200 people were injured, and at least eight people remained in critical condition in Philadelphia hospitals Saturday. All

were expected to survive.Investigators have been looking

into why the train hit the speed of about 106 mph in a 50 mph zone. The FBI also is looking into the possibility that the windshield of the train was hit by an object shortly before the train derailed. The engi-neer, who was injured in the crash, told authorities he did not recall anything in the few minutes before it happened.

The Federal Railroad Admin-istration also ordered Amtrak to analyze curves to assess risks on the Northeast Corridor, the busy stretch of tracks between Washington and Boston, and determine if more can be done to improve safety.

“In areas where approach speed is significantly higher than curve speed, the appropriate technology intended to prevent over-speed derailments must be implemented immediately,” the agency said. Amtrak also will have to increase the amount and frequency of sig-nage alerting engineers and conduc-tors of the maximum authorized speed.

Amtrak posted a message on its website Saturday touting a “very strong” safety record, including a claim that yearly derailments fell from 80 to 28 between 2000 and 2014. (ap)

PARIS — France has joined a chorus of voices opposing a Euro-pean Union plan to ease pressure on nations dealing with an influx of Mediterranean migrants by es-tablishing a quota system to share the burden.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls says he opposes the proposed plan to set maximum refugee limits for each country in the EU based on population, employment levels and other factors. In comments made

Saturday on French TV, Valls said a quota system “was never part of the French propositions.”

Last week Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told RTL radio that France supported the plan, which was already unraveling in the face of opposition among other EU countries.

Exact details of the plan haven’t been hashed out, but countries in-cluding Hungary, Slovakia and Esto-nia have already rejected it. (ap)

France joins opposition to EU quota plan for migrants

Amtrak to expand speed control at deadly

US train crash site

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

In this May 13, 2015 photo, emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train wreck in Philadelphia.

AP Photo/Joshua Paul

Mahamuda Rohim Boksoh, an ethnic Rohingya, 38, prepares lunch for her family while her sons, right, looks on in her shanty on the fringes of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday, May 17, 2015.

Malaysia launches talks amid Asia’s

growing migrant crisisKUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia launched a series of high-level talks with its neighbors Sunday,

seeking a solution to a deepening crisis in which boatloads of refugees are stranded off Southeast Asia’s shores, with no country willing to take them in.

When asked about the economic growth of Gianyar, Suamba could not disclose exact figures, but he did say that tourism remains the prominent sector followed by the processing industry sector including handicrafts as well as the agricultural industry. “I would have to check the data from the Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda), but obviously since 2009 the economic growth in Gianyar has relied on the tourism sector” he said.

At his home on Jalan Jagaraga, Celuk village, Sukawati, Wayan Suweta was seen sitting at his work table, illuminated by a long neon light. Wayan Suweta produces various kinds of silver handicrafts. “My employees no longer work for me here. Other than due to lack of orders, they can also work on their own orders at home,” he said.

Suweta explained that around 1915 under Dutch colonial rule, the region of Celuk village be-came the center of silversmithing in Bali. However, at that time people only produced tools for ritual paraphernalia such as cant-

ing, ceraka and cangku. Around 1935, the local craftsmen started making jewelry from silver for the kings and the Dutch people. “At that time, the colonialists also introduced the craft products of our society to kings like the king of Gianyar because only those kinds of people could be close to the king,” he said.

Around 1966 Bali became in-creasingly open to the outside world. As a result, more and more travelers came to Bali, especially to Celuk village, specifically look-ing for silverworks. “It was not unlike the way that the Dutch had introduced our silver works to the Europeans,” he said.

Silverworks from Celuk village experienced a rapid development and by 1970 the craftsmen could export their silverworks overseas. Suweta said that the design of necklaces, bracelets and earrings by Celuk village craftsmen were in great demand at that time. This golden period went on until the 1990s. “During the glorious pe-riod, even unfinished handicrafts were sometimes ordered by travel-

ers or businessmen,” he said while smiling.

Aournd 1995, jewelry products from outside of Bali, from places like Thailand, China and India began to enter the world market. This was the beginning of the stiff competition faced by Celuk sil-verworks on the world stage. The Bali bombing incidents also made the sale of the

silverworks at Celuk village increasingly rare. “Undeniably, we are losing competitiveness on the world market and even in Bali there are minimal orders for silverworks,” he said.

When asked about the number of orders since Indonesia’s econ-omy recently began to weaken, Suweta said that even though the industry is slumping he is still re-ceiving orders from several loyal customers overseas. “Since 2009, the condition remains about the same, meaning

there are still some orders from a number of customers, but no-where near the number of orders that we received during the glori-ous period,” he said. (nik)

TABANAN - Roof tile craft businesses at Pejaten village, Kediri, even before the economy of Bali said to come down con-tinues to face price decline. One of the roof tile craftsmen of two generations, Dewa Made Rai, 60, said that currently the roof tile craft business is sluggish. His business is running modestly. The advan-tage is no longer as much as ever before in line with quiet orders and the falling price of the tile. “In the past, the price of roof tile was IDR 1,000 per piece, but now drops to IDR 850 per piece,” he said.

Due to lack of order, Dewa Rai which normally produces 1,000 pieces of roof tile has a lot of stock in the warehouse. Shortage of or-der has begun to be experienced by roof tile craftsmen at Pejaten vil-lage since the beginning of 2015. Admittedly, the onslaught of Java roof tile costing far less is one of the causes of the shortage of the order faced by the Pejaten roof tile. “Our stock has reached 20,000 pieces, but no one has placed an order,” he said. Dewa Rai admit-ted that formerly he had a regular customer from Lombok. But so far, there is no information about the order from his customer.

Nevertheless, there are still individuals coming directly to buy tiles. He also admitted to run out of clay raw materials at Pejaten village. In the past, he got raw ma-terials from his home yard but now it has used up. “In the past, this home yard was high. But it is now lower because the clay continues to be taken,” he said. To meet the raw material, he buys from another village for IDR 550,000 per truck, while he also buys coconut fiber for IDR 700,000 per truck to burn roof tiles.

Due to uncertain income from roof tile craft, Dewa Rai encour-ages his sons to look for another job in urban areas. “Similarly, none of my sons wants to continue this craft business. All of them are working in the city,” he said. As a little man he just hopes that amid the difficulties experienced the government can stabilize the prices of basic commodities so that they are affordable.

The dropped price of Pejaten tile product is recognized by the headman of Pejaten, I Nyoman Alit Wijaya. The roof tile price cur-rently touches IDR 850 per piece, while Plentong roof tile with bet-ter quality is sold for IDR 12,000. “The price indeed drops. Standard roof tile was formerly sold for IDR 1,000 per piece and Plentong tile IDR 15,000 per piece, but now respectively drops to IDR 850 and IDR 12,000,” he said.

The price drop is caused by many stocks of tile coming from Java offering cheaper price. Ac-cording to Alit, the lower price can be offered because the raw materi-als in Java remain available a lot. On the other hand, the tile raw materials at Pejaten are no longer available and even have to order from outside the village. “Labor cost in Java is also cheaper so that the roof tile craftsmen in Java can sell their products cheaper,” said Alit.

His party has attempted in order that the Pejaten roof tile business continues to survive and one of them is patenting the name of Pejaten. Unfortunately, the patent right was copied by artisans from East Java. To follow up on the in-fringement against the Pejaten pat-ent, the village authority has sent a team directly to the area producing roof tile with the brand name of Pe-jaten mold. “Two villages in East Java using the name are Kalianyar village in Bondowoso and Pandak village in Situbondo. From this visit is found that there are artisans producing roof tile with the name of Pejaten mold,” said Alit.

The team then held a meeting with headman of local village and gave information if the brand name Pejaten has become the patent right of craftsmen at Pejaten village, Kediri, Tabanan. At least this ef-fort has given a result. From the last visit, 40 percent of craftsmen at Kalianyar village have changed their roof tile mold into Paten while at Pandak village 100 per-cent of the artisans have changed their mold to Pandak. In the mean-time, 60 percent of craftsmen at Kalianyar village remaining to use the Pejaten mold, according Alit, from recognition of local village figures it really takes time because they have large market in Bali. The brand Pejaten becomes the booster of their product market-ing in Bali.

“Their order even largely comes from Bali. The collectors are in Negara and Singaraja. Their roof tiles are in high demand because of the Pejaten brand name,” said Alit. To that end, the team will also conduct searches to tile collectors in Negara and Singaraja.

Having got the name and ad-dress of the collectors, the team will report them to local Industry and Trade Agency. “The Industry and Trade Agency will send repri-mand letter to the collectors so as not to sell the roof tiles under the brand name of Pejaten from Java,” he said. If collectors still violate after getting reprimand letter for three times, a legal action will be taken. (kmb24)

Roof tile craftsmen at PejatenPrice slumps,

business runs modestly

IBP/Manik

The silver cratfsman is working in his shop in Celuk, Gianyar.

Stiff competition, Celuk’s silverworks

losing competitivenessGIANYAR – The Head of the Gianyar Trade Agency, I Wayan Suamba, said that the export

of processed products -particularly from the handicraft industry, is strongly influenced by the creativity and innovation of the craftsmen. He admitted that the tight competition in foreign markets has made some handicraft products from Gianyar County, such as silverworks, struggle to survive. “I persistently remind the craftsmen to be creative and make innovations s that they can compete with other countries” he said.

3Monday, May 18, 2015 14 InternationalInternational Bali NewsTraveling Monday, May 18, 2015

So walk round the winding cob-bled streets of panoramic Mont-martre or stroll through the historic Marais with its devastatingly chic fashion boutiques.

And for budget-conscious food-ies — forgo the world-class restau-rants in favor of the local artisan shops where you can stock up on delightful cheeses and wines for a picnic in Paris’ oldest monumental square, the Place des Vosges, or in the gardens of the majestic Louvre museum.

To encourage Parisians to walk around and fight rising air pollution by ditching their vehicles, car-free pedestrian zones are cropping up all over the city — especially near the river Seine.

Enjoy walks on the arty left bank, which was transformed in 2013 when a stretch was pedestrianized

from the Musee d’Orsay museum all the way to the popular Quai Branly museum near the Eiffel Tower.

And from 2016, you’ll be able to walk down a 3-kilometer (2-mile) car-free stretch of the Seine’s right bank — past Notre Dame cathedral, the beautiful island Ile Saint-Louis and end up at the beautiful blooms of Tuileries gardens.

If you want a break from Paris’ classical beauty, head to the once-gritty suburb of Pantin, which has been dubbed the “Brooklyn of Paris.” Its derelict, graffiti-covered warehouses by a canal have been taken over by galleries and artists, turning it into the hippest place in the City of Light.

The incredible Versailles Palace has been given a new feature — to celebrate 300 years since the death of the palace’s founder, Sun King

Louis XIV.This week, it inaugurated the

newly renovated Water Theater grove — fittingly, to great fanfare.

It’s an incredible contemporary fountain with gilded sculptures com-posed of 2,000 pearls and 20,000 pieces of gold leaf. It’s fit for a king, even though the king is dead.

And what would a trip to Paris be like without a visit to the new-look Eiffel Tower? The 324-meter (1,063-foot) monument was given a vertigo-inducing face-lift last fall as organizers celebrated its 125th anniversary — and now has see-through glass floor panels on its first level.

The four small viewing sections, which cost 30 million euro (US $38 million), allow visitors to see 57 meters (187 feet) below their feet. (ap)

AP Photo/Christophe Ena

In this photo dated Tuesday, May 12, 2015 visitors take photos of “Les Belles Danses” (The beautiful dances) by French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, one of the three fountain sculptures installed at the Water Theatre Grove in Ver-sailles outside Paris, France.

Airbnb, the house rentals website, is hugely popular among Parisians. Visitors can save hundreds by opting to stay in a private accommodation instead of a hotel, and an organized tourist can find something for every area, taste and price range — from a small room to an apartment in a historic town house.

If you’re on a shoe-string budget, check out the new 1,000-bed Genera-tor hostel in the city’s funky 10th district, with a shared room for 25 euros per person per night.

For getting around, nothing is more fun than the free-bicycle rental initia-tive called the “Velibe.” Bike stations are located around the city — and all you need is a pair of legs and a credit card (that won’t be billed — it’s just to insure the bike return). The famed pedestrian street Rue Montorgueil, near metro Etienne Marcel, is a perfect place to sit and people-watch. It’s as popular with fashion-conscious hipsters as it is with queens — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth’s favorite bakery Patisserie Stohrer is here!

Paris is famed for its beautiful gardens and parks. So sit, talk philosophy, nibble Camembert and sip fine Bordeaux wine in the Parc Monceau in the 17th district. Or picnic in Paris’ “Central Park,” the awe-inspiring Buttes Chaumont in the 19th district. A verdant beer garden called Rosa Bonheur, found within the Buttes Chaumont, is a particular hit with Parisians.

For those not afraid of getting their feet wet, go boating in the large lake at the Bois de Vincennes, in the east. (ap)

Essentials for visiting Paris

What’s new, classics and morePARIS — The City of Light is not just one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals. Because of

its small size, just 8 kilometers (5 miles from north to south), Paris is also perfect for exploring on foot. Tips for visiting Paris

AP Photo/Michel Euler, File

This Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 file photo shows a man passing by the glass-pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris, France.

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File

This Monday, Dec 9, 2013 file photo shows the white-domed Basilica of the Sacre Cœur in Montmartre district in Paris, France.

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File

This Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014 file photo taken with extreme wide angle lens shows a general view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

DENPASAR - Government policy to import rice indicates a disregard for the interest of farmers and will cause adverse effects on rice prices, an observer has said.

“Rice imports will show that the revitalization of the agricul-ture sector to achieve rice self sufficiency, as has been declared by the president, seems merely rhetorical,” agriculture observer

Gede Sedana said on Saturday.Sedana, the dean of Dwijendra

University’s Faculty of Agricul-ture in Denpasar, Bali, noted that until now, farmers have not been assisted by government policy.

Sedana remarked that the policy to open the country to rice imports does not favor farmers and is inconsistent with the spirit of the revitalization of the agri-culture sector.

“The farmers will be greatly harmed by imports of rice, be-cause they will damage the do-mestic rice market and lower the income of farmers,” he noted.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said rice imports are always an option, especially when the government has to deal with shortages of rice.

“The tap is always open, in case our production does not

meet demand and it is required to make up for the deficit,” the vice president stated in his office last Friday.

Citing an example, he pointed out that in case there is a shortage of rice during the Islamic fasting month in June, it is possible that the country will import rice.

However, the vice president added that the government had yet to study the agricultural re-

“From 98 countries, there are currently 58 delegations arriving to attend the ICMM,” Army Chief of Staff of the Ninth Regional Military Command (Kodam IX) Udayana Brigadier General Hadi Kusnan said on Sunday.

The delegations comprised high military officials and mili-tary doctors who will attend the conference that will be hosted by The Indonesian Ministry of Defence and the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM), in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of For-eign Affairs, Surgeon General of Indonesian Defence Force and Indonesian Military Medicine

Association (IMMA).Topics of interest will consist

of health aspects of protecting the health condition of armed forces personnel, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, chemical-bio-logical-radiological and nuclear, emerging infection diseases and re-emerging diseases in specific military population, environmental and preventive medicines, emer-gency management of battlefield injuries, military health Education and training, military health pro-motion and rehabilitation.

The conference was scheduled to be opened by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Monday at 9:30 a.m. local time, followed by a

general lecture by Minister of Defence General (ret.) Ryamizard Ryacudu.

The congress will also invite local, regional, and international speakers and academicians to share their knowledge and experiences in various fields of military medicine in a plenary meeting, a workshop, round tables and poster sessions.

The plenary sessions will dis-cuss some topics such as Ebola Hemorrhagic Disease as a Novel Virus in Emerging and re-emerging Infectious Disease, Peace Keeping Force in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operation, Chemical Biologic Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Hazards in

Delegations arrive for 41st ICMM World Congress

NUSA DUA - International delegations have started arriving in Bali to attend the 41st Inter-national Committee on Military Medicine World Congress on Monday that will be held at Bali Nusa Dua Center (BNDCC), Bali, on May 17-22.

Military Personnel and Combat Casualties Care and War Surgery.

Doctors from the World Health Organization (WHO) such as Dr. Eric Bertherat and some mili-tary doctors from United States, France, China, United Kingdom and Thailand will present their paper on the Ebola topic.

ICMM was established in 1921, after World War I, to increase the cooperation between the health services of the Armed Forces Medical Services. It is an interna-tionally recognized organization located in Belgium.

DeployedAs many as 1,869 personnel

of the Indonesian Military and National Police were deployed to secure the 41st World Congress of the International Committee

on Military Medicine (ICMM) on Monday that will be held at Bali Nusa Dua Center (BNDCC) Bali on May 17-22.

“The airport should be antici-pated as the location is a high pri-ority for security,” Chief of Bali Police Office Inspector General Ronny Sompie said.

In addition to military and police personnel, the author-ity involve Balinese traditional guards, locally known as pecalang to secure the event.

“The power of Balinese tra-dition to secure their culture is remarkable. The involvement of pecalangs will complete the se-curity measure,” Ronny Sompie said.

Meanwhile, Kusnan added that from 1,869 joint personnel, 1,200 were from the military. (ant)

Rice imports disregard for farmers’ interest

IBP/Budana

Government policy to import rice indicates a disregard for the interest of farmers and will cause adverse effects on rice prices, an observer has said.

ports collected from the fields.“We will wait and see until

after the end of May, because a grand harvest usually lasts until May,” he affirmed.

The vice president noted that after the harvest, the government will be able to determine whether there is a shortage in the national rice stock and whether imports will be needed. (ant)

International2 Monday, May 18, 2015 15International Activities

Bali News

EvEry Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annual Ceremony, or “ Odalan “, every 210 days according to Balinese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine which each family possesses. Because of this practically every few days a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in some Village in Bali. There are also times when the entire island celebrated the same Holiday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day, Tumpek Wayang day etc.

The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is con-sidered its birth day and celebration always takes place on the same day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used. When new moon is used then the celebration always happens on new moon or full moon. The day of course can differ the religious celebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some temple celebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakih temple, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and most of the time it lasts for 11 days, depending on the importance of the occasion.

The celebration is very colorful. The shrine are dressed with pieces of cloths and sometimes with brocade, sailings, decorations of carved wood and sometimes painted with gold and Chinese coins, very beautifully arranged, are hung in the four corners of the shrine. In front of shrine are placed red, white or black umbrellas depending which Gods are worshipped in the shrines.

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful attire, carrying offerings, arrangements of all kinds fruits and colored cakes, to the Temple. Every visitor admires the grace with which the carry their load on their heads.

Balinese Temple Ceremony

Monday, May 18, 2015

Founder : K.Nadha, General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Diah Dewi Juniarti Editors: Gugiek Savindra,Alit Susrini, Alit Sumertha, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Suana, Sueca, Sugiartha, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Dewa kusuma, Gianyar: Agung Dharmada, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Bagiarta. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Development: Alit Purnata, Mas Ruscitadewi. Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605 Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp.

(0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

Considered to be one of the world’s most complex cuisines, Balinese food is an elaborate blend of fresh ingredients, intricate flavours and aromatic spices accomplished with an extraordinary dedication to preparation and cookery. There are no artificial flavourings or additives in Balinese food, only natural, local ingredients are used, while colour-ings are obtained only from natural plant sources such as red hibiscus flowers and green pandan leaves.

Everyday Balinese fare is comprised of rice, vegetables, egg and maybe a little meat or fish; this is known as ‘Nasi Campur’, and is usually cooked in the early morning, and consumed whenever the need arises. In contrast, ceremonial food is prepared in an elaborate and decorative manner and is eaten com-munally. Women prepare the daily meal, but only men may prepare the festival dishes, with the creation of a ritual feast being a full day’s work.

Balinese cuisine has been influenced by the diverse cultures of the Indonesian archipelago. Many of the distinctive tastes and cooking styles were inspired by the early Chinese, Indian, Arabic and Dutch traders and settlers. The founda-tion of an authentic Balinese meal is rice. Sauces are created with coconut

milk and the fundamental coriander, pepper and garlic. flavour some curries rely on freshly ground spices; common seasonings include ginger, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and tamarind. Balinese ‘bumbu’ is a basic spice paste that varies from village to village. Hot fresh chili can be found in fiery accompanying sauces known as sambals, and peanuts are typically present as a garnish, or ground into a paste to form a sweet and spicy peanut sauce.

Some of Bali’s most distinctive and popular dishes include ‘Babi Guling’, which is Bali’s famous delicacy – a festive dish comprising slow-cooked spit roasted pig stuffed with aromatic leaves, onion, garlic and peppercorns, brushed with crushed turmeric and often served with ‘lawar’, a spicy raw meat mash. ‘Bebek Betutu’ is duck stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a coconut-husk-fuelled earth-oven – this Balinese specialty is usually served with a tangy lemon sauce together with traditional accompani-ments. ‘Satay’ is a serving of small ke-babs of fish, chicken or beef, barbequed in the traditional style on hot coals and served on a bamboo stick with peanut sauce. ‘Pepes Ikan’ is a dish of fragrant, spiced local fish, traditionally wrapped,

steamed and baked in banana leaf pack-ages; the juices are contained inside the parcel and the experience is an explosion of moist smoky flavour.

Balinese desserts include ‘Kue Da-dar’, which are little crepe parcels filled with palm sugar, vanilla and grated co-conut. ‘Bubuh Injin’ is a sweet and sticky black rice pudding, named after the colour of the rice husk and served with coconut milk sauce. ‘Pisang goreng’ is banana fried in batter and served with syrup, and ‘Es campur’ is fruit salad with shredded ice. Finally, ‘Jajan Pasar’ is the name given to classic market-style cakes.

Relishan extensive buffet dinner of traditional hot and cold Balinese classics at ‘The Spirit of Bali’ – a cultural tribute to Balinese dance, music and culinary delights, every Saturday evening from 7pm onwards at Intercontinental Bali Resort’s Taman Gita Terrace. Be capti-vated by a series of sacred dance rituals performed by local villagers, showcasing the traditional artistry of Balinese dance and music. These culturally-inspired performances are all part of InterCon-tinental Bali’s ongoing commitment to preserve and showcase the island’s cul-tural heritage and actively support local communities and their artistic legacies.

IBP/Courtesy of InterContinental

Traditional cuisine of Bali at InterContinental Bali Resort

JIMBArAN - Every Saturday evening, InterContinental Bali resort offers its visitors and guests the opportunity to enjoy traditional Balinese cuisine at ‘The Spirit of Bali’ cultural dinner, accompanied by ‘Okokan’, ‘Tektekan’ and ‘Calonarang’ dance performances.

DENPASAR - Waste problem remains to become a scourge for Bali so far and even for the next few years. Just imagine the Island of the Gods produces 10,030 cubic meters of waste every day. It re-spectively consists of 5,300 cubic meters of urban waste and 4,700 cubic meters of rural waste.

“So, each resident produces 2.7 ki-lograms of waste each day. Without a proper management, in one year the waste can amount to be as huge as the Mount Agung,” said the Head of the Bali Envi-ronment Agency (BLH), Gede Suarjana, in Denpasar, recently.

His party noted that waste production continues to increase from year to year. In 2005, the waste polluting the environment reached approximately 1.7 million cubic meters. In 2014, the waste production reached 1.9 million cubic meters more or nearly two million cubic meters.

“Estimation of the waste production

in 2020 reaches 2,271,846 cubic meters,” said Suarjana. Further, he added that the carrying capacity of Bali can actually ac-commodate 1.5 million people. However, the current population has reached 4.2 million, not to mention the additional 3.5 million foreign travelers and 12 million domestic travelers. Thus, the carrying capacity and supporting capacity is not balanced.

“We will compete to utilize the place against the waste because the area of Bali is only 3,632.86 square kilometers. This means that the load will be immense,” he explained. Suarjana added that 29 percent of the amount consists of inorganic waste that is difficult to decompose. Then, 12 percent or as much as 680 cubic meters consists of plastic waste. He also urged people to begin to sort out the waste and not to throw waste haphazardly in the effort to reduce environmental pollution caused by waste. (kmb32)

means of backfilling with soil, rocks and concrete creating foundations that jutt out along 200 meters into the sea. The location of this sea reclamation starts at Penerusan Bay, with foundations being laid at 15 meter intervals, is allegedly being created to build

a hotel. Unfortunately, many mangrove trees seem to have been cut down.

Dozens of trucks transporting rocks and soil, have been seen coming to and from the location. Pejarakan village resident, Iboy, explained that he was very sad to see the condition of nature suddenly damaged, especially the mangrove trees. The backfilling that the investors have been doing for over a month, ap-parently plans to cover 2 hectares and used as tourist faciltities, including a hotel.

The reclamation at Penerusan Bay clearly damages mangrove plants. The reclaimed land is alleged to be owned by a resident who sold it to investor. Actu-ally Iboy questioned the legality of the certificate of ownership (SHM) because of the backfilling that protrudes into the

ocean. “The project has been going on for a month and

we heard that the plan is to build a hotel. But why should they backfill? Can a this Bay be used as private property? There must be an explanation. Otherwise the project could harm the mangroves and the sur-

roundingenvironment” said Iboy loudly.Headman of Pejarakan, Made Astawa, explained

that the location of Penerusan Bay reclamation was owned by a resident name Komang Milik who then sold it to an unknown investor. Later, it was discovered that the backfilling was being done, potentially to build a hotel. Astawa does not know the details about the building to be established. “The land belonged to a resident who had the ownership title (SHM) of the

land. Then, his land was sold to another person (investor—Ed), who is apparently building a hotel there. For now, there is only a road and the construc-tion is far from complete - it could take as long as five years to finish the project” he explained.

Astawa said firmly that not permit had been issued for this project. “I never issue any recommendation for such a permit, and so far we have received no re-quest for permission. The status of the land is private property and as long as they are not disturbing the environment, it does not matter what they build” said Astawa. Law No.27/2007 after the revision of Law No.1/200 on the management

of coastal areas and small islands mentions that that a person or company is not allowed to construct buildings 100 meters from the highest tidal point landward. (kmb34)

Announcement of graduation has become a tradition for high school and vocational school students of grade XII in Denpasar to be filled with graffiti ac-tion on their school uniform. After that, it is resumed with a convoy around the street. It was also done after graduation announcement on Friday (May 15). This time, the action was even worse than the previous year.

Field observation of Bali Post indi-cates that the convoy action also involved a number of cars and big motorcycles. Incredibly, female students were no lon-ger ashamed of joining this action and they were even in the frontline during the convoy.

Even though schools have implement-ed the announcement through praying together, the students remain to keep their uniform in their motorcycle. After pray-ing, they persisted on doing the graffiti action as an expression of their bubbling excitement. All the principals could not stem the action.

Surprisingly, the action was even led by students of state school. They have promised to meet in front of the Ngurah Rai Stadium and then moved in convoy to main roads in Denpasar. The most severe action occurred on Jalan Kamboja when the student action would pick up the students of the SMAN 1 Denpasar high

school (Smansa).Police had upset by hitting the convoy

participants because of disturbing secu-rity. Dozens of students were secured at Bali Police Headquarters for not wearing a helmet when doing the convoy. Three students were secured in front of the KONI tennis court because they were proved to bring liquor when doing the convoy.

Tow education observers, I Ketut Mu-dita and Ida Bagus Suyasaputra, judged that such an action can be considered reasonable as long as it is an expression of momentary excitement. However, if it has disturbed safety and other road users, he agreed that the students must be given learning, education as well as coaching.

Mudita said that the future of high school and vocational school graduate stays long. To that end, he hoped that po-lice officers are necessary to be deployed at all critical points in Denpasar. I.B. Suyasaputra admitted that it is difficult to prevent but can be redirected. It is the task of the national police to keep the order in the streets. If necessary, from now on it needs to impose decisive action in order that the other students will not imitate the negative action next year. “Naturally, those who are tippling and not wearing a helmet must be disciplined because they have disturbed others,” he said. (025)

Students do graffiti, convoy and tippling action

Waste production in 2020 predicted to reach 2.2 million cubic meters

IBP/Dewa Kusuma

The Penerusan Bay is filled with rocks and sand

Investor overtly reclaims Penerusan Bay

SINGArAJA - The coast of Penerusan Bay in Banyuwedang hamlet, Pejarakan village, Gerokgak, Buleleng, is openly being reclaimed by

Page 13

Malaysia launches talks amid Asia’s growing migrant crisis

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Monday, May 18, 2015

Monday, May 18, 2015

16 Pages Number 1057th year

e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com.

Price: Rp 3.000,-

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

DPs 23 - 32WEATHER FORECAsT

Page 6

Burundi president makes first appearance since failed coup

News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http://globalfmbali.listen2my-

radio.com or live video streaming at http://radioglobalfmbali.com and http://ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.

Page 8

Anfield bids a heartfelt farewell to Steven Gerrard

Clooney, who fired up his thrusters only two years ago in Oscar-winning space drama “Gravity,” stars as a burned-out en-gineering genius in the film to be released next week, just in time for the summer blockbuster season.

The actor said the movie, which is difficult to categorize, was a courageous gamble by the studio giant, going up against sure-fire box office hits like the lat-est “Avengers” sequel, “Age of Ultron.”

“It’s a really bold thing for Disney to be willing to do a film that isn’t a sequel and isn’t a comic book and truly invest in a summer film of this sort of ilk,” he said, presenting the film ahead of its US release on May 22.

The movie’s plot has been shrouded in secrecy and, without giving away spoilers, it certainly provides a rollercoaster cin-ematic ride worthy of Disney’s Tomorrow-

land theme parks whose name it shares. It tells the story of teenage rebel Casey,

played by Britt Robertson, who finds herself sucked into a mission to unearth the secrets of “Tomorrowland,” a future realm ruled by a despot played by British “House” star Hugh Laurie.

Clooney plays inventor Frank Walker, who found his way into Tomorrowland as a young boy but became cynical and was thrown out by Laurie’s character, David Nix.

The climax comes after some spec-tacular scenes, including one featuring the Eiffel Tower, showcasing computer-generated imagery by director Brad Bird, who won an Oscar for animated film “The Incredibles” in 2005.

It is unclear what Tomorrowland rep-resents -- some kind of collective con-sciousness of the future might be a best bet

-- but the basic theme of the movie is that optimism should overcome cynicism.

“What I loved about the film was that it reminds you that young people (are) not... born and start out their lives cynical or angry or bigoted, you have to be taught all of those things,” said Clooney.

Robertson said climate change was also a key theme.

“It’s us that’s creating that issue, it’s not anything other than the people and the environment and what we’re doing to the environment,” the 25-year-old actress told AFP.

The Disney film is also a tribute to the studio giant’s founder, Walt Disney.

“Walt was a futurist. He was very inter-ested in space travel and what cities were going to look like and how transportation was going to work,” said Damon Lindelof, who co-wrote the movie with Bird. (afp)

NEW YORK - Janet Jackson on Saturday announced that she would release a new album this year in a first since the death of her brother Michael.

Jackson released a video that showed a sound system, with her voice speaking gently over background chatter and urban music.

“I promised you’d hear it from my lips, and now you will. This year -- new music, new world tour, a new movement,” she said.

She was apparently referring to her message on Twitter last year that played down specula-tion of a new album, with Jackson saying at the time that “you’ll hear it from my lips” if new music is coming.

Jackson called her latest announcement “Conversations in a Cafe,” presumably the title or at least the theme of the upcoming album.

The youngest member of the Jackson family, Janet broke through in her own right with her 1986 album “Control” which was a landmark in merging R&B and the growing genre of hip-hop.

Jackson, who has sold more than 140 million albums, last released a studio album in 2008, the electronic-driven “Discipline.”

She briefly retreated from public view to grieve after Michael Jackson died in 2009, but has since returned to acting and went on an 80-date tour in 2011 to promote a greatest hits collection.

In 2012, she quietly married Qatari tycoon Wissam Al Mana. (afp)

IBP/Net

Janet Jackson announces album after

absence

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Amal Clooney, left, and George Clooney arrive at the world premiere of “Tomorrowland” at AMC Downtown Disney on Saturday, May 9, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif.

Clooney goes back to future in ‘Tomorrowland’

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney straps on a jet pack again for Disney’s new movie “Tomorrowland,” a retro-futuristic spectacle mixing environmental themes with sci-fi wizardry -- and some good old-fashioned fun.

IBP/AP Photo

Balinese conducted Ngaben ritual at one of beaches in Bali. The Benoa Bay reclamation plan is said to be contrary to Hinduism. Palm-leaf manuscripts un-equivocally mention that Hinduism oes not allow for the reclamation of an estuary, confluence, creek nor sea.

Reclamation contradicts Hinduism

Sutedja added that this fact was also been revealed by the Hindu Dharma Council of Indonesia (PHDI) before the Bali House on April 24 and 27. There are bound to

be adverse affects if the Benoe Bay reclamation place is continued. “I see a very bad future. Indeed, the plan appears to be instantly profitable -in quotation marks. But

actually if we examine and assess things further, there are four do-mains that will be affected, namely the political, legal, economic and cultural domains,” continued the

patron of Merah Putih Bali As-sociation.

It is said that it terms the politics, the Benoa Bay reclamation plan is a neoliberal tactic designed to pit Balinese people against each other. In terms of legality, the customary laws of Bali would be trampled and manipulated under the pretext of national law.

“Our customary laws that clearly reffererence palm-leaf manuscripts

are apparently being abused,” he said.

DENPASAR - The Benoa Bay reclamation plan is said to be contrary to Hinduism. Palm-leaf manuscripts unequivocally mention that Hinduism oes not allow for the reclamation of an estu-ary, confluence, creek nor sea. A.A. Gde Agung Bagus Sutedja, a public figure from Jembrana Palace recently stated this fact. “The manuscript unequivocally mentions that reclaiming an estuary, confluence or creek, let alone reclaiming part of the sea is not permitted by our religion (as described in the palm-leaf manuscript),” he affirmed.