Aqua Marine Diving – Scuba Bali Diving

 

Scuba diving in Bali in September 2007 with AquaMarine Diving. Featuring USAT Liberty shipwreck at Tulamben, mola mola at Crystal Bay, a whitetip reef shark at Nusa Penida, and lots of macro critters such as nudibranchs and shrimps from Coral Garden, Seraya Secrets and Puri Jati. 720p HD version shot and produced by Nick Hope.

watch the video here

Election In Bali – Not Just an Elite Game

In Bali, it’s neither policy, parties nor entrenched elites, but image-savvy politicians and an all-powerful media that are dominating the new electoral landscape

Graeme MacRae and I Nyoman Darma Putra

In Bali, most people have taken this year’s elections in their stride. Balinese are getting used to elections and are beginning to develop their own distinctive electoral culture.

And little wonder. In Bali, as in other parts of Indonesia, there have been many elections since the last national legislative and presidential elections in 2004. These have included several rounds of pilkada (direct elections of regional heads) at the district and city level, the election of a new governor of the province, as well as this year’s (national) general election of members of district, provincial and national parliaments.

Opinions vary on the extent to which truly democratic representation is being achieved in Indonesia. Research in many parts of the country suggests that political elites of the New Order period have found new ways of reconfiguring and consolidating their power through collusion, alliances and cartels that cross the lines of political parties. We have been following elections in Bali for several years, focusing on the cultural dimensions as well as the purely ‘political’ ones. What we have seen leads us toward somewhat different conclusions.

In Bali, old elites haven’t had it all their own way

In Bali, old elites, especially those from the royal houses, have been emerging as political contenders, but they haven’t had it all their own way. Not surprisingly, the powerful local media is also emerging as a dominant force in electoral politics, albeit a not entirely predictable one. Contrary to some of the more gloomy assessments of the growth of democracy, voters in Bali are becoming more interested in the policies and platforms of the candidates. But it’s a constantly shifting picture. Here is a brief summary of what we have learnt.
Electing district heads in 2005

In 2005, there were, for the first time, direct elections – pilkada – in four of the eight districts of Bali as well as in the capital city, Denpasar. In these elections, two new trends emerged.

One trend was the re-emergence of the traditional aristocracies. Since the colonial era, and especially since independence, they had been progressively disempowered. Now, they are returning to the formal political arena, both directly as sources of candidates and indirectly as sources of legitimation and support for candidates. Candidates also drew upon a political language and style derived from traditional forms of display and relationships of patronage between aristocracies and their subjects.

The second trend was the role of the mass media, particularly the dominant Bali Post Media Group (BPMG) in mediating and managing information about the candidates and their campaigns. Most media in Bali, but especially the Bali Post group, charge candidates fees for all but the most newsworthy of coverage of their campaigns, a practice which somewhat blurs the line between advertising and editorial content as well as constituting a significant source of income. As a result, candidates with fewer resources to ensure sympathetic coverage in the BPMG’s many outlets, faced an uphill battle getting elected.

Despite this essentially commercial policy, the Bali Post Media Group was very careful to give exactly equal coverage to candidates (provided they paid) and also to avoid showing partiality toward any particular candidate. In this way, and by using some of the visual language of traditional politics, the BPMG managed to present itself to the public as a neutral party concerned with the well-being of the whole island rather than any particular candidate or party. In this way they implied for themselves a role analogous to the traditional rulers of Bali.

Aristocratic status is a valuable resource that candidates can draw upon, but is not in itself decisive

The results in this cycle of elections were mixed. Some aristocratic candidates succeeded while others failed. The present distribution, after this and the subsequent elections in 2008 is three bupati of high (ie priestly or aristocratic) status and five of ordinary rank. So, while aristocratic status was a valuable resource that candidates could draw upon it was not in itself a decisive one. Two factors that were, on the other hand, strikingly unimportant were the role of political parties and of policy in the electoral campaigns.

Italy G8 summit key to global efforts on climate change

chinaview – ROME, July 5 (Xinhua) — With climate change high on the agenda, the Group of Eight (G8) leaders are set to meet in the quake-stricken Italian town of L’Aquila from Wednesday to Friday.

The G8 meeting comes as a deadline draws nearer for world leaders to endorse a new global warming pact at a UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.

DECISIVE MOMENT

The “Bali Roadmap,” unveiled in December 2007, set a two-year deadline for a global agreement and pledged to complete a new UN climate treaty at the Copenhagen meeting to follow up on the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

However, the journey from Bali to Copenhagen has been dogged by squabbles between developed and developing nations and among developed nations themselves.

At the latest UN climate change talks held in Bonn in early June, the 50-page draft for a new global warming treaty grew to more than 200 pages stuffed with rival proposals after its maiden hearing.

Meanwhile, on June 27, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the “American Clean Energy and Security Act,” a legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill came as a hard-won victory for President Barack Obama, who is keen on a leading U.S. role in tackling global warming.

The L’Aquila summit is the last G8 summit before the December Copenhagen meeting. Under Obama’s initiative, a major economies forum for 17 countries, which account for some 80 percent of the global emissions, is scheduled for Thursday on the sidelines of the summit. If the leading powers could sew up differences on global warming at the summit, L’Aquila will be a landmark on the road to tackle climate change.

THORNY ISSUES

Italy, which holds the current G8 presidency, wants the summit to agree that global greenhouse gas emissions should peak by 2020 and world temperature change should be limited to 2 Celsius degrees above pre-industrial levels.

According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a rise in temperatures of more than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels would be dangerous for the delicate balance of Earth’s climatic system.

The two targets have been accepted by the European Union, but not by G8’s non-EU members — the United States, Russia, Canada and Japan.

Meanwhile, the leading economies are using different time frames when setting cap goals: some looking to 2012, 2020 or 2050. They are also basing emissions cuts on different baselines: some comparing to 1990 levels, others to 1997 levels or 2005 levels.

In the first round of the Bonn talks in early April, the United States said it was considering cutting its emissions by 14-17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, which means the U.S. 2020 goal amounts to a merely 4 percent cut compared to 1990 levels.

On June 10, the Japanese government announced a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, which translates into an 8 percent cut from 1990 levels.

Australia set its emission target on 5-15 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels, while Canada plans to cut by 20 percent by 2020 on 2006 levels.

The European Union (EU) has promised to cut emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and by 30 percent if other rich nations follow suit.

U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern said in late May that rich nations as a group are unlikely to reach the deep 2020 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new UN climate treaty.

According to the IPCC, all developed countries should cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels to tackle climate change.

Another thorny issue for developed countries is how to channel money and technology to the poor to help deal with climate change, as an estimated 100 billion to 200 billion U.S. dollars will be needed to support developing countries to tackle climate change.

The EU has urged the leading economies to split the bill based on their historical emissions and current wealth, but the bloc members have so far failed to agree on how to split the bill among themselves.

Meanwhile, some developed countries want a new sliding scale to redefine developing nations and demand more actions by the wealthier developing countries in slowing global warming.

In April, Japan submitted a draft text of the new climate pact to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), bringing up the concept of “wealthier developing countries.”

In the draft document released on May 20, the UNFCCC also passed the buck to poor nations, setting emission reduction goals for developing countries by 2050.

This has drawn fierce criticism from developing nations, presenting another obstacle on the way to a successful Copenhagen meeting.

“The countries gathering in L’Aquila have the biggest responsibility to show leadership on climate. Without their action we cannot expect the rest of the world to move,” environmental group World Wildlife Fund said Friday.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

Neal Kearney, The Froth Pit: Surf travel is worth the risk

mercurynews – Surfing has grown into an international sport practiced just about anywhere waves break. From the Amazon River to the Gaza Strip, people are going to the ends of the earth to find uncrowded surf. Local economies reliant on surf tourism are growing rapidly, bringing much needed economic stimulation to regions that need it badly.

Sometimes, however, events unfold that can convince these surfers to stay at home instead.

In October 2002, the surf-rich island of Bali was the victim of gruesome terrorist attacks on two of its most popular nightclubs. The bombs,which ripped through downtown Kuta Beach, killed 182 and injured hundreds more. In addition to the deaths of local Indonesian, scores of Australian surfers on holiday were killed.

This unthinkable tragedy nearly crippled the island’s economy. From taxi drivers to hotel owners, everyone felt the sting, and it took a couple years for surfers to come back in significant numbers and the local economy to recovery.

Recently, a different kind of deterrent has invaded the shores of South and Central America.

Before I left on my month-long excursion to Puerto Escondido, in Oaxaca, Mexico, I was warned repeatedly not to go. Fox News, Hilary Clinton, even the pharmacist at Costco, who wished me luck with the “drug cartels and murderers,” advised against my trip.

Despite heartfelt advice from the media, the government and a complete stranger, I decided to go ahead with my trip. In reality, the
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odds of being affected by any of the multitude of travel dangers out there are pretty slim.

Savannah Shaughnessy is a 20-year-old surfer from Scotts Valley who’s been coming down to Puerto for months at a time over the last four years. She is a skilled big wave surfer who is lured by the juicy, top-to-bottom waves that explode over Puerto’s shallow sandbars like clockwork.

I asked Shaughnessy if the threat of swine flu or drug cartels influenced her choice to make the trek south this year

“It didn’t affect my decision too much, because I love coming here and I knew that it would be pretty safe once I got here,” she sid. “But it made my parents really worried. They almost didn’t let me come!”

Like Shaughnessy, there are many among the surf community who will travel just about anywhere, no matter what the dangers are, just to get that opportunity to score some epic surf. While the local business owners may have lost some profits throughout the past few months, the loyal will always return. And fewer people means smaller crowds, something any surfer knows is worth a little risk.