The Indonesian government said last week the trafficker, Andrew Chan, would be put to death with another Australian drug smuggler, Myuran Sukumaran, as they had committed their crime together.

Sukumaran’s clemency appeal was rejected last month, and the attorney general had said authori-ties were waiting for the outcome of Chan’s appeal.

There was no immediate response from the Indonesian authorities as

to when the pair might be executed. New President Joko Widodo has taken a tough line on capital punish-ment, vowing no clemency for death row drug convicts.

The men were among a group of Australians, dubbed the “Bali Nine”, arrested in 2005 for attempt-ing to smuggle eight kilogrammes (18 pounds) of heroin out of the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Both men were sentenced to death in 2006, and sought presiden-

tial clemency after losing appeals to Indonesia’s Supreme Court in 2011. They are jailed in Bali’s Kerobokan prison.

A spokesman for the district court in the Balinese capital Den-pasar said he had received a “presi-dential decree on the rejection of clemency for Andrew Chan”.

“The court chief then instruct-ed... that the convict be informed,” he said.

The letter, which was signed on

January 17 and seen by AFP, said: “After careful consideration of the clemency appeal of the convict as listed in the presidential decree, it is assessed that there is not enough reason to grant clemency to the convict.”

Fears are growing Chan and Sukumaran could face the firing squad soon, after Indonesia defied international appeals and went ahead with the execution of six drugs offenders, including five foreigners, at the weekend.

The move sparked a diplomatic storm, with Brazil and the Nether-lands -- a Brazilian and a Dutchman

were among those put to death -- recalling their ambassadors.

Following the executions, Australian Foreign Minister Julia Bishop said that Canberra would “continue to make representations at the highest level” to save the two Australian drug smugglers. (afp)

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 13

Strikes, attacks bring turbulent politics back to Bangladesh

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

Friday, January 23, 2015

Friday, January 23, 2015

16 Pages Number 267th 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

US, Cuba address obstacles to resuming diplomatic ties

Page 6 Page 8

Messi scores late as Barcelona beats Atletico 1-0 in Copa

Australian on Indonesian death row loses clemency bid

IBP/File Photo

On this file photo, police guard Kerobokan Prison, place where Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are jailed. A spokesman for the district court in the Balinese capital Denpasar said he had received a “presidential decree on the rejection of clemency for Andrew Chan”.

DENPASAR - An Australian drug smuggler on death row in Indonesia has lost his appeal for presidential clemency, his final chance to avoid the firing squad, an official said Thursday, days after Jakarta executed five foreign drug offenders.

NEW YORK — Anne Hatha-way will be playing something a little different this spring — an Air Force fighter pilot in a one-woman stage show.

The Public Theater said Wednes-day that the Academy Award-winner will star in George Brant’s play “Grounded” starting April 7. It’s about a pilot who is reassigned

to operate a military drone.Visionary director Julie Taymor,

behind the beauty of “The Lion King,” will direct.

Hathaway, who won an Oscar in Tom Hooper’s “Les Miserables,” returns to the Public for the first time since she played Viola in a 2009 Shakespeare in the Park pro-duction. (ap)

“As far as boy bands, you know, we dance, we perform. I mean, I hate to sound like an old fogey, but these kids don’t know what they’re missing nowadays because we got to sing and dance for our supper, you know what I mean, and we love to do that,” Joey McIntyre, 42, said in an interview Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“So maybe a few kids could come to the show and see how it’s done.”

The Main Event tour kicks off May 1 in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale Jan. 31.

In the last few years, boy bands

have resurged, with One Direction leading the pack, followed by 5 Seconds of Summer. Others, from The Wanted to Mindless Behavior, have had some success.

Donnie Wahlberg, 45, said the decades-long bond between New Kids on the Block and their fans makes it worthwhile.

“I would rather have the cred-ibility of thousands of fans and have them be happy. That’s what we’ve learned and that’s why we’re still here,” Wahlberg said. “We keep it alive because it stays alive between us and our fans. It’s a real relation-ship now.”

Wahlberg and McIntyre, along

with bandmates Danny Wood and brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, began playing together more than 30 years ago. They said they’re excited to share a stage with one of the top-selling female groups of all-time and the multiplatinum Nelly.

“It’s always nice to go out on-stage and know there might be some people out there that haven’t seen what you do, so you’re engaging with them. It keeps it fresh for you,” McIntyre said. “It just adds to the juice of the night, and we’re ready to do that.”

The 42-date tour wraps July 2 in Buffalo, New York. (ap)

LOS ANGELES — “The Imi-tation Game” and “Transparent” are among this year’s GLAAD Media Awards nominees. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group announced the 144 nominees for its 26th annual honors Wednesday.

“Imitation Game” is up for outstanding wide release film, along with “Love is Strange,” ‘’Pride,” ‘’The Skeleton Twins” and “Tammy.”

Amazon earned its first nod for “Transparent,” which is nominated for outstanding comedy series with “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” ‘’Faking It,” ‘’Glee,” ‘’Looking,” ‘’Mod-ern Family,” ‘’Orange Is the New

Black,” ‘’Please Like Me,” ‘’Si-rens” and “Vicious.”

The GLAAD Media Awards honor outstanding images of the LGBT community in areas in-cluding music, movies, TV and journalism.

The role-playing video game “Dragon Age: Inquisition” received a special recognition award for the complex and unique LGBT charac-ters prominently integrated through-out the game. GLAAD’s special rec-ognition awards are typically given to media projects that don’t qualify in a competitive category.

The awards will be presented this spring in Los Angeles and New York. (ap)

‘Transparent,’ ‘Imitation Game’ up for GLAAD

Media Awards

Anne Hathaway heading to the stage

this spring

REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian

New Kids on the Block

New boy bands can learn from us

NEW YORK — New Kids on the Block are ready to take new boy bands on the block to school. The Boston-based veteran group, which announced a summer tour with TLC and Nelly this week, said contemporary boy bands should check out their live concerts to learn from the experts.

Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

New Kids Kids On The Block members, from left, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood, Donnie Wahl-berg, Jonathan Knight and Jordan Knight announce their “The Main Event” tour at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, in New York.

International2 Friday, January 23, 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

Friday, January 23, 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

The beachfront resort welcomes fami-lies with open arms with its extensive landscaped gardens offering a vast choice of leisure and recreational facilities, includ-ing six pools, tennis courts, a spa, and a 24-hour fitness centre. Additionally, the beautiful beach environment is a natural playground for adults and children alike, lending itself to numerous recreational pursuits from beach volley ball to a diverse array of water sports.

The 35-metre Main Pool is especially family-orientated with a shallow water area for children; it is conveniently flanked by Jimbaran Gardens restaurant and Pool Bar, which makes for casual family-style poolside drinks and dining. Additionally the two Fun Pools are ideal for children with two water fountains providing – as the name suggests – lots of fun, while the Fountain Pool is especially suitable for adults and teenagers, and quality family time.

Planet Trekkers kids’ clubis structured as a mini-resort for kids aged from four to twelve years and designed to ensure that youngsters have as much fun when they are on holiday as their parents do. The club facilitates a dedicated, fully super-vised and secure child-care centre within a dynamic, fun and nurturing environment. Here, children can interact with other like-minded junior travellers and participate in

a programme of child-orientated activities, with cultural and eco-leanings to keep them entertained for hours on end.

Along with a highly-trained team of recreation attendants, the Resort presents a daily schedule of leisure pursuits that all members of the family can enjoy. From village cycling tours to interactive Balinese cooking classes, sunrise yoga, or a chance to master the art of traditional Balinese dance, music or wood carving, these activi-ties incorporate all ages and preferences, promising an interesting and pleasing mix of art, culture and sports, maximizing all aspects of the resort, the local fishing com-munity and the island.

Guests can also help Bali’s on-going en-vironmental conservation by participating in the Resort’s year-round Turtle Release Programme. This heart-warming experi-ence of releasing baby turtles back into Jimbaran Bay is especially popular with children, teaching them good conservation habits and environmental awareness from an early age.

Intercontinental Bali Resort offers three exclusive tiers of accommodation: Resort Classic, Singaraja, and Club InterConti-nental, incorporating adjoining rooms and suites suitable for families, as well as the palatial 2-bedroom Imperial Villa and the elite 2-bedroom Jivana Villa.

Children and infant menus, as well

Fun, friendly and energetic, those words are suitable for General Manager Harris Seminyak Hotel, Sebastien. Since the pre-opening of the hotel on December 2013, Sebastien is very optimist to improve the company including the human re-sources. Sebastien manages the hotel with facilities consist of three swimming fool, 5 meeting rooms, spa, gym, juice bar, Har-ris boutique, kids club, 231 rooms and DJ lounge. Even, it has private beach in which the guest will pick up buggy to the beach, there are umbrellas and long chairs.

Harris Seminyak is located in a perfect spot, close to Legian and Kuta area, night club, affordable price and staffs do good job. The concept, culture and brand of Harris Seminyak are totally different from others Tauzia Hotel Management. Yet, the vision and the spirit is globally the same.

“Wherever I am placed by Tauzia, it is easy for myself to have a good spirit,” said the man who was the GM at Eden Hotel.

In Harris Seminyak, he always mo-tivates his team to be close with people. Starting from check in until check out, the team must make the guest happy. “I like to be close with the people and also the staff. How I could make the guest to be happy but the staff is not. So, human touch is important and I did not want begin with a lot of stress,” he said friendly.

There are two different things in work-ing, he said. Working because of money that will make the people working to get salary or working because of loving the job. The result, when people like doing the job, they will do the best. “We have one life. So let us have a fun always!” he closed. (ocha)

IBP/Courtesy of Intercontinental Bali

Top class family facilities at Intercontinental Bali

JIMBArAN - As the recent recipient of The Indonesia Travel and Tourism Award in the category of ‘Indonesia’s Leading Family resort,’ InterContinental Bali Resort is pleased to confirm its ongoing commit-ment to the provision of top class family facilities as well as a wide and exciting range of activities aimed at parents, teens and children.

as half portions, are available at all the Resort’s restaurants, where the chefs will also endeavor to create special dishes to suit any family’s dietary needs. For those with no restrictions the vast array of treats and ice-creams are especially rewarding after a full day of fun. Endless meal options start at breakfast and continue through to wood oven pizzas for lunch, beach side barbeques at sunset,or family dinners in the evenings.

InterContinental Bali Resort offers all of the ingredients for a family-friendly holiday; this is where lifelong family memories are made. (r)

Profile

Sebastien Motivation is the key

IBP/kmb

SEMARAPURA - The existence of Gafatar community group in Bali increasingly reaps controversy. It is often associated with ISIS or terror-ism. As rejecting to be accused of being a heresy associated with radical group, the Gafatar community group protested. Even, the group came to the Klungkung Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday (Jan 21) following the dis-cussion recently held was not attended by any officials even though relevant agencies had been invited.

Gafatar community group came to the Klungkung Prosecutor’s Of-fice with four representatives. They included the Chief of Gafatar Klung-kung, Hengky Mustofa, Chief of Bali

Gafatar Zainul, Secretary Ari Jamiin and Sasmita Ari Wibawa in charge of economic and welfare division. They were first received by the Section Head of Intelligence Suhadi. In the meeting, Hengky Mustofa said that Gafatar community group established in Bali did not have anything to do with terrorism or ISIS movement and other radical groups. They also conveyed the spirit of the Gafatar establishment. Actually they wanted to establish an NGO, but its legality still found difficulty related to registration certificate which had not been willing to be issued by the National Unity, Politics and Public Protection Agency (Kesbangpolinmas).

“We do not want to be constantly called illegal and associated with ter-rorism. We’ve tried to be legal. But the agency seems to inhibit the application of our registration certificate,” said Hengky Mustofa. Gafatar community group also openly called itself to fol-low the philosophy of Milla Abraham, where in the other region was known to go up against the Islamic Shari’a or heresy. However, this group denied if their ideology was claimed to be heresy. “Even, we’d like to intro-duce this ideology (Milla Abraham’s school) to the public,” said Hengky Mustofa. Chief of Intelligence Section Suhadi when receiving them said that he received the visit of the community

group on behalf of ordinary residents not on behalf of the Gafatar NGO.

It was based on consideration that Gafatar had not owned a registration certificate. He explained that before registered and getting approval an organization they were not allowed to any activities first. Suhadi also warned the group to carefully speak about an ideology. According to him, the current prevalent ideology was Pancasila. Even, he asserted that any community group daring to replace the ideology of Pancasila could be arrested. He also asked the group of people to really understand about the ideology so that no one put it into practice wrongly. Meanwhile, the

Gafatar community group reaffirmed that their group was in compliance with the law and rules.

Representatives of the community group were eventually received by the Head of Klungkung Prosecutor’s Office, Totok Bambang Sapto Dwijo. He affirmed that his party allowed the Gafatar to do any activities provided that they did not violate the law, in accordance with the norms and did not disturb the public. When having no registration certificate, the Head of Prosecutor’s Office suggested the group to submit the registration certificate first, either at the central, provincial or county level so that their legality would be clear. (kmb31)

Chairman of the expert team of the Hindu Dharma Council of Indonesia (PHDI) of Karangasem and Chairman of the Indone-sian Hindu Youth Association of Karangasem, I Putu Arnawa, said that not everyone could serve as coordinator in the megibung event. Only people who better un-derstood about the order of megi-bung could organize the meal.

Putu Arnawa revealed the mounds of rice to be distributed should be made a hollow in the middle. For the first meal, the vegetable delicacy made from starfruit leaf should be eaten up first. This bitter starfruit leaf having the efficacy for reducing cholesterol as well as neutralizing fat became the next dish.

Bitter flavor also symbolized the bitterness of life. Neverthe-less, the starfruit vegetable was very much liked by community

because it offered unique taste in the tongue. “This typical way of eating contains a philosophy of life. The first menu presented is the starfruit vegetable because it tastes bitter just like the bitterness of life. After that, it is resumed with grated coconut dish and the others. Meanwhile, the last deli-cacy taken out is lawar or chopped meat with particular vegetable,” he explained.

When the lawar had run out, the other dishes such as pepes, lampion and satay followed. The megibung tradition reflected the way of eating made by ancient Balinese started with poor food before eating the delicious ones. This method made people accus-tomed to eating without leaving bad meals so that the whole dish could be ate up without wast-ing it.

However, there was a mistaken

Megibung, eating communally

Start from bitter to delicious dish gradually

AMLAPUrA - Megibung or eating communally tradition teaches people to get used to suffer first before enjoying the results. Along the lifetime, there are certainly ups and downs to be passed through. Similar condition is applied in the megibung tradition, where people must start to enjoy the bitter dish first before getting delicious ones.

Being accused of a heresy, Gafatar Klungkung protests

tradition that should be changed today. Typically, for an authority, the food should be left and the rice base used in the megibung was covered. Each cavity should be covered up by leftovers so

that the base was invisible. “This must be changed and leaving food to cover up rice container may no longer be done because it is the same as wasting a lot of food. This mindset must be

revolutionized. Currently, eating up food when holding megibung has become a commonplace and should be done,” said Secretary of the Environment Agency. (dwa)

IBP/Mudiarta

The megibung tradition

3Friday, January 23, 201514 InternationalInternational Bali NewsFashion Friday, January 23, 2015

The slogan, worn on the torso of a male model, opened a show by Walter Van Beirendonck. The Belgian de-signer told reporters he had “to react” to the January 7-9 bloodshed by three jihadist gunmen who slaughtered staff at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and killed four Jews in a supermarket hostage drama.

Increased security in Paris, with thousands of armed police and soldiers posted across the city and bag checks at the entry to fashion shows, were other signs of the impact the attacks have had.

But fears that some VIPs and buy-ers might be too jittery to turn up for

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon

‘Stop Terrorising Our World’ is message on Paris catwalkPARIS - “Stop Terrorising Our World”: the message sent down the catwalk on the first day

of the Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday highlighted the lingering trauma in the French capital two weeks on from the Islamist attacks it suffered.

the Paris Fashion Week have proven unfounded, according to the Federa-tion Francaise de la Couture organis-ing the event.

Stephane Wargnier, head of the fed-eration, told AFP: “For the moment, everything is going well. Everybody is here and we’re happy that the shows are going on normally. Because life goes on.”

The first few days of the Paris Fash-ion Week roll out around 50 menswear Autumn-Winter collections for some 4,000 people -- designers, buyers, ce-lebrities, journalists, bloggers, mavens and well-connected fashion fans.

From Sunday, an elite core will

stay on when proceedings get more exclusive, with five days of women’s Haute Couture for Spring-Summer by the likes of Versace, Chanel and Christian Dior.

So far, most of the other designers have steered clear of making refer-ences to the Paris attacks.

That was the case for Lucien Pellat-Finet, a French designer who exports most of his high-end cashmere streetwear imprinted with images of skulls and cannabis leaves.

“You can’t let yourself be swept away by any sort of depression,” he said.

“Where there is life there is hope,”

he added. “The message of French fashion is that it’s an idea of liberty.”

22/4 Hommes and Y/Project, two other labels presenting their collec-tions, concentrated more on bending the gender barriers in ‘menswear’, sending out a couple of female models down the catwalk among androgynous male counterparts.

Valentino brought out a classic, sober collection with black, greys and natural browns to the fore.

For Van Beirendonck, though, put-ting messages into the mix was what he felt to be his artistic duty.

“Initially I didn’t want to make statements. But when you see what is happening in the world you have to react.”

After his “Stop Terrorising Our World” model, he sent others down the catwalk in an eclectically styled

range that used animal sketches, Picasso-style abstracts and 3D-printed jewellery.

Almost all the clothes incorporated “butt plug” symbols -- a nod to a giant inflatable sculpture in the same form done by an American artist, Paul Mc-Carthy, that was vandalised soon after being set up in Paris last October on the same chic Place Vendome where the fashion show took place.

“It’s almost a homage to him (Mc-Carthy). Because I know him, not very well, but I know him... And so the butt plug is pretty much everywhere” in the collection, Van Beirendonck said.

The succession of messages were exhortations for freedom of expres-sion, he said.

“I believe no-one has the right to tell anyone else that he can’t show what he wants to.” (afp)

Models show men’s fall-winter 2015/2016 fashion collection presented in Paris, France during Paris Fashion Week.

AP Photo/Francois Mori AP Photo/Jacques Brinon AP Photo/Jacques Brinon AP Photo/Jacques Brinon

“Some prices increase, while some others go down. But most prices of commodities indeed have increased,” said the Head of the Badung Cooperative Agency, Ketut Karpiana. He said the market operation was regularly held every week. But lately, a special monitoring was made related to the fuel price policy. Fluctuating fuel prices also caused the prices of commodities to be gen-erally unstable. He claimed to be unable to do much because the price of commodities depended on market mechanism.

To that end, Karpiana appealed to distributors and traders in order not to ridicule prices. His party also threatened to crack down on anyone who dared to hoard commodities. The law on trade mentioned that the per-petrator of commodity hoarding could be prosecuted with criminal sanction for 5-year imprisonment and a fine of IDR 20 billion.

Meanwhile, from the observation made last Wednes-day, the price of commodities had increased compared to last week. The price of local rice was ranging from IDR 10,000 up to IDR 11,000. Chicken meat rose to IDR 32,500 from IDR 28 125. In the meantime, the decline in prices occurred in some types of commodities such as sugar from IDR 10,750 to IDR 9,750. (kmb25)

DENPASAR - Evidently fraud under the guise of investment remains rife in Bali. At least, there were 80 cases of investment fraud that had been reported to the Consumer Protection Foundation (YLPK) of Bali.

“There is a pretty significant in-crease. Besides, consumers in Bali start to have courage to complain or sue the issue of consumer protec-tion,” said Director of the Consumer Protection Foundation of Bali, I Putu Armaya, when contacted.

According to him, the consumer complaint in 2014 showed an increase compared to that of 2013. From the data gathered in 2014, the complaints throughout the year 2014 amounted to 476 cases, while in 2013 reached 338 cases. Of the complaints received, 80 cases were related to investment fraud.

“We will send a formal letter to the businessmen who complained by consumers, so that there are efforts to improve their services in the future,” he said.

He said, from the existing cases, there was possibility for making medi-ation between the businesses and con-sumers. His party would take decisive

IBP/Wawan

Though the prices of fuel were already decreased, most prices of commodities in the market, especially in Badung, even kept rising.

Fuel prices down, but price of most commodities even rises

MANGUPURA - Though the prices of fuel were already decreased, most prices of commodi-ties in the market, especially in Badung, even kept rising. It was revealed when the Badung Cooperatives, Industry and Trade Agency held a market operation, Wednesday (Jan 20).

YLPK Bali receives tens of complaints about investment fraud case

IBP/File Photo

Motorists pass office of Koperasi Karangasem Membangun (KKM), one fraud investment causing harm society. Evi-dently fraud under the guise of investment remains rife in Bali. At least, there were 80 cases of investment fraud that had been reported to the Consumer Protection Foundation (YLPK) of Bali.

action through a legal action. Even, it could be sued in a class action.

“In accordance with the Law No. 8/1999 on the Protection of Consum-ers, any violating business perpetrator can be cracked down on or imposed with consumer criminal act of 5-year imprisonment or a fine worth IDR 2 billion,” he said.

He invited all people in order not to be easily lured with high investment returns. Any investment like multi level marketing (MLM), insurance and the like were prevalent today and many of them framed up the community.

“Currently many consumers are complaining as becoming the victim of investment fraud. Government in-tervention in this case is surely needed by consumers, especially the lower middle class consumers. However, in principle the community should not be lured with high investment returns. Firstly check whether the investment has owned a permit,” he explained.

Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Bali also asked the public to be alert and not easily tempted by the offer with high or double gains in short term. The Head of FSA Bali, Zulmi, gave three tips in making investment,

namely by identifying the needs and product, identifying the benefits and risks that might incur in transaction and identifying the rights and obliga-tions related to the transaction. “People must always be careful and never be tempted by high rewards. If finding any doubt, simply contact the FSA,” he said.

He added that various types of

investment offered by companies in the field appeared in numbers. Thus, people had to be increasingly cautious in making investment or managing their money. All this time, what ap-pearing to the surface was problem-atic investment company (financial services company) because they were suspected of having no license or il-legal. (kmb27)

International4 Friday, January 23, 2015 Friday, January 23, 2015 13InternationalBali News

In the implementation in the field, a number of health officers of Buleleng Hospital were deployed immediately to help the prime urine test to hundreds of employees. The employees flocked to toilet. After that, they submitted their urine sample put in plastic pot accom-panied with complete identity to health officers.

The first target in this agenda included the Municipal Police of Buleleng, Buleleng Develop-ment Planning Board (Bappeda), Financial and Asset Management Agency as well as the employees in the Buleleng House. Regent Surad-nyana assessed the inspection and urine test would indicate whether the employees consumed drugs or not. If they indeed used drugs, a decisive action and severe sanctions would be imposed to them.

“This drug inspection is not

made because there was a case of employee being caught recently. We had long planned and it is the right time and coincidently after holiday. In this drug inspection with urine test, if any civil servants are identified to consume drugs, they will be cracked dawn on pursuant to applicable rules. Meanwhile, if they are contracted employees, we’ll immediately terminate their contract,” he said.

Director of Buleleng Hospital, Gede Wiartana, added that the implementation urine test was an instruction of Regent Suradnyana where the hospital officers had pre-pared 500 urine pots. The test aimed to check the ranks of employees in the Buleleng government whether they used drugs or not. “We from the Buleleng Hospital have pre-pared 500 urine pots. Our prime target today (Wednesday—Ed) is

the employees of Municipal Police of Buleleng, Bappeda Buleleng and Financial Agency, while the other agencies will soon follow. Drug users will be detected immediately if they actually consume drugs,” he added.

The Head of Buleleng Develop-ment Planning Board (Bappeda), Gde Darmaja, revealed the imple-mentation of urine test was one of the evaluations against the condi-tion as well as the staff and civil servants in Buleleng government. When there were indications on drugs in the body of the employ-ees, they would be provided with further coaching. “In the Bappeda agency, the participants of urine test were 120 people, consisting of the officials, civil servants and staff. Hopefully, all our employees are free from the use of drugs,” he said. (kmb34)

GIANYAR - Hundreds of chil-dren in colorful ornaments from seven hamlets at Tegallalang vil-lage participated in the ngerebeg tradition, Wednesday (Jan 20). This tradition was held in series of piodalan or anniversary of the Duur Bingin Temple, Tengah hamlet, Tegallalang village.

Based on observat ion on Wednesday, from 10:00 a.m. one by one of the boys in a variety of ornaments already thronged the Duur Bingin Temple. It was carried out as preparation for the implementation of ngerebeg ritual. Up to 12:00 a.m. shortly after the children gathered in the innermost courtyard of the temple, proces-sion of the ngerebeg was com-menced. It included the worship and invoked rice and lawar through megibung. “This event is reserved for children devotional workers,” said Pande Wayan Karsa, Chief of Tegallalang customary village when met amidst the ritual last Wednesday.

He added the special event was followed by children from seven hamlets at Tegallalang such as the Penusuan, Tengah, Tegal, Triwan-gsa, Tegallalang, Gagah and Pejeng Aji. “Actually the supporting devo-tees (penyungsung) of this Duur

Bingin Temple only amount to five hamlets. However, especially for children of Gagah and Pejeng Aji hamlet also participate in this ritual,” he said.

Furthermore, he added the nger-ebeg ritual was started in front of the Duur Bingin Temple, then the children brought along a miniature of penjor from the stem of snake-fruit trees and walked along some 10 km to surround the village of Tegallalang.

Wayan Karsa explained the ritual was also associated with the pres-ence of Duur Bingin Temple being different from the others because the deity venerated at the temple was the Ratu Gede in the form of a pair of Barong Landung Istri and Lanang (male and female). “So this ritual has the meaning as thanksgiv-ing. In the morning children put the offerings of fruit, flowers and others, while in the afternoon they perform this ritual,” he said.

This ritual could draw the at-tention of dozens of travelers that happened to or deliberately wanted to watch the ritual. Even, many members of the community were seen sitting in front of their home and art shops to witness the imple-mentation of ritual held every six months. (nik)

KABUL, Afghanistan — Around 100 people have demonstrated in the Afghan capital against the publishers of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, accusing them of blasphemy.

Many of the protesters carried banners emblazoned with a red heart and the name of the Prophet Muhammad as they marched near the French Embassy in Kabul on Thursday. Some in the crowd chanted “We love Muhammad.”

Protest organizer Abdul Saboor Fakheri says the demonstrators want the Afghan government to close the French Embassy and expel the ambassador to ease the anger that he says Afghans feel toward the magazine.

There have been small, sporadic protests in Afghanistan since two gunmen attacked Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office on Jan. 7 for ridicul-ing the Prophet Muhammad in the magazine’s cartoons. (ap)

IBP/Manik

The children in Tegallalang Village, Gianyar participate in Ngerebeg Tradition

Seven hamlets join “Ngerebeg” Tradition

IBP/Dewa Kusuma

Hundreds of civil cervants in Buleleng take part in the urine test

Hundreds of staff and civil servants in

Buleleng take urine testSINGARAJA - Buleleng government organized urine test for all staff and civil servants in an-

ticipating the widespread use of drugs in the area of government milieu. The Regent of Buleleng, Putu Agus Suradnyana, accompanied by Deputy Regent, Nyoman Sutjidra, Chairman of the Buleleng House, Gede Supriatna, along with the heads of the agencies made a raid to monitor the implementation of urine test at each agency, Wednesday morning (Jan 21).

Afghans protest against French

magazine in Kabul

AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

Afghans hold posters that read, “I love Muhammad,” during a protest against caricatures pub-lished in French magazine Charlie Hebdo outside the French embassy, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.

That is just part of the toll from more than two weeks of attacks sparked by the latest clash between Bangladesh’s two main, long-feuding political factions. Since Jan. 5 — the one-year anniversary of the last election — at least 28 people have been killed, nearly 700 vehicles have been smashed or torched and much of the country’s transportation system has been at a standstill.

Supporters of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who boycot-ted the last vote, demand that the government resign and hold new

elections immediately, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says her government will remain in office until her term ends in 2019. The violence ended a year of relative calm and has raised fears it may escalate as it did in 2013, when political violence left nearly 300 people dead.

“It’s a terrible situation we are in. We are terrified,” said Abu Bakar Siddique, a businessman. “My kids’ schools are closed, I am afraid of going outside ... pictures of burned bodies in newspapers. All very disturbing.” Both sides

had planned rallies on the Jan. 5 election anniversary; police ended up banning all rallies but Zia vowed to protest, anyway.

The opposition said authori-ties have locked Zia in her office since Jan. 5, when she attempted to visit her party headquarters, where her alliance’s rally was to be held. Zia then announced a nonstop transportation blockade across the country until the govern-ment steps down. There have also been general strikes and violence including arson against buildings and vehicles and drive-by attacks

by unidentified assailants.Authorities say Zia can go

home anytime, but cannot move anywhere else unless she asks her supporters to shun violence. The opposition blames the government for some of the violence, includ-ing the shooting of an adviser to Zia last week. The government denies involvement but says it will investigate.

On Tuesday, Hasina reiterated, in a speech in Parliament, that she will not step down. She asked security officials to take a tougher stand against the violence and said Zia would be tried if it continued. A Cabinet member said the gov-ernment is thinking about issuing “shoot-at-sight” orders against arsonists.

On Wednesday, the Zia-led al-liance enforced a general strike in central Bangladesh and a south-western region to protest, and it vowed to continue the transporta-tion blockade nonstop across the country.

About 7,000 opposition leaders and activists have been arrested over last 16 days across the coun-try, according to a figure provided by the Police Headquarters in Dhaka. Zia’s alliance says that is an attempt to silence them, but authorities allege those detained are responsible for violence and sabotage. Western diplomats, the United States and the United Na-tions have urged all sides to shun violence and peacefully resolve disputes. (ap)

Strikes, attacks bring turbulent politics back to Bangladesh

AP Photo/A.M. Ahad

In this Jan. 21, 2015 photo, Bangladeshi police stand guard in front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) party office during the nationwide strike called by them in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A 2½-year-old victim of a homemade bomb lies in an intensive care unit with burns to his face, head and other body parts. In another hospital, 17 people, includ-ing students and a teacher, are being treated for similar injuries. Another victim, a schoolboy, lost both his eyes.

Bali News Friday, January 23, 2015 5InternationalFriday, January 23, 201512 International

BUSINESS

Macau has enjoyed a tourism boom, with gamblers coming to bet at more than 30 casinos, including the Venetian Macau, the world’s largest. Cities in wealthy, developed coun-tries tended to lag behind. Though most of the cities surveyed around the world have recovered from the Great Recession, 65 percent of European and 57 percent of North American cities have not, according to the study, which ranks cities by growth in employment and in economic output per person. Some highlights:

Joseph Parilla, a Brookings re-search analyst who co-wrote the report, said he was surprised by the “incredible differentiation within what are considered monolithic eco-nomic blocs.” Latin American cities, for instance, mostly sputtered. But Medellin, Colombia, and Lima, Peru, both broke into the top 50.

Cities in wealthy countries tended to perform poorly. But U.S. and British cities showed improvement. Three U.S. cities — Austin and Houston, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina — cracked the top 50. In the United Kingdom, London came in No. 26, Manchester No. 60.

The United States and Britain have begun to pick up economic momentum 5½ years after the reces-sion ended.

“In developed economies like North America and Western Europe, cities like London and Houston are flying high, while others like Rotterdam and

Montreal are struggling,” Parilla said.Twenty-seven of the 50 top-per-

forming cities were Chinese. Increas-ingly, strong growth occurred in the traditionally underdeveloped cities of China’s interior, rather than its booming coastal cities. Land-locked Changsha, for instance, enjoyed

economic growth per person of 8.6 percent last year and wound up No. 15 in the overall rankings.

The coastal manufacturing pow-erhouse of Dongguan, next door to Hong Kong, registered per-capita economic growth of just 5.2 percent (unimpressive by Chinese standards)

and finished No. 70. Companies have begun to move inland as the cost of labor and land rises on the Chinese coast. And the Chinese government has invested heavily on infrastructure in the interior.

The 18 cities worldwide that spe-cialized in producing commodities such as oil registered the highest rates of growth in economic output per person (2.6 percent) and employment (1.9 percent).

“The recent rise in oil and gas production in North America partly

explains the success of metropolitan areas like Calgary, Denver, Houston, and Tulsa, which are epicenters of the region’s shale revolution,” the report said.

Next year’s rankings may be dif-ferent. Oil prices have plunged to less than $48 a barrel from $107 a barrel last June, jeopardizing the prospects of cities that had been riding the energy boom.

Four Turkish cities made the top 10: Izmir, Istanbul, Bursa and An-kara. Turkish cities boomed last year despite political unrest. “If you look at world headlines, Turkey is not in the news for its economic success, but it probably should be,” Brook-ings’ Parilla says. “It has pretty solid macroeconomic policies.”

Turkey benefits from its location at the boundary between Europe and Asia and from heavy investment in roads and other infrastructure projects, which creates jobs over the short term and is likely to make the economy more efficient over the long term. (ap)

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is planning to sell wireless phone ser-vice directly to consumers using the networks of Sprint and T-Mobile, according to reports published Wednesday.

If everything falls into place, Google Inc. could offer discounted wireless data plans that would pres-sure other major carriers to offer better deals and services or risk los-ing customers to a powerful rival.

More affordable plans, in turn, could bring more people online, something that Google is trying

to do because it runs the Internet’s dominant search engine and largest advertising network. The Mountain View, California, company would profit from a potentially larger audi-ence for its services.

Google also implants its services in its Android mobile operating system, the mostly widely used software on smartphones.

Both the technology news site The Information and The Wall Street Journal reported Google’s intention to become a wireless service provider. The reports cited

unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Representatives from Google, Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. declined to comment on the reports.

It’s unclear how widely Google plans to sell wireless plans to smartphone owners or when the service would launch. The company already is selling an ultra-fast Inter-net and cable TV service directly to homes, but that Google Fiber product so far is only available in parts of Kansas City, Kansas; Kan-

sas City, Missouri; Provo, Utah; and Austin, Texas.

Google’s plans to make its entry into the wireless Internet market by buying access on the networks of Sprint and T-Mobile is known as a mobile virtual network opera-tor, or MVNO, agreement. Google probably will still have to set up its own operations to handle customer service and billing, an area in which the company doesn’t have much previous expertise.

Leasing space to Google repre-sents a calculated risk by Sprint, the

third largest wireless carrier, and T-Mobile, the four largest. While a deal with Google figures to boost their revenue, it also opens the door for a deep-pocketed company that could turn into a competitive threat.

T-Mobile already has been shak-ing up the industry during the past year by cutting prices and introducing new service plans that have prompted the two biggest car-riers, Verizon Communications and AT&T Inc., to match some of the features. (ap)

Top 10 Cities Economic Performance

------------------------------------- Rank Country City

-------------------------------------1 Macau Macau2 Turkey Izmir 3 Turkey Istanbul4 Turkey Bursa5 UAE Dubai6 China Kunming7 China Hangzhou8 China Xiamen9 Turkey Ankara10 China Fuzhou

Google planning to sell wireless phone service

Macau ranks No. 1 in economic performance among world cities

WASHINGTON — Macau, the Chinese territory known for casino gambling, outperformed the rest of the world’s major cities economically last year, according to a report out Thursday. Cities in the developing world, especially China, dominated the top of the annual economic rank-ings of 300 cities worldwide by the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase. One exception: Bangkok, Thailand, came in last, its economy wrecked by political strife.

AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File

In this Feb. 1, 2014 file photo, tourists walk at the famous tourist spot Senado Square on the second day of the Chinese New Year in Macau. Macau was the world’s top-performing metro area in 2014, according to a report released Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.

Driven by the sense of apprehen-siveness to rare music, the young artist I Ketut Lanus and his friends tried to make an experiment of the genggong music. Under the banner of Cahya Art Studio, Lanus pack-aged the ancient music with new motives, so that it made it more attractive and innovative. “We are not changing the existing genggong style, but only give a fresh new look,” he said amidst his exercise.

Genggong, a musical instrument made from palm frond was usually used to accompany the performance of ballet with the storyline Godon-gan (giant frog). It was commonly performed in every Hindu ritual,

and other spiritual events. This rare type of music is not as popular as the gong kebyar gamelan music. It is very rare and can be found in Karangasem, Batuan village, Gi-anyar and the Munduk Lumbang, Baturiti, Tabanan.

Now, this kind of art is presented more attractively. Elements of the dance, theater and vocal music are nicely arranged. New ideas are also developed so as to achieve the necessary perfection of the society today. This composition reveals the visual sound, without story but illustrates the frog character such as when it is walking and express-ing its behavior in the community

group. Although it is small, the quality is maintained, does not impoverish the existing arts.

Its composition remains to form a total music, while the players dance by highlighting the sound of giant frog. They dance like a frog, while joking and then playing a music instrument, blowing and playing the flute of various sizes. “We just tried to make an experi-ment, whether it is good or bad, it does not matter. I’m sure the next will be nice,” said Lanus while adding that such experimental art would be presented in a jazz event in Bali.

The songs presented were also

new, yet it remained to reflect the traditional and classical nuance. In other words, he did not take the song from the existing geng-gong, but creating a new one in accordance with the needs of the contemporary art. The experiment lasting about 20 minutes also still included the standard style in Balinese traditional gamelan, such as introduction, content and ending.

Such an innovative artwork was begun by the coming out of frogs that danced with joy. While danc-ing, they also played music by their own mouth. Intertwine of the sound one, two, three and so on was heard so sweet and melodious describing the joy of the frogs. Sometimes, the amphibious animals living on land and in the water were also described by their singing.

In the next section, the frog

dancers sat down and had a cap-pella music singing the songs with frog nuance and the natural beauty of rice fields as the background. When entering the main part of the performance, they played gamelan instruments, such as drums, cym-bals, flute, single gong chime and kenyur and genggong. The illustra-tion music was accompanied with the blend of genggong.

Ending part of the performance was filled with melancholic songs remaining to sound sweet. Two genggong players danced to express their while joy living in the wild. Aside from Lanus, this experiment was also supported by five artists being skillful in playing the origi-nal genggong from Batuan village such as Wayan Sudarsana, Made Suryana, Nyoman Suwida, Nyoman Suarsana, Wayan Suarsa and Putu Eka Putra. (kmb)

Making a visit to Sanur Beach seems incomplete without tasting the delicacy of seafood offered by Mak Beng Food Stall. Her seafood becoming the mainstay menu has exceptional taste. Moreover, her fish head soup is very delicious. Assorted Balinese spices applied makes the fish fresh and abrasive. As a result, the fishy aroma is virtually not tasted. Even, the delicious fried fish with chili paste is really palatable.

Mak Beng Food Stall is located on Sanur Beach, precisely on Jalan Hang Tuah 45, Sanur. The food stall established by Mak Beng (Ni Ketut Tjuki) in 1941 is very special. Every day many customers throng the food stall. Sometimes, they become a quite unique view when seeing a long line of cus-tomers who want to eat in the food stall.

Typical characteristic of Mak Beng is the sambal on offer. Its taste is indeed different, both in terms of ingredients and preparation process. Moreover, the fish used remain fresh such as giant trevally, red snapper, grouper, barracuda, and mackerel.

Its serving process is very quick. Having got a seat, the dish has been ready within no more than seven minutes. It happens because the attendants directly prepare the menu in accordance with the number of order. Similarly, it is also supported by the attendants that have been skillful in their field. As a result, no customer will be dissatisfied when enjoying the seafood offered by Mak Beng.

A portion consists of white rice, fried fish and fish head soup that can be replaced with vegetable soup. In the process, Mak Beng highly pays attention to the standardization of raw materials and hygiene. “To maintain the distinctive taste, I try hard to pay attention to standardization and hygiene of the cui-sine,” revealed a waitress of the food stall.

Based on the information, the Mak Beng food stall now managed by the third generation is visited by averagely 200 people per day. Aside from local community, many domestic and foreign tourists also like to eat here. Even, there are people de-liberately coming to Sanur just for eating at Mak Beng food stall. It means the name of Mak Beng is well remembered by its customers although it is now managed by the third generation. Its name has been legendary. (kmb)

Experiment of Genggong Traditional MusicHave you ever heard about genggong? This Balinese traditional music instrument is quite rare.

In the 1980s, every day after the nightfall the genggong (jaw harp) was always aired by radio station on this island. Now, one of the unique vibrating instruments was barely audible again. Sometimes, the Bali Arts Festival (BAF) denoting the medium of preservation and development of the rare arts also showed it off.

Mak Beng Food Stall:A legendary premises offering seafood delicacy

IBP/File Photo

Making a visit to Sanur Beach seems incomplete without tasting the delicacy of seafood offered by Mak Beng Food Stall.

Friday, January 23, 2015 Friday, January 23, 20156 11International International

INDONESIAW RLD

Days of rough weather and poor underwater visibility have hampered navy divers’ efforts to recover bodies and lift the main part of the plane off the sea bed.

“It was very dark, visibility was very limited so our diving teams could not enter,” Rear Ad-miral Widodo, commander of the navy’s western fleet, told reporters aboard the warship KRI Banda Aceh. “However we still predict we can evacuate all the bodies from there.”

Widodo added rescuers ex-pected to attach giant air bags to the fuselage to lift it to the surface by Friday.

Indones ia AirAsia Fl ight QZ8501 lost contact with air traf-

fic control in bad weather on Dec. 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors among the 162 people on board the Air-bus A320.

A multinational search and rescue operation has recovered 59 bodies so far and located both “black box” flight recorders, which will provide clues as to why the plane crashed.

The cause of AirAsia’s first fatal crash is not yet known, though investigators have ruled out foul play.

Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan on Tuesday told a parlia-mentary hearing that radar data

showed the plane had climbed faster than normal in its final minutes, and then stalled.

Three days after the crash a source familiar with initial in-vestigations had told Reuters the plane appeared to have made an “unbelievably steep climb” that may have pushed it beyond its performance envelope.

The National Transport Safety Committee (NTSC), which is re-sponsible for the crash investiga-tions in Indonesia, is set to release some initial findings next week, but its full preliminary report will not be made public.

The final report on the investi-gation, which will be made public, must be filed within a year. (rtr)

KUPANG - Indonesia, through the National Narcotics Board (BNN) of East Nusa Tenggara, and Timor Leste will establish a Drugs Control Sta-tion at the crossing gate of Motaain, located in Belu District, East Nusa Tenggara.

“The one system service and con-trol station will involve all parties, including the Police Departments of Timor Leste and Indonesia, the In-donesian National Armed Forces, the customs, and other related institutions at the border areas,” BNN Head of East Nusa Tenggara Alo Dando stated on Thursday.

He noted that the station will be established to prevent the international drugs syndicates from entering Indo-nesia via Timor Leste.

“The plan for establishing the drugs control station has been discussed at the ministerial level between Indone-sia and Timor Leste,” Alo said.

According to him, the station will be built in the neutral zone at the border area located in Motaain and Batugade.

The station will be equipped with advanced instruments to detect any form of drug probably smuggled through the borders.

“This is the best way to prevent the international drugs syndicates from entering Indonesia via Timor Leste, especially through Motaain and Batugade,” Alo emphasized.

He stated that during this time, the border areas of Indonesia and Timor Leste in Motaain, Belu District, have been crossing lanes for the drugs syndicates due to lack of supervision and control.

“We hope that by establishing this joint station, we can break the drug syndicates’ supply chains and protect our country and generation from drugs,” Alo added. (ant)

ENTIKONG - President Joko Widodo has urged related parties to develop the border area of Entikong in Sanggau district, West Kaliman-tan province, within the next two years.

“I hope the (Entikong border region) can be developed in the next two years. We can question the public works minister if there is no transformation. We will commence the project in March in all sectors. I will visit the place again next De-cember (to inspect the progress),” the president said on Wednesday (January 21) while visiting the bor-der checkpoint post.

President Joko Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi, stated that the government will develop

all sectors in Entikong, including services, buildings, and a lane sys-tem of roads. He plans to build four traffic lanes, particularly around the checkpoint post area.

According to Jokowi, the En-tikong border region has not seen any development in 25 years.

“There will be no development and the area will continue to be like this if we don’t make an effort now. I hope my visit serves as an impetus to develop buildings, roads, bridges and public services in the region,” he remarked.

Efforts towards the project should be completed within the next two years so illegal smuggling and trade can be prevented by implementing an appropriate system of services.

“I will order related ministries to develop the Entikong border area. This venture will be made a priority by the central government,” Jokowi affirmed.

Furthermore, Chairman of the Se-kayam Dayaknese Tradition Council Aris Haryono hoped that Jokowi’s visit to Entikong would lead to posi-tive changes in the front border area of Indonesia.

“(I hope) Jokowi’s visit provides the motivation required to develop Entikong as the pride of the Indone-sian front yard,” Haryono stressed.

Entikong shares a border with the Sarawak state of Malaysia. Most of its people work as farmers in rice fields, as well as in pepper, cocoa and rubber plantations. (ant)

REUTERS/Miss Universe Organization

Elvira Devinamira, Miss Indonesia 2014 competes on stage in her evening gown during the Miss Universe Preliminary Show in Miami, Florida in this January 21, 2015 handout photo.

Divers recover bodies from near crashed AirAsia jet fuselage

ABOARD KRI BANDA ACEH - Indonesian divers on Thursday found six bodies near the fuselage of an AirAsia jet that crashed last month into the Java Sea, but were unable to enter the wreckage where most of the victims are believed to be trapped, a navy official said.

Jokowi pushes for development of Entikong

Indonesia, Timor Leste to establis drugs control station

U.S. objectives during Thursday’s session include the lifting of restric-tions on American diplomats in Cuba and assurances that Cubans will have unfettered access to a future U.S. Embassy in Havana. The Americans say the resumption in full diplomatic relations depends on how quickly its requests are met. Cuba is demanding its removal from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which Wash-ington says it is considering.

On Wednesday, the U.S. said it dispatched additional ships to the Florida Straits to halt Cuban rafters but rebuffed demands for broader changes to U.S. migration rules that grant virtu-ally automatic legal residency to any Cuban who touches U.S. soil.

Cuba’s government blames the Cold War policy for luring tens of thousands of Cubans a year to make perilous journeys by land and sea to try to reach the United States. Still, many Cubans are worried the elimination of the rules would take away their chance to have a better life in the U.S.

In Washington, U.S. Homeland

Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said America’s “wet foot, dry foot” ap-proach, which generally shields Cu-bans from deportation if they reach U.S. territory, remains in effect. But he stressed that those trying to come illegally would most likely be inter-dicted and returned.

U.S. officials reported a spike in the number of rafters attempting to reach Florida after the Dec. 17 announce-ment that the countries would move to normalize ties. Those numbers appear to have slowed in recent days.

“Cuba wants a normal relationship with the U.S., in the broadest sense but also in the area of migration,” said Cuba’s head of North American affairs, Josefina Vidal. She called for the U.S. to end “exceptional treatment that no other citizens in the world receive, causing an irregular situation in the flow of migrants.”

American officials instead pressed Cuba to take back tens of thou-sands of its nationals whom U.S. authorities want to deport because they have been convicted of crimes. No progress was made on that issue,

according to an official present in the meeting. The official wasn’t au-thorized to speak on the matter and demanded anonymity.

The talks Thursday are expected to focus on the broader question of how the U.S. and Cuba can end a half-century of enmity — as promised by Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro last month. The nations hope to re-establish embassies and post ambassadors to each other’s capitals in the coming months.

After meeting with the Cubans for more than three hours, the State Department’s Alex Lee said the “discussions prove that despite clear differences that remain between our countries, the United States and Cuba can find opportunities to advance our mutual, shared interests as well as engage in respectful and thoughtful dialogue.”

Lee led the U.S. delegation ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s arrival of Roberta Jacobson, the top American diplomat for Latin America and most senior U.S. official to visit Cuba since 1980. (ap)

BANGKOK — Thailand’s for-mer Prime Minister Yingluck Shi-nawatra has stoutly defended her government’s money-losing rice subsidy program, seeking to stave off a legislative vote that could ban her from politics for five years.

The 220-member legislature, installed by the military after a coup last May, will vote Friday on whether to impeach Yingluck. Impeachment requires a three-fifth vote of the members, almost all of whom are part of the military or

political opponents of Yingluck.Yingluck said Thursday the

subsidy program benefited Thai farmers, and denied she was re-sponsible for any corruption as-sociated with it. She accused the anti-graft watchdog that accused her of wrongdoing of lacking the legitimacy to judge her.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission held Yingluck respon-sible for failing to halt the program, which cost the government about $4 billion. (ap)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s su-preme court has sentenced a former vice president to five years in prison and ordered him to pay a 10 billion rial ($300,000) fine, the country’s official news agency said.

The IRNA report late Wednes-day did not specify what Moham-mad Reza Rahimi, a top aide to ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadine-jad, was convicted of but said the verdict was binding. It also said the court ordered Rahimi to pay compensation equivalent to some $800,000.

A local court had initially sen-tenced Rahimi to 15 years prison,

but the supreme court reduced the term to five years and three months, IRNA said. Rahimi has long main-tained his innocence

Opponents of Ahmadinejad’s hard-line government have long ac-cused his administration of massive corruption. Ahmadinejad’s succes-sor, President Hassan Rouhani, in December criticized growing corruption in the country in unusu-ally blunt terms, saying that bribes once paid secretly are now being disbursed in the open. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly claimed that he led the “cleanest administration” in Iran’s history. (ap)AP Photo/Desmond Boylan

Ministry of Foreign Relations General Director for the United States, Josefina Vidal, and Cuban delegation members, sit across from U.S. delegates as they begin negotiations, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

US, Cuba address obstacles to resuming diplomatic ties

HAVANA — The United States and Cuba are trying to eliminate obstacles to normalized ties as the highest-level U.S. delegation to the communist island in more than three decades holds a second day of talks with Cuban officials.

Iran gives ex-vice president 5-year prison term

Ousted Thai PM challenges rice subsidy impeachment case

AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, center, leaves parliament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. Thailand’s military-appointed legislature is set to vote on impeachment against Yingluck over a government’s rice subsidy scheme on Friday.

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GIANYAR - Want to have a promenade while enjoying rural atmosphere? Try the path offered by the Ancient Trekking Road lo-cated at Blahbatuh village, Gianyar County, or approximately 19 km east of Denpasar. In addition to passing the rice field landscape, this trekking activity also offers the visit to archaeological sites as well as magical atmosphere of a palace.

Location of this trekking is iso-lated and surrounded by rice fields. Besides, it is very close to tourist areas like Ubud, Sanur, Kuta and Nusa Dua. The path leading to the

site is also very natural through rice fields. The rice field bund is over-grown with grass and some paths of subak (irrigation cooperative) are muddy and having small pothole because it remains pristine.

The route offered was about 4 km and had a lot of things to be seen starting from beautiful rice fields with natural organic farming system having been recognized by students from Japan. Each participant would get unique experience when watch-ing activities of local villagers culti-vating their land. There were groups raising cattle where the urine and

dung of their cattle were processed into fertilizer. Then, this fertilizer was applied to their vegetables to make them fertile and healthy.

Not only that, local farmers also yielded products such as rice, pepper, papaya, banana and other crops grown through natural processes. As a result, they were not contaminated and healthy for consumption.

At particular time, participants could unwind in a cool hut belong-ing to farmers. Then, the farmers would offer fresh drink such as young coconut picked by them.

While drinking coconut water, a natural entertaining sound of birds and other animals continued to reverberate. The other animals usually encountered were dragon-flies, butterflies and other tempting animals.

When encountering a farmer who was plowing a field with cows, participants could take part in the activity. The other activities such as planting rice, harvesting rice, mowing grass and pulling weeds could also be done with farmers. Similarly, there were the activities of picking vegetables, papaya and

other fruits.This route also passed through a

village whose inhabitants worked as sculptor. Almost every family at the village was getting involved in this kind of work of art. Ranging from the elderly, women to children were absorbing in completing their works and theirs became the second largest supplier to the Sukawati Art Market.

At this village, there were also people deeply involving in the plaiting, bead works and carving, so that society was often used as a film shooting location by the foreign TV producers.

Ancient trekking road at Blahbatuh Village

IBP/File Photo

Elsewhere, Memphis beat To-ronto in a clash of divisional lead-ers, while Oklahoma City won in overtime at Washington. Curry, who finished with 22 points and 10 as-sists, normally never loses his cool but after being bumped by Trevor Ariza on the way down the court in the third quarter, he confronted the Rockets forward and had to be restrained by teammates. Ariza re-ceive a technical foul after a video review.

Golden State had already grabbed control by outscoring Houston 30-13 in the second quarter and led by 30 in the third before the Rockets’ reserves made the final margin closer. James Harden had 33 points and six assists for Houston, which lost all four games of the season series against the Warriors; the first such sweep for 41 years.

Phoenix built a big early lead, gave it up, then got back in front to edge Portland 118-113. Eric

Bledsoe had a season-high 33 points and Isiah Thomas added a season-high 27 points for the Suns, who have won seven consecutive home games. Portland grabbed a 110-105 lead on Nicolas Batum’s 3-pointer with 2:22 to go, but Phoenix closed the game with a 13-3 run.

Nicolas Batum had 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blaz-ers, who trailed by as many as 25 in the second quarter but hit back to lead by five points with 2:22 to go before the Suns closed it out with a 13-3 run. Memphis’ Marc Gasol scored 26 points to lead the Grizzlies to a 92-86 win against Toronto.

Zach Randolph had 19 points — going 8 for 14 from the field — and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who broke open a close game with a 13-3 run midway through the fourth quarter. There were 14 ties and six lead changes for the night. Toronto had five players score in double

figures, led by Lou Williams’ 21 points, but dropped to 3-8 in its last 11 games. The Raptors shot 32 percent (27 for 85) from the field.

Oklahoma City’s Russell West-brook drove for the winning layup with 0.8 seconds left in overtime to give the Thunder a 105-103 win at Washington. Kevin Durant scored 34 points, and combined with Westbrook to score all 13 of the Thunder’s points in the extra period. That included Durant’s dunk and Westbrook’s uncon-tested layup off of an inbounds play after Oklahoma City had called timeout with 3.6 seconds remaining.

Nene scored 24 points for the Wizards, including nine of Wash-ington’s 11 points in overtime, but they could not hold on after having led by 12 points at halftime. Atlanta tied a franchise record with its 14th straight win, defeating Indiana 110-91. (ap)

MELBOURNE - Novak Djokovic praised American Tim Smyczek’s act of sportsmanship in his second round marathon against Rafa Nadal as “greater than sport itself” at the Aus-tralian Open on Thursday. Qualifier Smyczek lost the five-setter against a sickly Nadal at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday but won admirers for allowing the Spaniard to repeat a first serve when serving for the match at 30-0 in the fifth set.

Nadal had served up a fault after a spectator had yelled out during his ball toss, but made the most of his second chance with a serve that Smyczek returned into the net, bringing three match-points.

Smyczek’s gesture was warmly applauded by Nadal and Djokovic made it clear how impressed he was after destroying Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-0 6-1 6-4 to reach the third round on Thursday. “I’ve seen actually the great gentleman gesture and sportsmanship from Smyczek in the last game,” Djokovic told reporters at Melbourne Park. “I think that’s something that people should talk about.

“This is something that is not

very common in the sport today, you know, where media and people generally emphasize on the rival-ries, feisty, aggressive kind of ap-proach to matches. “It’s nice to have something that is greater than sport itself, you know, the sportsmanship and fair play.”

Djokovic’s campaign for a re-cord fifth Australian Open title in the professional era shifted up a gear on Thursday, as he conducted a one-hour 24-minute masterclass on Rod Laver Arena against 88th-ranked Kuznetsov.

The first set lasted only 21 min-utes with the hapless Kuznetsov later declaring he would get a video of the match to try to emulate the near-perfect performance by his opponent. “First two sets definitely have been great,” said Djokovic, who will play Japan’s Go Soeda or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the next round.

“Overall I executed the game plan. Everything I intended to do, almost 100 percent, from every second in my game, serve, baseline play, aggressive shots and aggres-sive returns. (rtr)

MELBOURNE - Victoria Aza-renka showed she was back in top form at the Australian Open on Thursday after an injury-blighted season, upsetting eighth seed Caro-line Wozniacki 6-4 6-2 to reach the third round.

The statuesque Belarusian, wearing a high-visibility dress in fluorescent yellow and dictating play like a traffic cop, was too powerful for the Dane, bullying her

from the baseline to wrap up the match in 98 minutes at Margaret Court Arena.

The two-time champion Aza-renka broke Wozniacki twice in the second set and clobbered 31 winners in the match to send an ominous warning to her rivals in the women’s draw. She advances to play Czech 26th seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the next round. (rtr)

Warriors down Rockets to notch 17th straight home win

AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) dribbles as Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley reaches for the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

OAKLAND, California — Golden State’s Stephen Curry got involved in a rare altercation with an opponent as he helped the NBA-leading Warriors beat Houston 126-113 on Wednesday and stretch their home winning streak to 17 games. The Warriors extended their lead in the Western Conference to 4-1/2 games over Portland, which gave up a big early lead in losing at Phoenix.

Azarenka back to her best with Wozniacki win

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia in their men’s singles second round match at the Australian Open 2015 tennis tournament in Mel-bourne January 22, 2015.

Djokovic lauds American Smyczek’s sportsmanship

98 InternationalFriday, January 23, 2015 International Friday, January 23, 2015

Sp rt

“I still see the tie as 50-50, and we will go into the second leg aim-ing for a win,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. Just two weeks ago he was under intense pressure following a loss and the firing of Barcelona’s sports director, but the coach has since been bolstered by a second victory over Atletico in 10 days following its 3-1 win here in the league. Atletico went undefeated in six meetings with Barcelona last season en route to winning the league and reaching the Champions League final.

The return leg at the Vicente Calderon will be next Wednes-day, with the winner of this series advancing to meet either Villarreal or Getafe. Villarreal beat Getafe 1-0 after midfielder Bruno Soriano also scored with five minutes to play when he curled home a free kick. Else-where, Athletic Bilbao drew 0-0 at Malaga. The winner of that contest will move on to face Sevilla or Espanyol, which play on Thursday.

Barcelona provided a flash of what it does best just four min-utes after kickoff, when Messi and Dani Alves worked a mes-merizing one-two before Luis Suarez laid the off for Neymar to draw a one-handed save from Oblak. Diego Simeone’s side then imposed a slower pace and got what it wanted: A number of set pieces that it usually excels at executing.

But Barcelona’s improvement in defense— it has conceded a

BATA, Equatorial Guinea — Republic of Congo ground out a surprise 1-0 win over Gabon at the African Cup of Nations on Wednesday, its first at the tourna-ment in over two decades, to go top of Group A. Prince Oniangue forced the ball in from a corner in the 48th minute at Bata Stadium to sneak the win after Republic of Congo was under pressure almost throughout and relied heavily on counterattacks.

The Congolese were clinging on before and after their goal, but while Gabon surged forward often, it couldn’t convert any of its many chances. “We played a very good match tactically,” Republic of Con-go coach Claude Le Roy said.

Levy Madinda sent a shot just past the post in Gabon’s complete-ly dominant first half. He also shot just wide late in the second after

weaving his way past defenders to create the opening for himself. Between those, Gabon’s star strik-er Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed an open goal and probably Gabon’s best chance when the ball fell to him with Congo goalkeeper Christoffer Mafoumbi way out of position. Aubameyang somehow hit his low effort past the right post.

“With respect for Congo, it was not a fair result,” Gabon coach Jorge Costa said. “We had a lot of chances to score.” The result shook up Group A.

Republic of Congo, the African champion in 1972 but with little success at the championship since then, now leads with four points. Gabon has three and slipped down to second, host Equatorial Guinea has two points and Burkina Faso one. (ap)

Goalkeeper Hope Solo has been suspended from the United States women’s national team for 30 days. The U.S. Soccer did not specify the reason for the suspension, an-nounced Wednesday night.

It follows the arrest of her hus-band, former Seattle Seahawks NFL player Jerramy Stevens, on

MELBOURNE - Son Heung-min scored twice in extra time to give South Korea a 2-0 win over Uzbeki-stan and send them into semi-finals of the Asian Cup on Thursday. The mid-fielder got on the end of Kim Jin-su’s cross and headed the ball through the hands of Uzbekistan keeper Ignatiy Nesterov to break the deadlock after the 104 minutes of end-to-end action at the Rectangular Stadium.

His second came with time run-ning out at the end of the second period when substitute fullback Cha Du-ri charged down the right wing and centred for Son to crash the ball left-footed into the top of the net.

The South Koreans, seeking their first Asian title since 1960, had faced some nervous moments in the second period of extra time but held firm to set up a meeting with Iran or Iraq in

Sydney on Monday for a place in the final. The quarter-final was the first match to finish all square after 90 minutes in 25 games at the tourna-ment but was no dour stalemate and both sides attacked with brio and de-fended with a muscularity throughout the contest.

It was clear from the first few minutes that both sides had come to Melbourne intent on scoring but profligacy in front of goal and two brilliant exhibitions of keeping sent the match to extra time. South Korea dominated possession but Uzbekistan always looked a threat on the break and in Nesterov had arguably the most influential player on the pitch in the first 90 minutes.

The Uzbekistan keeper made a stunning double save from Lee Keun-ho and Nam Tae-hee in the 25th

minute before moments later tipping a curling effort from Son over the bar. He pulled off another spectacular save to deny Lee Jeong-hyeop from a free header early in the second half and his failure to stop Son’s header in extra time will weigh heavy on him.

Uzbekistan had plenty of chances too, but South Korean keeper Kim Jin-hyeon also showed fine form when his wall of red defenders was breached.

The Central Asians missed the best chance of the night in the 78th minute when an unmarked Lutfulla Turaev somehow managed to head over from point blank range. When Nam managed to pass up a chance almost as gilt-edged after he failed to get a shot off with the goal gaping in front of him five minutes later, extra time was inevitable. (rtr)

LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor was restored to the starting lineup as cap-tain against Sheffield United in their League Cup semi-final on Wednesday but left the pitch to a chorus of boos from the home fans. The controversial Togo forward lasted 65 minutes of his side’s unconvincing 1-0 first leg win at White Hart Lane before being replaced by Spaniard Roberto Soldado, another of the club’s international pedigree forwards struggling for form.

The change at least brought the winning goal, with Soldado control-ling the ball in the area before United defender Jay McEveley inadvertently handled to concede a penalty that

was tucked away expertly by Andros Townsend after 74 minutes.

Asked about the booing when Ad-ebayor was substituted Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters: “I didn’t hear the crowd’s reaction. For me I am focused on the game. I’m happy with his performance. He was good.”

Adebayor has hardly featured this season and Saturday’s substitute ap-pearance in the 2-1 Premier League home win over Sunderland was his first in nine weeks because of injury, illness and compassionate leave to sort out family problems. The 30-year-old former Metz, AS Monaco, Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid striker is an enigma. (rtr)

Son’s late brace sends South Korea into semis

Hope Solo suspended for 30 days from US national team

AP Photo/Darren Abate, File

FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2013, file photo, United States goalkeeper Hope Solo pauses on the field during the second half of an international friendly women’s soccer match against Australia in San Antonio. Goalkeeper Hope Solo has been suspended from the U.S. women’s national team for 30 days, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

suspicion of driving under the in-fluence. Solo was in the car when Stevens was pulled over in Manhat-tan Beach, California, about 1:30 a.m. Monday local time for driving without headlights.

Solo was not arrested or detained. She was in Southern California for training camp with the U.S. national

team. The team is preparing for the World Cup starting June. She was released from camp and will not ac-company the team to matches next month in Europe.

“During our current National Team camp, Hope made a poor decision that has resulted in a nega-tive impact on U.S. Soccer and her teammates,” coach Jill Ellis said in a statement. “We feel at this time it is best for her to step away from the team.” Solo was released from camp and will not accompany the team to matches next month in Europe.

It is the latest off-field trouble for Solo. Earlier this month two misdemeanor counts of domestic violence assault charges against he were dismissed. The charges stemmed from an altercation with her half-sister and 17-year-old nephew at a party in Washington last June.

Solo had pleaded not guilty in that case, and she continued to play for the U.S. team and with her National Women’s Soccer League team, the Seattle Reign, while awaiting trial.

Her last appearance with the national team was in December, when she started in a scoreless draw against Brazil in the final of the 2014 International Tournament of Brasilia. Solo will be eligible for reinstatement after the month-long suspension, pending review and approval by U.S. Soccer and Ellis. (ap)

AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

Congo’s Prince Oniangue, left, celebrates with teammate Sa-gesse Babele, after scoring a goal during their African Cup of Nations Group A soccer match against Gabon in Bata, Equato-rial Guinea, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

Republic of Congo surprises Gabon 1-0 at African Cup

AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, duels for the ball against Atletico’s Godin, right, during a Quarterfinal Copa del Rey soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

Tottenham’s Adebayor back in favour but not with the fans

Messi scores late as Barcelona beats Atletico 1-0 in Copa

BARCELONA, Spain — Lionel Messi finished off his own missed penalty with five minutes left to give Barcelona a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal on Wednes-day. Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak blocked Messi initial spot kick, but he couldn’t recover in time to stop Messi from rushing forward to slam home the rebound and ignite the Camp Nou. Messi was set up to get the winner after Juanfran Torres fouled Sergio Busquets in the area.

league-low nine goals— was evident when Atletico failed to convert its five corner kicks into shots on goal, leaving it with An-toine Griezmann’s header over the top in the 35th minute for its only clear chance of the night.

“Barcelona has been working hard at defending,” Simeone said. “It was tough for us to get out and launch our attack, even though we had the game under control. “We were closer than we were the other day at least as far as the result goes. But it won’t change how we play in the return leg.”

Suarez had a golden opportu-nity a minute after Griezmann’s miss. But as so often in his first season at Barcelona, the Uruguay forward ended up falling to his knees and hiding his face in his hands after he sent Ivan Rakitic’s superb lobbed pass over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

The counterattacking con-nection between Griezmann and

Fernando Torres had proven key in eliminating Real Madrid in the round of 16, and the two almost linked up again on the break in the 41st — only for Gerard Pique to intercept Torres’ pass. In the second half, Barcelona was able to increase the tempo. Its only reward, though, was Andres Iniesta’s shot into Oblak’s arms in the 74th, and its frustrations with the referee earned Suarez and Javier Mascherano bookings for protesting.

But it was soon the turn of Atletico’s players to argue when the whistle blew after Busquets went down, having been fouled from behind by Torres in a scrum for the ball after Messi’s free kick had hit the defensive wall.

Oblak guessed that Messi intended to strike the resulting spot-kick to the goalie’s left side. But Messi was the quickest to the ball to take the victory with his 29th goal in all competitions this season. (ap)

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GIANYAR - Want to have a promenade while enjoying rural atmosphere? Try the path offered by the Ancient Trekking Road lo-cated at Blahbatuh village, Gianyar County, or approximately 19 km east of Denpasar. In addition to passing the rice field landscape, this trekking activity also offers the visit to archaeological sites as well as magical atmosphere of a palace.

Location of this trekking is iso-lated and surrounded by rice fields. Besides, it is very close to tourist areas like Ubud, Sanur, Kuta and Nusa Dua. The path leading to the

site is also very natural through rice fields. The rice field bund is over-grown with grass and some paths of subak (irrigation cooperative) are muddy and having small pothole because it remains pristine.

The route offered was about 4 km and had a lot of things to be seen starting from beautiful rice fields with natural organic farming system having been recognized by students from Japan. Each participant would get unique experience when watch-ing activities of local villagers culti-vating their land. There were groups raising cattle where the urine and

dung of their cattle were processed into fertilizer. Then, this fertilizer was applied to their vegetables to make them fertile and healthy.

Not only that, local farmers also yielded products such as rice, pepper, papaya, banana and other crops grown through natural processes. As a result, they were not contaminated and healthy for consumption.

At particular time, participants could unwind in a cool hut belong-ing to farmers. Then, the farmers would offer fresh drink such as young coconut picked by them.

While drinking coconut water, a natural entertaining sound of birds and other animals continued to reverberate. The other animals usually encountered were dragon-flies, butterflies and other tempting animals.

When encountering a farmer who was plowing a field with cows, participants could take part in the activity. The other activities such as planting rice, harvesting rice, mowing grass and pulling weeds could also be done with farmers. Similarly, there were the activities of picking vegetables, papaya and

other fruits.This route also passed through a

village whose inhabitants worked as sculptor. Almost every family at the village was getting involved in this kind of work of art. Ranging from the elderly, women to children were absorbing in completing their works and theirs became the second largest supplier to the Sukawati Art Market.

At this village, there were also people deeply involving in the plaiting, bead works and carving, so that society was often used as a film shooting location by the foreign TV producers.

Ancient trekking road at Blahbatuh Village

IBP/File Photo

Elsewhere, Memphis beat To-ronto in a clash of divisional lead-ers, while Oklahoma City won in overtime at Washington. Curry, who finished with 22 points and 10 as-sists, normally never loses his cool but after being bumped by Trevor Ariza on the way down the court in the third quarter, he confronted the Rockets forward and had to be restrained by teammates. Ariza re-ceive a technical foul after a video review.

Golden State had already grabbed control by outscoring Houston 30-13 in the second quarter and led by 30 in the third before the Rockets’ reserves made the final margin closer. James Harden had 33 points and six assists for Houston, which lost all four games of the season series against the Warriors; the first such sweep for 41 years.

Phoenix built a big early lead, gave it up, then got back in front to edge Portland 118-113. Eric

Bledsoe had a season-high 33 points and Isiah Thomas added a season-high 27 points for the Suns, who have won seven consecutive home games. Portland grabbed a 110-105 lead on Nicolas Batum’s 3-pointer with 2:22 to go, but Phoenix closed the game with a 13-3 run.

Nicolas Batum had 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blaz-ers, who trailed by as many as 25 in the second quarter but hit back to lead by five points with 2:22 to go before the Suns closed it out with a 13-3 run. Memphis’ Marc Gasol scored 26 points to lead the Grizzlies to a 92-86 win against Toronto.

Zach Randolph had 19 points — going 8 for 14 from the field — and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who broke open a close game with a 13-3 run midway through the fourth quarter. There were 14 ties and six lead changes for the night. Toronto had five players score in double

figures, led by Lou Williams’ 21 points, but dropped to 3-8 in its last 11 games. The Raptors shot 32 percent (27 for 85) from the field.

Oklahoma City’s Russell West-brook drove for the winning layup with 0.8 seconds left in overtime to give the Thunder a 105-103 win at Washington. Kevin Durant scored 34 points, and combined with Westbrook to score all 13 of the Thunder’s points in the extra period. That included Durant’s dunk and Westbrook’s uncon-tested layup off of an inbounds play after Oklahoma City had called timeout with 3.6 seconds remaining.

Nene scored 24 points for the Wizards, including nine of Wash-ington’s 11 points in overtime, but they could not hold on after having led by 12 points at halftime. Atlanta tied a franchise record with its 14th straight win, defeating Indiana 110-91. (ap)

MELBOURNE - Novak Djokovic praised American Tim Smyczek’s act of sportsmanship in his second round marathon against Rafa Nadal as “greater than sport itself” at the Aus-tralian Open on Thursday. Qualifier Smyczek lost the five-setter against a sickly Nadal at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday but won admirers for allowing the Spaniard to repeat a first serve when serving for the match at 30-0 in the fifth set.

Nadal had served up a fault after a spectator had yelled out during his ball toss, but made the most of his second chance with a serve that Smyczek returned into the net, bringing three match-points.

Smyczek’s gesture was warmly applauded by Nadal and Djokovic made it clear how impressed he was after destroying Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-0 6-1 6-4 to reach the third round on Thursday. “I’ve seen actually the great gentleman gesture and sportsmanship from Smyczek in the last game,” Djokovic told reporters at Melbourne Park. “I think that’s something that people should talk about.

“This is something that is not

very common in the sport today, you know, where media and people generally emphasize on the rival-ries, feisty, aggressive kind of ap-proach to matches. “It’s nice to have something that is greater than sport itself, you know, the sportsmanship and fair play.”

Djokovic’s campaign for a re-cord fifth Australian Open title in the professional era shifted up a gear on Thursday, as he conducted a one-hour 24-minute masterclass on Rod Laver Arena against 88th-ranked Kuznetsov.

The first set lasted only 21 min-utes with the hapless Kuznetsov later declaring he would get a video of the match to try to emulate the near-perfect performance by his opponent. “First two sets definitely have been great,” said Djokovic, who will play Japan’s Go Soeda or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the next round.

“Overall I executed the game plan. Everything I intended to do, almost 100 percent, from every second in my game, serve, baseline play, aggressive shots and aggres-sive returns. (rtr)

MELBOURNE - Victoria Aza-renka showed she was back in top form at the Australian Open on Thursday after an injury-blighted season, upsetting eighth seed Caro-line Wozniacki 6-4 6-2 to reach the third round.

The statuesque Belarusian, wearing a high-visibility dress in fluorescent yellow and dictating play like a traffic cop, was too powerful for the Dane, bullying her

from the baseline to wrap up the match in 98 minutes at Margaret Court Arena.

The two-time champion Aza-renka broke Wozniacki twice in the second set and clobbered 31 winners in the match to send an ominous warning to her rivals in the women’s draw. She advances to play Czech 26th seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the next round. (rtr)

Warriors down Rockets to notch 17th straight home win

AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) dribbles as Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley reaches for the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

OAKLAND, California — Golden State’s Stephen Curry got involved in a rare altercation with an opponent as he helped the NBA-leading Warriors beat Houston 126-113 on Wednesday and stretch their home winning streak to 17 games. The Warriors extended their lead in the Western Conference to 4-1/2 games over Portland, which gave up a big early lead in losing at Phoenix.

Azarenka back to her best with Wozniacki win

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia in their men’s singles second round match at the Australian Open 2015 tennis tournament in Mel-bourne January 22, 2015.

Djokovic lauds American Smyczek’s sportsmanship

Friday, January 23, 2015 Friday, January 23, 20156 11International International

INDONESIAW RLD

Days of rough weather and poor underwater visibility have hampered navy divers’ efforts to recover bodies and lift the main part of the plane off the sea bed.

“It was very dark, visibility was very limited so our diving teams could not enter,” Rear Ad-miral Widodo, commander of the navy’s western fleet, told reporters aboard the warship KRI Banda Aceh. “However we still predict we can evacuate all the bodies from there.”

Widodo added rescuers ex-pected to attach giant air bags to the fuselage to lift it to the surface by Friday.

Indones ia AirAsia Fl ight QZ8501 lost contact with air traf-

fic control in bad weather on Dec. 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors among the 162 people on board the Air-bus A320.

A multinational search and rescue operation has recovered 59 bodies so far and located both “black box” flight recorders, which will provide clues as to why the plane crashed.

The cause of AirAsia’s first fatal crash is not yet known, though investigators have ruled out foul play.

Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan on Tuesday told a parlia-mentary hearing that radar data

showed the plane had climbed faster than normal in its final minutes, and then stalled.

Three days after the crash a source familiar with initial in-vestigations had told Reuters the plane appeared to have made an “unbelievably steep climb” that may have pushed it beyond its performance envelope.

The National Transport Safety Committee (NTSC), which is re-sponsible for the crash investiga-tions in Indonesia, is set to release some initial findings next week, but its full preliminary report will not be made public.

The final report on the investi-gation, which will be made public, must be filed within a year. (rtr)

KUPANG - Indonesia, through the National Narcotics Board (BNN) of East Nusa Tenggara, and Timor Leste will establish a Drugs Control Sta-tion at the crossing gate of Motaain, located in Belu District, East Nusa Tenggara.

“The one system service and con-trol station will involve all parties, including the Police Departments of Timor Leste and Indonesia, the In-donesian National Armed Forces, the customs, and other related institutions at the border areas,” BNN Head of East Nusa Tenggara Alo Dando stated on Thursday.

He noted that the station will be established to prevent the international drugs syndicates from entering Indo-nesia via Timor Leste.

“The plan for establishing the drugs control station has been discussed at the ministerial level between Indone-sia and Timor Leste,” Alo said.

According to him, the station will be built in the neutral zone at the border area located in Motaain and Batugade.

The station will be equipped with advanced instruments to detect any form of drug probably smuggled through the borders.

“This is the best way to prevent the international drugs syndicates from entering Indonesia via Timor Leste, especially through Motaain and Batugade,” Alo emphasized.

He stated that during this time, the border areas of Indonesia and Timor Leste in Motaain, Belu District, have been crossing lanes for the drugs syndicates due to lack of supervision and control.

“We hope that by establishing this joint station, we can break the drug syndicates’ supply chains and protect our country and generation from drugs,” Alo added. (ant)

ENTIKONG - President Joko Widodo has urged related parties to develop the border area of Entikong in Sanggau district, West Kaliman-tan province, within the next two years.

“I hope the (Entikong border region) can be developed in the next two years. We can question the public works minister if there is no transformation. We will commence the project in March in all sectors. I will visit the place again next De-cember (to inspect the progress),” the president said on Wednesday (January 21) while visiting the bor-der checkpoint post.

President Joko Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi, stated that the government will develop

all sectors in Entikong, including services, buildings, and a lane sys-tem of roads. He plans to build four traffic lanes, particularly around the checkpoint post area.

According to Jokowi, the En-tikong border region has not seen any development in 25 years.

“There will be no development and the area will continue to be like this if we don’t make an effort now. I hope my visit serves as an impetus to develop buildings, roads, bridges and public services in the region,” he remarked.

Efforts towards the project should be completed within the next two years so illegal smuggling and trade can be prevented by implementing an appropriate system of services.

“I will order related ministries to develop the Entikong border area. This venture will be made a priority by the central government,” Jokowi affirmed.

Furthermore, Chairman of the Se-kayam Dayaknese Tradition Council Aris Haryono hoped that Jokowi’s visit to Entikong would lead to posi-tive changes in the front border area of Indonesia.

“(I hope) Jokowi’s visit provides the motivation required to develop Entikong as the pride of the Indone-sian front yard,” Haryono stressed.

Entikong shares a border with the Sarawak state of Malaysia. Most of its people work as farmers in rice fields, as well as in pepper, cocoa and rubber plantations. (ant)

REUTERS/Miss Universe Organization

Elvira Devinamira, Miss Indonesia 2014 competes on stage in her evening gown during the Miss Universe Preliminary Show in Miami, Florida in this January 21, 2015 handout photo.

Divers recover bodies from near crashed AirAsia jet fuselage

ABOARD KRI BANDA ACEH - Indonesian divers on Thursday found six bodies near the fuselage of an AirAsia jet that crashed last month into the Java Sea, but were unable to enter the wreckage where most of the victims are believed to be trapped, a navy official said.

Jokowi pushes for development of Entikong

Indonesia, Timor Leste to establis drugs control station

U.S. objectives during Thursday’s session include the lifting of restric-tions on American diplomats in Cuba and assurances that Cubans will have unfettered access to a future U.S. Embassy in Havana. The Americans say the resumption in full diplomatic relations depends on how quickly its requests are met. Cuba is demanding its removal from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which Wash-ington says it is considering.

On Wednesday, the U.S. said it dispatched additional ships to the Florida Straits to halt Cuban rafters but rebuffed demands for broader changes to U.S. migration rules that grant virtu-ally automatic legal residency to any Cuban who touches U.S. soil.

Cuba’s government blames the Cold War policy for luring tens of thousands of Cubans a year to make perilous journeys by land and sea to try to reach the United States. Still, many Cubans are worried the elimination of the rules would take away their chance to have a better life in the U.S.

In Washington, U.S. Homeland

Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said America’s “wet foot, dry foot” ap-proach, which generally shields Cu-bans from deportation if they reach U.S. territory, remains in effect. But he stressed that those trying to come illegally would most likely be inter-dicted and returned.

U.S. officials reported a spike in the number of rafters attempting to reach Florida after the Dec. 17 announce-ment that the countries would move to normalize ties. Those numbers appear to have slowed in recent days.

“Cuba wants a normal relationship with the U.S., in the broadest sense but also in the area of migration,” said Cuba’s head of North American affairs, Josefina Vidal. She called for the U.S. to end “exceptional treatment that no other citizens in the world receive, causing an irregular situation in the flow of migrants.”

American officials instead pressed Cuba to take back tens of thou-sands of its nationals whom U.S. authorities want to deport because they have been convicted of crimes. No progress was made on that issue,

according to an official present in the meeting. The official wasn’t au-thorized to speak on the matter and demanded anonymity.

The talks Thursday are expected to focus on the broader question of how the U.S. and Cuba can end a half-century of enmity — as promised by Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro last month. The nations hope to re-establish embassies and post ambassadors to each other’s capitals in the coming months.

After meeting with the Cubans for more than three hours, the State Department’s Alex Lee said the “discussions prove that despite clear differences that remain between our countries, the United States and Cuba can find opportunities to advance our mutual, shared interests as well as engage in respectful and thoughtful dialogue.”

Lee led the U.S. delegation ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s arrival of Roberta Jacobson, the top American diplomat for Latin America and most senior U.S. official to visit Cuba since 1980. (ap)

BANGKOK — Thailand’s for-mer Prime Minister Yingluck Shi-nawatra has stoutly defended her government’s money-losing rice subsidy program, seeking to stave off a legislative vote that could ban her from politics for five years.

The 220-member legislature, installed by the military after a coup last May, will vote Friday on whether to impeach Yingluck. Impeachment requires a three-fifth vote of the members, almost all of whom are part of the military or

political opponents of Yingluck.Yingluck said Thursday the

subsidy program benefited Thai farmers, and denied she was re-sponsible for any corruption as-sociated with it. She accused the anti-graft watchdog that accused her of wrongdoing of lacking the legitimacy to judge her.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission held Yingluck respon-sible for failing to halt the program, which cost the government about $4 billion. (ap)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s su-preme court has sentenced a former vice president to five years in prison and ordered him to pay a 10 billion rial ($300,000) fine, the country’s official news agency said.

The IRNA report late Wednes-day did not specify what Moham-mad Reza Rahimi, a top aide to ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadine-jad, was convicted of but said the verdict was binding. It also said the court ordered Rahimi to pay compensation equivalent to some $800,000.

A local court had initially sen-tenced Rahimi to 15 years prison,

but the supreme court reduced the term to five years and three months, IRNA said. Rahimi has long main-tained his innocence

Opponents of Ahmadinejad’s hard-line government have long ac-cused his administration of massive corruption. Ahmadinejad’s succes-sor, President Hassan Rouhani, in December criticized growing corruption in the country in unusu-ally blunt terms, saying that bribes once paid secretly are now being disbursed in the open. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly claimed that he led the “cleanest administration” in Iran’s history. (ap)AP Photo/Desmond Boylan

Ministry of Foreign Relations General Director for the United States, Josefina Vidal, and Cuban delegation members, sit across from U.S. delegates as they begin negotiations, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

US, Cuba address obstacles to resuming diplomatic ties

HAVANA — The United States and Cuba are trying to eliminate obstacles to normalized ties as the highest-level U.S. delegation to the communist island in more than three decades holds a second day of talks with Cuban officials.

Iran gives ex-vice president 5-year prison term

Ousted Thai PM challenges rice subsidy impeachment case

AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, center, leaves parliament in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. Thailand’s military-appointed legislature is set to vote on impeachment against Yingluck over a government’s rice subsidy scheme on Friday.

Bali News Friday, January 23, 2015 5InternationalFriday, January 23, 201512 International

BUSINESS

Macau has enjoyed a tourism boom, with gamblers coming to bet at more than 30 casinos, including the Venetian Macau, the world’s largest. Cities in wealthy, developed coun-tries tended to lag behind. Though most of the cities surveyed around the world have recovered from the Great Recession, 65 percent of European and 57 percent of North American cities have not, according to the study, which ranks cities by growth in employment and in economic output per person. Some highlights:

Joseph Parilla, a Brookings re-search analyst who co-wrote the report, said he was surprised by the “incredible differentiation within what are considered monolithic eco-nomic blocs.” Latin American cities, for instance, mostly sputtered. But Medellin, Colombia, and Lima, Peru, both broke into the top 50.

Cities in wealthy countries tended to perform poorly. But U.S. and British cities showed improvement. Three U.S. cities — Austin and Houston, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina — cracked the top 50. In the United Kingdom, London came in No. 26, Manchester No. 60.

The United States and Britain have begun to pick up economic momentum 5½ years after the reces-sion ended.

“In developed economies like North America and Western Europe, cities like London and Houston are flying high, while others like Rotterdam and

Montreal are struggling,” Parilla said.Twenty-seven of the 50 top-per-

forming cities were Chinese. Increas-ingly, strong growth occurred in the traditionally underdeveloped cities of China’s interior, rather than its booming coastal cities. Land-locked Changsha, for instance, enjoyed

economic growth per person of 8.6 percent last year and wound up No. 15 in the overall rankings.

The coastal manufacturing pow-erhouse of Dongguan, next door to Hong Kong, registered per-capita economic growth of just 5.2 percent (unimpressive by Chinese standards)

and finished No. 70. Companies have begun to move inland as the cost of labor and land rises on the Chinese coast. And the Chinese government has invested heavily on infrastructure in the interior.

The 18 cities worldwide that spe-cialized in producing commodities such as oil registered the highest rates of growth in economic output per person (2.6 percent) and employment (1.9 percent).

“The recent rise in oil and gas production in North America partly

explains the success of metropolitan areas like Calgary, Denver, Houston, and Tulsa, which are epicenters of the region’s shale revolution,” the report said.

Next year’s rankings may be dif-ferent. Oil prices have plunged to less than $48 a barrel from $107 a barrel last June, jeopardizing the prospects of cities that had been riding the energy boom.

Four Turkish cities made the top 10: Izmir, Istanbul, Bursa and An-kara. Turkish cities boomed last year despite political unrest. “If you look at world headlines, Turkey is not in the news for its economic success, but it probably should be,” Brook-ings’ Parilla says. “It has pretty solid macroeconomic policies.”

Turkey benefits from its location at the boundary between Europe and Asia and from heavy investment in roads and other infrastructure projects, which creates jobs over the short term and is likely to make the economy more efficient over the long term. (ap)

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is planning to sell wireless phone ser-vice directly to consumers using the networks of Sprint and T-Mobile, according to reports published Wednesday.

If everything falls into place, Google Inc. could offer discounted wireless data plans that would pres-sure other major carriers to offer better deals and services or risk los-ing customers to a powerful rival.

More affordable plans, in turn, could bring more people online, something that Google is trying

to do because it runs the Internet’s dominant search engine and largest advertising network. The Mountain View, California, company would profit from a potentially larger audi-ence for its services.

Google also implants its services in its Android mobile operating system, the mostly widely used software on smartphones.

Both the technology news site The Information and The Wall Street Journal reported Google’s intention to become a wireless service provider. The reports cited

unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Representatives from Google, Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. declined to comment on the reports.

It’s unclear how widely Google plans to sell wireless plans to smartphone owners or when the service would launch. The company already is selling an ultra-fast Inter-net and cable TV service directly to homes, but that Google Fiber product so far is only available in parts of Kansas City, Kansas; Kan-

sas City, Missouri; Provo, Utah; and Austin, Texas.

Google’s plans to make its entry into the wireless Internet market by buying access on the networks of Sprint and T-Mobile is known as a mobile virtual network opera-tor, or MVNO, agreement. Google probably will still have to set up its own operations to handle customer service and billing, an area in which the company doesn’t have much previous expertise.

Leasing space to Google repre-sents a calculated risk by Sprint, the

third largest wireless carrier, and T-Mobile, the four largest. While a deal with Google figures to boost their revenue, it also opens the door for a deep-pocketed company that could turn into a competitive threat.

T-Mobile already has been shak-ing up the industry during the past year by cutting prices and introducing new service plans that have prompted the two biggest car-riers, Verizon Communications and AT&T Inc., to match some of the features. (ap)

Top 10 Cities Economic Performance

------------------------------------- Rank Country City

-------------------------------------1 Macau Macau2 Turkey Izmir 3 Turkey Istanbul4 Turkey Bursa5 UAE Dubai6 China Kunming7 China Hangzhou8 China Xiamen9 Turkey Ankara10 China Fuzhou

Google planning to sell wireless phone service

Macau ranks No. 1 in economic performance among world cities

WASHINGTON — Macau, the Chinese territory known for casino gambling, outperformed the rest of the world’s major cities economically last year, according to a report out Thursday. Cities in the developing world, especially China, dominated the top of the annual economic rank-ings of 300 cities worldwide by the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase. One exception: Bangkok, Thailand, came in last, its economy wrecked by political strife.

AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File

In this Feb. 1, 2014 file photo, tourists walk at the famous tourist spot Senado Square on the second day of the Chinese New Year in Macau. Macau was the world’s top-performing metro area in 2014, according to a report released Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.

Driven by the sense of apprehen-siveness to rare music, the young artist I Ketut Lanus and his friends tried to make an experiment of the genggong music. Under the banner of Cahya Art Studio, Lanus pack-aged the ancient music with new motives, so that it made it more attractive and innovative. “We are not changing the existing genggong style, but only give a fresh new look,” he said amidst his exercise.

Genggong, a musical instrument made from palm frond was usually used to accompany the performance of ballet with the storyline Godon-gan (giant frog). It was commonly performed in every Hindu ritual,

and other spiritual events. This rare type of music is not as popular as the gong kebyar gamelan music. It is very rare and can be found in Karangasem, Batuan village, Gi-anyar and the Munduk Lumbang, Baturiti, Tabanan.

Now, this kind of art is presented more attractively. Elements of the dance, theater and vocal music are nicely arranged. New ideas are also developed so as to achieve the necessary perfection of the society today. This composition reveals the visual sound, without story but illustrates the frog character such as when it is walking and express-ing its behavior in the community

group. Although it is small, the quality is maintained, does not impoverish the existing arts.

Its composition remains to form a total music, while the players dance by highlighting the sound of giant frog. They dance like a frog, while joking and then playing a music instrument, blowing and playing the flute of various sizes. “We just tried to make an experi-ment, whether it is good or bad, it does not matter. I’m sure the next will be nice,” said Lanus while adding that such experimental art would be presented in a jazz event in Bali.

The songs presented were also

new, yet it remained to reflect the traditional and classical nuance. In other words, he did not take the song from the existing geng-gong, but creating a new one in accordance with the needs of the contemporary art. The experiment lasting about 20 minutes also still included the standard style in Balinese traditional gamelan, such as introduction, content and ending.

Such an innovative artwork was begun by the coming out of frogs that danced with joy. While danc-ing, they also played music by their own mouth. Intertwine of the sound one, two, three and so on was heard so sweet and melodious describing the joy of the frogs. Sometimes, the amphibious animals living on land and in the water were also described by their singing.

In the next section, the frog

dancers sat down and had a cap-pella music singing the songs with frog nuance and the natural beauty of rice fields as the background. When entering the main part of the performance, they played gamelan instruments, such as drums, cym-bals, flute, single gong chime and kenyur and genggong. The illustra-tion music was accompanied with the blend of genggong.

Ending part of the performance was filled with melancholic songs remaining to sound sweet. Two genggong players danced to express their while joy living in the wild. Aside from Lanus, this experiment was also supported by five artists being skillful in playing the origi-nal genggong from Batuan village such as Wayan Sudarsana, Made Suryana, Nyoman Suwida, Nyoman Suarsana, Wayan Suarsa and Putu Eka Putra. (kmb)

Making a visit to Sanur Beach seems incomplete without tasting the delicacy of seafood offered by Mak Beng Food Stall. Her seafood becoming the mainstay menu has exceptional taste. Moreover, her fish head soup is very delicious. Assorted Balinese spices applied makes the fish fresh and abrasive. As a result, the fishy aroma is virtually not tasted. Even, the delicious fried fish with chili paste is really palatable.

Mak Beng Food Stall is located on Sanur Beach, precisely on Jalan Hang Tuah 45, Sanur. The food stall established by Mak Beng (Ni Ketut Tjuki) in 1941 is very special. Every day many customers throng the food stall. Sometimes, they become a quite unique view when seeing a long line of cus-tomers who want to eat in the food stall.

Typical characteristic of Mak Beng is the sambal on offer. Its taste is indeed different, both in terms of ingredients and preparation process. Moreover, the fish used remain fresh such as giant trevally, red snapper, grouper, barracuda, and mackerel.

Its serving process is very quick. Having got a seat, the dish has been ready within no more than seven minutes. It happens because the attendants directly prepare the menu in accordance with the number of order. Similarly, it is also supported by the attendants that have been skillful in their field. As a result, no customer will be dissatisfied when enjoying the seafood offered by Mak Beng.

A portion consists of white rice, fried fish and fish head soup that can be replaced with vegetable soup. In the process, Mak Beng highly pays attention to the standardization of raw materials and hygiene. “To maintain the distinctive taste, I try hard to pay attention to standardization and hygiene of the cui-sine,” revealed a waitress of the food stall.

Based on the information, the Mak Beng food stall now managed by the third generation is visited by averagely 200 people per day. Aside from local community, many domestic and foreign tourists also like to eat here. Even, there are people de-liberately coming to Sanur just for eating at Mak Beng food stall. It means the name of Mak Beng is well remembered by its customers although it is now managed by the third generation. Its name has been legendary. (kmb)

Experiment of Genggong Traditional MusicHave you ever heard about genggong? This Balinese traditional music instrument is quite rare.

In the 1980s, every day after the nightfall the genggong (jaw harp) was always aired by radio station on this island. Now, one of the unique vibrating instruments was barely audible again. Sometimes, the Bali Arts Festival (BAF) denoting the medium of preservation and development of the rare arts also showed it off.

Mak Beng Food Stall:A legendary premises offering seafood delicacy

IBP/File Photo

Making a visit to Sanur Beach seems incomplete without tasting the delicacy of seafood offered by Mak Beng Food Stall.

International4 Friday, January 23, 2015 Friday, January 23, 2015 13InternationalBali News

In the implementation in the field, a number of health officers of Buleleng Hospital were deployed immediately to help the prime urine test to hundreds of employees. The employees flocked to toilet. After that, they submitted their urine sample put in plastic pot accom-panied with complete identity to health officers.

The first target in this agenda included the Municipal Police of Buleleng, Buleleng Develop-ment Planning Board (Bappeda), Financial and Asset Management Agency as well as the employees in the Buleleng House. Regent Surad-nyana assessed the inspection and urine test would indicate whether the employees consumed drugs or not. If they indeed used drugs, a decisive action and severe sanctions would be imposed to them.

“This drug inspection is not

made because there was a case of employee being caught recently. We had long planned and it is the right time and coincidently after holiday. In this drug inspection with urine test, if any civil servants are identified to consume drugs, they will be cracked dawn on pursuant to applicable rules. Meanwhile, if they are contracted employees, we’ll immediately terminate their contract,” he said.

Director of Buleleng Hospital, Gede Wiartana, added that the implementation urine test was an instruction of Regent Suradnyana where the hospital officers had pre-pared 500 urine pots. The test aimed to check the ranks of employees in the Buleleng government whether they used drugs or not. “We from the Buleleng Hospital have pre-pared 500 urine pots. Our prime target today (Wednesday—Ed) is

the employees of Municipal Police of Buleleng, Bappeda Buleleng and Financial Agency, while the other agencies will soon follow. Drug users will be detected immediately if they actually consume drugs,” he added.

The Head of Buleleng Develop-ment Planning Board (Bappeda), Gde Darmaja, revealed the imple-mentation of urine test was one of the evaluations against the condi-tion as well as the staff and civil servants in Buleleng government. When there were indications on drugs in the body of the employ-ees, they would be provided with further coaching. “In the Bappeda agency, the participants of urine test were 120 people, consisting of the officials, civil servants and staff. Hopefully, all our employees are free from the use of drugs,” he said. (kmb34)

GIANYAR - Hundreds of chil-dren in colorful ornaments from seven hamlets at Tegallalang vil-lage participated in the ngerebeg tradition, Wednesday (Jan 20). This tradition was held in series of piodalan or anniversary of the Duur Bingin Temple, Tengah hamlet, Tegallalang village.

Based on observat ion on Wednesday, from 10:00 a.m. one by one of the boys in a variety of ornaments already thronged the Duur Bingin Temple. It was carried out as preparation for the implementation of ngerebeg ritual. Up to 12:00 a.m. shortly after the children gathered in the innermost courtyard of the temple, proces-sion of the ngerebeg was com-menced. It included the worship and invoked rice and lawar through megibung. “This event is reserved for children devotional workers,” said Pande Wayan Karsa, Chief of Tegallalang customary village when met amidst the ritual last Wednesday.

He added the special event was followed by children from seven hamlets at Tegallalang such as the Penusuan, Tengah, Tegal, Triwan-gsa, Tegallalang, Gagah and Pejeng Aji. “Actually the supporting devo-tees (penyungsung) of this Duur

Bingin Temple only amount to five hamlets. However, especially for children of Gagah and Pejeng Aji hamlet also participate in this ritual,” he said.

Furthermore, he added the nger-ebeg ritual was started in front of the Duur Bingin Temple, then the children brought along a miniature of penjor from the stem of snake-fruit trees and walked along some 10 km to surround the village of Tegallalang.

Wayan Karsa explained the ritual was also associated with the pres-ence of Duur Bingin Temple being different from the others because the deity venerated at the temple was the Ratu Gede in the form of a pair of Barong Landung Istri and Lanang (male and female). “So this ritual has the meaning as thanksgiv-ing. In the morning children put the offerings of fruit, flowers and others, while in the afternoon they perform this ritual,” he said.

This ritual could draw the at-tention of dozens of travelers that happened to or deliberately wanted to watch the ritual. Even, many members of the community were seen sitting in front of their home and art shops to witness the imple-mentation of ritual held every six months. (nik)

KABUL, Afghanistan — Around 100 people have demonstrated in the Afghan capital against the publishers of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, accusing them of blasphemy.

Many of the protesters carried banners emblazoned with a red heart and the name of the Prophet Muhammad as they marched near the French Embassy in Kabul on Thursday. Some in the crowd chanted “We love Muhammad.”

Protest organizer Abdul Saboor Fakheri says the demonstrators want the Afghan government to close the French Embassy and expel the ambassador to ease the anger that he says Afghans feel toward the magazine.

There have been small, sporadic protests in Afghanistan since two gunmen attacked Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office on Jan. 7 for ridicul-ing the Prophet Muhammad in the magazine’s cartoons. (ap)

IBP/Manik

The children in Tegallalang Village, Gianyar participate in Ngerebeg Tradition

Seven hamlets join “Ngerebeg” Tradition

IBP/Dewa Kusuma

Hundreds of civil cervants in Buleleng take part in the urine test

Hundreds of staff and civil servants in

Buleleng take urine testSINGARAJA - Buleleng government organized urine test for all staff and civil servants in an-

ticipating the widespread use of drugs in the area of government milieu. The Regent of Buleleng, Putu Agus Suradnyana, accompanied by Deputy Regent, Nyoman Sutjidra, Chairman of the Buleleng House, Gede Supriatna, along with the heads of the agencies made a raid to monitor the implementation of urine test at each agency, Wednesday morning (Jan 21).

Afghans protest against French

magazine in Kabul

AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

Afghans hold posters that read, “I love Muhammad,” during a protest against caricatures pub-lished in French magazine Charlie Hebdo outside the French embassy, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.

That is just part of the toll from more than two weeks of attacks sparked by the latest clash between Bangladesh’s two main, long-feuding political factions. Since Jan. 5 — the one-year anniversary of the last election — at least 28 people have been killed, nearly 700 vehicles have been smashed or torched and much of the country’s transportation system has been at a standstill.

Supporters of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who boycot-ted the last vote, demand that the government resign and hold new

elections immediately, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says her government will remain in office until her term ends in 2019. The violence ended a year of relative calm and has raised fears it may escalate as it did in 2013, when political violence left nearly 300 people dead.

“It’s a terrible situation we are in. We are terrified,” said Abu Bakar Siddique, a businessman. “My kids’ schools are closed, I am afraid of going outside ... pictures of burned bodies in newspapers. All very disturbing.” Both sides

had planned rallies on the Jan. 5 election anniversary; police ended up banning all rallies but Zia vowed to protest, anyway.

The opposition said authori-ties have locked Zia in her office since Jan. 5, when she attempted to visit her party headquarters, where her alliance’s rally was to be held. Zia then announced a nonstop transportation blockade across the country until the govern-ment steps down. There have also been general strikes and violence including arson against buildings and vehicles and drive-by attacks

by unidentified assailants.Authorities say Zia can go

home anytime, but cannot move anywhere else unless she asks her supporters to shun violence. The opposition blames the government for some of the violence, includ-ing the shooting of an adviser to Zia last week. The government denies involvement but says it will investigate.

On Tuesday, Hasina reiterated, in a speech in Parliament, that she will not step down. She asked security officials to take a tougher stand against the violence and said Zia would be tried if it continued. A Cabinet member said the gov-ernment is thinking about issuing “shoot-at-sight” orders against arsonists.

On Wednesday, the Zia-led al-liance enforced a general strike in central Bangladesh and a south-western region to protest, and it vowed to continue the transporta-tion blockade nonstop across the country.

About 7,000 opposition leaders and activists have been arrested over last 16 days across the coun-try, according to a figure provided by the Police Headquarters in Dhaka. Zia’s alliance says that is an attempt to silence them, but authorities allege those detained are responsible for violence and sabotage. Western diplomats, the United States and the United Na-tions have urged all sides to shun violence and peacefully resolve disputes. (ap)

Strikes, attacks bring turbulent politics back to Bangladesh

AP Photo/A.M. Ahad

In this Jan. 21, 2015 photo, Bangladeshi police stand guard in front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) party office during the nationwide strike called by them in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A 2½-year-old victim of a homemade bomb lies in an intensive care unit with burns to his face, head and other body parts. In another hospital, 17 people, includ-ing students and a teacher, are being treated for similar injuries. Another victim, a schoolboy, lost both his eyes.

3Friday, January 23, 201514 InternationalInternational Bali NewsFashion Friday, January 23, 2015

The slogan, worn on the torso of a male model, opened a show by Walter Van Beirendonck. The Belgian de-signer told reporters he had “to react” to the January 7-9 bloodshed by three jihadist gunmen who slaughtered staff at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and killed four Jews in a supermarket hostage drama.

Increased security in Paris, with thousands of armed police and soldiers posted across the city and bag checks at the entry to fashion shows, were other signs of the impact the attacks have had.

But fears that some VIPs and buy-ers might be too jittery to turn up for

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon

‘Stop Terrorising Our World’ is message on Paris catwalkPARIS - “Stop Terrorising Our World”: the message sent down the catwalk on the first day

of the Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday highlighted the lingering trauma in the French capital two weeks on from the Islamist attacks it suffered.

the Paris Fashion Week have proven unfounded, according to the Federa-tion Francaise de la Couture organis-ing the event.

Stephane Wargnier, head of the fed-eration, told AFP: “For the moment, everything is going well. Everybody is here and we’re happy that the shows are going on normally. Because life goes on.”

The first few days of the Paris Fash-ion Week roll out around 50 menswear Autumn-Winter collections for some 4,000 people -- designers, buyers, ce-lebrities, journalists, bloggers, mavens and well-connected fashion fans.

From Sunday, an elite core will

stay on when proceedings get more exclusive, with five days of women’s Haute Couture for Spring-Summer by the likes of Versace, Chanel and Christian Dior.

So far, most of the other designers have steered clear of making refer-ences to the Paris attacks.

That was the case for Lucien Pellat-Finet, a French designer who exports most of his high-end cashmere streetwear imprinted with images of skulls and cannabis leaves.

“You can’t let yourself be swept away by any sort of depression,” he said.

“Where there is life there is hope,”

he added. “The message of French fashion is that it’s an idea of liberty.”

22/4 Hommes and Y/Project, two other labels presenting their collec-tions, concentrated more on bending the gender barriers in ‘menswear’, sending out a couple of female models down the catwalk among androgynous male counterparts.

Valentino brought out a classic, sober collection with black, greys and natural browns to the fore.

For Van Beirendonck, though, put-ting messages into the mix was what he felt to be his artistic duty.

“Initially I didn’t want to make statements. But when you see what is happening in the world you have to react.”

After his “Stop Terrorising Our World” model, he sent others down the catwalk in an eclectically styled

range that used animal sketches, Picasso-style abstracts and 3D-printed jewellery.

Almost all the clothes incorporated “butt plug” symbols -- a nod to a giant inflatable sculpture in the same form done by an American artist, Paul Mc-Carthy, that was vandalised soon after being set up in Paris last October on the same chic Place Vendome where the fashion show took place.

“It’s almost a homage to him (Mc-Carthy). Because I know him, not very well, but I know him... And so the butt plug is pretty much everywhere” in the collection, Van Beirendonck said.

The succession of messages were exhortations for freedom of expres-sion, he said.

“I believe no-one has the right to tell anyone else that he can’t show what he wants to.” (afp)

Models show men’s fall-winter 2015/2016 fashion collection presented in Paris, France during Paris Fashion Week.

AP Photo/Francois Mori AP Photo/Jacques Brinon AP Photo/Jacques Brinon AP Photo/Jacques Brinon

“Some prices increase, while some others go down. But most prices of commodities indeed have increased,” said the Head of the Badung Cooperative Agency, Ketut Karpiana. He said the market operation was regularly held every week. But lately, a special monitoring was made related to the fuel price policy. Fluctuating fuel prices also caused the prices of commodities to be gen-erally unstable. He claimed to be unable to do much because the price of commodities depended on market mechanism.

To that end, Karpiana appealed to distributors and traders in order not to ridicule prices. His party also threatened to crack down on anyone who dared to hoard commodities. The law on trade mentioned that the per-petrator of commodity hoarding could be prosecuted with criminal sanction for 5-year imprisonment and a fine of IDR 20 billion.

Meanwhile, from the observation made last Wednes-day, the price of commodities had increased compared to last week. The price of local rice was ranging from IDR 10,000 up to IDR 11,000. Chicken meat rose to IDR 32,500 from IDR 28 125. In the meantime, the decline in prices occurred in some types of commodities such as sugar from IDR 10,750 to IDR 9,750. (kmb25)

DENPASAR - Evidently fraud under the guise of investment remains rife in Bali. At least, there were 80 cases of investment fraud that had been reported to the Consumer Protection Foundation (YLPK) of Bali.

“There is a pretty significant in-crease. Besides, consumers in Bali start to have courage to complain or sue the issue of consumer protec-tion,” said Director of the Consumer Protection Foundation of Bali, I Putu Armaya, when contacted.

According to him, the consumer complaint in 2014 showed an increase compared to that of 2013. From the data gathered in 2014, the complaints throughout the year 2014 amounted to 476 cases, while in 2013 reached 338 cases. Of the complaints received, 80 cases were related to investment fraud.

“We will send a formal letter to the businessmen who complained by consumers, so that there are efforts to improve their services in the future,” he said.

He said, from the existing cases, there was possibility for making medi-ation between the businesses and con-sumers. His party would take decisive

IBP/Wawan

Though the prices of fuel were already decreased, most prices of commodities in the market, especially in Badung, even kept rising.

Fuel prices down, but price of most commodities even rises

MANGUPURA - Though the prices of fuel were already decreased, most prices of commodi-ties in the market, especially in Badung, even kept rising. It was revealed when the Badung Cooperatives, Industry and Trade Agency held a market operation, Wednesday (Jan 20).

YLPK Bali receives tens of complaints about investment fraud case

IBP/File Photo

Motorists pass office of Koperasi Karangasem Membangun (KKM), one fraud investment causing harm society. Evi-dently fraud under the guise of investment remains rife in Bali. At least, there were 80 cases of investment fraud that had been reported to the Consumer Protection Foundation (YLPK) of Bali.

action through a legal action. Even, it could be sued in a class action.

“In accordance with the Law No. 8/1999 on the Protection of Consum-ers, any violating business perpetrator can be cracked down on or imposed with consumer criminal act of 5-year imprisonment or a fine worth IDR 2 billion,” he said.

He invited all people in order not to be easily lured with high investment returns. Any investment like multi level marketing (MLM), insurance and the like were prevalent today and many of them framed up the community.

“Currently many consumers are complaining as becoming the victim of investment fraud. Government in-tervention in this case is surely needed by consumers, especially the lower middle class consumers. However, in principle the community should not be lured with high investment returns. Firstly check whether the investment has owned a permit,” he explained.

Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Bali also asked the public to be alert and not easily tempted by the offer with high or double gains in short term. The Head of FSA Bali, Zulmi, gave three tips in making investment,

namely by identifying the needs and product, identifying the benefits and risks that might incur in transaction and identifying the rights and obliga-tions related to the transaction. “People must always be careful and never be tempted by high rewards. If finding any doubt, simply contact the FSA,” he said.

He added that various types of

investment offered by companies in the field appeared in numbers. Thus, people had to be increasingly cautious in making investment or managing their money. All this time, what ap-pearing to the surface was problem-atic investment company (financial services company) because they were suspected of having no license or il-legal. (kmb27)

International2 Friday, January 23, 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

Friday, January 23, 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

The beachfront resort welcomes fami-lies with open arms with its extensive landscaped gardens offering a vast choice of leisure and recreational facilities, includ-ing six pools, tennis courts, a spa, and a 24-hour fitness centre. Additionally, the beautiful beach environment is a natural playground for adults and children alike, lending itself to numerous recreational pursuits from beach volley ball to a diverse array of water sports.

The 35-metre Main Pool is especially family-orientated with a shallow water area for children; it is conveniently flanked by Jimbaran Gardens restaurant and Pool Bar, which makes for casual family-style poolside drinks and dining. Additionally the two Fun Pools are ideal for children with two water fountains providing – as the name suggests – lots of fun, while the Fountain Pool is especially suitable for adults and teenagers, and quality family time.

Planet Trekkers kids’ clubis structured as a mini-resort for kids aged from four to twelve years and designed to ensure that youngsters have as much fun when they are on holiday as their parents do. The club facilitates a dedicated, fully super-vised and secure child-care centre within a dynamic, fun and nurturing environment. Here, children can interact with other like-minded junior travellers and participate in

a programme of child-orientated activities, with cultural and eco-leanings to keep them entertained for hours on end.

Along with a highly-trained team of recreation attendants, the Resort presents a daily schedule of leisure pursuits that all members of the family can enjoy. From village cycling tours to interactive Balinese cooking classes, sunrise yoga, or a chance to master the art of traditional Balinese dance, music or wood carving, these activi-ties incorporate all ages and preferences, promising an interesting and pleasing mix of art, culture and sports, maximizing all aspects of the resort, the local fishing com-munity and the island.

Guests can also help Bali’s on-going en-vironmental conservation by participating in the Resort’s year-round Turtle Release Programme. This heart-warming experi-ence of releasing baby turtles back into Jimbaran Bay is especially popular with children, teaching them good conservation habits and environmental awareness from an early age.

Intercontinental Bali Resort offers three exclusive tiers of accommodation: Resort Classic, Singaraja, and Club InterConti-nental, incorporating adjoining rooms and suites suitable for families, as well as the palatial 2-bedroom Imperial Villa and the elite 2-bedroom Jivana Villa.

Children and infant menus, as well

Fun, friendly and energetic, those words are suitable for General Manager Harris Seminyak Hotel, Sebastien. Since the pre-opening of the hotel on December 2013, Sebastien is very optimist to improve the company including the human re-sources. Sebastien manages the hotel with facilities consist of three swimming fool, 5 meeting rooms, spa, gym, juice bar, Har-ris boutique, kids club, 231 rooms and DJ lounge. Even, it has private beach in which the guest will pick up buggy to the beach, there are umbrellas and long chairs.

Harris Seminyak is located in a perfect spot, close to Legian and Kuta area, night club, affordable price and staffs do good job. The concept, culture and brand of Harris Seminyak are totally different from others Tauzia Hotel Management. Yet, the vision and the spirit is globally the same.

“Wherever I am placed by Tauzia, it is easy for myself to have a good spirit,” said the man who was the GM at Eden Hotel.

In Harris Seminyak, he always mo-tivates his team to be close with people. Starting from check in until check out, the team must make the guest happy. “I like to be close with the people and also the staff. How I could make the guest to be happy but the staff is not. So, human touch is important and I did not want begin with a lot of stress,” he said friendly.

There are two different things in work-ing, he said. Working because of money that will make the people working to get salary or working because of loving the job. The result, when people like doing the job, they will do the best. “We have one life. So let us have a fun always!” he closed. (ocha)

IBP/Courtesy of Intercontinental Bali

Top class family facilities at Intercontinental Bali

JIMBArAN - As the recent recipient of The Indonesia Travel and Tourism Award in the category of ‘Indonesia’s Leading Family resort,’ InterContinental Bali Resort is pleased to confirm its ongoing commit-ment to the provision of top class family facilities as well as a wide and exciting range of activities aimed at parents, teens and children.

as half portions, are available at all the Resort’s restaurants, where the chefs will also endeavor to create special dishes to suit any family’s dietary needs. For those with no restrictions the vast array of treats and ice-creams are especially rewarding after a full day of fun. Endless meal options start at breakfast and continue through to wood oven pizzas for lunch, beach side barbeques at sunset,or family dinners in the evenings.

InterContinental Bali Resort offers all of the ingredients for a family-friendly holiday; this is where lifelong family memories are made. (r)

Profile

Sebastien Motivation is the key

IBP/kmb

SEMARAPURA - The existence of Gafatar community group in Bali increasingly reaps controversy. It is often associated with ISIS or terror-ism. As rejecting to be accused of being a heresy associated with radical group, the Gafatar community group protested. Even, the group came to the Klungkung Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday (Jan 21) following the dis-cussion recently held was not attended by any officials even though relevant agencies had been invited.

Gafatar community group came to the Klungkung Prosecutor’s Of-fice with four representatives. They included the Chief of Gafatar Klung-kung, Hengky Mustofa, Chief of Bali

Gafatar Zainul, Secretary Ari Jamiin and Sasmita Ari Wibawa in charge of economic and welfare division. They were first received by the Section Head of Intelligence Suhadi. In the meeting, Hengky Mustofa said that Gafatar community group established in Bali did not have anything to do with terrorism or ISIS movement and other radical groups. They also conveyed the spirit of the Gafatar establishment. Actually they wanted to establish an NGO, but its legality still found difficulty related to registration certificate which had not been willing to be issued by the National Unity, Politics and Public Protection Agency (Kesbangpolinmas).

“We do not want to be constantly called illegal and associated with ter-rorism. We’ve tried to be legal. But the agency seems to inhibit the application of our registration certificate,” said Hengky Mustofa. Gafatar community group also openly called itself to fol-low the philosophy of Milla Abraham, where in the other region was known to go up against the Islamic Shari’a or heresy. However, this group denied if their ideology was claimed to be heresy. “Even, we’d like to intro-duce this ideology (Milla Abraham’s school) to the public,” said Hengky Mustofa. Chief of Intelligence Section Suhadi when receiving them said that he received the visit of the community

group on behalf of ordinary residents not on behalf of the Gafatar NGO.

It was based on consideration that Gafatar had not owned a registration certificate. He explained that before registered and getting approval an organization they were not allowed to any activities first. Suhadi also warned the group to carefully speak about an ideology. According to him, the current prevalent ideology was Pancasila. Even, he asserted that any community group daring to replace the ideology of Pancasila could be arrested. He also asked the group of people to really understand about the ideology so that no one put it into practice wrongly. Meanwhile, the

Gafatar community group reaffirmed that their group was in compliance with the law and rules.

Representatives of the community group were eventually received by the Head of Klungkung Prosecutor’s Office, Totok Bambang Sapto Dwijo. He affirmed that his party allowed the Gafatar to do any activities provided that they did not violate the law, in accordance with the norms and did not disturb the public. When having no registration certificate, the Head of Prosecutor’s Office suggested the group to submit the registration certificate first, either at the central, provincial or county level so that their legality would be clear. (kmb31)

Chairman of the expert team of the Hindu Dharma Council of Indonesia (PHDI) of Karangasem and Chairman of the Indone-sian Hindu Youth Association of Karangasem, I Putu Arnawa, said that not everyone could serve as coordinator in the megibung event. Only people who better un-derstood about the order of megi-bung could organize the meal.

Putu Arnawa revealed the mounds of rice to be distributed should be made a hollow in the middle. For the first meal, the vegetable delicacy made from starfruit leaf should be eaten up first. This bitter starfruit leaf having the efficacy for reducing cholesterol as well as neutralizing fat became the next dish.

Bitter flavor also symbolized the bitterness of life. Neverthe-less, the starfruit vegetable was very much liked by community

because it offered unique taste in the tongue. “This typical way of eating contains a philosophy of life. The first menu presented is the starfruit vegetable because it tastes bitter just like the bitterness of life. After that, it is resumed with grated coconut dish and the others. Meanwhile, the last deli-cacy taken out is lawar or chopped meat with particular vegetable,” he explained.

When the lawar had run out, the other dishes such as pepes, lampion and satay followed. The megibung tradition reflected the way of eating made by ancient Balinese started with poor food before eating the delicious ones. This method made people accus-tomed to eating without leaving bad meals so that the whole dish could be ate up without wast-ing it.

However, there was a mistaken

Megibung, eating communally

Start from bitter to delicious dish gradually

AMLAPUrA - Megibung or eating communally tradition teaches people to get used to suffer first before enjoying the results. Along the lifetime, there are certainly ups and downs to be passed through. Similar condition is applied in the megibung tradition, where people must start to enjoy the bitter dish first before getting delicious ones.

Being accused of a heresy, Gafatar Klungkung protests

tradition that should be changed today. Typically, for an authority, the food should be left and the rice base used in the megibung was covered. Each cavity should be covered up by leftovers so

that the base was invisible. “This must be changed and leaving food to cover up rice container may no longer be done because it is the same as wasting a lot of food. This mindset must be

revolutionized. Currently, eating up food when holding megibung has become a commonplace and should be done,” said Secretary of the Environment Agency. (dwa)

IBP/Mudiarta

The megibung tradition

The Indonesian government said last week the trafficker, Andrew Chan, would be put to death with another Australian drug smuggler, Myuran Sukumaran, as they had committed their crime together.

Sukumaran’s clemency appeal was rejected last month, and the attorney general had said authori-ties were waiting for the outcome of Chan’s appeal.

There was no immediate response from the Indonesian authorities as

to when the pair might be executed. New President Joko Widodo has taken a tough line on capital punish-ment, vowing no clemency for death row drug convicts.

The men were among a group of Australians, dubbed the “Bali Nine”, arrested in 2005 for attempt-ing to smuggle eight kilogrammes (18 pounds) of heroin out of the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Both men were sentenced to death in 2006, and sought presiden-

tial clemency after losing appeals to Indonesia’s Supreme Court in 2011. They are jailed in Bali’s Kerobokan prison.

A spokesman for the district court in the Balinese capital Den-pasar said he had received a “presi-dential decree on the rejection of clemency for Andrew Chan”.

“The court chief then instruct-ed... that the convict be informed,” he said.

The letter, which was signed on

January 17 and seen by AFP, said: “After careful consideration of the clemency appeal of the convict as listed in the presidential decree, it is assessed that there is not enough reason to grant clemency to the convict.”

Fears are growing Chan and Sukumaran could face the firing squad soon, after Indonesia defied international appeals and went ahead with the execution of six drugs offenders, including five foreigners, at the weekend.

The move sparked a diplomatic storm, with Brazil and the Nether-lands -- a Brazilian and a Dutchman

were among those put to death -- recalling their ambassadors.

Following the executions, Australian Foreign Minister Julia Bishop said that Canberra would “continue to make representations at the highest level” to save the two Australian drug smugglers. (afp)

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 13

Strikes, attacks bring turbulent politics back to Bangladesh

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

Friday, January 23, 2015

Friday, January 23, 2015

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US, Cuba address obstacles to resuming diplomatic ties

Page 6 Page 8

Messi scores late as Barcelona beats Atletico 1-0 in Copa

Australian on Indonesian death row loses clemency bid

IBP/File Photo

On this file photo, police guard Kerobokan Prison, place where Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are jailed. A spokesman for the district court in the Balinese capital Denpasar said he had received a “presidential decree on the rejection of clemency for Andrew Chan”.

DENPASAR - An Australian drug smuggler on death row in Indonesia has lost his appeal for presidential clemency, his final chance to avoid the firing squad, an official said Thursday, days after Jakarta executed five foreign drug offenders.

NEW YORK — Anne Hatha-way will be playing something a little different this spring — an Air Force fighter pilot in a one-woman stage show.

The Public Theater said Wednes-day that the Academy Award-winner will star in George Brant’s play “Grounded” starting April 7. It’s about a pilot who is reassigned

to operate a military drone.Visionary director Julie Taymor,

behind the beauty of “The Lion King,” will direct.

Hathaway, who won an Oscar in Tom Hooper’s “Les Miserables,” returns to the Public for the first time since she played Viola in a 2009 Shakespeare in the Park pro-duction. (ap)

“As far as boy bands, you know, we dance, we perform. I mean, I hate to sound like an old fogey, but these kids don’t know what they’re missing nowadays because we got to sing and dance for our supper, you know what I mean, and we love to do that,” Joey McIntyre, 42, said in an interview Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“So maybe a few kids could come to the show and see how it’s done.”

The Main Event tour kicks off May 1 in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale Jan. 31.

In the last few years, boy bands

have resurged, with One Direction leading the pack, followed by 5 Seconds of Summer. Others, from The Wanted to Mindless Behavior, have had some success.

Donnie Wahlberg, 45, said the decades-long bond between New Kids on the Block and their fans makes it worthwhile.

“I would rather have the cred-ibility of thousands of fans and have them be happy. That’s what we’ve learned and that’s why we’re still here,” Wahlberg said. “We keep it alive because it stays alive between us and our fans. It’s a real relation-ship now.”

Wahlberg and McIntyre, along

with bandmates Danny Wood and brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, began playing together more than 30 years ago. They said they’re excited to share a stage with one of the top-selling female groups of all-time and the multiplatinum Nelly.

“It’s always nice to go out on-stage and know there might be some people out there that haven’t seen what you do, so you’re engaging with them. It keeps it fresh for you,” McIntyre said. “It just adds to the juice of the night, and we’re ready to do that.”

The 42-date tour wraps July 2 in Buffalo, New York. (ap)

LOS ANGELES — “The Imi-tation Game” and “Transparent” are among this year’s GLAAD Media Awards nominees. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group announced the 144 nominees for its 26th annual honors Wednesday.

“Imitation Game” is up for outstanding wide release film, along with “Love is Strange,” ‘’Pride,” ‘’The Skeleton Twins” and “Tammy.”

Amazon earned its first nod for “Transparent,” which is nominated for outstanding comedy series with “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” ‘’Faking It,” ‘’Glee,” ‘’Looking,” ‘’Mod-ern Family,” ‘’Orange Is the New

Black,” ‘’Please Like Me,” ‘’Si-rens” and “Vicious.”

The GLAAD Media Awards honor outstanding images of the LGBT community in areas in-cluding music, movies, TV and journalism.

The role-playing video game “Dragon Age: Inquisition” received a special recognition award for the complex and unique LGBT charac-ters prominently integrated through-out the game. GLAAD’s special rec-ognition awards are typically given to media projects that don’t qualify in a competitive category.

The awards will be presented this spring in Los Angeles and New York. (ap)

‘Transparent,’ ‘Imitation Game’ up for GLAAD

Media Awards

Anne Hathaway heading to the stage

this spring

REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian

New Kids on the Block

New boy bands can learn from us

NEW YORK — New Kids on the Block are ready to take new boy bands on the block to school. The Boston-based veteran group, which announced a summer tour with TLC and Nelly this week, said contemporary boy bands should check out their live concerts to learn from the experts.

Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

New Kids Kids On The Block members, from left, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood, Donnie Wahl-berg, Jonathan Knight and Jordan Knight announce their “The Main Event” tour at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, in New York.