In Reply to: Very good article posted by nasipadang on Thursday, 8. December 2011 at 14:52 Bali Time:
making statements like that. Scroll down and you will see that it is probably the "expats" ( a terrible word. Most foreigners who live in Bali merely "live there" and do not describe themselves as expats )who are actually behind all the ills of Bali.
Patently ridiculous!
The real story is that there are good people and bad people everywhere. The problem in Indonesia is that good people see how easy it is for the people who hold positions of power, to extract money from their own people and in certain jobs tourists and those foreigners living in Bali as well. So what's good for the goose becomes good for the gander. Like the Beach Boys they see it as a legit business and see nothing wrong with what they do.
If this same system had been in force in Australia for the last century your country would have similar problems of endemic "legal" corruption.( Look at "Waltzing Matilda".The hero steals a sheep and comits sideways - something amiss there.)
In Indonesia a silly kid can be behind bars for a couple of months for buying a bit of dope and Tommy Suharto serves only 5 years behind bars( yes - This is where the canned laughter kicks in.) for ordering the murder of the judge who convicted him of corruption. The trigger men who were paid Rp 2.000.000 to do the job, naturally, are still in clink.(and they don't even get to leave air conned quarters by helicopter whenever they want to go to Jakarta.)
Service clubs in Bali are very aware of how careful they have to be in targeting help and never give money directly. I was involved in Rotary for some years and what can be achieved for relatively small amounts of money is amazing. It's a good idea to channel money through service clubs, like Rotary, or foundations like the John Fawcett Foundation or Ibu Robin to name just two. That way the money gets to the right place.