(WARNING)
After Wakashorea Resort Hotel on Bali Barat National Park wrongly sought to use a public travel forum to advertise their resort, I took the opportunity to investigate claims against WakaShorea made by the local Balinese about being on "stolen" National park land. When the Waka Holdings / WakaShorea manager received / saw this, he threatened to sue me. When I said "Sue me!", we received this response him (Mr. Bayu Wardoyo):- "BTW, the way I want to sue you is not by any law, but mine. I believe you have seen how Indonesian sue each other? They slash about 1cm below your neck..."
So I filed a police complaint through a Balinese lawyer against Mr. Wardoyo / WakaShorea Resort Hotel Bali for this death threat. Unfortunately, nothing appears to have happened. Also, I contacted the general manager of Waka Holdings (the management company for WakaShorea Resort). He suggested I come and discuss this with them in their office! I pointed out, as I had received a death threat from that same office, I was hardly likely to visit them. Also, despite several emails, I could not get them to apologize for the death threat. So it seems clear it was sent with the knowledge and blessing of the entire management at Waka Holdings / WakaShorea Hotel.
Many local (original Hindu Balinese descendents) people are incensed at what they see as the theft and misuse of their heritage by businessmen and settlers with apparent connections to a previous ruler of Indonesia. It is also our understanding, by International agreement and by Indonesian law, no hotels are meant to be built / operated on National Park land. Proof of this is the Park's own homestay (small hotel) which they shut down voluntarily after they concluded it's mere presence was illegal. Why then was Waka Holdings allowed to build their hotel on National Park land? WakaShorea appear not to want to answer that one!
What makes this even more of an issue, is that the Park Department's own (now closed) hotel was on much less sensitive land. You see, WakaShorea Hotel is actually built on a peninsula where previously Bali Barat National Park officials had banned any human (trekking etc.) presence due to it being the last remaining natural habitat of the near extinct Bali Starling and Mouse Deer. WakaShorea Resort's presence is therefore an extra liability for the continued existence of these species. WakaShorea Resort Bali, however, claim to be an environmentally friendly hotel. We do not consider that to be environmental in the slightest.
Waka Holdings claimed that they are a Balinese company employing Balinese people at WakaShorea Resort, and that Mr Bayu Wardoyo is himself Balinese. However, when we raised the point that Bayu Wardoyo has a Javanese name, and the village they said they employed hotel staff from is actually a recently established Javanese settlement, they were not able to deny this. If you travel around the North Western area of Bali, you will find many Javanese (and also now, Timorese) settlements. The indigenous Hindu Balinese often resent this due to how their island was settled in the first place. Other islanders simply turned up in large numbers, cut down trees to build homes and claim the land as their own.
Even to this day, migrants from other islands try to continue this practice. However, now, Balinese locals form lynch mobs to evict them. This is why you often find very large combined police and army road checks in these areas. They step in not only to protect the hopeful settlers, but also now to evict / send them back to the islands they came from. So the authorities are clearly now aware of local balinese concerns and are doing a good job to stop repetitions of this happening again. It is a shame they did not stop WakaShorea Resort though!
I actually visited WakaShorea Resort Bali and confirmed many things by talking to their staff. Included in this was a confirmation that WakaShorea Resort actually uses chemicals at its hotel. We do not call that being environmental either. Especially given its location in such a sensitive area, so close to one of the few remaining living coral reefs in Bali.
Therefore, if anyone is considering staying at WakaShorea, or using any of it's tour / dive facilities, we would ask you to think twice. Not least as a reaction to the death threat. Of course, we are still prepared to remove this warning. But ONLY if Waka Holdings / WakaShorea makes amends for and retracts the death threat. Plus show they are sincere about this by taking the maximum disciplinary action against the management who were involved, and by endorsing our police complaint against Bayu Wardoyo. Therefore, if you still can find this warning, they have not so responded.
I would also like to see them prove / live up to their environmentalist claims.
Mark Austin
Director
Travelforum.Org
(bali@travelforum.org)
If you want an environmentally friendly hotel staffed by Balinese near Menjangan Island (Bali Barat National Park), WakaShorea Resort Hotel Bali are not the Indonesian accommodations / lodgings for you!
