Hard Rock Hotel Bali, would like you to show your affection to your MOM by sending her a letter to let her know that you care. 5 – 9 years old (1^st category) or 10 – 12 years old (2^nd category); Write an Essay, between 100 – 150 words and written on white paper with black ink; Essay must be written in English or Bahasa Indonesia; Start your essay with: ‘I love my MOM because…’; Essay writing and photo (Mom and writer) must be sent to Hard Rock Hotel Bali before 10^th May 2007. Please write “Mother’s Day Competition” on the top right of the envelope and send to the Marketing Communications Department, Hard Rock Hotel Bali, Jalan Pantai, Banjar Pande Mas, Kuta – Bali.

Prizes, 1^st place – 2 nights stay in a Family Suite; 2^nd place – 2 nights stay in a Deluxe Room; and 3^rd place – 1 night stay in a Deluxe Room. All winners will receive complimentary Mother’s Day Lunch for winner and Mom. Winners will be announced at Starz Diner, 3^rd Level, Hard Rock Hotel Bali, on 13^th May 2007, during the lunch.

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It is not only Muslims and non-Balinese who are visibly excluded or even threatened by this discourse. It also affects Balinese Hindus who do not practise the appropriate Hinduism as portrayed in the Bali Post and as taught by the televangelist Hindu priests on Bali TV. This form of Hinduism is supported by the PHDI (Indonesian Hindu Council). Ajeg Bali is part of a larger movement to sanitise, standardise and explain Balinese Hinduism. Thus Bali TV will often have programs explaining how offerings should be made and how rituals should be performed. There are also community and city-wide youth praying competitions, enforcing ideas of stylised praying and how a Balinese should and should not communicate with God.

In addition to the standardisation of praying styles and ritual activity, ceremonial clothing has also become more uniform. Today, it is the norm to wear white for most ceremonies and black for cremation, whereas ten to 15 years ago ceremonial clothing was much more varied in colour. The Western colours of purity and grief have been appropriated by the PHDI, Bali TV and other ajeg Bali proponents and promoted as a form of standardising ritual and pakaian adat.

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JAKARTA - Ritz Carlton will open a new resort in the Bintan Resort Tourism Zone on Bintan Island in Riau Islands province by the end of 2008.Developing the 77,000 – square metre, 60-villa property will cost US$65 million. The construction will start in July and should be completed by the end of 2008.

The construction of another resort, Waterfront City, will begin by early next year. It will be developed by Malaysian company, Landmark Holdings.

Each year, some 333,000 tourists, mainly from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, India, the Middle East and the UK come to Bintan.

By Luc Citrinot

My recollection is that they wanted to make GWK into a casino with restaurants and lasers shooting out of Wisnu’s eyes so that tourists coming here at night would be “wowed”.

Remember who was governor when this went to the vote…… (three letters, begins with “O”).

Where is Putu Suasta and his band of merry protestors now?

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In an attempt to regenerate awareness towards the island of Bali, ABL has recently created a web-log (commonly known as blog) – http://blog.baliwww.com
The main function of this web-log is that it can be viewed daily like an on-line journal and anyone can post opinions, questions, messages and general information for the benefit of those who have

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For Balinese, protecting house compound is great task that cannot be handled effectively by walls and gate only, especially when dealing with mystical disturbances. For Balinese mystical disturbance is as real as the physical one and some Balinese put more emphasis on the mystical disturbance when dealing with protecting house compound issue since it cannot be perceived with mortal eyes and proven to be harder to deal with than a mere physical disturbance.

Balinese believe that a mystical disturbance should be handled by a mystical guardian since ordinary human has no adequate power to penetrate into the mystical realm even though someone has enough mystical power he simply cannot stay alert 24/7 in order to guard his house compound from mystical.

A typical Balinese house compound usually has two shrines for its two spirits that act as mystical guardians; each has its respective shrine. The shrines are located within the house compound. The first shrine is called Sanggah Pengijeng Karang or shrine of house compound guardian – the word “sanggah” means “shrine”, the word “pengijeng” means the one who stay at home (derived from the word “ijeng” means “to guard” or “to stay at home” and the word “karang” means “house compound”. The sanggah pengijeng karang is a roofed shrine with one compartment. It is located more or less in the middle of the house compound, not in the family temple. It is the home of the spirit of which acts as a guardian or caretaker of the property.

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