Indonesia

November 10, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Nov. 11, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Eastbourne Option There is a fine line between farce and tragedy in both the thespian tradition and in real life. This is a worldwide phenomenon, granted, but it does seem especially prevalent in Bali and indeed more broadly throughout Indonesia. Witness the recent travels of President… Continue reading

Australia, Bali, Books, Bureaucracy, Charity, Economic Development, Environment, Indonesia

Aussie Visas, Censorship, Farce v Tragedy, Fawlty Towers, Melbourne Cup, ROLE Models Dinner, Volcanoes
October 27, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Oct. 28, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Peace Off There is a debate under way over Bali’s branding as a destination. It’s probably less tiring to whicker about that than to act firmly to curb the growing list of demerits that stand in the way of Bali being any sort of destination:… Continue reading

Bali, Books, Bureaucracy, Environment, Food, Indonesia, Politics, Writing

Benoa Bay, Frankfurt Book Fair, Icarus, Janet DeNeefe, Lombok sand, Mangroves, Rugby World Cup, Scotland, Tomy Winata, Tourist slogans, Ubud Food Festival, UWRF, Zainul Majdi
September 1, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Sep. 2, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Heading for the Hills Last year an unavoidable detention in Australia – its cause was medical, not custodial, in case any among the Diary’s more liverish readers might snigger and wonder – meant we were not among the 126, 000-plus attendees reported to have crowded Bali’s… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Art, Bali, Books, Bureaucracy, Charity, Environment, Festivals, Indonesia

Adrian Vickers, Andreas Harsono, Boob Barers, Chigozie Obioma, Christina Lamb, Delphine Robbe, Dog Culling, Emily Britto, Lempad of Bali, Lonely Planet, Man Booker Prize, Michael Chabon, Miles Franklin Award, Moshin Hamid, Mpho Tutu, Pulitzer Prize, Schapelle Corby, Sophie Laguna, Stella Prize, Steve Palmer, UWRF 2015, Waterman’s Awards
August 4, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Aug. 5, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Poison Chalice Three people died from methanol poisoning in Bali recently. They had all been drinking at a bar in Legian. The name of the establishment is fairly well known and cautions against going there have been privately issued by many people to their friends. Naming… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Australia, Bali, Books, Death Penalty, Foreign Aid, Indonesia, Rabies

Australia, Bali, Bar Luna, Biku, Captive Dolphins, Death Penalty, Foreign Aid, Indonesia, Methanol Deaths, Periplus, Tim Hannigan
July 21, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Jul. 22, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Hannigan’s Islands The delightful Tim Hannigan, former Surabaya English language teacher and scribbler of note around the archipelago, has written another book: A Brief History of Indonesia. Published by Tuttle in Singapore, it will shortly be on the bookshelves everywhere. His earlier effort, Raffles and the… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Bali, Charity, Environment, History, Indonesia, Rabies

Asri Kerthayasa, Bar Luna, Biku, Pirates, Stamford Raffles, Tim Hannigan, Waterman’s Awards
May 12, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, May 13, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences The Full Farce of the Law Sometimes a diarist in the Pancasila Archipelago finds himself wishing he were Archie Clark-Kerr, the British ambassador in wartime Moscow famous for finding himself grateful for any little shafts of light that came his way from heaven. He memorialized one… Continue reading

Art, Australia, Bali, Capital Punishment, Charity, EU, Festivals, Film, Indonesia, Law

2015 Europe of Screen Festival, Andrew Chan, Joko Widodo, Kerobokan Rehab, Myuran Sukumaran, Pan Pacific Nirwana, Populism, Prabowo Subianto, Private Hospitals, Property Law, Robert Epstone, Ruritania, SBY, SoleMen, Susi Johnston, Three-Ring Circuses
April 14, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY, Bali Advertiser, Apr. 15, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences A Line in Their Sand Developer tycoon Tomy Winata, who rose from street ice-pop seller to become one of Indonesia’s richest men and whose substantial and rightly recognized philanthropic ventures include helping the poor and saving Sumatran tigers (and protecting mangroves; we kid you not) is… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Art, Australia, Bali, Economic Development, Environment, Indonesia, Rabies

Bali Animal Welfare Association, Benoa mangroves, BioFarma, Cafe Cous Cous, Diana Shearin, Kim Cattrall, Lombok Guide, Moazzam Malik, Paul Grigson, Power Cuts, Rabies crisis, Sex and the City, Susi Pudjiastuti, Tomy Winata, Women in Global Business
March 31, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Apr. 1, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences In a Word: Tosh Proposals lately aired that would further limit the number of foreign workers in Indonesia are sensible. As a medium- to long-term strategy they are surely free of any downside. Though that would be in the context of the further development of the… Continue reading

Art, Bali, Economy, Festivals, Foreign Investment, Indonesia, Tourism, Ubud

Agung Rai Museum of Art, Anak Agung Gede Putra Yuniarta, Australia, Bali Spirit Festival, Ex-colonial Cringes, Foreign Devils, Forgone Investment, Free Visas, Indian Visitors, Meghan Pappenheim, Tony Eltherington, Tourist Services, Warung Semesta
March 17, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Mar. 18, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Gone to the Dogs The resurgence of rabies in Bali is yet another of those avoidable things that the chaps in charge of the asylum could have avoided if they could have been bothered, or if they hadn’t blown the budget on lots of other things.… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Bali, Capital Punishment, Charity, Environment, Indonesia, Public Administration, Rabies

Christina Iskandar, Divas, Dog culls, Duke of Plaza-Toro, Eco Kids Program, Elizabeth Pisani, Eva Scolaro, Governor Pastika, Joe Cochrane, New York Times, Nyepi, rabies, ROLE Foundation Bali, Slippery Stone, Tim Hannigan, Waste Management
March 3, 2015

HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, Mar. 4, 2015

His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences A Bit of a Blow As spectacle or entertainment, Hector’s latest World Tour of Australia was very far from being the big draw Billy Connolly achieved with his fabulous World Tour of Scotland. We rarely attracted more than a couple of gawkers with nothing better to do… Continue reading

Australia, Bali, Indonesia, Social Development

Australian life, heavy weather, International Women’s Day, Lion Air’s raw deal, Masquerade Party, Ngurah Rai Airport, ROLE Foundation Bali, Russian tourists

About Me

Former journalist now confined by age and indolence to blogging about this and that, now from Western Australia, previously from Indonesia (that’s the 8 degrees in the title) and before that, Queensland. I don’t do a newsletter so ignore that prompt below.