8º of latitude

June 7, 2017

True Glue

HECTOR’S DIARY His regular diet of worms and other non-religious fare The Cage, Bali Jun. 7, 2017 LONG-TIME Indonesia hand Keith Loveard has a fine column in the July edition of GlobeAsia, the Lippo Group business magazine. He wrote it on Pancasila Day (Jun. 1). It’s titled Pacasila and why it matters. He noted Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Bali, Bureaucracy, Charity, Indonesia, Islamic beliefs, NGOs, Public Administration, Rabies, Waste Management

Bung Sukarno, Deputy Governor Ketut Sudikerta, GlobeAsia, Keith Loveard, Pancasila principles, rabies, Ramadan, Terrorists, Udayana University, University of Minnesota, Wahabbism, World Oceans Day, Zakat Puasa, Zero Waste to Ocean Education and Demonstration Centre
May 31, 2017

Beggaring Belief

HECTOR’S DIARY His regular diet of worms and other (usually) non-religious fare The Cage, Bali Wednesday, May 31, 2017 FAITH is a personal compact between a person and his or her deity. The faithful, of any ilk, should be honoured for their commitment to a life beyond secular concerns and for the higher Continue reading

America, Australia, Crime and Punishment, Global Politics, Indonesia, Indonesian Law, Islamic beliefs, karma, Politics, Pornography

Angela Merkel, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Donald Trump, FPI, H.L. Mencken, Mussolini, Ramadan, Rizieq Shihab, Schapelle Corby
May 23, 2017

Talk to the Ants

HECTOR’S DIARY In the Bali Advertiser May 24, 2017 JEWEL Topsfield, the Australian Fairfax newspaper group’s Indonesian correspondent, wrote a lovely piece recently after an extended interview she had with Prabowo Subianto, who probably likes to think of himself as president-in-waiting. We’ll have to wait until 2019 to find out, but in the meantime Continue reading

Australia, Bali, Indonesia

Ants, Benoa Bay, Hijabs, Holiday sex, Islamic fundamentalism, Jewel Topsfield, Prabowo Subianto, Sanur excursions
May 21, 2017

So There!

HECTOR’S DIARY His regular diet of worms and other non-religious fare The Cage, Bali Saturday, May 20, 2017 THE Bali High Court has added a year to the sentence given to Australian woman Sara Connor, who was convicted over her part in the killing of Kuta policeman Wayan Sudarsa on Aug. 17 last year. The Continue reading

Bali, Crime and Punishment, Fine Dining, Indonesian Law, Wine

Anniversaries, House repairs
May 14, 2017

A Dog’s Life

HECTOR’S DIARY His regular diet of worms and other non-religious fare The Cage, Bali May 13, 2017 THERE was a revolting instance of animal cruelty in Denpasar this week, which thanks to quick-thinking and wonderfully caring local people swiftly swamped the social media, where it attracted an immediate chorus of shock and shame. The Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Australia, Bali, Bureaucracy, Festivals, Fine Dining, Indonesia, Ubud, USA

Animal cruelty laws, Dog meat, Dog thieves, Donald Chump, Janet DeNeefe, Locovare, pump priming, Ubud Food Festival, UWRF 2017, Yogyakarta hospital care
May 9, 2017

A Ridiculous Travesty

Bali, May 9, 2017 THERE are several things that can be said about the two-year jail sentence meted out to Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaya Purnama (Ahok) for his astoundingly correct but politically incautious observation that matters of religion are often subject to varying interpretations. One is that no one sentient would argue with his point. Continue reading

General Interest, Indonesia, Indonesian Law, Islamic beliefs

Blasphemy laws, Governor Ahok, Jakarta, Prabowo Subianto
May 6, 2017

Hard Times

HECTOR’S DIARY His regular diet of worms and other non-religious fare The Cage, Bali, May. 6, 2017 IT’S Sigmund Freud’s birthday today. The thought occurred, just at random, that it would be fun to get his, and Zeno the Stoic’s, views on our own times. Unfortunately these proved to be chiefly unprintable. Their shared view, Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Australia, Bali

Arief Billah, Karl Marx, Legian Beach Hotel, Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud, Wine
April 27, 2017

Bali Daze

HECTOR’S DIARY in the Bali Advertiser Wednesday, Apr. 26, 2017 THEY do things differently there. That used to be something people said of the past, as in its being a foreign country. In the tried and true practice of Bali, however, doing things differently is something those who rule the island prefer to do in Continue reading

Bali, Bureaucracy, Economic Development, Environment, General Interest, Health and Hospitals, Indonesia, Rabies, Social Development, Sustainable tourism, Tourism

Bali Children Foundation, BAWA, BIMC, Craig Beveridge, Floating airports, Gold Coast Divas, IFAW, Lippo Group, North Bali Airport, Program Dharma, Ramadhan, Siloam Hospitals, Sydney Divas
April 22, 2017

Capital Capers

HECTOR’S DIARY His diet of worms and other non-religious experiences The Cage, Bali Apr. 22, 2017 IT’S a shame that Basuki Tjahaya Purnama (Ahok) lost Wednesday’s ballot for mayor of Jakarta. He has shown a commitment to civic service that’s rare anywhere, but rarer still in Indonesia, where winning office is so often a licence Continue reading

America, Economic Development, Foreign Aid, General Interest, Indonesia, Indonesian Law

Blasphemy, Camping trips, former mayors, mendicant ministers
April 9, 2017

Property Bloom

HECTOR’S DIARY His regular diet of worms and other non-religious experiences The Cage, Bali Apr. 8, 2017 OK, so in Bali a property boom that will surely be unregulated – if it eventuates anywhere beyond the hype files of realtors – has about as much of a helpful impact as an algal bloom in fragile Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Australia, Bali, Bureaucracy, Economic Development, Environment, NGOs, Rabies, Social Development

All Fools’ Day, Aussie rules (not the footy), Beach dogs, Karang Beach, Property blooms, Sanur

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.