Airport development in Bali, Lombok a ‘cultural threat’

Experts are warning local authorities that the development of two major international airports in Buleleng, North Bali, and in Lombok could have a major cultural effect on local residents and their lives.

Wayan Geriya, an anthropologist and sociologist at Udayana University, said that the combination of capitalism and the technology required to make way for the construction of major public facilities would have a dramatic impact on local lives and the culture of people in surrounding areas.

When completed, the new airports would connect Bali and Lombok in a new golden triangle for the country’s tourism.

“The new international airport in Buleleng regency will open up Bali’s remote regencies like Karangasem, Bangli and Klungkung with the already-developed Denpasar and Badung,” the academic said.

“The development would have massive economic benefits for the affected areas in the short term, but in the long term would totally change the social and cultural structures of the communities that previously worked in the agricultural sector,” he said.

Employment would automatically shift from agriculture to tourism and the service sector, he said.

He also mentioned the huge environmental impact on the tiny island of Bali, which currently houses 3.9 million residents.

“I could not imagine the air pollution caused by the crowded air and land traffic as a consequence of the operation of the new airports in North Bali and Lombok,” he said.

The present Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban welcomes 5,000 to 7,000 passengers every day. “When the North Bali airport is completed, the number of visitors will likely double,” Geriya said.

Meanwhile, I Gusti Ngurah Sudiana, chair of the High Hindu Council, said the local authorities should carefully select investors for the airport projects.

“Many investors only act as middlemen. They often pay little respect to the local culture and religion, focusing only on economic profits rather than paying attention to the lives of the local people,” Sudiana said.

The airport project in North Bali would also affect expanses of land belonging to local customary villages and religious temples.

I Gde Ardika, former culture and tourism minister, said he would prefer to see Buleleng regency as Bali’s agricultural center.

“Buleleng regency is the island’s food source. We have to maintain this status and develop quality and sustainable tourism instead of mass tourism. Bali will be heading to its own natural destruction if we only think about getting as many tourists as we can and as much profits as we can from tourism,” Ardika said.

I Ketut Teneng, head of the province’s publication and documentation, agency said that the development of a new airport in Buleleng had just begun a feasibility study to determine the most suitable location.

“We have not yet decided the precise location for the new airport — but we have two options in Gerokgak and Kubutambahan villages,” he said.