B

ali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has finally caved in to the increasing public opposition to the planned massive reclamation at Benoa Bay.

On Saturday, he announced that he had officially revoked the permit issued to a private company to carry out the plan, which would see the creation of more than 880 hectares of land in the bay and the development of sprawling tourism facilities.

'€œThe gubernatorial decree [on the Benoa Bay plan] was declared invalid yesterday [Friday]. I have signed a letter stating that the previous letter has been annulled,'€ Pastika told reporters after the flag-hoisting ceremony to commemorate Indonesia'€™s 68th Independence Day at Puputan Margarana field in Renon, Denpasar.

Pastika described three factors behind the annulment of the permit. The top factor was the growing opposition from the island'€™s scholars, environmental activists and organizations, the tourist industry, and other communities.

The second factor was the Bali Legislative Council'€™s letter officially requesting the governor to revoke the permit. The letter, which was presented last week, was a major about-face for the councilors since the council had previously submitted a recommendation supporting the reclamation to the governor.

Pastika pointed out the input he received from the administration'€™s legal team as the third factor.

The controversial gubernatorial letter, No. 2138/02-C/HK/2012, signed on Dec. 26, 2012, granted private investor PT Tirta Wahana Bali International (TWBI) permission to develop and reclaim Benoa Bay for an integrated tourist development. TWBI was granted the right to manage 838 hectares of land in Benoa Bay over a 30-year period with a possible 20-year extension. The company'€™s intention was to build luxury tourist facilities, including a Disneyland-like theme park, apartments, hotels, villas, entertainment centers, a hospital and a university campus.

'€œI am sorry I can'€™t comment since I have yet to receive the letter [of annulment]. I will need to read and study the letter first before responding,'€ TWBI director Hendi Lukman said on Sunday through text message.

Previously, Hendi argued that the reclamation would save the island'€™s rice fields from being exploited and transformed into tourism facilities. He also stressed that the project would not destroy the mangrove forest along the shore of the bay.

Hendi also serves as director of PT Jakarta International Hotels and Development, the company that manages Discovery Kartika Plaza in Kuta and the Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta. Both high-profile properties are reportedly owned by influential businessman Tommy Winata, who, through his Artha Graha Peduli Foundation charity, made a media splash last June by bringing soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo to Benoa Bay to attend a mangrove planting event attended by, among others, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The event also saw the Real Madrid player appointed as the Mangrove Ambassador by the local environmental organization supported by Artha Graha.

The issuance of the permit soon triggered protests from a wide spectrum of Balinese society. The environmentalists feared that the planned reclamation would trigger a massive ecological disaster, the tourist industry worried that the planned luxurious theme park and accommodation would drive local hotels into bankruptcy, while conservative and religious leaders were concerned about how the massive tourism enclave would lure the island'€™s youth away from their cultural roots.

This coalition of different interests easily won the local mass media'€™s support and soon Pastika was regularly treated as a punching bag in their front pages. The fact that the permit was based on a less-than-stellar 73-page feasibility study carried out by Udayana University experts, which the rector diplomatically stated was preliminary research, and a vaguely-worded recommendation from the Bali Legislative Council, had placed Pastika in a very hard place. The revelation that the permit also contravened several higher regulations, including a presidential decree and the provincial bylaw on spatial planning, put the nail in the coffin.