K

arangasem, East Bali

Despite its glamorous status as one of the world’s favorite tourist destinations, thousands of Bali residents live in extreme poverty, according to a survey.

According to the National Social and Economic Survey conducted in 2010, 174,900 of Bali’s 3.9 million residents lived in poverty, down from 181,700 in 2009.

Poverty was defined as an income of less than US$ 2 per person.

The provincial government has tried to improve poor people’s living conditions through programs that provide modest homes for free.

Ni Wayan Pugluk, also called Men Pugluk, was a recipient of such aid. On Monday she left her dilapidated bamboo hut and moved to a nearby brick house funded by the Ayana Resort in Jimbaran.

“I didn’t even have any courage to dream of having such a house,” Men Pugluk said, crying.

Her new two-room house was equipped with a solar panel that provided enough electricity to power two lamps.

Ayana Resort has built 57 houses for Ban villagers as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program.

Most of the remote village’s residents are very poor and lack an education, access to clean water and electricity. Children must walk kilometers to go to school. The soil is dry and infertile.

The village women work as bamboo weavers while men usually move to big cities such as Denpasar to find work.

Ban village chief Ketut Kariarta said that conditions were much better now than in previous years after several companies launched CSR programs.

The housing program, he said, had been very helpful. “Now we have electricity from the solar panels,” Kariarta said.

Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika said he was happy that many companies were willing to work with the local administration to eliminate poverty.

“Tourism should benefit these people, not just investors or city people. There should be no poor families on this rich island,” Pastika said.

The governor said that the administration launched several programs aimed at alleviating poverty, including its free Bali Mandiri healthcare scheme for Bali’s residents.

The government also spent Rp 22 billion to build 825 new houses in 2010, he added, and would build a thousand more houses for the poor in 2011, including in Karangasem regency, the government’s priority target for reducing poverty.