Ten challenges for 55 yo Bali - Jakarta Post

Bali celebrated its 55th anniversary on Wednesday in a solemn ceremony at Puputan Margarana field in Renon, Denpasar.

At the age of 55, the province, despite being wildly popular across the country, still faces many challenges.

"We have at least 10 major challenges we are facing nowadays. We have to work hard to deal with those challenges," Governor Made Mangku Pastika admitted.

The first, and hardest, challenge is the booming population, particularly in south Bali. With a total land area of 5,780 square kilometers, or only 0.29 percent of the total area of Indonesia, Bali is now home to around 4.2 million people.

The population has risen significantly in recent years; in 2008, the island's population was only 3.6 million. Bali's strong economy has resulted in an influx of migrants from off the island searching for work.

Unfortunately for the local people, their competitiveness in the labor market tends to be weak. "This is another challenge for Bali. Local people should improve their skills to be able to compete with those from outside Bali," Pastika stressed.

The population boom has also caused severe congestion, with an increasing number of cars and motorcycles on the roads. "With population growth of 400,000 in four years, imagine if around 50,000 of them by new cars and 200,000 buy new motorcycles. Congestion has become a problem now," Pastika said.

Another challenge for Bali's development is the low qualifications of educators in the school system, with a number of teachers in the province yet to hold bachelor or master's degrees.

The increasing HIV/AIDS epidemic, including infections passed from mother to baby, is yet another problem. As of April this year, as many as 7,291 people were reported infected with HIV/AIDS, around 76 percent of whom were aged between 20 and 39 years old. Around 76.55 percent of HIV/AIDS infections on the island were due to sexual intercourse, with 11 percent due to intravenous drug use.

Yet another challenge is the wide development gap between regions, especially rural and urban areas. To date, development projects have been mostly centered in southern Bali, covering the regencies of Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan, as well as Denpasar municipality. Sparkling five-star hotels, entertainment centers and business sites have mushroomed in Kuta, Jimbaran, Nusa Dua, Sanur and Denpasar. Meanwhile, thousands of residents in more underdeveloped villages do not have access to roads, clean water, healthcare, schools and economic resources.

Unequal development makes attempts to eradicate poverty more difficult. However, good progress has been made with the number of people living in poverty decreasing since 2008, when Pastika started his Bali Mandara initiative, which placed poverty alleviation as a top priority.

In 2008, the number of people living below the poverty line in the province amounted to 6.17 percent of the population. This had dropped to 4.18 percent in 2009. By 2012, the percentage had decreased to 3.95 percent, placing Bali after Jakarta as the province with the second lowest number of poor people in the nation.

This year, the administration is targeting reducing poverty to 3.28 percent of the population. Pastika, who was re-elected in May, is eager to decrease poverty to 1 percent by the end of his leadership in 2018.

Implementation of the spatial planning bylaw also remains poor, another challenge for Bali, with uncontrollable development evident on the island.

Other challenges are the rising amount of agricultural land being converted into housing or tourism facilities; improved implementation of the Bali Clean and Green environmental program; security system standards are not yet of international standard; and economic development remains extremely sensitive to security issues.

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