Is Lombok the brand new Bali? Some assume so

[ad_1] Koh Ewe Singapore ,

Tri Wahyuni Jakarta and

Abdul Latief Apriaman Lombok

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/8233/live/54c8e830-ab0e-11f0-a2b6-a9b084d88ba6.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images Back view of a man lying on his surf board at sunset as a wave crashes into him. In the background are fishing boats and a large hill." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Pictures Indonesia is on a mission to show Lombok island into one other Bali - and put it on a vacationer bucket listing

Damar, top-of-the-line surf guides on the Indonesian island of Lombok, feels proper at residence taking vacationers out to sea.

Together with his fluent English and easy banter, you'll by no means guess what was his childhood worry: foreigners.

"Once I was 10 or possibly seven, I used to cry - I used to simply pee in my pants once I noticed white folks," Damar, now 39, tells the BBC.

That diffidence waned because the laidback island he calls residence slowly discovered its recognition amongst Western travellers.

Simply east of Bali, Lombok boasts the identical azure seashores and beautiful views as its well-known neighbour, however with out the exasperating crowds. Lombok's seashores are nonetheless a hidden gem amongst surfers, as is Mount Rinjani for hikers. Journey websites nonetheless liberally use the phrase "untouched" to explain the island as they provide causes to enterprise past Bali.

So it ought to come as little shock that the Indonesian authorities has sensed the chance to create one other profitable vacationer haven on the sprawling archipelago.

The mission is to create extra "Balis" - and Lombok might be considered one of them.

For islanders, this promise of "Balification" is a welcome alternative however they're additionally cautious of what it brings.

And the change has already begun to hit residence in additional methods than one.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d9be/live/08270840-ab04-11f0-9681-192f1e92e345.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images An aerial view of a volcano, with white smoke billowing from the crater. It's surrounded by green water in a crater lake." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Pictures Mount Rinjani, an energetic volcano sitting at Lombok's highest level, is a hiker's dream

Mandalika within the south has been chosen as the center of the "new Bali".

Its rustic shoreline has already given option to glitzy resorts, cafes and even a racetrack. Earlier this month, almost 150,000 spectators confirmed as much as watch the bike Grand Prix.

Between 2019 and 2021, dozens of households had been evicted from their village houses for the development of the Mandalika circuit. Damar's was amongst them.

Confronted with what activists decried as a messy resettlement plan and unfair compensation, he and his neighbours had been helpless, Damar recollects.

"I used to be offended, however I can not do a lot. I can not battle in opposition to the federal government," he says.

Because the eviction, Damar has purchased a plot of land and constructed his personal home, one thing that lots of his neighbours have not been in a position to do. As a surf information, he estimates that he earns twice as a lot as a fisherman - a generational career in his neighborhood.

"I've by no means actually been to high school, so becoming a member of the tourism trade was top-of-the-line selections that I've ever made," Damar says. "Assembly lots of people from many alternative nations… It has opened my thoughts."

Damar's indignation about his eviction even comes with a scrupulous caveat: "I am not offended on the vacationers. I am simply offended at my very own authorities."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d571/live/99288640-a990-11f0-8cc1-273230b15f0b.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Supplied Damar wearing a bucket hat, black t-shirt and board shorts surfing on a wave, with water splashing around him. His hand is pointed in the air for balance, and he is looking intently into the distance." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Equipped Damar's personal story mirrors the transformation of Lombok from a quiet island to a budding vacationer spot

The makings of a vacationer magnet

The drive to rework Lombok is a part of a wider effort to lure travellers away from Bali, which has for many years performed an outsized function in Indonesia's tourism trade.

The island makes up lower than 1% of the nation's land space and fewer than 2% of its 280 million-plus inhabitants. But final yr it accounted for almost half of all guests to Indonesia.

However more and more Bali's unrelenting site visitors and air pollution - a direct results of its success as a prime vacationer pick- are leaving these very vacationers disenchanted with what has lengthy been touted because the "final paradise".

Because it seems, that elusive paradise lies simply an hour's boat journey away.

However maybe not for lengthy.

Increasingly travellers are catching on to Lombok's enchantment. Final yr, 81,500 international vacationers touched down at its airport, a 40% leap from the yr earlier than - nonetheless, a far cry from the 6.3 million foreigners who flocked to Bali.

Anticipating Lombok to observe in Bali's footsteps, Indonesian authorities have secured a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in funding, together with a $250m mortgage from the Asian Infrastructure Funding Financial institution.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0ab3/live/5a42bf90-ab07-11f0-baa3-6de9de658722.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Aerial view of a beach lined with green trees. A giant sign that reads "Kuta Mandalika" can be seen on a structure covered by green plants. Boats can be seen floating in the sea in the distance." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Pictures "Bali-fication" has come to Kuta

This has accelerated the island's makeover.

In Kuta, a preferred city in Mandalika, scrappy surfers' hostels have been changed by a mosaic of chlorinated swimming pools and plushy sunbeds, and a global faculty for the youngsters of expats.

Whereas authorities are hailing it as Lombok's success story, some see a cautionary story.

The price of paradise

A stone's throw away on the seashore of Tanjung Aan, cafe proprietor Kartini Lumban Raja advised the BBC that locals there "do not wish to be 'organised' like Kuta".

"When seashores begin to appear like Kuta, they lose their allure. We lose alternatives. We lose pure magnificence," she mentioned.

For months, rumours of evictions had been swirling on Tanjung Aan, which was earmarked for formidable improvement plans.

Days after the BBC's go to in July, they got here like a rolling wave.

Safety forces descended upon the seashore to demolish almost 200 stalls, together with Kartini's.

Movies from that day present masked males tearing store fences down with their naked palms as stall house owners protested.

"They had been banging on issues, kicking plywood… it is really inhumane," Ella Nurlaila, a stall proprietor, advised the BBC. "My goodness, this eviction was so merciless."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e360/live/f5d167e0-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Just Finance International Ella Nurlaila in a peach coloured long-sleeved shirt, looking into the camera with a burrowed eyebrows. Behind her is a large banner that reads: "Save Tanjung Aan, let the local build the grow, don't let us suffer, don't destroy our nature, say no to ITDC"." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Simply Finance Worldwide Ella Nurlaila had bought meals on Tanjung Aan for 3 years earlier than the seashore was cleared of all stalls in July

The state-owned firm main Mandalika's tourism drive, InJourney Tourism Growth Company (ITDC), has secured 2.1 trillion rupiah ($128m; £96m) to construct a luxurious lodge on Tanjung Aan.

Authorities mentioned the mission will create jobs and enhance the native financial system. However that is little comfort for stall house owners like Ella and her husband Adi, who've bought coconuts and low on the seashore for the previous three years.

"1000's of individuals right here rely upon [coastal land] for his or her livelihood," Adi mentioned. "The place else are we purported to go to earn a dwelling?"

The couple mentioned that they had paid taxes for his or her stall - which, in keeping with Adi, sat on land belonging to his mother and father.

However ITDC representatives advised the BBC that Tanjung Aan is "state-owned land", and that the tax paid by these companies "doesn't equate to authorized possession or land legitimacy".

That is simply the newest bout of tensions over Mandalika's tourism push.

Simply Finance Worldwide, a improvement finance watchdog, has repeatedly flagged "a sample of rights violations linked to the Mandalika mission" in recent times.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3646/live/b2b795c0-7681-11f0-a95b-172adb5131d0.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Just Finance International Police with helmets and riot shields, as well as men in green camouflge uniform, crowd in front of a hut that has a large wooden sign that reads "Aloha"." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Simply Finance Worldwide Safety forces arrived on 15 July to demolish the stalls on Tanjung Aan seashore

UN human rights consultants estimate that greater than 2,000 folks "misplaced their main technique of livelihood in a single day" due to the Tanjung Aan evictions. Stall house owners got neither "satisfactory discover" nor "appropriate" resettlement plans, they mentioned in a press release in August.

"The folks of Mandalika should not be sacrificed for a mission that guarantees financial development on the expense of human rights," they mentioned.

'If they need Bali, they need to go to Bali'

In its quest for a remarkably totally different future, Lombok will even need to take care of what this implies for native tradition.

The predominantly Muslim island is residence to hundreds of mosques and the indigenous Sasak ethnic group. In comparison with Bali, alcohol isn't as available in components of the island. On journey boards, vacationers are inspired to ditch bikinis and scorching pants for extra modest apparel.

Such conservative sensitivities might change, or not less than be pushed additional inland, as tourism heats up alongside the shoreline. Travellers who've come to like Lombok aren't blissful about that both.

"Lombok is so particular as a result of it nonetheless has its personal nature and other people come to see that," mentioned Swiss vacationer Basil Berger, a sceptic of the"Bali-fication" of the island.

"In the event that they wish to see Bali, they [should] go to Bali," he mentioned. Turning Lombok into one other Bali "is the "the worst factor that they will do".

There are additionally environmental considerations. The bike Grand Prix final yr drew 120,000 spectators to Mandalika, abandoning 30 tonnes of garbage that authorities struggled to clear.

"Earlier than it will get to Bali's stage of improvement, Lombok might study. As a result of it is displaying the identical form of pressure," says Sekar Utami Setiastuti, who lives in Bali.

The federal government ought to guarantee "tourism improvement brings welfare to lots of people, as a substitute of simply bringing vacationers to Lombok", she provides. "Lombok has to seek out its personal id - not simply [become] a much less crowded Bali."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/cf94/live/a69a0470-7678-11f0-8cce-85ad8ee5156e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Aerial view of a large motorcycle race track along the coast, with blue sea seen to the right of the circuit." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Pictures The race monitor is only one of many improvement plans that fear locals and common guests who've come to like a quieter Lombok

Irrespective of the place that search leads, a brand new period has dawned on Lombok.

Andrew Irwin is among the many international buyers who've taken an early curiosity in Lombok's budding tourism. The American is the co-owner of LMBK Surf Home, considered one of Mandalika's hottest surf camps.

The way in which he sees it, companies like his are serving to to uplift native staff and their households.

"It is giving folks extra alternatives to earn extra money, ship their youngsters to correct faculty, get correct insurance coverage, get correct healthcare, and primarily reside a greater high quality of life," he mentioned.

Whereas there's "not essentially a lot one can do" about Lombok's altering panorama, he says, "we are able to simply hope to deliver a optimistic change to the equation".

Tourism has definitely ushered prosperity into the lives of many locals, who've determined to attempt their hand at entrepreneurship.

"As lengthy you wish to work, you may earn a living from tourism," says Baiq Enida Kinang Lare, a homestay proprietor in Kuta, recognized to her friends as Lara. Her neighbours too have began homestays.

Lara began her enterprise in 2014 with 4 rooms. She's now at 14, not counting a separate villa underneath building.

As excited as she is about her prospects, she can be a bit wistful as she recalled life earlier than the hustle.

"It is tough to seek out time to collect and see everybody. That is what we miss. We really feel just like the time flies very, very quick as a result of we're busy," she says.

It is a feeling that may certainly be shared by locals from Bali to Mykonos to Cancun, at any time when tourism took off of their patch of paradise: "I miss the previous, however we like the cash."