Time again for the latest edition of the Sanur Weekly newspaper. I always enjoy it when this paper comes out, for a couple of reasons: 1) because it is so poorly written, which often leads to unintended humor and 2) because there is always at last one 'odd', or even 'lurid' little news piece. Both of these points make it more interesting that actual news, which I get pretty bored with due to overexposure through the news channels on my TV and through Facebook posts from the various major outlets.
Interestingly, today's edition of the weekly celebrates its 500th week in print, an accumulation of roughly ten years in business, and also bemoans the "ongoing apocalypse" (by which I believe they mean COVID) which has depressed their advertising and circulation during this comatose period of tourism, given that the paper is written in English and directed toward the tourist population.
That said, the first article in this edition addresses the recent Mudik travels of the local population, despite the nationwide travel ban that had been in effect from May 6th to May 17th and had been intended to prohibit Mudik travels in the interest of controlling the spread of COVID. Mudik, by the way, is the annual exodus wherein millions travel to their home towns during the Eid-al-Fitr holiday at the end of Ramadan to spend time with family and friends. "We'll see," the paper notes ominously, the result of this reckless behavior within the next few weeks." As if things aren't bad enough already. I note for instance that the entire Tabanan regency is now a red zone. During this time of prohibited travel which occurred nontheless, travelers were randomly tested for COVID-19 at some 400 checkpoints across the country and fully 61 percent were found to be positive. Good grief.
The Tabanan regency (mentioned above), by the way, has refused to close any of their local attractions as per the regulations issued by the Indonesian president. So I guess it's sort of like the Texas of Indonesia.
We read also of a 34 year old Karangasem man who was rescued by authorities after attempting to end his life at Sanur Beach by plunging himself into the sea. "Fortunately," the paper notes, Sanur Beach is not the best location to drown yourself as the depth of the water inside Sanur reef is simply not enough for such an attempt to be successful." (See what I mean about the writing?). I personally am not sure sure about their conclusion here. Yes, the Sanur water front is shallow, depending on what part of Sanur you choose for your suicide attempt, but it is certainly deep enough, if you wade out far enough and if you are sufficiently determined, to drown in. In fact, I once read that one could drown, technically speaking, in a glass of water under the proper (or perhaps improper) circumstances. It seems to me that the whole matter would take depth of willingness rather than depth of water to succeed. I actually considered this scenario a couple of years ago when I was so sick for so long and confined in my room in the company of various confused and fantastical thoughts and delusions. I could wade out into the ocean and just go under, or, barring that (say, if I had insufficient energy), I could simply drown myself in the pool of the Kost-kostan where I was living at the time. But I just couldn't arrive upon a conclusion to the act which seemed satisfactory. I didn't like the thought of what people finding me would have to experience, and I didn't like the thought of being eaten by fish. Vanity supplies a powerful justification for persevering.
Finally, we have another mention of Karangasem as being the point of origination of dozens of children and some adults found begging in the streets of Gianyar (a district close to Sanur). Thirty-four unattended children have been detained. These children had previously carried out their activities in tourist districts, such as Sanur, but had moved to Gianyar regency due to the general lack of tourists on the island. They had been sent out by their families in Karangasem for the express purpose of collecting money through begging. Karangasem is widely known as among the poorest districts in Bali.
No comments:
Post a Comment