Originally published on Sydney Morning Herald, Battle Brews for Kuta's Soul, Dec. 13, 2008.
by Tom Allard in Bali
(With Comments from Made Wijaya in red)
IT LIES desolate and abandoned, overgrown with weeds and bordered by a damaged fence. By night, inebriated tourists tramp by looking for the next beer from the next bar, barely casting a glance at the vacant lot.
Here, on Kuta's busy Jalan Legian, is the site where scores of young party-goers from around the world died, where the Sari Club once stood before it was levelled by a huge explosion in 2002.
Six years after the Bali terrorist attacks, a battle is brewing over a place many Australians and Balinese consider sacred ground. NOT MANY BALINESE, I AM AFRAID.
Plans have been drawn up to build a nightclub on the site while a group of Australians is trying to recharge a troubled five-year-project to buy the land and turn it into a Balinese garden of remembrance.
Who actually owns the land remains a mystery, much to the frustration of the organisers of the Bali Peace Park movement.
A wealthy Balinese businessman and nightclub operator, Made Wiranatha, known as Kadek, appears to be the local liaison for the owner but has refused to meet the Australians behind the park concept, despite requests over four years.
He has, however, asked the prominent Bali-based French architect Fredo Taffin to draw up plans for a new party palace.
"Yes, we've met and talked about the design for a new venue there," Mr Taffin said. "Yes, with Kadek and the investors. There were early concept designs discussed."
Phil Britten, who suffered burns to 60 per cent of his body and lost seven of his teammates from Perth's Kingsley Football Club in the blasts, said a nightclub would be a "desecration".
"It's like building an amusement centre on ground zero in New York," he said.
Paddy's Bar, where the first, smaller bomb was set off before the huge explosion ripped through the Sari Club, has already been redeveloped into a multi-storey complex with a noisy restaurant and bar above a surf shop.
Patrons sip beers and snack on tapas on a terrace overlooking the nearby stone monument which lists the names of the 202 victims of the bombings.
The monument sits on a hectic intersection and the idea behind the Bali Peace Park is to have a lush Balinese garden with a mural explaining the history of Kuta and what happened the night of the terrorist attacks. UM, NO. (I CAN SAY THAT, AS THE DESIGNER). There are small areas set aside for prayer and contemplation.
"It's supposed to be a spiritual place, no matter what your religion," Mr Britten said. "We want to buy the land, hand it to the people of Kuta, build the garden and let them look after it." YEH, RIGHT.
The lurah, or chief, of Kuta village, I Gede Suparta, told the Herald the Peace Park was "a very good idea", and one he relayed to the man he believes holds a long-term lease over the land.
"If I am not mistaken his name was Probo. He's from Jakarta," Mr Suparta said. "He said he will think about it."
Whether "Probo" is the ultimate owner or lessee of the land remains uncertain. Mr Suparta has not heard from him since their one encounter last year.
Efforts to peruse the local land titles office have proved fruitless for the Bali Peace Park organisers. Record-keeping in Indonesia's famously chaotic bureaucracy is not of the highest standard. Kadek, meanwhile, declined to be interviewed.
Mr Taffin understands the owner is a Balinese luxury car dealer and said Balinese Hindu priests have "cleansed" the Sari Club site since the bombings with religious ceremonies.
Under local custom, that paves the way for rebuilding, but Mr Taffin said he remains uncomfortable with building a nightclub and drew up the "sketches" as a favour to his friend Kadek.
"It's a wonderful idea," he said of the Peace Park, adding that the nightclub investors were assessing the economic impact of the global financial crisis before moving ahead to get planning approval.
The approval process is theoretically thorough, but such projects can materialise in Bali despite the objections of the local community and the lurah, who said he felt he had a "moral responsibility" to block it.
In the meantime, Phil Britten and the other Australians behind the Bali Peace Park will be trying to contact the owner.
