Law and Order: Bali
Editorial: Without the Rule of Law, Bali and Its Investors Face a Doubtful Future.
A recent report in Beritabali.com quotes Wayan Suantra, the chief of the
Bali Branch of Real Estate Indonesia (REI) as urging Bali's regents to
quickly ratify and implement the 2009 zoning law (RTRW 2009) in order to
resolve an atmosphere of legal uncertainty that is proving an
impediment to investment in Bali.
Uncertainty Revisited
We endorse Suantra's comments and question the wisdom of those who
complain that current efforts in to close down and demolish illegal
buildings and businesses will somehow scare business away from Bali.
We believe the truth of the matter is just the opposite.
In fact, it is precisely the years of a "pay-as-you-go" laissez-faire
approach to development that has brought Bali to its unhappy current
state of affairs.
On an island with poisoned rivers, polluted beaches and occupied by
developers who think they can somehow magically improve the look of an
escarpment fashioned by nature over millennia - something desperately
needs to be done. Running low on water, short of electrical power,
congested with traffic and marginalizing the endemic Balinese who are
unable to pay escalating property tax rates, let alone dream of owning a
piece of their homeland – Bali is developmentally heading in the wrong
direction.
Bali's future attractiveness, both as a place to live and do business,
depends on a system of transparent and impartially enforced rules. This
is the "certainty" Bali craves.
Well-written laws enforced without favor or compromise have the
potential of saving Bali and reversing its current insidious decline.
Governor Pastika's brave push to bring the RTRW 2009 into full effect is
a bold and important step worthy of every one's support. If past
projects that played dare with the law, assuming rules could ignore and
sorted out at a later date, become casualties of the current battle to
save the island that will be a very small price to pay to keep Bali
sustainable and beautiful for generations to come.
The final irony is that if Bali succeeds in this sacred quest, the
naysayers who suggest enforcing the rules threatens investment will be
proven wrong. Good investors like the predictability that comes with the
rule of law; knowing that it they play by the rules everyone else must
also do the same.
Source : http://www.balidiscovery.com/messages/message.asp?Id=6904
