Editors Comments:
Some Bali companies that are allowing large gatherings in the last weeks and their patrons are being incompetent and socially irresponsible.
We are trying to get this virus under control in Bali but these people feel that they are immune, primarily young foreigners.
Everyone must work together right here and right now to stop this virus in its tracks or Bali will be a wasteland for the next several years.
I suggest to the government that they force everybody who attended those events to be tested for coronavirus at their own expense.
Anyone with the virus be immediately put into 14 days mandatory isolation again at their own expense.
Now let's hear from all you left-wing critics out there who think that Coronavirus is a conspiracy.
Then I will argue that there are almost 10 million people infected in the world with one half million people dead already.
How can you argue with that.
Updated Mon 22 Jun 2020, 4:53pm
The House of Om crammed more than 100 people into a treetop studio near Ubud. A few days later, it denied what had happened.
Image:
A Balinese yoga and meditation business popular with foreigners crammed over 100 people into a treetop studio for a 'celebration of bliss' and then lied to the public after it came under attack for potentially spreading COVID.
House of Om near Ubud held a yogic chanting evening on Thursday that it says was to raise money for Balinese out of work due to the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the 'sky shala' may have been less than helpful.
The 'spiritual community' and business, founded by a yoga instructor from Dubai, invited the public to "invite as many friends and family as you want" and hoped to see more than 100 turn up. At least that many answered the call. The mostly white, Western devotees sung together, swaying, without face masks or social distancing, for several hours.
A few days later, the House of Om found itself in the less-than-blissful position of denying its evening of love had taken place.
Its problems began when a holistic sexuality practitioner found out about the event and started a minor Twitter-storm of criticism. She was armed with photos the business itself had posted on Facebook on Saturday as well as a screenshot of the original ad plus posts from people who had been to the event.
Skip Twitter Tweet
FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame.
4,711
3:05 PM - Jun 20, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
3,787 people are talking about this
Despite this, the organisers claimed the photos were from December and had been posted for promotional purposes.
It repeated this claim to a local newspaper as well as to Hack on Sunday, claiming that "envy people" with "law vibrations" were trying to shut down the business.
Its plan of deception may have worked, but then videos surfaced, including a high-quality one filmed by a professional photographer friend of the organisers. It was initially shared publicly on Youtube. An Instagram story posted by an attendee shows the crowded room and thanks the business for a lovely evening.
Then on Monday, about 24 hours after claiming the photos were from 2019, the House of Om confessed the event had taken place last week.
"It was a big and unreasonable mistake that happened in this difficult time," co-founder and CEO Wissam Barakeh said in a post.
"We apologise to all Balinese people for our less responsible actions."
The House of Om event on Thursday, June 18 2020.
Image:
There are more than 1000 confirmed cases of COVID in Bali, with the number rising: 32 new cases were reported on Monday. Indonesians account for almost 99 per cent of the total and also bear the economic burden of the collapse of the economic shutdown, including the loss of the tourism industry. Health authorities urge the public to wear face masks, keep six-foot from each other, and stay away from crowded places. The day before the House of Om event Indonesia became the country with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases in south-east Asia — more than 45,000, or five times more than Australia's.
The House of Om incident has angered those on the island who believe some foreigners are not taking the pandemic seriously enough. In April, during the height of lockdown, global nomads staying in a luxury villa held a 21st birthday party attended by models and Instagram influencers. The hosts had to report to authorities and post public apology videos after a visit from the police the next day. Earlier this month, authorities raided a Canggu bar popular with tourists after footage circulated showing few partygoers wearing face masks or observing social distancing measures at the venue.
One unidentified person, posting in response to the House of Om outcry, captured this sense of entitled exceptionalism: "Don't you see your people are totally dependent on foreigners. No tourists and they can't even get food to feed their families ... without active foreigners here Bali will be f***ed completely."
Jenny Jusuf, who initially reported the event on Twitter, said the public reaction to news of the House of Om's event was "mostly pissed".
"Most of these foreigners are living in Bali on emergency stay permits from the Indonesian Government, yet they act like they own the island," she told Hack.
Balinese social activist Niluh Djelantik wrote that foreigners' blatant disregard for the rules will cost the lives of Indonesians: "You claim you are spiritualist? You have abused this island. You don't give a damn about our people."
No comments:
Post a Comment