2016 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival

Excellent stuff - hope it goes well

What about the censorship on the 1965 Genicide of 1million Indonesians as it happened in 2015 when all debate or film, especially Joshuah Oppemheimer's ones were prohibited?
I hope there will be a massive protest against this violation of human rights, especially freedom of thinking and expressing one's idea through whatever media it is.

As a unpublished author I would love to attend but find the cost just to attend one seminar out of reach for me.

MF24, if you were part of last year's festival then you already know that the discussion you think was banned, was in fact carried out anyway, but without publicity or fanfare.

That event was affectionately called, "the seminar on that which we are not supposed to discuss." 

One step at a time! 

When I first moved to Indonesia, any and all writing in Chinese was banned from Indonesia.  It took a blind President (Gus Dur) to change that, and do he did...and he made Chinese New Year yet another national holiday too!

Jethro...you might take some initiative by sending Janet some examples of your writing and who knows...you just might find yourself a sponsor!   

Thank  you Ubudian.
But I fear I shall not.

MF24 wrote:

What about the censorship on the
I hope there will be a massive protest

I've heard of people committing suicide on the internet, but never actually seen a possible one until I read that post.
If the subject is as sensitive as you say, what's stopping immigration landing on you to tell you how they're going to boot you out over that post?
One sensitive subject, and incitement to a likely illegal protest is plenty of reason to cancel any immigration document you hold.
Sound daft? similar has happened before for a lot less than that.

In Regards to censorship in Indonesia. They only pertains to films mostly.

Pretty much there exist freedom of expression, unparalleled by most forms of media.

In regards to protest and strikes, it is not illegal. Anyone can do demo as long as they obtained and satisfy the conditions.

Anyone can do demo as long as they obtained and satisfy the conditions.

True, but how will they get a permit for such a demo?

Just for the record, Indonesia does in fact have some pretty tough anti-sedition laws on the books that go back to Sukarno's time.  Coincidentally, so does Malaysia and Singapore.  The supposed reasoning behind those laws was to combat communism and any communist influence. 

That said, I think one would be hard pressed to find those laws used against a person who was only exercising their opinion, political, religious or otherwise.

http://blog.theholidaze.com/2014/06/dep … f-a-tweet/

As I type this I am locked in a cell in an Indonesian detention center. Why you may ask? Surely someone who has been traveling the world for five years is smart enough not to get himself deported. Well, apparently I am not.

However rather than being deported for some heinous act, like smuggling or getting arrested for a sordid deed, the details surrounding my deportation are far more comical. And also a bit disturbing in their implications.

I Am Being Deported Because Of A Tweet

It was a tweet that I knew was wrong and deleted five minutes later, but not before a friend turned psycho stalker had taken a screenshot of it. Now I have become the first person in history to be deported for a tweet.

The pen is mightier than the sword ... sometimes.

Pure fiction.

It's starts with a dead give away..."As I type this I am locked in a cell in an Indonesian detention center."

No phones or laptops while in the clink here my friend.   

And for the record...plenty of Indonesians use the "F bomb" on social media.   It's use is commonplace.

Anyway, if there is any truth to that blog, the likelihood is that the real reason he was deported is because he was under police suspicion for something far more serious than dropping the F bomb.  Using immigration to get rid of a problem is generally a whole lot cheaper than an expensive police investigation.  And, it makes a lot of sense too.   

He, assuming he is to be believed, said it about Immigration.

I'm not buying it for one second.  As you well know, the internet is ripe with entertaining, but fictional blogs. 

If in fact he was put in jail, and then deported, it was for something else than dropping the F bomb on immigration via Twitter.

OK, you got my curiosity peeked, so I did a little digging about this guy…the poor soul sent to jail over a tweet.   

Just as I suspected, this guy was a big problem.  In part,

“Turns out, he's been working in Indonesia on a tourist visa – a big no no. He's also publicly talked about drink driving and doing other reckless things on his motorcycle (SMSing while going 80km/hr), and has boasted about illegally breaking into buildings at night during his Tour de Horror stunt.”

You can read more here:

https://www.gofundme.com/af0n80

I say good riddance to that jerk, and that justice was served.

What say you?

Could be, but it makes a lovely story for your writers' thingy, so don't knock it

After all, who would have expected this thread to get bumped so many times and reach 15 posts?

As Wilde said, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about".
Lucky you.

Ubudian wrote:

I say good riddance to that jerk, and that justice was served.

What say you?

Sounds reasonable ... ner, close to perfect, and I'm less than sure I would have stumped up any cash for him.

LOL!

And did you note how he used that site "go fund me" to extort $1,200.00 out of hapless idiots? 

As another oft quoted phrase goes, "there's a sucker born every minute."

Cheers and good night Amigo!

"Time for bed", said Zebidee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZTBDnj0Cgc

Jasper had his own ideas, but got banned from the BBC for his efforts. (Over 18s only)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_JQDfuMZi0

Indonesia wont jail you for saying f word.

Singapore will jail you. He is very fortunate he  was in Indonesia.
I dont think he has learned much from the event.
The issue is really enforcement due to breaking the visa overstaying law etc and disrespecting authority while overseas. what is new....

Alot of foreigners go to another "less developed" country and feel they are special and different. Yes they will be treated differently than locals because they got no sense.

Recently Australian newspapers got headlines about traffic police corruption in Bali.

But all this is due to australian tourists not bothering to have motorcycle license and wearing helmets while riding a scooter.
And they are surprised the police targeted them as soft easy way to make a buck.

Stupid classic foreigner attitude when travelling abroad as untouchable.

enduringword wrote:

Indonesia wont jail you for saying f word..

Excellent flipping news.

This Bali writers' thing is getting some lovely thread bumps.
I hope lots of people read about it, and hopefully enjoy the ensuing banter.

Hang on, the writer thingy isn't until October, but the very yummy sounding the Ubud Food Festival (UFF) will run from May 27–29, 2016, and is rich with not only the tastes of Indonesia, but the diverse stories and cultural life of the archipelago (I pinched that from the OP's link).

Writing is one thing, but stuffing your face with delicious Indonesian and world food is a really puller for me.
The massive range of amazing Indonesian food never stops making my mouth drool with the thought of nibbling on something new.
It's just one more thing that makes me love this wonderful country.

This is the Australian news article I mentioned...
Titled the Bribes you will probably have to pay in Bali

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-ad … dbb8f4ca6f

I recall that, and at least one of the "bribes" mentioned in it.

In a particularly frightening case, a group of Melbourne men at a buck's party were forced to pay $25,000 to corrupt police who had allegedly tasered and pistol-whipped them before threatening to send them to jail if they didn't pay the bribe.

I don't believe they mentioned the drunken Australians were at an illegal stripper party and were beating up the Hotel's security staff because the manager didn't want a bunch of low life drunks in his place.
So the cops might have hit a few or stuffed a volt or few up them - hard luck for being fools.
As for the bribe, they didn't manage to produce a single ATM receipt or bank statement to show any withdrawals, even if a foreign bank would have allowed such a large ATM transaction.

I wouldn't accuse the drunks of producing the odd lie, or the newspaper of printing total crap, but they're liars and the newspaper printed total crap.