The before and after. Photos: Courtesy Piter Panjaitan
A recent rain storm on Bali destroyed sections of the contentious seawall currently under construction in Uluwatu. Videos have circulated on social media showing sections of the unfinished wall that had been swept out to sea and erosion damage to the access road that cuts through the cliff.
Piter Panjaitan, who has become one of the most outspoken locals on social media raising questions about the project’s environmental impact, shared images of the damage with his 14,000 Instagram followers.
“The clearing is basically a giant drainage,” Panjaitan told The Inertia. “If they actually had done an environmental impact study they would have thought about what would happen during the rainy season. That clearing can’t handle all the rainwater. They didn’t build gutters or anything to control how the water flows down.”
“That’s only rain,” he added. “Imagine when we have king tides with big swell.”
Panjaitan is worried about how the newly formed channel of fresh water will affect the peninsula’s coral reef, as well as the murky limestone runoff that has already tainted the Uluwatu lineup on several occasions since the construction began in August.
According to Panjaitan, local resistance to the project is waning. Local government elections in October saw the key incumbent politicians win re-election, meaning any radical change to the status quo is unlikely. He also says that many citizens are only thinking about the temple and are not educated on the potential harm caused by the project.
The $5 million project is intended to protect the crumbling cliff on which the historic Uluwatu temple is situated. Thus far, an access road has been chiseled through the cliff, sediment has been dumped into the ocean, and a coastal road at the base of the cliff has taken form with a rock wall protecting it from the ocean. Portions of the rocks have now been swept out to sea. Up on the cliff, hundreds of concrete jacks lay in piles, presumably to be placed in the ocean to buffer wave impact on the road.
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Save the Waves created an online petition that has garnered 17,000 signatures calling for an environmental impact report to assess how the project will affect the ecosystem and wave quality.
Due to the lack of transparency of the project, Panjaitan doesn’t know how they will proceed. He anticipates that more funding will be required to repair the damage done by recent rains, which have only just begun as the monsoon season sets in.
Even as Panjaitan assumes the role of de facto opposition leader on social media, he doesn’t know how long he can keep it up. He says he has received anonymous death threats on social media and many friends are urging him to tone it down for the safety of his family. Further complicating matters, Panjaitan is not Balinese or Hindu, so he is careful to focus his dialogue on the environmental impact and not stray into politics or religion.
He worries about the livelihood of his friends and family who own businesses and work in surf tourism in the Uluwatu area. Some of his children are surf instructors.
“When I see injustice it drives me crazy,” said Panjaitan. “I would love to leave a legacy to my kids and the next generation, the same that I had before.”
