TedxUbud

Rabies on the Island of the Gods

Not many people worry about rabies these days. As a child my brother and I used to put baking soda in our mouth and take a sip of vinegar before running inside to convince my mom we were bitten by rogue squirrels. That was about the extent of my experience with rabies, until recently.  On we went to a famous surf beach in the south of Bali called Dreamland. After hanging out on the beach and laughing at people being taken out by some massive swells (bad karma) we went to a little cafe near the beach to eat some bbq corn on the cob.

There was a big monkey eating corn there too. At first he seemed fine so we didn't pay much attention to him, then he came up behind me and growled. I gave him my mostly eaten ear of corn, this did not apease the monkey,  he jumped on the table and bit me in the back. Not an extremely painful bite, but you could see imprints of each of his teeth and four bleeding holes where his fangs are. Cool tattoo idea no?

It was weird because monkeys aren't usually aggressive and when you give them food they normally run off to eat their food gleefully.  We washed the bite, first with Bintang as that was all we had on hand and then with ice and took off on our motorbikes for the hospital. 

The monkey looked clean and was not foaming at the mouth and screaming like a maniac or anything, probably just a big aggressive male monkey. But there is still reason to be worried. Dogs and bats in the south of Bali have faced an outbreak of rabies which peaked in 2008 and is still worrisome. At least 17 people have died of rabies between 2008 and 2009 and there are possibly more cases as they tend to be underreported. Nearly all of  these cases are in the south of the island (Tabanan/Ungasan). 

Source: Flutrackers


So what should you do and how much should you worry if you are bitten by a wild animal in Bali? Upon contracting the rabies virus (most likely from an animal bite), the virus will work its way slowly but steadily to the brain – taking anywhere from 8 days to 2 months to do so.  Once there, death is virtually a foregone conclusion – only a handful of people have ever survived after developing the terrible symptoms of rabies – delirium, an unquenchable thirst, and of course, the strong desire to bite another person!

In Bali rabies is only spread by stray dogs, usually in the south of the island. So if you are bitten by a dog, especially in the South it is important to go to the hospital immediately to have the wound cleaned and then receive a series of pretty painful rabies injections. The number of injections needed is based on weight and ranges in price from 1000-2000 US Dollars. The shots are given around the bite wound, which is pretty painful but still much better then dyeing a slow death of convulsions and dehydration. 

For now no one has reported a monkey bite leading to a rabies death in Bali. This is not because monkeys do not contract rabies but because monkeys die pretty quickly from rabies once the symptoms show. However a monkey bite can infect a human with rabies just the same as any other animal infected with it can. If however, the monkey has been around another rabid animal and it was bitten, it can infect another animal or person. Note, rabies is deadly in monkeys just as it is in humans, so a monkey with rabies would not live very long.

The authorities in Bali have been criticized of being slow to react to the rabies epidemic and the biggest criticism is that the culling of the stray dogs is being done in a haphazard way. The other problem is that they have run out of vaccines, so if you are bitten by a dog in Bali you wont always be able to get the injections on the island.

The most important advice is to act quickly if an animal bites or scratches you:
• Wash the wound well with soap and water.
• See a doctor right away, even if you don’t feel sick or your wound is not serious. To prevent rabies, you may need to start a series of vaccinations immediately.
• To get vaccinated, be prepared to travel back to the United States or to another area. (Adequate vaccination for exposure to rabies is not available in all parts of the world.)
• After you return home, tell your doctor or state health department that you were bitten or scratched during travel.

I found the following story on NPR Terrible Virus, Fascinating History In 'Rabid' by NPR Staff NPR - July 19, 2012 Here's your vocabulary word for the week: zoonosis. It describes an infection that is transmitted between species. For example, the disease that the husband and wife team of Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy have written about in their new book, Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus. Wasik is a journalist; his wife is a veterinarian, so the rabies virus seems like a natural topic for conversation. "Veterinarians spend a lot of time thinking about rabies, even though in this country, we hardly ever see it," Murphy tells NPR's Robert Siegel. "So I've been bringing home stories about rabies from my education and from my reading for a long long time." Murphy's stories about rabies intrigued her husband. "I started to think about all the cultural resonances of that and even just of the word 'rabid,' " Wasik says. "So we realized that it would be fun for us to work on a book together about it." Rabies is a terrible virus, causing immense suffering before it kills. "It's a really awful way to go," Wasik says, "but if you take a step back, you sort of have to admire it because it is one of those pathogens that actually compels the host to spread it." The virus attacks the limbic system, which Murphy describes as the seat of anger, fear and desire. "The rabies virus creates a pretty effective rabies-spreading machine," she says, as maddened, infected animals bite and spread the disease through their saliva. That idea of the infected bite that spreads madness and death is at the heart of many great modern horror narratives: Wasik says tales of vampires, werewolves and even zombies have some rabies in their DNA. Rabies also, chillingly, blurs the line between human and animal. "I feel like that is the reason why we've always feared rabies more than is necessarily warranted by the number of people that it kills," he says. "The very disease itself is like a transfer of an animal essence to a human being ... the fear and the biting ... it is an animal aggression, transferred to us." But rabies is rarely seen in this country; Murphy didn't see a rabid dog in person until she traveled to Indonesia during an outbreak. There were limited measures in place to control the spread of rabies; mostly, people shot the sick dogs. "Despite the large-scale culling efforts, the virus continued to spread around the island and many people died, so it's good that eventually the government came around to vaccination," she says. That vaccine was originally developed by the French scientist Louis Pasteur in the 19th century; in fact, it was the first modern vaccine developed in the laboratory. Pasteur's work becomes even more remarkable when you consider the fact that he didn't really know what was causing rabies; he called the infectious agent a virus, but at the time, no one had ever seen a virus. "I think that was Pasteur's great achievement," Murphy says, "that he adhered so fervently to the belief that for any infectious disease, there will be an infectious organism behind it ... that even when he couldn't see it under the microscope, he still went after it." [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

Concert Creates Upheaval in Jakarta

Violence and threats carried out by small hard-line religious groups are threatening Indonesia's exonerated position as a tolerant and pluralistic Islamic Nation. A recent upswing in hard line religious organizations have disrupted book discussions and threatened violence against foreign artists in the name of morality.

The most pointed example is the probable cancellation of Lady Gaga's sold-out concert in Jakarta. Despite being her biggest show in Asia and her undisputed popularity among Indonesian youths a small number of Islamic hard-liners have threatened the performer and concert goers leading conservative lawmakers to withhold her concert permit.

Promoters have already sold 52,000 tickets, however the hard-line group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), has threatened to plunge Jakarta into chaos if Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way Tour” concert takes place as scheduled on June 3. This has led the police to deny Gaga’s concert permit in the capital. 

The singer and songwriter faces backlash from groups such as the notorious Islam Defenders Front (FPI), who accuse Gaga of spreading “Satanic verses” through her music. Last week, the FPI's Jakarta branch chief, Habib Salim Alatas said that he would deploy FPI members to intercept the singer upon her arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International.

“We refuse to have Lady Gaga’s feet touch our land. She’s bringing the faith of Satan to our country and will thus destroy the nation’s morals,” he told the Post.

Over the years, several foreign performers have cancelled their previously scheduled concerts in Indonesia, but not one of them was banned by law enforcement agencies. While the police have apparently bowed to pressure to ban the upcoming concert in Jakarta, an official from Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization thinks that the move is “too much”.

Muhammad Imdadun Rahmat, deputy-secretary-general of Nahdlatul Ulama, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that he was against the police’s decision saying “the police should not have gone as far as banning the concert. They should not intervene against the freedom of expression."


What do you think? Is banning a foreign artist from preforming reasonable if there is an assumption they will not respect cultural values? Or is banning a popular artist a form of censorship and control by a small minority which does more to damage the culture as a whole then any uproarious performance could?

Is Indonesia becoming more Conservative and less Tolerant?

Canadian Muslim activist Irshad Manji is rethinking her praise of Indonesia as a open and progressive Islamic nation following the conservative backlash and violence which traumatized fans and left her injured during her book talk in Yogyakarta last Wednesday. 

Hundreds of people from the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) attacked participants attending the book discussion. The mob broke down the door to the office which the organizer had closed for safety reasons. 

Participants remained at the conference with some circling the squatting Irshad to cover her. The mob vandalized the publisher’s office and tore sheets of Irshad’s books that were displayed for sale.

The MMI said Irshad’s so-called liberty and lesbianism propaganda was blasphemous toward Islam and that her teachings represented covert atheist propaganda. They also considered all those who facilitated Irshad’s event in Indonesia to be enemies of religion and the state.

Ugandan-born  Irshad Manji is an advocate of “reformist and progressive” interpretations of Islamic teachings. In 2008 Irshad Manji visited Jakarta and Yogyakarta to discuss her first book entitled Faith without Fear: The Challenge for Muslims Today. Her newest book, Allah, Liberty and Love, praises Indonesia as an example of a place where pluralistic Islam can be upheld.

“However a lot of things have changed,” she told Tempo on Thursday morning. Manji, her assistant and several participants suffered minor injuries as a result of the physical attacks. Last Friday, the discussion of Manji’s book Allah, Liberty and Love at the Salihara cultural center in Jakarta was disrupted by authorities who questioned the organizer’s permit to invite a foreign national.

Dozens of people protested Irshad's book tour because she is openly gay and believes Islam should accept homosexuality.

On Saturday, Manji successfully attended a discussion hosted by the Alliance of Independence Journalists’s (AJI) Jakarta branch under the protection of Banser NU, a youth wing of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama. Before her Salihara speech was interrupted by the police, Manji had mentioned that compared to her last visit in 2008, she felt that there were “more conservative groups in the country this year”. (asa)

Bali's Dark Side

  

The more I learn about Bali the more I'm surprised by the complexity of the island's history. The other evening at my favorite yoga studio I noticed a book being sold. I joked to michel that it was the most downer book ever written on Bali as it discussed human trafficking, slavery and opium addiction. Although this would be a bit of a glum read it is also fascinating to see the less light side of Bali. 

Here is a brief history of the Island based on an article from the SGTrekkers website: Bali, the famed Island of the Gods, with its varied landscape of hills and mountains, rugged coastlines and sandy beaches, lush rice terraces and barren volcanic hillsides all provide a picturesque backdrop to the island's spiritual and unique culture.

Although the first Hindus arrived in Bali around 100BCE, the unique culture found on Bali today originally hailed from Java. This influence brought Javanese architecture, dance, painting, sculpting and various art forms, such as the Wayang puppet theatre to Bali.

The few Balinese who did not adopt the Javanese Hindu culture are known as the Bali Aga (original Balinese) and still live in the isolated villages of Tenganan near Candidasa and Trunyan on the remote eastern shore of Lake Batur.

Following the rise of Islam in Indonesian Bali became independent (around the turn of the 16th century) and the Javanese aristocracy took refuge in Bali, bringing an even stronger influx of Hindu arts, literature and religion.

Bali was divided among a number of ruling rajas, occasionally battling off invaders from now Islamic Java and making forays to conquer Lombok to the east. The north of Bali was captured by the Dutch colonialists in brutal wars from 1846 to 1849, with Southern Bali falling to colonial rule in 1906 and Eastern Bali surrendering in 1908. During these years, many Balinese warriors chose death over disgrace and fought en-masse until the bitter end, often walking straight into Dutch cannons and gunfire. This manner of suicidal fighting became known as puputan.

Colonial rule lasted until 1945 when Bali became part of the newly independent Republic of Indonesia under President Sukarno. In 1965 following a failed coup allegedly backed by the Communist Party (PKI),  anti communist violence spread across Indonesia. During this time it is said that the rivers in Bali ran red from the reprisal killings of suspected communists (the death toll is estimated around 80,000).

In the seventies intrepid hippies and surfers discovered Bali’s beaches and waves and tourism became the islands main source of income. Despite the terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2005, this magical island continues to draw crowds, and Bali’s culture remains as spectacular as ever. photos of Ubud rice fields and Tanah Lot via SGTrekkers.

Bali set to host Miss World Pageant

Bali is set to host next years Miss World Pageant. Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika announced that Denpasar would host the event, following a meeting with a co-chairperson of the Miss World Organization, Julia Morley, and Miss World 2011 Ivian Sarco.

At least 131 beauty queens from across the world will participate in the event. “We feel honored to be chosen as the host of the pageant. Bali will try to improve herself to get ready ahead of the pageant,” Pastika said, as quoted bykompas.com.

The governor said he hoped that hosting the event would boost Bali’s reputation and tourism industry. The meeting was also attended by the founder of the Miss Indonesia foundation, Liliana Tanoesoedibyo, and Miss Indonesia 2011 Astrid Ellena. Astrid, who represented Indonesia at the pageant last year, made it into the top 15 — the highest-ever placing of any Indonesian. (asa/mtq)

TEDxUbud

image via TEDxUbud

Are you going to TEDxUbud at Fivelements on Saturday May 26, 2012? The event combines live speakers and TED Talks videos to highlight Indonesian and international minds, expose our audience to ideas that are actively shaping the world, connect people across disciplines, and help shape a sustainable future for Indonesia and, by extension, the rest of the world. 

Just confirmed my ticket order today, hope to see you there!

Missing Afghan Asylum Boat found Empty

Indonesian authorities found the boat reported missing en route to Australia but the dozens of asylum seekers it was carrying have fled. Authorities had been searching for the boat since the mostly Afghan asylum seekers on board made a distress call to Australia late Wednesday, saying they were in rough seas and their boat was sinking.

Indonesian authorities located the missing vessel late on Friday, even though the boat had apparently reached Lombok island two days earlier. Officials and residents told AFP on Saturday that the asylum seekers had fled after landing on Lombok.

"People in Lombok informed us that they saw the boat arrive on the shore on Wednesday, and that people came ashore and ran off," said Nanang Sigit, a search and rescue official in West Nusa Tenggara province.

Refugee advocates in Australia said they had been in frequent phone contact with people on board the boat, about 60 mostly Afghan asylum seekers. "The accounts of the community on Lombok and the people on the boat don't match up," Sigit said.

Earthquake Off the Coast of Sumatra Triggers Tsunami Warning

Wednesday afternoon two earthquakes struck off the coast of Sumatra triggering tsunami evacuation warnings and reviving fear and panic from the earthquake and tsunami which ravaged South East Asia in 2004. Our dear friends from London where visiting so Tuesday morning we went surfing in Legion while the men bronzed and drank Bintang on the beach. After lunch and a bit of shopping in Seminyak we spent a wild night at the Sky Garden, a club with international djs and endless floors, I think we took about 3 hours just to make it to the balcony bar and dance floor at the top.

Wednesday after breakfast and kiss-filled goodbyes Michel, Theo and I took a well deserved nap. I was probably asleep (or reading NPR) when the earthquake hit, around 2 in the afternoon. I didn't feel a thing. The first quake, which was measured 8.6 by the United States Geological Survey, sent tremors though Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

In what ultimately amounted to a test of the region’s tsunami warning systems, residents in Sumatra fled coastal areas for higher ground. In Banda Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra, the hurried, spontaneous evacuation came after several minutes of heavy shaking.

Thankfully there were no casualties or significant damage, and tsunami warnings were called off hours after they were broadcast on television, mobile phones and the Internet.

Wednesday’s earthquakes were further away then the 2004 quake and seismologists said the horizontal motion of the first quake made it less likely to trigger a tsunami. Bruce Pressgrave, a geophysicist, said the first earthquake was believed to have come from a “strike-slip fault,” which would reduce the likelihood of a destructive tsunami. The wall of such faults moves horizontally with little vertical motion, he told the BBC. “Since the motion is horizontal, it is not moving the water column, it is less likely to produce a destructive tsunami,” Mr. Pressgrave said.

On the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the closest Indian territory to the earthquake’s epicenter, officials and hotel managers said they felt the earth move at around 2:15 p.m., but said there was no sign of a tsunami or even big waves nearly two hours later. Bindu Prakash, an officer with the Indian Navy based on the islands, said there had been no noticeable rise in sea levels even past the estimated time that the tsunami was supposed to hit the islands.

Prisoners Released with news of Potential Tsunami

Indonesian prison authorities warned dozens of inmates who escaped during the massive quake that they will be shot if they resist arrest. In Aceh province, where 170,000 people were killed in a 2004 tsunami, prisons evacuated inmates Wednesday during an 8.6-magnitude earthquake which jolted Sumatra island and triggered an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami alert. Twenty-nine inmates from Sigli Prison, 50 kilometers from the provincial capital Banda Aceh, made a getaway and are still on the loose as of Friday afternoon.

"We are giving the prisoners a deadline of this evening to return. If we find them and they try to flee, the guards and police are allowed to shoot," warden Djoko Budi Setianto said.

Guards at the prison, near the coast, evacuated all 221 inmates during the hours-long alert. "The two guards who opened the gates to let the prisoners out on Wednesday were caught in the 2004 tsunami, but they survived. They are still traumatized by it," Setianto said, adding there was little damage to the prison from the latest quake.

The prison originally sat just metres from the coastline, but was completely destroyed by the 2004 wave, which killed 350 of the 400 inmates trapped in the building as it filled with water and collapsed. It has been rebuilt around five kilometers inland.

People who had heard false reports that the prison had been destroyed in the April 2012 earthquake came to search for their loved ones Thursday. "At least 150 family members came to the prison. When they found their loved ones they were so relieved they hugged one another and cried." - AFP

Bomb Explodes at Indonesian Embassy Paris

Just when I was feeling a bit paranoid about our poor luck this past week and the prominence of terrorists in Bali a bomb explodes outside of the Indonesian embassy in Paris. We arrive in Paris Tuesday morning and the bomb went off early Wednesday morning in the west of Paris. Will everyone just chill it with the terrorism for a minute! I don't know what to think, I don't want to end up in an underground bunker somewhere hoarding rice and canned fruit and sewing clothes for Theo out of old burlap sacks, so everyone just chill.

The bomb exploded shortly before dawn blowing out windows in a 50-meter radius and setting fire to two cars. Police chief Michel Gaudin told reporters that a bag had been spotted under the embassy's windows by a worker clearing bins in the street. "He looked inside the bag, opened it and thought it must be a bomb since he saw a cannister attached to wires. He dropped it, left the area and called the police. That's when it exploded."

Thankfully "no-one was hurt but there are people in shock in neighboring flats." Police say the bomb contained "several kilos of explosives" however no group or individual has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Jakarta, Teuku Faizasyah, the Indonesian presidential spokesman on foreign affairs, said "We're still looking for clarity on whether we were the target or not" In 2004 a small bomb exploded at the Indonesian embassy in Paris however this was seen as a local incident and "not a national threat," to Indonesia he said.

Indonesian intelligence agency head Lieutenant General Marciano Norman told reporters in Jakarta that CCTV footage shows the bomb was moved away from the embassy before exploding.He said the package was initially placed in a garbage bin outside the embassy."About 10 minutes later, somebody came and moved it to the other side of the street. Only after that, it exploded."Based on the CCTV footage, we can strongly say that the bomb was not targeting the Indonesian embassy," he said.

Personally I'm not sure what this strong conviction that the bomb was not intended for the Indonesian embassy is based on and I hope there is news on who placed the bomb soon. I'm also not sure what to do about our visa situation. Michel had planned to pass by the embassy to obtain long term social visas for Bali (ours have expired since we left the country) but I plan to nix that idea. Who needs visas when you live in an underground bunker anyway? :)

UPDATE: According to the BBC, police have three suspects in custody. Earlier reports said witnesses had seen three men leave a package near the embassy. 

In Jakarta, officials say the embassy, as well as relations with France, will continue as before. "I don't think a little explosion to deter us from going on with the business of our activities," Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said. "But we will be very vigilant obviously."

Terrorists and Motor Bikes and Gastros

The luck of the Irish was not with us at all this st patricks day weekend. After looking at Villas in Ubud with Michel all day Friday I started feeling a bit strange. I'll spare you the gory details and just say I had the worst gastro of my life and spent most of Friday night writhing on the bathroom floor. Saturday night Michel tipped his motor bike coming home from coco market in the rain and badly tore up his knee and shoulder.  I'm very glad I wasn't there to witness the accident, though I imagine an epic nascar flipping type ordel. Then we learned that Michel's dear step father had passed away Friday evening.

So Monday we packed all our neglected warm clothes and headed to Denpasar airport to commence the long flight back to Paris. On the way we passed a mobbed police headquarters where journalists and citizens swarmed the fence taking photos and asking questions. Unsure of what had happened we quickly learned from the taxi driver that 5 suspected terrorists had been shot by police in Sanur the night before. He said (this has not been confirmed by other sources) the suspected terrorists had been planning a bombing on Nypei (March 23rd). Nyepi is the renowned Balinese holiday where, following a night of celebration with statues and parades, everyone in Bali retreats into their homes, shuts off all the lights and is compleatly silent. The idea is the night of racous festivities before will attract the evil spirits however the following day (Nyepi) they will discover the island silent and beliving it is deserted the bad spirits will leave the island in peace for another year. Michel the taxi driver and I all agree in horror that a terorist bombing on Nyepi would be symbolically atrocious. I dont want to imagine the reaction.

Since returning to Paris I've been looking for further information on the 5 terror suspects and the attempted arrest which turned into a shoot out. Here is what I've found. Police fatally shot five men who were allegedly planning to rob money changers, jewelers and other targets in Bali to fund terrorist attacks. Several semiautomatic guns, ammunition and masks were found during raids on the bungalow and boarding house where the men where staying late Sunday. In addition to weapons and masks, sketches of robbery targets were found. Members of Detachment 88 (Bali's elite anti-terrorist task force) swooped in Sunday night to surround the bungalow used by the suspects near Sanur beach and a boarding house nine miles away, sparking the deadly shootouts, police said.

According to convicted militants, the cell's goal had been to raise money through armed robberies and other illegal activities so they could launch a series of attacks on Western targets and carry out high-profile assassinations. Deadly attacks since the infamous Bali bombing in Kuta which killed over 200 include attacks on an embassy, hotels and restaurants. Almost all are blamed on the al-Qaida-linked militant network, Jemaah Islamiyah, and a violent splinter group.

Following the arrest and conviction of hundreds of militants discovered in a jihadi training camp in Aceh a string of armed robberies, most of which took place on Sumatra, have since been linked to this particular cell.Police got a tip that the men (including Jayakusuma, who was linked to a particularly violent robbery on a bank in Sumatra's capital) arrived in Bali late Saturday.They slept in different places the first night and regrouped Sunday morning to survey potential targets. This is when they were meet and shot by Bali police. Source: AP

25 Indonesian Maids on Death Row in Saudi

Twenty-five Indonesian maids are on death row in Saudi Arabia while 22 others have been pardoned and sent home. Jakarta will send a delegation for talks on the issue.

"Six housemaids are on death row in Riyadh province alone, about 19 female workers have been handed death sentences" according to Indonesian embassy's spokesman Hendrar Pramutyo.

Jakarta will send "a 14-member presidential task force to the Kingdom on April 7" Pramutyo announced. "We have also asked permission from the host government to allow our presidential task force delegation to visit Saudi jails" where a total of 1,700 Indonesians are serving prison terms, he added.

Indonesian anger over the treatment of its manual labourers in the Gulf monarchy has grown since last year, after a spate of cases of abuse and killings. Last June, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denounced the beheading in Saudi Arabia of an Indonesian maid and accused Riyadh of breaking the "norms and manners" of international relations.

Ruyati binti Sapubi, 54, was beheaded on June 18, 2011, after she was convicted of killing her Saudi employer. Indonesia also announced a moratorium on sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of thousands of Indonesians currently work. Days later, the kingdom announced that it would stop granting work permits to domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines, after hiring conditions were imposed by those two countries.

Rights groups say millions of mostly Asian domestic workers are regularly exposed to physical and financial abuse in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states because of poor or non-existent labour laws.

source: NewsAsia

Indonesia's Top Cities Environmentally

City of culture, Yogyakarta, takes home the coveted Green Region award for 2011. The Indonesia Green Region Awards (IGRA) were recently announced and out of 36 cities/regencies ten were chosen as finalists. The top three spots?

Yogyakarta

 Surabaya

Denpasar

Sonny Keraf, a member of the IGRA selection panel, said Yogyakarta tops for cleanliness stemming from sustainability  programs which have reduced daily rubbish by 28%, freed up land for park space and revitalized rivers. No. 2 Surabaya has doubled the amount of green space in the city and No. 3 Denpasar was named for promoting bicycle use. All images from google images.