by Rio Helmi
Yesterday morning, around 9:30-10am according to neighbors, a blaze erupted from the popular Clear Café. The flames spread swiftly to their neighbours resulting in devastating material loss – fortunately no lives were lost.
The café, which over the last couple of years had developed a reputation for its ingenious raw and cooked healthy dishes, was equally known for its funky glass, bamboo and water décor. In its latest renovation the theme continued with alang-alang thatch coming down some of the wall. The information that we have heard so far from the Bendesa Adat (Adat Elder) of Padang Tegal and other members of the banjar council points to a spark from incense sticks that were being lit for morning offerings. The alang-alang thatch caught the spark and in very little time burst into flames.
The fire spread quickly to the back (west side) and front, consuming the dining areas and the kitchen, and then spreading to the neighbors to the south, west and north. In all, four compounds were affected, and in particular two households linked to I Made Kepug were completely destroyed along with nearly every last scrap of their belongings. These two were to the south and west of Clear’s kitchen. Directly to the north two buildings in the compound of Nyoman Suweta were burned to the ground as well as the family shrine, and to the north of that again the family shrine of Gusti Ngurah Indrawaja was also destroyed.
Clear Café ruins (inside yellow police line) seen from Made Kepug’s compound. Kepug’s compound was totally destroyed along with 3 motorcycles.
Several troubling issues have come up as a result of this incident, and by chance this morning I was pulled into a council meeting in Padang Tegal presided over by the bendesa Made Gandra. The council members expressed their dismay that not only did the firetrucks from Gianyar arrive late, they arrived completely unprepared with no water in their tanks. By the time they were somewhat organized the fire had done serious damage. Surely by now Ubud is big enough for its own fire station?
Then there are questions of liability. As far as we know Clear was at least partly expat run under a nominee agreement. Legally this could mean that the Indonesian nominee is liable in this case, yet if the nominee was not actively involved in running the business, making decisions etc it would be somewhat unjust. Conceivably there would be nothing to legally stop an expat owner from picking up and leaving the country after a similar incident as technically it would not be his/her business.
Though we very much doubt that this would be the case with the Clear owners – in fact we have been told that they have declared that they will take responsibility – it is a point that Indonesian nominees should very much take into consideration and be informed of when they sign that piece of paper. Not only is the nominee procedure mostly illegal, it has negative repercussions all the way around. But another illustration of the lack of legal rigour that arises in the expat businees world: this morning when I was photographing the site I found an expat photographer wandering around behind the yellow police line taking pictures and arranging pieces of the debris for his pictures. He told me he was doing this for the owners who needed the shots for fund raising purposes to help out their staff. To date we have not been able to reach the owners for any comment.
Crossing the yellow lines.
Another point to consider is that local banjars should make at least some effort to check on the legality, safety and security, etc of business premises in their domain. Naturally this would not be a question of overriding the concerned government department’s authority but more that enforcing it. As this case shows, it’s obviously not only the safety and security of the establishment’s clientele that come into question but also that of the community.
Now the banjar has rallied to help provide (as it is supposed to) for its members there will be a call for donations. In particular Made Kepug’s extended family has suffered a serious blow, which they currently estimate at about IDR 840 million (around USD 80,000.-). So far we have not seen the estimates for damages in the compounds of Nyoman Suweta and Gusti Ngurah Indrawaja. However Padang Tegal community is organizing some kind of a charity drive and will provide us an account number soon, and HUBUD is also organizing a crowd funding drive geared towards the expat community, and as soon as we have the details we will post them both here and on our Facebook page.
A list of damages drawn up by Made Kepug’s family.
Perhaps the ‘expat community’ could contribute to and support better systems including fire department, road management, rescue services and security as a means of sustainable living both for environmental and social health. There appears to be constant calls to crowd fund for hospital care, evacuation and support of expats (and locals) and now rebuilding. Bali is overpopulated, expats flood in, many with spacious homes that take up areas that supported livelihoods and ecosystems such as rice fields. Expats build residential homes with swimming pools that use previous water while many have limited access to water reserves. The streets are littered with rubbish while expats have cleaners, gardener a, nannies, cooks…the list goes on. Motorbikes, scooters, taxis congest streets and pollute the air…why do expats not organise bus services?
Why do the educated pillage the beautiful Indonesian lands when they know better? Is it not the social responsibility of all those living in Bali to care for the socially and evironmentally equitable of all of its inhabitants instead of throwing money once damage has been done. Perhaps few engines with water could not have put out this fire but what if there were people trapped inside?
Personally I disagree, noble though your sentiment may be. We Indonesians need to take responsibility, you can’t have cream without the milk, the milk without the cow, the cow without the fodder, etc.
Rio
Rio, Thanks for this article which clearly elaborates many of the questions and issues people have been discussing today. There are a number of issues involved – some pretty straightforward, like the fire department response, and some very complex, like the liability of local nominees. I hope this terrible event helps the broader Ubud community sort some of them out.
I share your hope!
I’m surprised that a centre if tourism like Ubud should be without a fire station.
Russell – Things that get left behind in the rush to “develop”…
Everyone is hidden until something like this happens. It’s a shame and hopefully it will wake up the local system to handle their due diligence properly. Too much corruption in these situations that leave people like poor Mr. Made Kepug without a home. It’s a shame…
I’m surprised that such an establishment would not have fire insurance.
Your right Caroline. Did they have insurance and if not why not?? These people are no dummies.. ??
Any premises, buildings etc that have an alang-alang roof will not be covered by any insurance company here in Indonesia…..that is our experience anyway.
The fire and associated damage to family compounds and business is a terrible tragedy though blessings aplenty that no one was hurt.
I am shocked (sort of) that the Gianyar Fire Dept was so ill-prepared upon arrival at the scene…with the incredible level of growth Ubud has seen over the past 5 years it is time this community begins to step up and think about the required infrastructure, investments and maintenance necessary to manage such a global tourist destination. Ubud is no longer the sleepy town I once knew; and the Power Structures of the community Banjars in tandem with local government need to change mindset and begin proactively approaching Ubud’s numerous risks and weaknesses.
I hope if they do rebuild this cafe they come up with a more harmonious and safe design. The last one was, to my eyes weird and incoherent so I never felt comfortable there. Sincere condolences to the neighbours who’ve been affected.
Rio, surely if an expat business hides behind a nominee to own a business and buy land then when the time comes the expat remains the person responsible – they would in circumstances like selling the business/land and keeping the money. Just asking.
Ps my sympathy to all those affected.
Arthur, of course they would be responsible morally but the legal aspect is flawed. Technically the person on paper who is the “owner” is the nominee. And the nominee practice is in fact illegal. I would like to stress that I am not suggesting that I know the details of the Clear Cafe legal arrangements and as far as I know they are stepping up to take responsibility. What I am pointing out is the nominee arrangements are flawed in so many ways.
R
It seems it will take quite some time to weed out the old school mentality of greasing a palm before anyone in Government does anything about it. They’ll make a scene for a while to show that they are “doing something” and then it usually goes back to business as usual. No one polices this kind of thing. I don’t mean to sound negative. I am just tired of the corruption and these old school officials perpetuating it. Sorry for the rant.
Maybe it is time to get some little honda fire fighter pumps in and around ubud. They are used by peop0le in bush fires in australia and are really powerful. You can attach them to swimming pools etc. They can run on petrol or electricity and if there were some set up at different places and regularly maintained then they could be used until a fire truck can arrive to fight the fire. These little pumps have saved many homes and lives in Australia country side. Perhaps the expats could start to collect money to buy some of these pumps.