Mangku Pastika:
Always Hoped to Serve Bali

Who wouldn’t be happy to serve to their own motherland? For Made Mangku Pastika serving his own motherland is both an honor and a challenge. Mangku Pastika stated this when he was appointed as the Head of Bali’s Police Department (Kapolda) in Denpasar.
The long time waiting to serve Bali has finally come. On May 5, 2003, he was appointed the Head of Bali’s Department Office replacing General Inspector (Irjen.) Pol. Drs. Budi Setyawan M.Sc. This transfer was conducted at the Indonesian Police Head Quarter (Mabes Polri) in Jakarta and presented by the Head of the Indonesian Police Department, General Da’i Bachtiar.
Since than, this man, who was born in Sanggalangit, Grokgak Village, in Buleleng Regency, has formally accepted the commando torch as the Head of Bali’s Police Department (Kapolda). The farewell to the old and the introduction of this new leader was held in Bali’s Police Department Head Quarter on Thursday, May 7, 2003. Besides the Governor of Bali, this event was also attended by Pangdam and Muspida Pemangku (priests) and other religious figures.
Their presence was in order to say goodbye to Budi Setyawan and also to give the moral support to the new Kapolda in doing his duty.
Mangku Pastika, who was born on June 22 1951, left Bali in 1967 as part of a transmigration program to Sumatra Island following the 1963 eruption Mount Agung and its disastrous effects on the region where he lived. This meant that Mangku Pastika spent much of his life outside Bali and grew up and studied outside this small island. ‘For that reason, this position is an honor and also a challenge for me, because it has always been my hope to be able to fulfill my duty to my motherland, Bali,’ he said.
He expects to all of the police officers under his department, always to share a smile with society. ‘Physically and mentally, I really believe in skala (the real world) and niskala (the unreal world) which is as the Balinese culture. I try to learn from the Balinese norms and have formulated this as a rule that should be followed by all of the Bali’s Police officers,’ he explained. ‘We have to learn local norms first, find out what the people want, what they do not like to do and it will lead the police officers to work professionally and have sympathy with society.”
At the end of his statement, this former Head of Papua’s Police Department, added some meaningful words to build up his officers’ courage in doing their duty. ‘Being a police officer, we have a hard duty to teach and protect people, not to snarl and snap at them or even shoot them. Have power but do not use this power the wrong way,” Pastika said. (Poll)

Agung Prana:
The Newly Appointed Chairman of ASITA

ASITA (Association of the Indonesian Tour & Travel Agencies) of Bali has elected Agung Prana (55) to be its chairman during a regional congress in Sanur on 7 May 2003. He is modest about his new position saying that he feels a little too old to be chairman however; one of his main aims is to bring improvement to the environment.
One of the main challenges for Agung Prana as leader of ASITA is to mobilize unity among various elements to recover tourism affairs. He is to include elements of government, tourism components and the community, while being vigilant in anticipating a possible SARS outbreak, Agung Prana also added that he was preparing a leadership structure fit for such a task.
He started his career in tourism as a guide for the ‘Pacto Tour’ in 1969 where he met many different people coming to Bali to enjoy paradise on this Island of the Gods. He has also been active in API Indonesian Textile Association tackling questions concerning the environment by organizing seminars on waste and environmental pollution.
In 1989, he became involved in activities in tourism by pioneering an alternative program related to eco-tourism towards developing West Bali based on cultural tourism principles. He liked to get the community involved as much as possible.
“It might be said that community is the key to success,” ascertained the man who has received awards respectively from The Department of Maritime and Fishing, by ministers of tourism of 13 states, and The World Tourism Organization, while also being a holder of the Kalpataru prize. All these awards are related to the environment.
Agung Prana is an energetic man who has been active in managing many tourism businesses and organizations, including Bali Tourism Board (BTB), PUTRI (Association of Indonesian Recreational Park Business, Institute of Eternal Coral Reef, and in managing his own ‘Taman Sari’ Boutique Hotel in Pemuteran, West Buleleng). (bud)