Thursday, March 09, 2017

Bali defends decision not to cover up statues for Saudi King Salman's visit...

Indonesia's Hindu resort island of Bali on Wednesday (March 8) defended a decision not to cover up any of its ubiquitous statues of deities and semi-naked women during a visit by the Saudi king.

King Salman and a 1,000-strong entourage are enjoying a week-long holiday in Bali after a state visit to Jakarta, during the first trip by a Saudi monarch to Indonesia in nearly half a century.

When he met President Joko Widodo for talks at a palace in Bogor, near the capital, officials hid some naked statues in the grounds by covering them with cloth and putting plants around them as a sign of respect for the Muslim monarch.

But officials on Bali - a pocket of Hinduism in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation - said that they would not extend the same courtesy.

The island, which attracts millions of foreign visitors every year to its palm-fringed beaches, is home to many statues of Hindu gods and bare-chested women. In the past, Balinese women often wore only sarongs that did not cover their chests.

"We're just going to leave (the statues) as they are, we don't have to cover up anything because it is our culture," Bali local government spokesman Dewa Mahendra told AFP.

He said that they "are cultural creations, they are art". Full story...

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