Watching the Dreamland/Pecatu Indah project since the beginning has been interesting. The whole Bukit development is a shocker for sure, but it's supply and demand. Seeing the original farmers kicked off there land sucks, seeing the golf courses and roads built then abandoned was bizarre. The weirdest thing over the years is how green the Bukit has become. Before the boom it was arid and I fear that fresh water and sewage treatment is going to be a problem in the long term. Obviously tourists love it and they have responded by providing accommodations and real estate. For us, we liked the "old" Bali and over the years have spent less time there and now skip it altogether and fly in and out of Jakarta instead.
Who knows what the truth is about how it all went down but the wikipedia entry for Pecatu is a good place to start, be sure to check the reference articles, and the infamous Time magazine Asia issue on the Suharto regime is a great read. We always seem to get caught up in whatever drama there is when we are there, Indo seems to thrive on drama. The good surf breaks are gold mines to the local communities and the majority of the population is looking for a better life. Tough to watch change, but it's not our country. We just do our best to make sure our money goes straight into the right hands.
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