New Colonialists in Bali

By: Derek Rielly

Live cheaply, responsibly with increased economical value? Whats your impact on Bali?

Just because you can cheaply and luxuriously live in Bali - where your economic value increases ten-fold as you walk through customs - does that mean you should? And what about the long-term impacts of your largesse on the locals?

What a pleasure it is to rule.

It's a sensation unfamiliar to most Australians, our prosperity not built upon the hard-working backs of a slave class, but upon our prized dirt. Unlike the British in India, the Dutch in South Africa, the Spanish in the Americas or the French in North Africa and the Indian Ocean, we are not a colonising nation but a colony.

What a fabulous treat, therefore, to finally find our own colonial heaven only three hours by jet from Perth. A place where beaming natives scurry around our just-built villas, barely seen or heard in these tropical homages to Oscar Niemeyer and Mies van der Rohe mopping away our imperial scooze while preparing our delicious meals at four-hour intervals...

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/blogs/the-tiger-of-happiness/the-new-colonialists-20120613-2099r.html