Truck-loads of rubble, dumped on the doorstep of Nusa Dua’s Apurva Kempinski hotel by a mob of disgruntled local villagers on Friday, has been removed after a peaceful resolution was reached at a meeting mediated by police on Saturday.
Police were forced to intervene when groups of local protesters gathered to blockade the entrance of Bali’s four-month-old Kempinski hotel, provoked by the five-star hotel’s allegedly unfair recruitment policy. A meeting was quickly called by the hotel to discuss a fairer job quota for residents of the surrounding communities.
Saturday’s four-and-a-half-hour discussion was attended by hotel management, regional council members, representatives from the nearby communities of Peminge, Sawangan and Pendinging, as well as mediating police officers and military.
Coming out of the meeting, Peminge Village Head, I Made Wardana, looked positive, according to local reporters on the scene. He said that despite some heated conversation, the two parties had managed to reach an agreeable resolution.
“What is certain is that our demands have been well received by the hotel, regarding the recruitment of thirty percent of (the work force) as local residents,’ commented Wardana in an article by Bali Tribune.
Speaking on behalf of Kempinski Bali, Danti Yuliandari, the hotel’s director of marketing, agreed that local residents should be prioritized, commenting that he was ‘very excited’ to work together with the hotel’s Balinese neighbors.
On hearing the ruling, local Nusa Dua residents appeared to have accepted the news with optimism. So far, 83 locals have already been hired by the luxury hotel brand with a further 37 awaiting an employment offer.
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