Kutai People Resent Balinese Decorations Adorning Police Hq

Samarinda (Antara Bali) - A community group advocating local culture has protested what it says are Balinese  design decorations on the front gate and fence of the Kutai Kartanegara district police headquarters.

The Coalition of Concern for Local Culture (KPBL) had demanded that Kutai Kartanegara Disrict Police Chief, Adjunct Senior Commissioner I Gusti KB Harryasana (a Balinese),  to remove the Balinese design decorations and replace them with decorations reflecting local culture, a KPBL spokesman, Wahyudi, said here Monday.

The act of using Balinese-style decorations on the police headquarters' front entrance and fence is an affront to East Kalimantan culture, he said.

"We have demanded the immediate dismantling of the Balinese decorations and their replacement with East Kalimantan decorations," he said.

"We handed a letter containing our demand to subordinates of the Kutai Kartanegara district police chief who happened not to be at his office today,"  Wahyudi said.

KPBL had also urged the police chief to apologize to the local public through the media for two successive days.(IGT)