Role Foundation

Report No 6…..to ISC CEO Tipi……….Bali Island………….to Tipi ……….Padang Padang Ship Wreck and Reef Clean Up

22th July, 2008….Tuesday……………….Role Foundation

6.30am……………Chris Moore speed out on his dirt bike to do a quick reccy of the ship wreck. The swell had dropped to 2-3 foot sets and the wreck had made it through this swell. The ropes had held and the wreck had moved little.
Luckily, this was not the big swell that was forecast. The next major swell was scheduled to hit this Thursday/Friday at 2.7 meters.
An approximately one square meter hole was in process of being punched through the spot where the vessel rested against a massive rock half way along her side, and the holes along her hull had increased in size by a couple of meters where she had been continually cheese grated along the reef. Her rudder and propeller where even more twisted.
There was no sign of any oil except for parts of the reef. The reef will need to be hard scrubbed, when the salvage is finalized. The smell of the reef is not nice, with nearly all sea life dead in the surrounding area.

8.30am…………..Mike and Chris met and went through all advice received from salvage experts and people in related fields, with the current position and condition of the shipwreck in mind.
Again we came up with the same conclusion we had at our last committee meeting with N.Y. Johnny and Tim Russo. This type of ship, made up of a 15 centimeter fiberglass sandwiched resin foam was too buoyant to sink properly out at sea, without tons of concrete or similar, and it was too dangerous to tow out to sea too, as it would definitely break up trying to get it over the reef, even if they had the necessary equipment, leaving toxic crap everywhere. It would be too toxic to burn. It would not be possible to burn the complete wreck and this would only leave a smoldering fume producing machine.
It was not possible to lift it out. The wreck, I was assured, weighed at least 50+ ton.
The only way we were going to get rid of this monster was to cut it up and haul it out. Chris spent half his day talking and meeting with 2 wrecking companies, that say they can do it. It would take up to 20 days to complete this task, they said. One of the guys would come out and do a reccy that afternoon.
But all said and done, they would do nothing without the written permission of the Water Police, who held jurisdiction.
The Water Police’s angle was still, This is a crime scene, even thou they had not been to the wreck for over 8 days. There was never any guards. Also the wreck had been looted of every possible item that would move. It had been covered in oil and diesel. It had been cleaned of all rubbish etc.. But it was still a crime scene. What evidence could be left now, of any use??? The other story from them was there was a tug boat coming from Surabaya, Java, This tug had been coming for nearly a week, and the story was getting a bit long in the tooth. The combination of these two stories allowed them to hold on to the goose………..if you know what I mean! The goose is the wreck and the owner/insurance co.
Rope Foundation or any of this wreck committee had not and would not contact or communicate with these guys. They were in this game and did not appreciate our concern for the environment or the local jobs and business’s connected to tourism. Also they didn’t need foreigners telling them what to do.

9am-3pm…………….With the completion of all the major works on the wreck for now, Role and our staff turned its attention to the breaking of the above deadlock, so we could achieve our goal…………. Get rid of that septic toxic ghost ship once and for all, so it could not come back to haunt the ecology of Padang Padang.
Surfers and their families spend $100’s of millions of dollars in Bali every year. We needed to find the leverage points here, and bring in the Indonesian heavy hitters that would break the deadlock.
Chris contacted Wayan Puspa Negara, who is a young and energetic locally elected DPR or Member of the Bali Parliament for Badung. (Badung is the regency south of Denpasar and includes, Kuta/Legian, Benoa Harbor, Nusa Dua and the Bukit which of course includes Padang2/Ulus area.) By 6pm that evening Wayan called back to Chris and told him the story above, regarding the water Police. We arranged to meet with him at 10 am the following morning.
Then out of the blue a Mr. A called from Jakarta. He has connection with Minister of Tourism for Security and Marketing. After a considerably long discussion to bring him up to speed on events. He said if we provided all the information he would discuss it with the Indonesian Minister on this Friday. A very, matter of fact, and most helpful guy.
Tim Russo was on the phone practically half the day lining up contacts and meetings. We planned to get to talk with Mr. Made Mangku Pastika, the newly elected Governor of Bali, who did such a great job during the Bali bombings etc,. We are also on the trail of the Minister for the Environment and several others to communicate the Environmental story. After all a clean Bali will bring home the bacon for all, and provide much needed jobs.

4pm…….We met on the wreck with a Japanese fishing and shipping expert to seek more advice. Mr. Hato, who is a keen surfer and nature lover.
His advice was………CUT IT UP AND HAUL IT AWAY over the cliff to a environmentally secure site……..

We are not sitting easy dealing with this political side of the environmental equation.

There are many people who have helped with the above salvage info, and contacts info etc… Steve Palmer and Clemens Berger with some contacts.
Thanks again to our Role Team at the office who are dealing with all the mayhem, Chris Moore, Tim Russo, N.Y. Jonny and Jason Childs.
And special thanks to Mr. Hato.

“Mother Nature is heading for Environmental Disaster Reef on a Ship called Greed.”

See you tomorrow,…………Mike
(Please help us educate and re-skill the needy of the bukit. With 4-5000 villas and houses scheduled to be built over the next 2-3 years, some needy Balinese and Indonesians are economically falling behind. They need skills to create new businesses and jobs. Check out our programs.)

Mike O’Leary
International CEO and Founder
R.O.L.E.Foundation.
“Help play a Role………
to create a world without poverty
and reviving the health of the environment”