AFP, Denpasar :
Indonesia’s Hindu resort island of Bali Wednesday defended a decision not to cover up any of its ubiquitous statues of deities and semi-naked women during a visit by the Saudi king.
King Salman and a 1,000-strong entourage are enjoying a week-long holiday in Bali after a state visit to Jakarta, during the first trip by a Saudi monarch to Indonesia in nearly half a century.
When he met President Joko Widodo for talks at a palace in Bogor, near the
capital, officials hid some naked statues in the grounds by covering them with
cloth and putting plants around them as a sign of respect for the Muslim monarch
But officials on Bali-a pocket of Hinduism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation-said that they would not extend the same courtesy.
The island, which attracts millions of foreign visitors every year to its palm-fringed beaches, is home to many statues of Hindu gods and bare-chested women. In the past, Balinese women often wore only sarongs that did not cover their chests.
Indonesia’s Hindu resort island of Bali Wednesday defended a decision not to cover up any of its ubiquitous statues of deities and semi-naked women during a visit by the Saudi king.
King Salman and a 1,000-strong entourage are enjoying a week-long holiday in Bali after a state visit to Jakarta, during the first trip by a Saudi monarch to Indonesia in nearly half a century.
When he met President Joko Widodo for talks at a palace in Bogor, near the
capital, officials hid some naked statues in the grounds by covering them with
cloth and putting plants around them as a sign of respect for the Muslim monarch
But officials on Bali-a pocket of Hinduism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation-said that they would not extend the same courtesy.
The island, which attracts millions of foreign visitors every year to its palm-fringed beaches, is home to many statues of Hindu gods and bare-chested women. In the past, Balinese women often wore only sarongs that did not cover their chests.
