Forget the spying controversy, Australia-Indonesia relations are more people-to-people connections rather than rigid government-to-government relations, as pundits often argue.

Want more proof in the field? Just visit Kuta or Legian in Bali. For most young people in Australia, spending their school holidays in Bali has been their utmost dream.

For many months, they diligently save their pocket money to buy tickets to Bali to spend several weeks on the island.

Last weekend, hundreds of youths from Australia were spotted at the Ground Zero site in Legian to remember Australians who died during the 2002 bombing at the location.

Others walked along Legian’s narrow streets to enjoy the nightlife in the area.

“We were saving hard and working part-time in order to get the money for the year-end holidays,” said Jarrot, who saved A$2,000 (US$1,819) for his holiday in Bali. 

Madonna is in Haiti to visit humanitarian projects that ex-husband Sean Penn has been overseeing since the Caribbean nation’s devastating earthquake in 2010, the actor said Monday.

Penn said in a brief phone call to The Associated Press that he had invited Madonna, with whom he has “maintained a great friendship over the years,” to visit several times and that she had come with her son Rocco. He said they arrived a “couple of days” ago, and he wasn’t sure when she would leave.

“She’s here, she’s seeing, she’s made the effort to come here, and I’m thrilled by that,” Penn said, adding that he hoped Haiti might inspire her to seek out a cause in the country. “She has a unique platform, and wherever she chooses to bring that to, it’s very well.”

Madonna’s been busy posting photos on Instagram. One shows her posing with others at a new hospital built by public health pioneer Paul Farmer in the central part of the country. The caption: “Revolution of Love in Haiti.” Another picture shows a view of the mountains at dusk. The caption: “Sunset in Haiti. This is Heaven!”

source; thejakartapost.com