Sunut football team 

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter.  Sunut football team had been practicing with a light weight ball and asked for a professional standard ball to use.

Having seen their talent for the game during our camping weekend, Jared Gow, son of Ocean Blue Resorts CEO was more than happy to help. With Jared is now back studying at University in England, it was over to Pak Muhasim and Mr Stephen Gow to present the ball to one of the players.

If anyone can help us buy the basics for the team, please write in.  T-shirts, boots, shin-pads  and balls all need funding!!

Gili Sunut smiles in the rain

While the rainy season is living up to its reputatin, the island is looking very tropical. The trees are heavy with foliage and the grass up on the hill, knee high.

It was a welcome scene for the visitors arriving from Jakarta and Singapore. Ocean Blue Resorts Indonesia  and Team Sunut invited some special guests for a tour of the island. And it didn’t disappoint.

We were able to show the guests that the new airport is up and running with 5 aircraft loading and loading visitors to Lombok. It was then the turn of the new road to impress them with the high speed road link to Mataram.

The visit was designed to show the great advances Lombok is making and the major investments designed to attract more tourist.  Hopefully the bank representatives can see that the region is all that it says it is and help investors create jobs and security for the communities.

Martin Gow, CEO of OBRI said,  ‘this area is no longer a green field site. We have the backing from Jakarta and Lombok Government to build the new tourism zone, we have the specialists to do the job and the business plan independently audited to ensure that the investors succeed.’  

Bupati meeting to resolve problems

Ocean Blue Resorts Indonesia (OBRI) invited the head of their parent company to a meeting with the Bupati on the 6^th January. The reason was to discuss the delays to the relocation and resolve some of the issues Team Sunut has faced with the authorities in Jakarta.

P. Sukiman with Martin and Stephen Gow 

The breakfast meeting was taken very seriously with 20 government officials including head of police, military, legal, judges and department heads working to help ensure that the OBRI’s overseas investment would not be derailed by Jakarta’s poor management of the legal process.

Attending the meeting were the founders of Ocean Blue Resorts, Martin Gow and Stephen Gow.  Both were keen to remind the Government of their commitment and financial support to the relocation and the building of the 6 star resort. 

Lombok BIL airport opened by SBY

CEO Martin Gow from OBR

The new international airport in Lombok opened in October and Ocean Blue Resorts Indonesia was invited to the grand opening with the President of Indonesia.

Pak Yasin celebrates at BIL 

Joining the officials at the party was CEO Mr Martin Gow. “It was a great honour to be invited and to hear the President’s support for Lombok. 

While congratulating the Governor on building a new tourist gateway, he reminded everyone that Lombok now needed investors to build the tourism industry and create jobs.  He made it very clear that the process needs to be more transparent for foreign investors like OBRI to feel confident to invest.”

What has this got to do with the community on Sunut? A lot.  As OBRI needs key documents from Jakarta, his speech was a clear signal to the various departments including BPN not hold up the process.

The community on Sunut and OBRI are waiting Jakarta. 

Camping on Sunut

Many thanks to everyone who helped organise Ocean Blue Resorts’ first camp out on Gili Sunut. It was a family affair with the both the CEO and Pak Yasin from Team Sunut bringing their sons to enjoy the gathering.

After pitching the tents the community invited us to watch them play football and to show off their ball skills. Keen to see what the ‘Tourists’could do, Jared Gow gave a quick demonstration his ball tricks and control.

With the late arrival of Pak Yasin and his team there was great entertainment as they pitched their tents in the dark. Fortunately there was a full moon that night to help, otherwise this seasoned team would also have missed the BBQ.

While we were well prepared with food and drink for out cook out, the community presented us with a feast fit for a king. Fresh tuna and lobsters where slow grilled on the open fire, freshly caught that day in the waters around the Island.  To add to our beach setting we enjoined camp fire songs and storytelling. As this was an unusual event for the community, we were as you’d expect, joined by dozens of villagers old and young to share the evening with us.

With an early start the next day, we also got the opportunity to watch the sun rise. It didn’t disappoint! 

Government Team tour Teanjah Anjah

Ocean Blue Resorts Indonesia and members of the Lombok Government visited Teanjah Anjah to tour the new village site.

With so much activity now taking place it was an ideal opportunity for everyone involved in the relocation programme to see first hand the great work Team Sunut is doing. CEO, Mr Martin, flew in his team from Singapore and Jakarta for the occasion. Pictured here from left to right are:

Moh Juaini Taufit (Camat of Jerowaru),
Mr James Weschler (Corporate Development, OBR Singapore),
Dr Mohammad Gofar (Jakarta),
Pak Muhasin ( Bupati Assisten)
Pak Yasin ( Head of Tourism).

‘I am very grateful to Pak Muhasin and Pak Yasin for helping to organise this event. We are close to completing Stage One of our Community Action Plan, so it’s an ideal time for the team to regroup on Gili Sunut to discuss the next phase of our resorts project,’ said Mr Martin. ‘With the village finished and the community moved into to Teanjah Anjah, we will then start building Indonesia’s first six star private island resort,’ he added.

Two weeks is a long time in Lombok!

There has been great progress at Teanjah Anjah. Now buzzing with activity, supplies arriving and builders on site, the 109 houses now start to look like a village.

The red terracotta roofs stretch into the distance, as the exteriors of more homes get completed. Still without windows, we are eagerly waiting for the delivery of doors and windows to weatherproof each house.

But as our photos show, the site now starts to look like a village.

A couple of impatient families have moved in, so we are careful to remind everyone that the site is not finished and they need to be ready to move as we assign the correct house to the right family.

It was great to hear from some of the villagers on Sunut and one family’s story of what it meant to move to Teanjah Anjah.

One young couple have been living with their family since marrying as they are unable to afford their own home.

But now thanks to the construction of the new village, they will be getting their own home and have space to start a family.