Pergasingan Hill Closed After Caucasians Cry Seeing Trash

Pergasingan Hill, Sembalun, East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), is temporarily closed starting today, Thursday (30/7/2026) until an unspecified time limit. The closure was carried out as an evaluation step following the viral video of a British citizen (WN) who highlighted the rubbish problem in the tourist area.

The video was uploaded via the Instagram account @lucy_lari_lari. In the 3 minute 13 second video, Lucy seems unable to hold back her tears when she talks about her experience of seeing rubbish scattered in this natural tourist area.

"I've lived in Indonesia for 35 years, I've never been this embarrassed, it's true, this is not my country, but this is your country. But because I've been here for a long time, I feel like I'm part of this problem. Yesterday I went to the top of Pergasingan in Lombok, the view was really amazing, the hill was really nice, there were lots of tourists and local people there. But the rubbish really didn't make sense," said Lucy in a video uploaded on Wednesday (29/7/2026).

Responding to the viral video, the management decided to temporarily close climbing activities on Pergasingan Hill. The closure was carried out while evaluating and preparing regulations regarding climbing.

"There must be a connection, because I think this is the turning point for us to carry out an evaluation and to make new regulations, so we don't deny the waste there (Pergasingan Hill)," said the Head of the Pergasingan Hill Management, Royal Sembahulun, Thursday (30/7/2026) afternoon.

Royal explained that the disappointment of foreigners was actually not only because of the rubbish on Pergasingan Hill. But the waste problem in the Sembalun area as a whole.

"It's just that at that time he happened to go up to Pergasingan. The video was also recorded at various points in Sembalun, on the river, in the rice fields, in the field too. I have also confirmed this with the person concerned," explained Royal.

According to Royal, this waste problem is not only in Pergasingan Hill. Other hills also have the same problem regarding rubbish, and the same goes for other tourist destinations in Sembalun.

"That's why we are embarrassed, because by chance this guest took him to Pergasingan so Pergasingan was mentioned. But if we talk about waste, to this day our problem is still the same in the hills, in other destinations it is also the same," he concluded.

The closure of climbing on Pergasingan Hill starts today until an unspecified time. Everything depends on the completion of the discussion of the new rules for climbing on Pergasingan Hill.