MODERN BALI & THE FUTURE

ISN'T BALI SPOILED? " is invariably the question that greets the returned traveller from Bali - meaning, is the island overrun by tourists, and are the Balinese all wearing shirts? The questioners are visibly disappointed to bear of big hotels, fine roads, and motor-cars; there is still enough of the Robinson Crusoe in travellers to make each one of them want to be the " only " white man among picturesque semi-naked, dark-skinned savages, although they would preferably see them from a motor-car a hotel veranda.

Bali was only conquered by the Dutch in 19o8, but long before that the libraries of Holland bad been filling slowly with scholarly volumes on the literature, the archmology, and the religion of Bali. However, the remote little island only became news to the rest of the Western world with the advent, a few years ago, of a series of documentary films of Bali with a strong emphasis on sex appeal. These films were a revelation and now everybody knows that Balinese girls have beautiful bodies and that the islanders lead a musical-comedy sort of life full of weird, Picturesque rites. The title of one of these films, Goona-goona, the Balinese term for magic," became at the time Newyorkese for sex allure.

The newly discovered " last paradise " became the contempo. rary substitute for the nineteenth-century romantic conception of primitive Utopia, until then the exclusive monopoly of Tahiti and other South Sea Islands. And lately travel agencies have used the alluring name of Bali to attract hordes of tourists for their round-the-world cruises that make a one-day stop on the island. On this day the tourists are herded to the hotel in Den Pasar to cat their lunch, buy curios, and watch hurried perform. ances by bored " temple dancers " - ordinary village actors who hate to play in the midday heat. The show over, the tourists are rushed back to their ships in numbered cars, satisfied to have seen Bali. An average of five or six such cruises unload every winter some fifteen hundred round-the-world tourists that leave the Balinese puzzled as to why all these madmen come from so far for only a day. They would never willingly leave their island, and once an old woman remarked that surely the foreigners must have done something at home that forced them to leave their own lands.

The.great cruise ships come with twice as many visitors as can be taken care of by the island's limited supply of motor-cars, and half the tourists have to remain on board ship until the others return. On one occasion it was planned to send a troupe of dancers and musicians to entertain those who had to remain on board, but the ship's officers objected; " they could not allow natives to overrun the ship; something might be stolen." They were persuaded that the Balinese were an honest people and they let them come to play and dance for the tourists, but when the show was over and the Balinese started packing to leave, one of their large bronze gongs in a carved wood frame was missing The gong was never found.

Besides the cruises, every week two K.P.M. boats bring handful of more enterprising visitors that stay for three days or even for a week or two. They land in the northern port of Buleleng, which has been under direct Dutch control for nearly a
hundred years. There all the houses and all the temples have tin roofs and all the women wear soiled blouses, " signs of civilization," both supposedly made compulsory by official decree - to the joy of the importers of foreign cloth and of galvanized tin. After the Dutch occupation of Buleleng in 1848, someone decided that the morals of the Dutch soldiers needed protection, and a law was passed requiring the women to wear blouses. Tin roofs also, it is rumoured, were ordered to replace the thatched ones because an official became deeply concerned about the possibility of fires caused by " exploding automobiles." Only three years ago the women of Den Pasar went to market proudly uncovered to the waist, but the princes' wives wore the ugly blouses and soon they became the dictate of fashion. In Den Pasar they now regard those who go habitually with uncovered breasts as " crude mountain people." Young men are growing contemptuous of the simple batik kain and headcloth of their forefathers. After dark, in Buleleng and Den Pasar, the equipment of the smart young man-about-town consists of a set of striped pyjamas, a Mohammedan skull-cap, sandals, a bicycle, and a flashlight, although be may still wear flowers behind his car to stroll on the main street among the food-vendors, the flourishing prostitutes and procurors that haunt the streets around the hotels.

Undoubtedly Bali will soon enough be " spoiled " for those fastidious travellers who abhor all that which they bring with them. No longer will the curious Balinese of the remote mountain villages, still unaccustomed to the sight of whites, crowd around their cars to stare silently at the " exotic " long-nosed, yellow-haired foreigners in their midst. But even when all the Balinese will have learned to wear shirts, to beg, lie, steal, and prostitute themselves to satisfy new needs, the tourists will continue to come to Bali to see the sights, snapping pictures frantically, dashing from temple to temple, back to the hotel for meals, and on to watch rites and dances staged for them. The Balinese will be, to the tourists, guides, chauffeurs, and bellboys to be tipped, dancers on salary, curio-dealers, and tropical beauties to be photographed blouseless for a fee.

The younger generation is rapidly being cut off from a cultural environment which they have learned to regard as below them, considering their parents, formerly their models of behaviour, as rude peasants who have not gone to school. This, however, is not the fault of Hollywood. To Bali goes the distinction of being totally uninterested in the movies. Over a decade ago an enterprising Armenian brought the first movies to the island. At first he cleaned up, all the Balinese had to see the miracle; but, not used to paying for entertainment, they soon grew bored with something they could not understand and the movies were a failure. Today there are two small primitive movie houses, one in Buleleng and one in Den Pasar, that give Sunday shows of films often twenty-five years old, patronized chiefly by the foreign population. Chaplin may be a favourite of even the Eskimos but to the Balinese who saw him in the flesh be was simply the funny man who came to Bali with his brother and who, after watching a Balinese play, took the stage and performed for them a hilarious parody of their dances.

In Bali the exalted title of Teacher, Guru', is the name of one of their highest gods and is the most respectful way of addressing one's father. The old-fashioned teachers were the reservoirs of the science and poetry of Balinese culture, but those young Balinese who have gone to Java to become teachers for the Western-style Government schools have returned convinced that what they learned in Java is the essence of knowledge and progress. They have become conscious of the contempt of Europeans for the native cultures and have been influenced to believe that philosophy, arts and habits of their country are signs of peasant backwardness.

The young gurus look upon the graceful and healthful costume of the island, so well suited to the climate, as indecent and primitive and demand that their little pupils wear shirts in school. a little girl once told me her teacher said it was improper to show one's breasts. In at least one case the result has been tragic; in the little mountain village of Kayubihi a child was shamed by his teacher because he did not wear a shirt, but his father, who had never owned one (nor had any of his ancestors) , refused to buy it for him. He felt so thoroughly disgraced that one night he hanged himself from the tree in front of the schoolhouse.

The teacher forces his half-digested jumble of European ideas on the little pupils, who from the beginning of their education learn to look down on everything Balinese. They are taught about what a European child learns in primary school; they learn to speak and write in Malay, a language foreign to Bali, which most often their parents ignore, and sonic even have a smattering of Dutch, so when they come out of school they make good, cheap clerks, totally uninterested in their own Culture. Most speak better Malay than Balinese and feel above the everyday requirements of Balinese life. Since there are so few jobs available on the island in which such education would be required, making clerks of the Balinese seems to make European education have a negative and even detrimental effect. Typical was the case of Rapung, the young school-teacher out of work who gave me lessons in Balinese; lie was intelligent and rather well informed, yet lie wanted to learn to cook or to serve at table or become a houseboy. Of course agriculture was much below him.

It seems too bad that modern education, at least in Bali, where the entire life of the island is so dependent on its traditions, tends to disinherit the future generation from their culture, simply because it is snubbed in the educational program of the schools. It is true that many young Balinese are still taught at home the rudiments of the native education, often by, old-fashioned gurus, but what is not officially recognized by their teachers will soon become discredited. 'there are, however, encouraging rumours that the government plans a revision of the system.

During the past century all efforts to Christianize the Balinese have failed, and the story of Nicodemus, the first Balinese convert, is already well known. Nicodemus was the servant and pupil of the first missionary who came to Bali. I le allowed himself to be baptized after some years in the service of the missionary, but time went by and no other converts could be made, so the missionary began to bring pressure upon Nicodemus to baptize others. The poor boy, already mentally tortured because his community had expelled him, declaring him morally " dead," unable to stand the situation any longer, killed his master, renounced his new faith, and delivered himself to be executed according to Balinese law. The scandal aroused in Holland brought about a regulation discouraging missionary activities in Bali.

This, however, did not stop the missionaries; permits were granted to them in i8gi, again in 1920, and in 1924, when Roman Catholics requested special concessions, but waves of opposition from the Balinese thwarted these attempts. Meetings were held among Balinese leaders to "stop the catastrophe," and the permits were revoked.

But towards the end of 1930 the American missionaries again succeeded in securing an entr6e, supposedly only to care for souls already saved and not to seek new converts. But quietly and unostentatiously they began to work among the lowest classes of the Balinese, The more sincere of the early missionaries bad aimed at obtaining converts of conviction and consequently had failed, but these later missionaries wanted quicker results and followed more effective methods. Taking advantage of the economic crisis that was already making itself felt in Bali, they managed to give their practically destitute candidates for Christianity the idea that a change of faith would release them from all financial obligations to the community - all they had to do was to pronounce the formula: " Saja pertjaja lesoes Kristos - I believe in Jesus Christ." If the man who was induced to pronounce the magic words was the head of a household, the missionaries claimed every member of the family as Christians and soon they could boast about three hundred converts. Soon enough the new Christians discovered they had been

misled; they bad to pay taxes just the same, had become undesirable to their communities, and were being boycotted. In Mengwi : where the missionaries had their greatest success, the authorities refused to release converts from their duties, bringing endless conflict with the village and water-distribution boards; lawsuits developed and trouble began. In many villages regulations were written into the local laws to the effect that those who were unfaithful to the Balinese religion were to be declared " dead "; meetings were held to discuss the possibility of banishing the converts to remote places like Djimbrana, together with other criminals." The Christians had also become deeply concerned when they found out that they could not dispose of their dead, because they were not permitted to bury them in the village cemeteries and all the other available lands were either ricefields or wild places. At times the situation became tense and nearriots took place. The alarmed village beads reasoned with some converts and succeeded in bringing back a number of them to the old faith.

Typical is the story of Pan Luting, a convert village headman who bad helped the missionaries to increase their fold. He repented, claiming be had been deceived, and being a topeng actor of repute, in his performances of masked dramas be now never misses an opportunity to poke fun at the missionaries and to express his joy at not being a Christian any longer. Another soul was lost to the missionaries when a young convert discovered that the venereal disease be suffered from did not disappear when he pronounced the magic formula: " I believe in Jesus Christ," as be had thought it would.

Again, a convert who felt himself at the point of death quickly renounced his new faith when the village medicine-man refused to treat him, claiming that his magic would be of no avail to a Christian. he recovered and it is needless to say that lie held a great offering feast of thanksgiving. Stories such as these are repeated endlessly in Bali, but perhaps the best illustration of the superficiality of the convictions of the new Christians is the following conversation between a young convert and an enlightened official:

Why did you renounce your religion? Because I believe!

Believe what? "

I believe in Jesus Christ." Who is lie? "

"That Tuan (European) with the black coat that comes often from Lombok." '

Eventually the disturbances became too noticeable and the American missionaries had to leave. Until then the Dutch missions had restrained themselves from further activity in Bali, but when the news came that rival missionaries bad succeeded in making a few converts, they went up in the air and are now pulling every rope to have the law modified. Bitter controversy flared up in the papers in Holland and Java; the missionaries claimed that the Balinese were finally ripe for conversion because their religious feeling was, at last, breaking down. A Dr. Kraemer, head of a Protestant missionary sect, went to Bali to investigate and ' after a stay in the island of a little over a month, wrote a thick volume in which lie aimed to prove the failings of the Balinese religion, and the idea that the Balinese really wished to become Christians, but were opposed by European intellectuals living on the island. This argument was quickly answered by Tjokorde Cede' Rake Soekawati, the Balinese representative in the Volksraad, the " People's Court," in Batavia. Dr. Kraemer's prejudiced " findings " were entirely wiped out by answers and an analysis of his arguments by the real students of Bali, men like Bosch, Goris, Korn, Haga, Lekkerkerker, De Bruyn Kops, and

Darnste. Dr. Goris has pointed out that the view of the missionaries is based on the principle that all peoples are by nature " no good " and in a hopeless " soul-conflict " that can only be reMedied by the peculiar brand of religion the missionaries preach. Finding little evidence of this " soul-conflict " in the Balinese, the missionaries encourage it or try to create it by stirring up the natural animosity of the lower classes against the high castes and by playing on their poverty, thus encouraging the caste struggle rather than abolishing it, as was their claim. Curiously enough, the same missionaries who accuse the Balinese of religious superficiality approve of the converts made under false pretences who know nothing of Christianity except rubber-stamp Malay phraseology.

In the meantime, while the controversy rages on, the shrewd missionaries are steadily gaining ground. At present a Catbolic priest arid a Protestant missionary are stationed in Den Pasar, and another missionary, a Catholic, is stationed in buleleng, all three undoubtedly discreet but tireless in their efforts to " save the Balinese.

But Bali is certainly not the place where missionaries could improve in any way the moral and physical standards of the people and it is hard to believe, knowing the Balinese character, that they will succeed. Religion is to the Balinese more than spectacular ceremonies with music, dancing, and a touch of drama f or virility; it is their law, the force that holds the community together. It is the greatest stimulus of their lives because it has given them their ethics, culture, wisdom, and joy of living by providing the exuberant festivity they love. More than a religion, it is a moral philosophy of high spiritual value, gay and free of fanaticism, which explains to them the mysterious forces of nature. It is difficult to imagine that it will ever be supplanted by a bleak escapist faith devoid of beautiful and dramatic ritual.

The little island of Bali, now famous for the beauty of its people, its intense religious life, and its colourful arts, music, and theatre, is still one of those amazing nations that we shall never know again, one of the so-called primitive countries. It is obvious that the Balinese are by no means a primitive people, although we use the term to differentiate our own material civili. zation from the native cultures in which the daily life, society, arts, and religion form a united whole that cannot be separated into its component parts without disrupting it; the cultures where spiritual values dictate the mode of living.

Perhaps of even greater importance than the fascinating artistic development, and, in all probability, the factor that motivated the artistic impulse of the population, is the unique manner in which they have solved their social and economic problems. Bali presents the amazing spectacle of a compact nation of over one million bard-working, cultured people living in a deeplyrooted, well-co-ordinated form of agrarian socialism, that has, perhaps because of its elemental directness, until recently, minimized the social and economic evils that today afflict the less fortunate Test of the world. The primitive Balinese socialism flourished parallel to mediaeval feudalism despite five centuries of domination by an aristocracy that with all its ruthlessness could not break down the inherent unity and co-operativism of the Balinese communities.

The nobility met with insurmountable passive resistance to any encroachments upon the autonomy of the villages and had finally to content themselves with the collection of tribute from their " vassals." The common people tolerated the princes, but even today they consider them as total outsiders and in most social and administrative matters the villages remain entrenched against all interference from the noble landlords, now appointed as go-betweens between the people and the Dutch Government mainly to the same office to which the threat of boycott reduced them in the past - the collection of taxes.

We have seen that the Balinese are fanatics about organization. From childhood to old age a Balinese joins all sorts of societies, from the clubs of " virgin " boys and girls, of actors, musicians, and even squirrel-chasers, to the great agricultural, fishing, village, and ward associations that control the internal government of the communities. Every one of their activities is managed, not individually, but communally, with every active member having a vote and a voice in every enterprise. Naturally, individualism did not develop in the strict communalistic society; individual names are hardly ever used and they call one another " brother ... .. father," " teacher," or " grandfather." All art is anonymous and only recently have painters begun to sign their works, owing entirely to the influence of Europeans. This, however, did not kill individuality of expression; it is easy to detect the authorship of a certain painting or a sculpture if one is familiar with the author'swork, every notable actor or dancer has his own unmistakable way of performing standard dances or improvising lines for a play, and no two orchestras play alike.

In the larger towns and in the districts where the princes held sway, landownership became more individualistic, but elsewhere the right of landed property is not recognized as absolute and an undesirable member of the community cannot hold property given to him or to his ancestors against the will of the village council. A landowner cannot sell his property within the jurisdiction of the village without authorization from the council and it can be confiscated if be misuses it or if he abuses his privileges.

Instead of the familiar exploitation, enslavement, and economic inequality imposed on the population by a ruling class of aristocrats or bureaucrats so often found in countries where the government is centralized in individuals, in Bali we find an economically independent majority that is truly democratic because every representative villager, regardless of his caste or his wealth,

is an active member of the village council with an equal voice in village affairs and with equal duties to perform. The government of the villages remained impersonal and with a minimum evidence of even its existence, because power was equally divided among the members of the various councils, and the executive officials, such as kliangs, council beads, treasurers, and so forth, and theatre, is still one of those amazing nations that we shall never know again, one of the so-called primitive countries. It is obvious that the Balinese are by no means a primitive people, although we use the term to differentiate our own material civili. zation from the native cultures in which the daily life, society, arts, and religion form a united whole that cannot be separated into its omcponent parts without disrupting it; the cultures where spiritual values dictate the mode of living.

Perhaps of even greater importance than the fascinating artistic development, and, in all robability, the factor that motivated the artistic impulse of the population, is the unique manner in which they have solved their social and economic problems. Bali presents the amazing spectacle of a compact nation of over one million bard-working, cultured people living in a deeplyrooted, well coordinated form of agrarian socialism, that has, perhaps because of its elemental directness, until recently, minimized the social and economic evils that today afflict the less fortunate Test of the world. The primitive Balinese socialism flourished parallel to mediaeval feudalism despite five centuries of domination by an aristocracy that with all its ruthlessness could not break down the inherent unity and co-operativism of the Balinese communities.

The nobility met with insurmountable passive resistance to any encroachments upon the autonomy of the villages and had finally to content themselves with the collection of tribute from their " vassals." The common people tolerated the princes, but even today they consider them as total outsiders and in most social and administrative matters the villages remain entrenched against all interference from the noble landlords, now appointed as go-betweens between the people and the Dutch Government mainly to the same office to which the threat of boycott reduced them in the past - the collection of taxes.

We have seen that the Balinese are fanatics about organization. From childhood to old age a Balinese joins all sorts of societies, from the clubs of " virgin " boys and girls, of actors, musicians, and even squirrel-chasers, to the great agricultural, fishing, village, and ward associations that control the internal government of the communities. Every one of their activities is managed, not individually, but communally, with every active member having a vote and a voice in every enterprise. Naturally, individualism did not develop in the strict communalistic society; individual names are hardly ever used and they call one another " brother ... .. father," " teacher," or " grandfather." All art is anonymous and only recently have painters begun to sign their works, owing entirely to the influence of Europeans. This, however, did not kill individuality of expression; it is easy to detect the authorship of a certain painting or a sculpture if one is familiar with the author'swork, every notable actor or dancer has his own unmistakable way of performing standard dances or improvising lines for a play, and no two orchestras play alike.

In the larger towns and in the districts where the princes held sway, landownership became more individualistic, but elsewhere the right of landed property is not recognized as absolute and an undesirable member of the community cannot hold property given to him or to his ancestors against the will of the village council. A landowner cannot sell his property within the jurisdiction of the village without authorization from the council and it can be confiscated if be misuses it or if he abuses his privileges.

Instead of the familiar exploitation, enslavement, and economic inequality imposed on the population by a ruling class of aristocrats or bureaucrats so often found in countries where the government is centralized in individuals, in Bali we find an economically independent majority that is truly democratic because every representative villager, regardless of his caste or his wealth, is an active member of the village council with an equal voice in village affairs and with equal duties to perform. The government of the villages remained impersonal and with a minimum evidence of even its existence, because power was equally divided among the members of the various ouncils, and the executive officials, such as kliangs, council beads, treasurers, and so forth, ment of the people than most imperialistic colonizers and in many cases have sided with the people against the princes despite the fact that the old system of government of the Radjas was preserved. No more can the despotic princes enslave or exploit their helpless subjects, or as in old times kill or punish savagely someone for such offences as disrespect or disobedience. Only two of the former Radjas, those of Gianyar and Karangasem, because of " loyalty " to the Government, retain their feudal rights - in a considerably limited way, however - while the others are rulers only in name. The Dutch have also stopped the bloody wars between petty chieftains, and widows no longer kill themselves at the pyre of their noble masters. Taxation still burdens the habitually penniless peasants, although now at least they receive certain returns for their money in the form of protection, health services, roads, and so forth. Dr. Korn (Adatrecht van Bali) has already pointed out that the problem confronting the Dutch in regard to Bali is the gradual incorporation of the Balinese into modern life from mediawal isolation through a better understanding of their institutions. Fifty years ago, when Liefrink took charge of the administration of North Bali, be understood that it was best to leave things more or less as they Nvere. But in South Bali the change came more suddenly; the ruling houses collapsed overnight and the Dutch bad to reorganize the government of their new conquest hastily and without a thorough knowledge of the island's laws and customs.

In late years the Government of the Netherlands has commissioned scholars like Doctors Korn, Coris, and Stutterbeim to make studies for a better understanding of the law, the religion, and the history of Bali. Perhaps through these studies those in charge of the colonial policy of the Netherlands will realize, in the first place, that the Balinese have a great culture that cannot be saved by the admiration of the outside world, but only by commanding the respect and appreciation of the Balinese themselves; that the native arts need no encouragement, simply because they are still vividly alive, but that they do need official recognition in the educational program of the schools that are now turning out hybrid Balinese with contempt for whatever does not come from the outside world. Second, that the Balinese are agriculturists living in small communities in which clerks and middlemen have no place. Third, that their social organization not only is the best suited, but is essential to their manner of living. And last but not least, that their whole life, society, arts, ethics - in short, their entire culture - cannot, without disrupting the entire system, be separated from the set of rules which are called the Balinese religion. If this principle is disturbed, the foundation will be knocked from under the structure upon which the culture, the law and order of the Balinese are based, and social and economic chaos will eventually descend upon the happy and peaceful island of Bali.