Balinese dream of return of idyllic Kuta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Kuta, Bali<\/p>\n
On Nov. 15, thousands of people are expected to attend a special
\nHindu grand purification ceremony called the Tawur Agung Karya
\nPamarisudha Karipubhaya, to cleanse the \"spiritually dirty\" area
\nof Kuta.<\/p>\n
According to Hinduism, which is embraced by the majority of
\nthe Balinese, the Oct. 12 bombing in Kuta that killed at least
\n184 people and caused extensive property damage was divine wrath
\nfor the sins of the people.<\/p>\n
A month after the earth-shattering bombing, Kuta is still a
\nlong way from regaining its shine as Bali's foremost tourist
\ndestination for fun-seeking westerners.<\/p>\n
Now that Kuta has been shattered by a terrorist bombing,
\nlocals cherish the dream of returning Kuta to what it once was: a
\npristine, quiet and humble coastal village in south Bali; a dream
\nconsidered unattainable by many.<\/p>\n
Western tourists who visited Kuta a few decades ago and
\nthought they had found the \"world's last paradise\" would probably
\nnot recognize present-day Kuta.<\/p>\n
A historical journal about ancient Bali tells of two European
\nsailors, Aernoudt Linthens from the Netherlands and Emanuel
\nRoodenburch from Portugal, who happened in the 16th century to
\npass a small island with spectacular beaches and ancient people
\nwho embraced a mixture of Hinduism and animism.<\/p>\n
The sailors' account of their \"discovery\" of Bali soon lured
\nmore foreigners to the idyllic tropical island.<\/p>\n
When the Dutch seized Bali in the early l900s, Kuta became one
\nof the most important stopovers for Dutch tourists cruising with
\nthe well-known Koninklijk Paketvaart Maatschapij (KPM) company.<\/p>\n
Equipped with a simple brochure written by an English woman,
\nHelen Eva Yates, the Dutch tourists came in hordes to enjoy the
\nbeauty of Kuta.<\/p>\n
Later, KPM opened a shipping and tourist office in Singaraja,
\nBuleleng's main city, 100 kilometers north of Kuta. Since then
\nmore and more visitors have been arriving at the more scenic
\nsouthern Bali.<\/p>\n
Kuta has always been a perfect hideaway for Western artists,
\nwriters and scholars. In the early 1930s, the enchanting Kuta and
\nits humble residents mesmerized Scottish woman Manx, whose pen
\nname was Ktut Tantri.<\/p>\n
She developed a simple homestay to accommodate her visiting
\nfriends and guests near the beach.<\/p>\n
In l936, an American couple, Bob and Louise Koke, arrived in
\nKuta and were impressed by the beautiful beaches and immediately
\nsaw the potential for tourism. The couple built the first-
\ngeneration hotel in Kuta, now the Natour Kuta Beach Hotel, in
\nl936.<\/p>\n
The flow of foreigners to Kuta stopped during World War II.
\nThen in the l960s, Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, of half-
\nBalinese descent, built the Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur, a quieter
\narea adjacent to Kuta.<\/p>\n
Eager to develop Bali as an international tourist destination,
\nthe New Order government under Soeharto invited an international
\nconsortium, Sceto, to conduct a feasibility study on tourism
\ndevelopment on the island.<\/p>\n
The consortium's study came out with a proposal to divide Bali
\ninto three tourist zones: Nusa Dua, Kuta and Sanur. Nusa Dua was
\ndesignated as an exclusive resort for upmarket tourists, Sanur as
\na quieter tourist spot and Kuta for low-budget holidaymakers.<\/p>\n
In the l970s, Soeharto inaugurated the Ngurah Rai
\nInternational Airport in Kuta, which was opened to attract more
\ninternational visitors to Bali and other destinations in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
In l970, Bali welcomed 24,340 visitors. In l976 it received
\n100,000 visitors, and that number rose to 200,000 in l980. In
\n2001 more than one million people visited the island.<\/p>\n
Since the early l980s, local, national and international hotel
\nchains have developed hotels and other tourist facilities such as
\nrestaurants, souvenir shops, and money changers in Kuta.<\/p>\n
Kuta covers about 1,117 hectares, consisting of the three
\ncustomary villages of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak.<\/p>\n
A study done by the University of Udayana in l996 showed Kuta
\nhad 16,472 residents. By 2000, the composition of Kuta's
\npopulation had changed substantially due to the transfer of
\nproperty to people from other islands in the country.<\/p>\n
As tourism continued to expand, locals sold their property to
\noutsiders to make way for the construction of luxury hotels,
\nusually located along the pristine Kuta beach. About 60 percent
\nof land in Kuta is now controlled by \"outsiders\".<\/p>\n
By the year 2001, 67.57 percent of all land in Kuta had been
\nused for buildings, 28.73 percent was open land and 3.77 percent
\nprotected mangrove forest.<\/p>\n
Gde Pitana, head of Bali's Tourism Office and a professor of
\ntourism at the University of Udayana, says Kuta is suffering from
\nenvironmental degradation, unfair wealth distribution and high
\ncriminal rates.<\/p>\n
A book titled Kuta Cermin Retak Pariwisata Bali (Kuta,
\nthe Broken Mirror of Bali's Tourism) says that uncontrolled
\ndevelopment is to blame for the degradation of Kuta.<\/p>\n
\"Kuta has been spiritually disturbed by greedy people who have
\nlong ignored the concept of harmony between humans and their
\nCreator, humans and their environment,\" the book says.<\/p>\n
It is now almost impossible to imagine what Kuta looked like
\nseveral decades ago. Traditional Balinese houses with small
\nshrines in front are rarely seen in modern Kuta, which is now
\nfilled with spacious hotels, lavish pubs and cafes and designer
\nboutiques.<\/p>\n
The sound of Balinese gamelan orchestras no longer fill the
\nair, but it is disco music and live music that is heard along the
\nbustling streets of Legian, Seminyak and Kuta.<\/p>\n
The Hard Rock Cafe, the Music Room, Double Six, the former
\nPaddy's Cafe and the Sari Club are just a few of hundreds of
\nnightspots. Kuta has become a magnet for everyone who wants to
\ntaste a little bit of the international flavor of Bali.<\/p>\n
Kuta must have reached its saturation point after almost five
\ndecades of exploitation. Thousands of souvenir shops, pubs,
\nrestaurants, hotels, boutiques and money changers fill almost
\nevery inch of the area. Even before the bombing, local academics
\nand activists had been calling for a halt to development in Kuta.<\/p>\n
Many people believe now is the right moment to make Kuta a
\nbetter place.<\/p>",
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