Balinese yuppies eagerly hunt for their past glory<\/p>\n
By Degung Santikarma<\/p>\n
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): In an exclusive neighborhood in Denpasar,
\na team of workmen shake their heads in confusion. They've been
\nhired to work on a multibillion rupiah project: the renovation of
\na house that, in their eyes, already epitomizes the ultimate in
\nmodern luxury.<\/p>\n
The front gate, an abstract sculpture of twisted iron and
\nglass, is to be torn down and replaced with huge wooden panels
\nhijacked from a 100-year-old house.<\/p>\n
The wide lawn, an expanse of glistening green Japanese grass
\nthat would make any international golf course proud, is to be dug
\nup and replanted with authentic Balinese grass, the same kind
\nlocal farmers feed to their cows. The family temple, with its
\nornate carvings and gold-leaf decoration, is to be exchanged for
\na subdued shrine cut from soft volcanic stone and covered with a
\nhand-thatched roof.<\/p>\n
And the interior also is to be redesigned. The modern spring
\nbed with its plush upholstered headboard and gaudy tropical print
\nsheets is to be pushed aside to make way for an old teak four-
\nposter, a hand-sewn kapok mattress and frayed ikat bed linen.<\/p>\n
The marble floors are to be covered with scarred teak boards,
\nand the walls adorned with the implements of another era: old
\nwagon wheels, sickles used for harvesting rice and even a plow.
\nThe shining tiled bathroom with its porcelain and gold fixtures
\nis to be demolished, and in its place, a deep stone bathtub will
\nbe set surrounded by a private garden filled with native orchids.<\/p>\n
The works of modern art are to be sold, the display replaced
\nwith a new collection of artifacts: rare handmade gringsing
\ncloths made by Bali Aga (original Balinese) villagers and antique
\nwavy-bladed kris with jewel-studded handles.<\/p>\n
The swimming pool stays, but its abstract architecture will
\nnow be hidden by a tangle of tropical trees and a collection of
\nworn stone statues of Krishna, Rama and other figures from the
\nHindu pantheon. As the bewildered workers look on in disbelief, a
\nsmall-scale war is declared against the modern premises.<\/p>\n
Among the new Balinese middle class -- otherwise known as
\nBuppies (Balinese Yuppies) -- a passion for the past has emerged
\nas the latest contemporary trend. As everything from wooden cow
\nbells to entire traditional houses have become hot commodities
\namong Bali's dealers and designers, prices for antiques have gone
\nthrough the (hand-thatched, of course) roof.<\/p>\n
But according to local collectors, this mania for the
\npremodern is not just an economically sensible strategy in a
\nmarketplace where anything, it seems, with sufficient patina can
\nturn a profit. It is rather, they claim, a social mission, an
\nattempt to safeguard and preserve Balinese culture.<\/p>\n
The owner of the Denpasar house, who has made his fortune as a
\nsuccessful restaurateur selling pasta, pizza and cappuccino to
\ntourists, explains his obsession with the ancient. \"All the
\nantiques in Bali are being packed into shipping containers and
\nsent overseas by tourists. This is dangerous for our younger
\ngeneration, who will never get the opportunity to understand the
\nfine taste of their ancestors.<\/p>\n
\"It is only by preserving these great works of Balinese culture
\nthat we can make sure that a history of colonialism does not
\nrepeat itself.\" He is seeking, he said, to reverse the relations
\nof power that saw sacred Balinese lontar (palm leaf) books,
\ntraditional paintings and ancient artifacts stored away in
\nmuseums and universities in the West.<\/p>\n
\"Just to study your own history, you have to go to Holland or
\nAmerica,\" he complained bitterly.<\/p>\n
This new fetish for the faded and the frayed seems, indeed, to
\nhave succeeded in giving the past new life. These days, the
\nstreets of Bali are lined with shops advertising antiques -- both
\nauthentic and made-to-order -- that cater not just to tourists
\nbut to wealthy locals.<\/p>\n
Those Balinese whose parents, seeking to escape a life of
\nagriculture, were busy building modern \"office houses\" out of
\nconcrete and decorating them with plastic and chrome, are now
\nplundering the past for their own renovations.<\/p>\n
Yet in contemporary Bali, history turns out to be a somewhat
\ntroublesome guest to invite for a revisit.<\/p>\n
This new class of antique collectors counts among its members
\na select segment of local society who grew wealthy selling their
\nhome to the West as a tourist destination where traditions
\nremained untarnished and where culture was the ultimate asset.<\/p>\n
Preserving the past offers these Balinese a way to assert
\nethnic pride, displaying to the world that Bali's rich cultural
\nheritage remains protected against the onslaught of tourism. Yet
\nit is precisely this kind of advertising of a pristine past that
\npulls a steady stream of tourists to the island, eager to consume
\nculture and export a prize piece of it back to grace their homes.<\/p>\n
And the history that is being displayed in the gracious
\nantique galleries and private residences of Bali's new rich also
\nrepresents a select slice of history, sanitized to appeal to
\nbourgeois tastes. Guest cottages in the shape of traditional rice
\nbarns or sickles and plows as art create a pretty image of a
\npeaceful peasant past.<\/p>\n
Yet, erased from this picture are the struggles, hardships and
\nfrequent acts of violence that marked the life of a Balinese
\nfarmer. Forgotten in these romantic recollections is the bone-
\nweariness that comes from working in the fields from sunrise to
\nsunset, the worries over rising prices of fertilizer or falling
\nprices for crops, the desperation over a harvest attacked by
\nplagues of pests, the fear of not having enough money to pay the
\nhigh interest rates charged by local moneylenders or of not
\nhaving enough power to resist the conglomerates who are looking
\nto buy up land to build new tourist developments.<\/p>\n
And the final irony: this new well-educated middle class,
\npossessing both cosmopolitan tastes and the bank accounts to
\nsatisfy them, has been at the forefront of critique against
\nBali's traditional caste system.<\/p>\n
Using the language of democracy and modernity as ammunition,
\nthey argue for a rejection of a past that they characterize as
\nfeudal and unjust. But while they claim to want to renovate
\nhistory, they are turning to it for inspiration for their own
\nbuilding projects, creating faithful replicas of the palaces of
\nBali's traditional royalty.<\/p>\n
And by patronizing the high-priced galleries and showrooms of
\nthe antique trade, they help create a new kind of hierarchical
\nsystem based not on birthright but on wealth and taste and
\nappreciation of tradition.<\/p>\n
As the workers watch a carved wooded gedong agung gate that
\nonce graced the home of a Balinese raja (king) being unloaded
\nfrom a truck, one of the laborers turns to his friend and asks,
\n\"We never had anything like that in our house when we were
\ngrowing up. Did you?\"<\/p>",
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