'Last paradise' reflects on its development path<\/p>\n
By I Wayan Juniartha.<\/p>\n
DENPASAR, Bali (JP) Several noted figures have urged the
\npeople and government of Bali to take the province's 42nd
\nanniversary as an opportunity to reflect on and contemplate the
\npath of development that the \"last paradise\" has taken.<\/p>\n
\"Are we really going in the right direction, and at a correct
\nspeed,\" prominent social activist Prof. Dr. LK Suryani asked
\nrhetorically.<\/p>\n
She lamented that the uncontrolled development process had
\ndestroyed most of Bali's limited ecological resources.<\/p>\n
Consequently, the harmonious and balanced relationship between
\nman and nature was also being distracted. For the island and
\npeople that for centuries put nature -- be it in the form of
\nwater, forest, mountain, land, lake or river -- in a respected
\nplace, the present condition is disturbingly ironic, she
\ncommented.<\/p>\n
\"We have built hundreds of hotels with thousands of rooms and
\nby doing that we have transformed our beloved Bali into one
\ninfertile and barren island,\" she said, adding that every year at
\nleast 1,000 hectares of rice fields were transformed into housing
\ncomplexes and industrial or tourism facilities.<\/p>\n
To avoid total ecological destruction, Suryani asked the
\ngovernment to stop the development of hotels, resorts or any
\nother large-scale tourism facilities. The government should also
\nimmediately make a clear, ecologically aware and well-balanced
\nblueprint for Bali's development, she said.<\/p>\n
\"The blueprint would dictate which areas in Bali will be a
\ncenter for tourism, housing or business, and which areas will be
\nleft untouched. This blueprint must be backed up with strong and
\nunbiased law enforcement,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, strong law enforcement is a rare trait in
\nBali's administration. A well-known cartoonist, Jango Paramartha,
\nnoted that most zoning violations either went unpunished or just
\nunnoticed. A similar thing has also taken place in a different
\nfield.<\/p>\n
\"Big capitalists are storming our villages. Modern minimarkets
\nand stores are opening in villages, putting our own entrepreneurs
\nout of business. That must be a violation of some regulations,
\nisn't it? Yet the government just sits there and does nothing,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Another of Bali's major problems, Suryani said, was the
\nseemingly unending flow of unskilled Javanese and Lombok workers
\nand laborers into Bali. In some cases, it has caused racial
\ntension between the Balinese and non-Balinese.<\/p>\n
\"It is grossly unfair that the government has persuaded
\njobless Balinese to migrate to Kalimantan or Sulawesi, while
\njobless non-Balinese keep entering Bali freely,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Suryani, who is also well-known as a respected Balinese-style
\nmeditation guru with thousands of disciples abroad, also
\nregretted the fact that more and more Balinese were succumbing to
\nthe materialistic trappings of modern civilization. Drugs,
\nalcohol and prostitution have become a common phenomenon among
\nthe Balinese youth. Money and material gain have become the new
\nmantra for some of Balinese's middle class.<\/p>\n
\"Even in temples many people compete in spending as much money
\nas possible to hold the most extravagant ceremony, instead of
\nconcentrating on the purity of their own heart,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Suryani openly expressed her longing for the \"old\" Bali, an
\nisland of peace and serenity.<\/p>\n
A prominent scholar, Prof. Dr. I Made Bandem, shared a similar
\nyearning. Yet he underlined that it did not mean that he wanted
\nBali to be thrown back to the 1930s.<\/p>\n
\"I don't want to hold Bali back. Yet every development and
\nevery modernization must take the Tri Hita Karana principles into
\naccount,\" he said, referring to the age-old wisdom of a
\nharmonious relationship between man and God, fellow men and
\nnature.<\/p>\n
A cultural concept and insight, which were supposed to be the
\nbasic foundation of Bali's development, are somehow gradually
\nvanishing from policymakers' awareness, Bandem said.<\/p>\n
Suryani, Jango, and Bandem did not pretend to be able to
\npresent all the facts and problems, or have a solution to them.
\nBut they believe the problems are real and need immediate action.<\/p>\n
\"This is the responsibility we, as Balinese, must proudly
\ntake,\" Bandem said.<\/p>\n
There is no better day than an anniversary to make amends with
\nour past mistakes, and to start going in a new direction.<\/p>",
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