The Impact on Bali<\/p>\n
Karim Raslan
\nLawyer
\nKuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
When a small society like Bali is subjected to a gross and
\nviolent criminal act, the real test to its resilience lies in its
\nability to weather the tragedy. Can the Balinese cope with the
\naftermath? Can they prevent the inevitable recriminations and the
\nemotionally charged cries for reprisal-killings? Will they turn
\nagainst the Muslims in their midst? Can they manage to bring the
\nperpetrators to justice and recover their equilibrium?<\/p>\n
As a regular sojourner on the island, it seems, as with most
\nSoutheast Asian societies to possess a capacity to overcome
\ndeeply-rooted animosities and external challenges. Balinese will
\nsucceed in returning their island to its former stability and
\nprosperity. In years to come the awful bombing in Kuta will be
\nremembered as a terrible assault that marked the revival of the
\nisland's fortunes and not the precursor of chaos.<\/p>\n
There are three reasons to be optimistic: First, that the
\nisland is not a tourist-book paradise -- it is a real place with
\nreal societal problems and systems of managing those challenges.
\nSecondly, there is a culture of accommodation and consensus on
\nthe island based around the local system of governance and the
\nbanjars (small associations of one hundred to one hundred and
\nfifty families) that meet regularly every week. Thirdly, there is
\na shared sense of destiny. Everyone acknowledges that tourism is
\na vital pillar of the local economy.<\/p>\n
Violence is not unknown on the island. Southeast Asia's
\nultimate tourist destination is not a paradise. Frankly, the
\ntourist enclave of Nusa Dua is all fakery. Bali, the island is a
\nreal place where people struggle to make a living often against
\nunimaginable odds. Poverty, inadequate educational facilities and
\na run-down health-care system contribute to make life tough for
\nthe majority of the population on the island. Whilst the tourist
\nbrochures and advertising campaigns are crammed with images of
\nextraordinary beauty -- the terraced rice-fields, the temples,
\npalaces and dancers, the historical reality has always been less
\nalluring and infinitely more complex.<\/p>\n
For example in the mid-1960s as the Indonesian Communist Party
\n(PKI) attempted an (alleged) assault on power, the fall-out for
\nBali was particularly catastrophic as tens of thousands of party
\nmembers were butchered up and down the island.<\/p>\n
If you want to get an idea of the numbers who would have been
\naffected by the killings, just think of the family and friends
\nwho would have survived and how they would have felt.<\/p>\n
Understandably, it is not a period that many Balinese choose
\nto refer to publicly -- the memories of those frightening months
\nof killings and reprisal killings remain raw and sensitive, even
\nafter forty years. Still, the island managed to cope with the
\nenormity of the tragedy, emerging from a period of terrible
\nunrest with a sense of shared resolve instead of a set of barely
\ncontainable grievances.<\/p>\n
An important aspect of the healing process brings to the
\nsecond point -- the many purification ceremonies undertaken by
\nall the local community associations -- the same ceremonies that
\nthe tourists now crowd together to watch open-mouthed with
\ncameras at the ready.<\/p>\n
As Odeck, a young prince and businessman from Ubud's royal
\nfamily explains: "Most tourists don't understand that the
\nceremonies serve a real societal function. It's actually an
\nimportant way for communities to diffuse tension. The meetings
\nrelated to the ceremony force everyone in the banjar and network
\nof banjars called a desa adat to work together."<\/p>\n
This means there is a system for handling local differences
\nand disagreements. It's also entirely separate from government
\nand therefore untainted by party politics.<\/p>\n
The island's dense network of banjars has sprung into action
\nimmediately. At meetings across Bali, community leaders have
\ndampened down hot-heads calling for immediate retribution.
\nInstead people's attention has been directed towards the need to
\nconduct purification ceremonies in order to cleanse the land of
\nthe evil wrought by the bombing. For example on Oct. 31 (the full
\nmoon of the fourth month) a substantial purification ceremony is
\nbeing planned in Kuta.<\/p>\n
Komang Wahyu Suteja, a young hotelier says: "The informal
\nnetwork of banjars and desa adats have helped to communicate a
\nmessage of peace and tolerance to the people at the grass-roots.
\nPeople are being told that we need to make special offerings to
\nappease the gods."<\/p>\n
Certainly in discussions with friends on the island I've been
\nstruck by the positive and upbeat tone that everyone has taken.
\nOf course this is due to a realization that the island's economic
\nfuture depends on the outside world's perception of its stability
\nand security. With tourism as a major pillar of the domestic
\neconomy, everyone, without exception, understands the importance
\nof working together to rebuild the island's reputation.<\/p>\n
However, some are less sanguine. They foresee darker clouds on
\nthe horizon especially as tourist numbers drop off towards the
\nend of the year.<\/p>\n
Other parts of Indonesia -- Maluku, Kalimantan, Papua and Aceh
\nhave succumbed to the downward spiral of violence and murder.
\nHowever, Bali looks set to escape this tragic denouement. It's
\ndynamic tourism-led economy, its strong and resilient sense of
\ncommunity as well as its culture of accommodation and consensus
\nshould prevent the harbingers of doom from claiming the "Island
\nof the Gods".<\/p>",
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