Author Ktut Tantri stirs up controversy even in death

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): "I wish to return to Bali, I wish to be cremated in Bali in the Balinese way," Ktut Tantri once said.

Her final wish has once again thrown the memory of the Scotswoman into controversy, just as so much of her life was the subject of intense, often heated speculation.

The author of Revolt in Paradise, a best-selling romantic autobiography detailing her exploits during Indonesia's fight for independence, died at the age of 89 on July 27 in a Sydney old people's home.

Timothy Lindsey, her friend, biographer and executor of her estate, said last month that she had been cremated and her ashes would be taken to Bali for a traditional ngaben Hindu ceremony.

Tantri, born Muriel Pearson, knew Bali well. She established one of the first hotels along Kuta in the 1930s and became friends with Anak Agung Nura of Puri Bangli, who later gave her the name Ktut Tantri.

Other foreigners have had the honor of the rite, including Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet in 1978. But the issue of providing the same ceremony for Tantri has splintered Bali's intellectual and religious communities.

"Personally, it is clear to me that, in her own testament, Tantri not only wished to have a rite performed for her, but was also willing to profess Hinduism. Except for performance of the rite, the whole thing is settled," said Nura, a deputy chairmen of the central board of the Indonesian Hindu Council.

There is dissent among other members, centered on Ktut Tantri's conversion to Hinduism, the necessity of finding a Balinese Hindu family to sponsor the ceremony and the ethics of a priest performing the rite for someone who was not one of his flock.

Ida Bagus Agastia, another deputy chairman of the council and lecturer on ancient Balinese literature, argues the rite is not simply the cremation of a dead body. He says the return of the soul to the seas and mountains before being laid to rest at the family worship place is part of a final expression of filial duty.

At issue is that Ktut Tantri died with no immediate next of kin.

I Gusti Ngurah Nala, rector of Hindu Bali University, believes it is important to establish Tantri's links to a clan. This extremely intricate system in Bali is subdivided into groups, which branch off into smaller subgroups. Each has common places of worship.

Others have voiced concerns over Tantri's profession of faith.

Former director general of Hinduism and Buddhism guidance, I Gusti Agung Gde Putra, now a lecturer at Denpasar Hindu University, was quoted by Nusa Tenggara daily earlier this month as saying that Tantri would have had to have gone through the formal ceremony for converting to Hinduism.

"If someone has undergone this rite, it means acceptance of Shiva as God," Gde Putra said. He said it should be ascertained what Tantri understood by the rite -- was it merely a cremation ceremony, which would pose no ethical quandary, or a full observance in accordance with Hindu tenets?

"If efforts continue to carry out Tantri's last wish, we will have to see if there is a Hindu priest with the courage to perform it," he said.

A priest gives the soul of a dead person holy water, the spiritual passport into the hereafter. By strict definition, he should only perform the rite for his faithful. A priest who performs the ceremony for others risks being faulted for contravening established practices.

These ethical dilemmas sometimes puzzle the Balinese themselves. There are conflicting views on how to classify a convert to the religion within a clan or family group.

The late Ida Bagus Mantra, a devout scholar, once said that a convert to Hinduism could be classified succinctly as a follower who travels on the destined journey by sea.

Pino Confesa, Italian by birth, is a case in point. This theater expert married a Balinese woman and converted to Hinduism. To strengthen his new faith, he built a worship area in his home and defined himself as a convert.

"The five elements of Panca Maha Bhutain Hinduism center on nature, that someone returns to nature upon death," Confesa said.

Some religious elders concede secretly that Ktut Tantri could receive the rite as long as there is a family willing to endorse the ceremony. Even with the caveat that she would not be laid to rest at a family worship place, the proposal is still inflammatory enough that people are hesitant to endorse it publicly.

Prickly, opinionated and given to holding grudges, Ktut Tantri ended her life alone and almost forgotten except for Lindsey. Her turbulent life may be over, but Ktut Tantri's desire to finally rest in peace is still denied her.