Balinese women climb business ladder to success

By Dini S. Djalal

Ubud, Bali (JP): It must be a common mistake made by many. When first I saw the sign for Warung Made, Kuta's famed restaurant, I immediately assumed that Made was a man. The same conclusion entered my head about Ubud's most popular restaurant, Cafe Wayan. I was wrong on both accounts.

It may merely be serendipity, but Bali's most respected entrepreneurs are often women. Three women in particular - the aforementioned restaurateurs Made and Wayan, and Oka Kartini of Oka Kartini Bungalows have risen from relative obscurity to national and international prestige.

Have they achieved success from the growth of tourism? Or are they partially responsible for creating Bali's cosmopolitan yet exotic reputation?

The answer to both questions is yes. Tourism has opened many business opportunities for the Balinese, yet not all enterprises prosper. In addition, the highly traditional Balinese society which now attracts millions of tourists yearly also restricted the role of women to the rice fields and the kitchen. To get where they are now, these three women have persevered past the obstacles of conservatism.

Warung Made

It has hardly been easy. Made, now a youthful fortysomething, started tending her family warung because her farmer parents were poor. She has a grade 6 education. The explanation is simple. "I was the first born, and you never questioned your parents, and they needed me to work," she said. It was a simple warung then, the only one on the street.

In the late 1960s, the hippies and surfers began arriving. They flocked to the warung, having nowhere else to go. Made sometimes worked until the early morning. "I had to kick people out," she said.

It's difficult to believe that Kuta then was a small and sleepy fishing village. "There were no cars, no roads, no losmen," remembered Made. There were also no menus. "The tourists taught me to make the foods they liked. If they didn't ask for it, I would not have known what to feed them," she laughs.

One particular tourist became a permanent fixture. "My tourist friends told me that this Dutch man was in love with me," she blushed, "but I was so shy then." When they eventually married in 1974, Made ran away for 6 months, frightened of her family's fury.

The people in the village offered no support, ostracizing her because she was the first woman in the village to marry a foreigner. "The village didn't like me because I crossed the line. They threw stones at my house," she said. Made still remembers the insults she endured. "People looked at me like I'm a dog. But actually I was still so traditional. I never even wore skirts then, only kebaya," she said.

Peace was eventually made between Made and her family, and she returned to her warung. Tourists continued to teach her to cook their favorite foods. The Australian jaffle sandwich, now a staple on Kuta's menus, traces its origins to generous tourists. "The surfers brought their own jaffle irons, and would leave them with us," she said. The undeveloped local economy also contributed to the basic conditions of her warung. "We didn't even know what pineapple was then, because it was only available at 5-star hotels," she said.

"We grew step by step. We would save a little, and maybe buy a new glass with the money," she continued. The warung took no loans and persevered on faith. "I wasn't thinking about money. Some guests would pay only once a week. But we were happy," she recounted.

As Bali became more popular with the international jet set crowd, so did the warung. Warung Made became the place to be seen in Kuta, and clients include Dewi Sukarno, Eric Clapton, Richard Gere and Indonesia's elite. Made remembers the first time Mick Jagger came by in 1976. "We didn't take credit cards, and his card was platinum! But I still told him that we only take cash," she laughs. Jagger has been a regular visitor ever since. "We've seen magazine photos of him wearing our t-shirt," she said.

When asked about the secret to her success, Made's answer was firm. "If you have the will, there's a way. It's certainly not easy - you have to be there 100 per cent," she said.

She says that most of the discrimination comes from the business community, not from her staff. "When you go to the offices, you can feel the difference. You feel like a lower person, because they are all men," she said. Tourism has influenced the traditional culture, however, and Made admits that the situation is now different. "It's now changing, and women aren't condescended as much," she said.

Cafe Wayan

Just as Made came from humble beginnings, Ibu Wayan of Cafe Wayan had a very rudimentary education and came from a poor family. When, in 1972, she opened her warung on Ubud's Jalan Monkey Forest, there was hardly a road there. "There weren't even any houses, the area was all rice fields," she said. Wayan's warung made food for the nearby farmers.

Changes occurred with the development of tourism. Much to her surprise, "Tourists started arriving here to see the monkeys at the nearby temple," she said. Initially she only served them coffee, as the menu only offered Balinese food.

American Judy Slattum changed all that. "Judy taught me how to make banana pancakes and guacamole, according to her tastes," Wayan said. "And I liked to eat it myself. So I began serving it at the warung," she said with a laugh.

With the financial aid of a German friend, her restaurant was opened in 1986. "But I spent all of 1985 learning how to cook," she said. She remembers that when she first started eating salad, she continually threw up. "But I had to learn what the tourists wanted to eat," she said.

Her determination to please her guests took her overseas. In recent years, she enrolled in cooking courses in California and Thailand, and returned with delicious recipes. Set in a lush garden peppered with individual dining terraces, Cafe Wayan is packed nearly every night with new tourists and long-time regulars in love with her cooking.

Not one to sit idle with her achievements, Wayan is now venturing into the hotel business, with two guest houses already operating. Two years ago, Wayan saw tourism potential in Lombok, and opened another Cafe Wayan there.

How does she find the time? "I have a very strong will," she deadpans. Ultimately, she said, success is a combination of sheer determination and a little luck. "I knew that tourism would grow, and I was determined to learn new skills to gain from it," she offered.

Oka Kartini

When Oka Kartini - arguably Ubud's most youthful grandmother - began her business, she was already married with five kids. Economic necessity forced her to be independent, as her soldier husband lived far away in Denpasar, and "we only had enough money for food." She sold her land nearby, building a homestay on the grounds of her current home.

Yet Oka contends that luck has played a major role. In 1975, an Indonesian businessman offered to lease her land and build a gallery on it, which he asked her to manage. In 1983, a Dutch man offered her another enterprise; to make wigs to be exported to Holland. Her wig factory, PT Rambut Indah, now employs 150 people and has been awarded recognition by state ministers Rudini and Harmoko for entrepreneurship.

Some of her success, however, is undoubtedly due to her tireless persona. "If I have nothing to do, I get tired," Oka admits. She doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon, either. "In the next five years, I want to add about 20 more rooms, so I guess I will still be active for the next ten years," she said.

Her bungalows are not only her most profitable venture, but among the oldest in Ubud. "When I first started, there were only four homestays and three hotels. Now it is like mushrooms, there are so many guest houses that I have lost count," she said.

Oka did not only pave the path for other hoteliers, but also for Balinese women in general. Before she married, she worked at Ubud's art museum, and soon found herself the topic of local gossip. "I was the only girl in the area who dared to venture out of the house, especially with tourists. People were always talking, saying how dare a Balinese girl hang around with bules," she recounted.

Traditional mores also advised her to stay in the kitchen. "Balinese culture did not approve of women in business. My husband in particular didn't like what I was doing," she sighed. Her will to succeed prevailed, however, and slowly her husband, and the village, began to understand. "I never felt that I was wrong, and that is what is important. Now the village really respects me, but I have worked for that privilege," she concluded.