Bali's economic success is environment's loss: Emil Salim

Text and photos by Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): The resorts, hotels and newly-built homes in Bali have adopted the island's traditional harmony of architecture, landscaping and gardens. This abundant cultural wealth has led to the island's exotic nicknames of "Garden Island", "Ultimate Paradise", "Island of a Thousand Temples" and "Morning of the World".

Thanks to the meticulously landscaped hotel gardens, last year Bali won the Indonesian garden contest. Landscape architects, empowered by state-of-the-art technology, have improved the environmental structuring of the resorts while preserving Balinese architecture. At least that is what it looks like.

In reality, a regional administration in Bali, despite its promotion of environmental conservation and appreciation of cultural heritage, has actually devastated its area's environment. This was revealed by Emil Salim, former minister of the environment, who spoke of the "environmental rape" of Gianyar regency.

After attending a March 25 conference of international real estate agents at the Bali Intercontinental Resort in Jimbaran, Emil Salim charged: "If all (Balinese) towns follow the development pattern of Gianyar with Ubud as its center, the ecosystem will be destroyed."

He was referring to the decimation of the rice fields and forests of Ubud, much of which has been concreted.

Ubud and its surrounds was turned into a village of artists in the 1930s when painters Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet started to promote the works of Ubud painters in Europe. The rapid growth since the 1970s has made houses into homestays and galleries, and surrendered rice fields to hotels. Many villagers have become millionaires, but the exoticism of 1930s Ubud has vanished.

There is nothing new in Emil Salim's statement. During the 1980s, under the administration of Gianyar regent Tjokorda Raka Dherana, hotels, bungalows, private houses and restaurants swallowed the rice fields surrounding Ubud. Buildings were erected not only along the roads in Desa Mas, Pengosekan, Peliatan, Sanggingan, Penestanan, Sayan and Kedewatan, but also in the ravines, which are protected by Indonesian law. Many permanent houses now tower above the Campuhan River precipice, and on the Gianyar and Badung border star-rated hotels sit precariously in the ravine carved by the Ayung River. The river is used for rafting, a popular sport among tourists.

Country houses, bungalows, hotels and restaurants -- most of their building permits were issued during Tjokorde Raka Dherana's administration -- are a main tourist draw to Ubud. If Kuta sells its beach and sunset, Ubud offers art, culture and artists set alongside nature. Tourists can sit in front of their hotel room or at the Cahaya Dewata cafe in Kedewatan, contemplating the rice fields or the Ayung River, far below at an angle of nearly 50 degrees. The western slope of the Ayung ravine is a green expanse of long grass and swaying coconut palms. Similar scenery is sold by other big hotels in Kedewatan, like the Kupu-kupu Barong and Amandari hotels.

The hotels, most of which were built in the 1980s, have been sharply criticized for damaging the environment -- they dump their waste into the river -- and because of concern about the safety of the structures on the landslide-prone slopes. The engineers who planned and built the hotels boasted they had accounted for the factors and had eliminated the risk by using sophisticated technology.

"The capital owners are not stupid, they would not invest in buildings that easily collapse," an engineer said at the time.

Now, buildings modeled after Cahaya Dewata, Kupu-kupu Barong and Amandari have spread to Begawan in the Payangan regency. Emerald, an American from the Rockefeller family, has built a terraced house south of Begawan. The building looks like a cave and overlooks the Ayung ravine and Carangsari village in the Badung regency. The farmers working the rice fields look like black spots in the expanse of land. Emerald lives in the spacious house with an intimate friend and a number of servants. Emerald is said to have built the house in the quiet place to find inner calm. The landslide hazard seems to be no problem.

"If you take the trouble, you will see other similar buildings along the Ayung river," a rafting guide from Begawan village told The Jakarta Post.

M. Lingga, the chairman of the regional house of representatives in Gianyar, refuted Emil Salim's environmental rape accusation.

"There are indeed rice fields which have been converted in keeping with development needs but these have not destroyed the environment," he said. Besides, the change is in accordance with the regency's spatial plan that was jointly prepared by the house and the Gianyar regent.

The change is most profound in the center of Ubud, where scores of bungalows, small hotels, and private houses -- for the greater part inhabited by expatriates -- are conspicuous amid the rice fields. The bumper crop of buildings spoils the natural beauty, even though many of the houses mirror Bali architecture.

"I live very happily here," said Yuko Ishimoru, a musician from Japan who lives in Bali to study Balinese bamboo music. His house in the middle of a rice field in Penestanan has electricity and tap water. At night Yuko is serenaded by frogs and crickets. Next to his house is a multistory wooden building inhabited by Japanese girls. A Caucasian lives in the house farther down the cement path. The area residents are generally expatriates operating small-scale businesses while enjoying the artistic lifestyle of Ubud. Their dwellings are hidden from the road and only accessible by foot.

"The houses are accessible by bicycle but people prefer to go on foot," said Made Suama, a waiter at Wayan cafe, which is also in the middle of a rice field.

Putu Suasta, from the environmentally-active Wisnu Foundation, said: "If we look at Ubud's environment on a macro scale, it has indeed lost its beauty. The buildings and people have reduced its breathing space. But if the government has skilled and environment-oriented personnel, Ubud could be neatly arranged."

More complicated than neatly arranging people in harmony with the environment is trying to define environmental esthetics.

When Tjokorda Budi Suryawan was appointed Gianyar regent in 1993/1994, he immediately ordered the felling of shade trees along roads frequented by tourists. The regent wanted to make Ubud beautiful -- according to his perception of course -- with multicolored flower gardens. He was sharply criticized by the community and by the tourists.

"It is those shade trees which protect pedestrians from the sun's heat," said tourist John Blair.

Artists and environmental activists voiced their disagreement to the Gianyar regional administration office. The felling of the trees continued. Now, the roadsides around Ubud have been transformed into shadeless gardens.

"Beauty is not enough. Parks must give coolness. They should be conceived for the tropics. These ones resemble parks in Europe," said Made Wianta, a Balinese painter who once lived in Europe.

The administration seems not to care about the criticism, especially rebukes from only a former government official.