Is Balinese culture a snag for investors?

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The uniqueness of Balinese's people and culture is apt to force investors to be more careful when doing business on this holiday island. Their costly projects may face problems if they are viewed as insulting Bali's religion and culture.

Since early August, the Balinese community has been shaken by what is described as "an insult to the symbols of the Hindu religion".

This latest problem was triggered by a Bima and Dewa Ruci statue at the Denpasar-Nusa Dua-Kuta intersection, a locality that is, in itself, chaotic and confusing.

The statue, constructed by the Badung regency, depicts Bima in search of tirta kamandalu (life water) in the sea. In his search, he fought Naga Raksa and nearly lost. Bima regained his strength after meeting Dewa Ruci. In this statue, Dewa Ruci is visualized in the form of Cintya, a statue symbolizing the oneness of god.

It is the visualization of Cintya which has led to the sharp dispute.

Nyoman Glebet, an architect who is the most vocal observer of Balinese culture to date, says the establishment of Cintya at the crossroads is an insult to a symbol of the Hindu religion.

He says Cintya can be placed only in a temple complex.

Only statues like guardian giant Catuspatha can be constructed at crossroads, he said.

Similar criticism was also voiced by the head of Bali's culture office, Ida Bagus Pangdjaja, who has expressed hope that the Badung administration will quickly dismantle Cintya from the Dewa Ruci statue, in order to put an end to the dispute among the Hindus.

Badung Regent I Gusti Alit Putra said the regency had no intention of insulting Hindu symbols.

The administration approved the construction of the statue, including Cintya, with the reasoning that everyone passing the crossroads is expected to remember God the Almighty, he said.

The dispute apparently led to the regent ordering that the part depicting Cintya, which was considered insulting Hindu, be torn down.

But, chairman of the Badung branch of the Indonesian Hindu Council, Ida Pedanda Bajing, said placing Cintya in the Dewa Ruci statue does not violate the Hindu religion, provided that the statue is not accompanied by the planting of pedagingan (consisting of various kinds of metals, three-color yarn, etc.) and that it is made official with a religious ritual.

Barong

Even though Bajing's statement has led the Badung administration to leave the statue as it is, the two-month dispute is still being kept alive through the local mass media.

The Cintya-Dewa Ruci case has caused concern among a number of cultural observers, as well as religious and custom institutions, including the Indonesian Hindu Council and the Council for Custom Development, which have never been involved in the decisions of projects related to religion and customs.

Usually, they are contacted after a conflict has erupted and becomes difficult to solve.

The Cintya-Dewa Ruci incident is not the first such case. In the same period, two Barong statues at Planet Bali -- a discotheque complex owned by entrepreneur Hartono -- were dismantled after sharp clashes erupted in newspapers.

Bali's Hindu community sees the Barong as a sacred symbol that can be placed only in temples. They strongly objected to the construction of Barong statues at Planet Bali, which was suspected to be a place used for prostitution.

It came to light that the construction of the Barong statues had never been discussed with the Hindu and custom institutions.

The Rp 13 billion Planet Bali was closed recently due to an alleged abuse of the construction permit.

There are many more cases reported to the customs and religious institutions which have become controversial issues in the media.

One case was the videoclip Saigon Kick filmed in the Uluwatu temple, Badung. The Hindu community launched a strong protest because they saw on television how, with sophisticated editing techniques, the singer, clad in rags, played a guitar at the top of the meru (pagoda) of the Uluwatu temple.

The videoclip maker was probably preoccupied with his artistic considerations and did not consult anyone from cultural and religious circles.

Another case was the making of the film Nusa Penida in the 1980s. The film was banned in Bali because it contained a love scene in the yard of a temple.

The most striking concern of many intellectuals was the construction of the Bali Nirwana Resort only dozens of meters away from the Tanah Lot temple.

The megaresort seemed to treat the Tanah Lot shrine -- a Hindu temple constructed in the 16th century by Dang Hyang Niratha -- as a decorative ornament.

The resort's construction violated the Indonesian Hindu Council's guidance concerning the sanctity of temple -- a radius of 2 kilometers -- but the case became controversial after Bali's governor issued a provisional permit and the investor acquired hundreds of hectares of land and spent a lot of money on surveys.

In fact, Bali's religious, cultural and intellectual circles have often raised their voices in order that the government involves the people and listens to their aspirations in making decisions on matters related to religion and culture.

Their cries are mostly in vain, and the number of controversial cases related to custom and religion keep increasing.

"If the local administration is consistent in taking culture and religion into account when it carries out development programs, it should listen to the aspirations of religious and custom institutions as well as independent intellectuals," said Putu Suasta, a young cultural observer who says he is very concerned about the many customs and religion cases arising from the decisions made by the government.

"If cultural aspects are not seriously taken into account, there will be many more cases in future," said Suasta.