Land and sea make Balinese culture exotic and intriguing
Land and sea make Balinese culture exotic and intriguing
By Simon Marcus Gower
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Millions of international tourists have
visited the exotic island of Bali. The vast majority of them
arrive at Ngurah Rai International Airport and are whisked away
to their hotels by taxis and shuttle buses.
A majority will settle into hotels huddled on the southern
edge of the island, perhaps only rarely venturing to more remote
parts of this geographically diverse island.
Many domestic visitors also arrive at the airport and choose
southern hotels; but many more arrive by sea. Taking the short
ferry trip from East Java, (Banyuwangi), to Bali, (Gilimanuk),
these visitors get an immediate reminder that Bali is an
attractive and biologically diverse island.
Easily visible from Java, Bali looks like a hilly, thickly
forested and thinly populated island. Making the overland journey
from Gilimanuk to Denpasar, one is reminded the that farming and
fishing provide the livelihood for the majority of Balinese
people.
The trip from Gilimanuk to Denpasar acts as a reminder that
Bali may be small when compared to Java or Kalimantan, but it is,
nonetheless, a substantial island. The road is winding and
undulating and unlit and the journey takes about three hours.
As one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, Bali is among the more
modest sized islands of the archipelago but a comparison with
another famous Southeast Asian island emphasizes the significant
size of Bali. The island of Singapore is a mere 620 square
kilometers whilst Bali has an area of over 5,500 square
kilometers.
On the road from Gilimanuk many of those kilometers can be
seen and it is apparent that much of western and Central Bali is
made up of hilly and mountainous landscapes.
The famous terraced Balinese rice fields can be seen in
abundance and the painstaking, centuries old methods of farming
can be seen in the seemingly endless ribbon of land under
cultivation.
Observers have marveled for centuries at the ingenuity of the
irrigation systems that maintain the brilliantly green rice
fields covering the hills and mountainsides of rich volcanic
soil.
Despite the many modern day tourist attractions on Bali, the
island still has a predominantly agrarian-based economy.
It is true that huge sums of money are brought to the island
by the tourist industry but it is probably equally true that most
of this money will leave the island almost as soon as it has
arrived because a considerable number of hotels and tourist
related businesses are owned by 'off island' business groups.
For the Balinese people the economy is distinctly local, with
farming, animal husbandry and fishing contributing a significant
percentage of the total economy.
Traveling through rural areas, in village after village one
sees the many puras (temples) erected to pay tribute to and
appease the Gods. For the Balinese, devotions to their Gods are
an essential part their daily lives, (whether rural or urban) and
daily offerings of flowers, burning incense sticks and small
amounts of rice are ubiquitous as devotees strategically place
these offerings and sprinkle them with holy water.
Bali has made numerous concessions to tourism but daily
devotions remain remarkably undisturbed by the presence of
tourists. And if a visitor should mistakenly stand in the way of
the sprinkling of holy water, he or she will get a little wet and
perhaps have the good fortune of being blessed at the same time.
It is estimated that there are at least three puras in each
Balinese village. On the road between Gilimanuk and Denpasar this
appears to be a reasonable estimate.
This traveler lost count of the puras after about seventy-
five. The number of puras is a clear indication of the importance
of religion in Balinese family and community life.
One girl offered the following appraisal -- "We are all from
our God and we must praise and thank God for the life that we
have. We were raised from the sea and will be returned to it. As
long as we do good things and keep honest thoughts we may be
returned to this world after we die."
Here she touched on two key facets of Balinese belief -- a
belief in all things coming from the sea and thus a need to honor
the sea and a belief in reincarnation. The sea is a crucial part
of the Balinese experience.
They conduct ceremonial tributes to the sea putting fruit,
vegetables, rice, flowers, incense sticks and even ducks into the
sea as offerings. They also cremate their dead and scatter the
ashes into the sea, (returning the dead to the sea).
For the millions of tourists that have come to Bali the sea is
often little more than a recreation area where they may surf,
swim, canoe, scuba dive, sail, jet-ski, paraglide and so on. In
Balinese tradition the sea is no mere recreation area.
It is the carrier of life and the source from which and to
which all life must flow. Colorful fishing boats may double as
leisure boats for tourists to rent but they remain fishing boats
and are actively used to gather food sources from the sea.
The Balinese clearly respect and honor the land and sea
surrounding their island. So much of their existence and economy
comes from the natural resources of the island; they effectively
have to be guardians of the land and sea.
Tourists too really should show similar respect. A couple of
tourists were recently overheard sneering and jeering at an
elderly Balinese man as he waded through shallow waters
collecting oysters -- no doubt as a supplement to his diet. The
meticulous and apparently thoughtful manner in which he was going
about his task was in stark contrast to the arrogant ignorance of
the watching tourists.
Fortunately he had the wisdom to ignore their ignorance but
there was no excuse for them to berate him in the manner in which
they did.
Bali has much to entertain and divert tourists and tourists
(Indonesian and foreign) should have respect for people and the
remarkable, beautiful and bountiful land and waters of Bali.
The lands and seas of Bali have helped to make the Balinese
culture exotic and intriguing for so many visitors.