'Left' making inroads into Balinese calm

'Left' making inroads into Balinese calm

By Degung Santikarma

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Over the past year, despite the stagnant
Indonesian economy, a new industry has exploded in Bali. With the
lifting of restrictions on press permits, dozens of new tabloids,
magazines and books have flooded local stores.

Much of this new media is -- as one might expect in a society
still shaking off the after-effects of its long bout with
censorship -- material which was banned under the previous New
Order regime.

Translations of the works of Karl Marx and Che Guevara,
reprints of the novels of Pramoedya Ananta Toer and political
treatises of all types have become openly available and are
eagerly consumed, especially by a younger generation searching
for new models of thought and action.

Indeed, peering inside the book bags of Bali's university
students, it might seem that a "new left" is beginning to emerge
on an island better known for its pristine beaches and expensive
hotels than its political activism.

But as booming a business as critical media has recently
become, political publications are facing stiff competition from
another strain of "leftist" thought. To see the signs, one need
only take a stroll through the new Gramedia shop at Kuta Galleria
mall, where bestsellers are stacked on a table front and center.

Given a place of prominence on the pile of most popular
titles, next to works like Soeharto's Fall and The Asian Leftist
Movement, are two recently published books that, store employees
say, have been flying off the shelves by the hundreds: Black
Knowledge from Bali and How to Become a Leak.

The first of these works is filled with dark stories of
mystical happenings, as well as detailed instructions on how to
perform the rituals and create the supernaturally charged amulets
that can keep one's home safe from thieves, one's body immune
from supernatural sicknesses and one's family safe from attacks
of black magic.

The second of these volumes is a handbook for the aspiring
sorcerer, offering guidance in transforming oneself into a shape-
changing being with the power to harm one's enemies, known in
Balinese as a leak.

What is most striking about this supernatural "new left"
phenomenon, however, is that it is not, in fact, so new. Indeed
in Bali, this kind of "leftism" has a long history. According to
Balinese terminology, knowledge can be divided into two types:
that of the right-hand path, called penengen, which is "white"
knowledge used to cure and to protect, and that of the left-hand
path, called pengiwa, which is "black" knowledge used to harm
others.

What is surprising about this avalanche of magical media is
instead the social space in which it is now to be found. For in
traditional Bali, such knowledge was esoteric and guarded, the
domain of experts who could read the ancient palm leaf books
devoted to such matters.

Priests and princes kept this knowledge to themselves, using
it as ammunition in their battles and as medicine to heal the
spiritual ills of their followers. Ordinary people could gain
these powers, but only after a long and arduous search for a
teacher or the receipt of a supernatural gift from the gods. The
free trade of such information was, until recently, unthinkable
in Bali.

But now, for only a few thousand rupiah, Nyoman Gegel, a 36-
year-old man from a small village near Denpasar, was able to buy
a book about black magic at a local supermarket. Nyoman was drawn
to such knowledge by his own bitter experiences, after two of his
children fell ill with ailments the local doctor could not cure.
Nyoman was convinced that their sicknesses had been caused by his
neighbor working black magic against them.

A few years ago, Nyoman had been close to this neighbor, a
land broker who scouted out desperate farmers willing to sell
their rice fields to his big city contacts. Nyoman had learned
the tricks of the broker's trade from him, eventually surpassing
his teacher in both luck and skillful dealing.

With a newly renovated house and an expensive car parked in
the yard, Nyoman suspected his success had sparked his neighbor's
jealousy and driven him to use supernatural means to get revenge.
Determined to thwart his neighbor and protect his family, Nyoman
decided to follow his neighbor's example yet again, by searching
for the same knowledge of the supernatural.

Returning home with his book, Nyoman turned the pages with
shaking hands, much like a Soeharto-era student activist with a
contraband copy of Pramoedya's Child of All Nations, torn between
fear and a burning desire for knowledge.

He worried for a moment about transgressing the traditional
Balinese command of aja were, which holds that powerful lore
should not be spread to outsiders, but quickly dismissed his
concern, convincing himself that since Indonesia was now a
democracy, it shouldn't be just the priests and palace-dwellers
who had access to power.

"Balinese culture should belong to the people," he told
himself firmly as he devoured the dark secrets made public in the
book's pages. "In this era of reformasi, we all have the right to
knowledge." Thinking of the famous magic practitioners who were
rumored to be on Soeharto's payroll, he grew even more secure in
the rightness of his search.

"It's time for us `little people' to get some power of their
own. Long live the left!" he concluded confidently.