Made Wijaya still a stranger after 22 years

Made Wijaya still a stranger after 22 years

A Stranger In Paradise
By Made Wijaya
260 pp, Rp 90,000 (hrdcover), Rp 65,000 (paperback)

DENPASAR (JP): Made Wijaya's A Stranger in Paradise, the Diary
of an Expatriate in Bali 1979-1980 hit Bali's bookshops late last
year. Actually, Made Wijaya is the pen name of Michael White, a
landscape engineering consultant for major hotels in Bali. The
writer, born in Australia, first set foot on Bali at the age of
20.

"At the time I was studying architecture," he said of his
arrival in Bali. He was speaking at the launch of his book at the
Four Season Resort hotel in Jimbaran.

In the early 1970s, Bali was not the bustling place it is
today. There were few hotels or places to stay, let alone star-
rated accommodation. Michael White therefore had to search for a
place to stay in Sanur.

His landlord's family treated him as a member of the family,
one reason White "lost his heart" to Bali. For him, it was like
discovering a new world. He found the warmth of family life, a
rare occurrence in Western families in which individuality has
taken the upper hand, he said.

In 1975, White was proclaimed a member of a Balinese family
and became Made Wijaya. Judging from the name of his adopted
family, Made Wijaya should rightly belong to the Brahman caste
and be named Ida Bagus Made Wijaya. However, he favors Made
Wijaya.

The culture of Bali and the island's architecture, from the
small roadside food stalls to the pompous castles of former
Balinese rulers, grabbed his attention. He visited villages and
hamlets, and mingled with ordinary men as well as the island's
elite.

Made Wijaya considers himself lucky for having witnessed the
most important ritual in Bali. He was able to watch Eka Dasa
Rudra in the Besakih Temple in 1979, a ritual held once in a
hundred years.

White took on any job to stay in Bali. He unabashedly admits
to working as a tennis instructor and then as a English teacher
from 1972 to 1981. He learned the language of the island from his
students.

"I used my spare time to research my writings," he said.

Fortune was on Wijaya's side when in 1979 the Bali Post
started printing a page in English every Sunday for its Sunday
Bali Post.

His Sunday Bali Post column has been organized and edited in A
Stranger in Paradise. It was published with help by P.T. Tribwana
Indosekar, the company at which Wijaya works as a consultant. The
owner of the company, Putu Suasta, nourishes great interest in
culture. Putu also likes Made Wijaya's landscaping, which
combines Western rationality and an irate touch of the island's
architecture.

"Bali's architecture is very rich," said Wijaya.

He has already published Balinese Architecture, a book
approaching ideas of art. The book is actually a photocopy
version of the dummy bound in an art cover. It is comprised of
hundreds of pictures of all sorts of constructions, from
inconspicuous roadside food stalls, where customers can be seen
holding intimate discussions with pretty young girls, to pictures
of grandiose buildings of a feudalist lifestyle of a long gone
era.

Apart from working as a landscaping consultant at PT Tribwana
Indosekar, Wijaya is writing an Encyclopedia of Balinese
Architecture -- a work requiring formidable devotion.

"Hopefully it will be completed soon, eh?" he said with a
smile.

Although he has written two books about Bali, Wijaya said
humbly: "There is still a lot to learn about Bali. What I know is
still too little."

Made's Stranger in Paradise is lightly written and he does not
delve as deeply as writers Miguel Covarrubias in Island of Bali,
Beryl de Zoete and Walter Spies in Dance and Drama, or Jane Belo
in Trance in Bali. His writing is an important witness to Bali on
the verge of change as tourism rapidly grew at the end of the
1970s.

His daily entries speak of these changes. Made did not only
record incidents and conspicuous symptoms, or sacred rituals in
Hindu temples, he was also able to discover unique aspects in the
island's changing cycles. He succeeded, for instance, to portray
a Brahman priest wearing sunglasses while conducting a praying
service. The priest had, most likely, not the slightest intention
to be fashionable, contrary to today's youngsters who have been
influenced by tourism culture. He wore sunglasses simply to ward
off the midday sun.

His first story in the Sunday Bali Post (Feb. 11, 1979), was
an eye witness report of the Pelembon, the cremation of Ida
Cokorda Agung Sukawati together with the scattering of Rudolf
Bonnet's ashes which arrived in a parcel by post from the
Netherlands. Bonnet and Ida Tjokorda were often in each other's
company. They guided an art group, the Pita Maha, in the 1930s in
Ubud, which was the start of Ubud's fame. And like the foreign
tourists expressing surprise when witnessing a ritual before
cremation, Made Wijaya was equally impressed by the lion, cow and
dragon containers, and the thousands of Ubud people who watched
the historical event.

On the night of the cremation, Jimat (now Bali's top Jauk
dancer) performed the sacred Baris dance in the Puri Ubud. Made
felt like a stranger in the crowd following the procession. To
him it was like watching a prehistorical scene of people holding
a ritual for spirits.

While these medieval rites are still alive today, various
modern objects have made their entry. People no longer write on
lontar leaves, they use keyboards. They walk less, preferring
motorcycles, cars and trucks to get around. However, these modern
objects have been formatted to suit their traditions and culture.
Purification of these objects, the blessing of them on certain
days, never stops to amaze Made Wijaya. On Tumpek Landep day, for
instance, all iron objects (cars, typewriters, motorbikes), are
worshiped. Tumpek Bubuh day, is a day when plants are worshiped.
The day is dedicated to appreciating nature.

On another occasion, one Saturday afternoon in 1979, after a
Qantas 747 plane had disgorged its human load, Made Wijaya
immortalized the welcoming rites conducted by a priest at Ngurah
Rai airport.

"Bali's culture is extremely adaptable," Made writes in his
newest book. Made has emphasized this ability in the many
multiethnic photographs of Caucasians clad in traditional Bali
attire and of foreign researchers socializing with the locals.
Amazingly, these changes have not caused social conflict or lead
to an uprising.

In spite of his 22-year tenure in Bali, Made Wijaya still
feels like a stranger. There are so many corners in the culture
of Bali still unknown to him. The island's culture is like an
endless stream. The rites of a pura, for instance, encompasses
religious teachings, social ethics, music, dancing, carving and
literature.

-- Putu Wirata