Sociocultural conflicts and xenophobia

Sociocultural conflicts and xenophobia

By I Wayan Juniartha

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The ubiquitous "No Scavengers Allowed"
signs along most roads in Bali's capital of Denpasar and other
regencies, and the so-called "population control" operations,
which have been regularly held in the past several months, have
one thing in common; they both reflect the fast growing
xenophobia among the great majority of the Balinese people.

The "No Scavengers Allowed" signs, written in Bahasa
Indonesia, were a rare sight two years ago. Then only several
villages in the northern outskirts of Denpasar, such as
Angantaka, Jagapati and Sedang, displayed the signs along their
dirt roads.

Organized and financed by their respective Desa Adat
(traditional village), the signs are a manifestation of the
prevailing prejudice that the scavengers are actually thieves in
disguise.

"They do not only collect the rubbish, because if the house is
empty, they will steal the television set, sewing machine, water
pump or other valuables, put them into their gunnysacks, and
calmly walk away," a local villager once said.

Today, the signs can be found almost everywhere in Denpasar,
Badung, Tabanan, and several parts of Gianyar. Scavengers who
dare to defy the signs, receive the retribution, from mild verbal
abuses to physical assaults, immediately

The fact that most of the burglars caught by the police turn
out to be a "full-time career burglars", has not helped diminish
this firmly-held prejudice.

On the other hand, the fact that most of the scavengers are
Javanese, has strengthened another prejudice on Javanese people
in Bali. For a long time, many Balinese, whether they openly
admitted it, harbored the view that the Javanese were a source of
trouble.

The Javanese have been made the scapegoat for many of the
problems afflicting Bali. They are blamed for the growing number
of slum areas, increasing crime rate, prostitution and other
social problems.

The prejudice against the Javanese by the common people of
Bali and its elite stems from different reasons. The common
people mostly disliked the uncleanliness of the Javanese migrant
workers. For instance, the Balinese, who have for centuries
adopted the concept of ulu-teben (that each thing had its own
space and position), were shocked to see their Javanese neighbors
drying their undergarments on the roof of the house. A Balinese
will never place his undergarments anywhere above his head, let
alone above his family shrine. This action is believed to be not
only rude, but also desecrates the house.

So the xenophobia and prejudice of the common people stems
more from cultural misunderstanding and ignorance.

On the contrary, the Balinese elite dislike the Javanese
because they fear the mainly Muslim Javanese will eventually
dominate the Balinese Hindus -- socially, economically, and
religiously. The Balinese have often complained of the increasing
number of mosques and have vigorously opposed plans by the Muslim
community to build their own Muslim cemetery.

In various closed meetings, the elite have warned of the
impending danger of "Islamization" and "Javanization" of Bali.

They say the Muslims have a hidden agenda of reorganizing
Bali's demography.

"They want to change the balance from 90 percent Balinese
Hindu and 10 percent non-Balinese Hindu to 70 percent and 30
percent respectively. That's the reason why several wealthy non-
Balinese businessmen financially support efforts to bring in as
many Javanese migrant workers as possible into Bali," one of them
accused.

Three recent developments, namely the economic crisis,
political instability and the emergence of Hindu fundamentalism,
have worsened the xenophobia among the Balinese people.

In the past few years, the economic crisis has forced many
poor Javanese to leave their hometowns in Java to look for a new
life in Bali. They filled the nonformal sectors, which were
either vacant or never touched by the Balinese people.

Collecting garbage, working at construction sites and peddling
on the streets were three of the most popular occupations for the
migrants.

The migrant street vendors occupied any vacant space they
could find like public squares, sidewalks, parking lots and even
the front yard private houses. This provoked a public outcry,
demanding the government take stern measures to control and
manage these vendors.

In some cases the Desa Adat took matters into their own hands
by ransacking and burning the vendors's kiosks -- the years of
anger and frustration manifesting itself as acts of violence.

At the same time, thousands of Indonesians of Chinese descent
who fled several riot-torn cities in Java and Sumatra, also chose
Bali as their new home.

Some came with big capital, buying land and houses, and
starting their own business. Some only came with their superior
skills, which entitled them to comfortable positions in the
flourishing companies across Bali.

Inevitably, they brushed aside Balinese candidates for these
positions.

It is no wonder that many Balinese view these outsiders'
superior capital power and skills with a mix of envy and rage.

The fall of the New Order regime weakened the grip of the
security forces and the government's authority. This vacuum was
filled by the ever-growing traditional Balinese social
institutions such as the Desa Adat and Banjar.

These traditional institutions later transformed themselves
into both a law-making body and a law enforcer. Yet, being a
traditional agricultural Balinese Hindu organization in nature,
these organizations continued to treat non-Balinese as outsiders,
and considered the Balinese Hindus as the true natives, thus the
sole rightful "owners" of the island.

These organizations were also strengthened by growing Hindu
fundamentalism among many Balinese scholars and social activists.
The most recent victims of this sentiment were two Denpasar-based
schools belonging to a Catholic and a Protestant foundation
respectively. The foundations were forced to rename
the school, since their names -- Swastiastu and Widya Pura --
were in sanskrit, thus an exclusive property of the Balinese
Hindus.

There are rumors that next to be targeted will be churches and
mosques that are decorated in Balinese traditional carvings and
symbols.

This combination of prejudice, social and economic envy, and
growing fundamentalist sentiments, finally manifested into a
population control policy, which is spearheaded by the Denpasar
administration .

Although being justified as an effort to curb the fast-growing
population of Denpasar, the policy is undoubtedly an effort to
secure the Balinese Hindus' interests. This time the Javanese
were not the only target.

All non-Balinese Hindus, the "outsiders", were the focus of
the policy.

Population control operations -- a door-to-door night
operations -- are held by each Desa Adat in Denpasar. Any non-
Balinese found without a Denpasar-issued identity card or a
steady job, are rounded up and sent back to their respective
hometowns in Java, Lombok or Sumatera.

Other regencies soon followed Denpasar's initiative, and Bali
has become a more difficult place to live in for non-Balinese
Hindu people.

The non-Balinese Hindus who have a proper ID and hold a steady
job are required to deposit a certain amount of money as security
so that if in the future they lose their job, the government will
have enough money to send them back to their hometowns.

Some Balinese scholars have praised this policy as a
breakthrough, but have failed to see the simple truth; prejudice
and intolerance would bring nothing but violent conflict. In the
long term, prejudice and intolerance, as history has taught us,
are self-destructive for any society.

Violent conflicts and self-destruction are two things Bali and
its people cannot afford at this moment or at any moment.