Ubud offers respite from Jakarta's travails

By Mohammad Sadli

UBUD, Bali (JP): It is refreshing to get away from the haunting debate in Jakarta where day in and day out the media underline the gloom of a frighteningly widening gap between the rich and the poor. Especially when the rich and super-rich are associated with the Chinese business minority and the poor constitute the majority indigenous population or struggling entrepreneurs. Such domestic media attention sooner or later gets reflected in the international media. When I visited Melbourne, Australia, my hosts queried whether the situation in my country was really that troublesome.

A traveler on their way to a conference in Melbourne can find respite from these Jakarta worries during a few days' stop over in Bali, especially if those days are spent in a bungalow in the middle of beautiful green paddy fields in Ubud. Even more so if there is no television, radio or telephone within immediate reach.

Bali is a wonderful place to escape from things. One can spend a few hundred dollars a day in a five-star hotel or cabin-style retreat. But for a fraction of the cost one can enjoy the serenity and soothing beauty of the rice fields, plus a hearty breakfast and friendly people who aren't shy about chatting. That is the charm of visiting Bali. People are simple, friendly and warm, without complexes for foreigners or outsiders.

Ubud bungalows cannot be accessed by cars so one has to walk, balancing on the narrow top of sawah dikes, less than half a meter wide but only half of it cemented for the comfort of the guests. To the left or right there may be deep ravines or steep terrace walls. But such hazards are no obstacles for the many young backpackers, often seen venturing into the villages. In the evening negotiating those narrow dike footpaths is a tricky exercise, and probably outright dangerous for the uninitiated during the rainy season. But the great compensation is the experience of staying in an upstairs room with a balcony and sleeping with open doors and windows. Sleeping while engulfed by the rays of a full moon flowing into the room that also illuminate the paddy fields in an eerie but serene way. All that for less than US$15 a day -- with no plus-plus.

In a place like Ubud, people aren't haunted by the rich-poor agony because Bali has an egalitarian society. Of course many of the tourists, especially those who frequent Nusa Dua and other five-star resort areas, are rich or very rich, but the Balinese do not mind. They are not part of that world and, as a matter of fact, many Balinese earn their living from the wealthy tourists. One large five-star hotel employs about two thousand people.

There are no local super rich who isolate themselves from the community. As a Balinese said, with some pride, even a governor must do his social chores and religious duties if he is back in his native place.

Bali is an example of a very equitable development, based on comparative and natural advantages. Tourism as an industry is very personnel and labor intensive, with a lot of fall out effects. Bali prides itself that Kuta has the highest non-oil per capita income in Indonesia and Ubud comes next.

Under the surface there may be a growing concentration of wealth, which isn't unnatural in a place with such high growth. Much of the profit and wealth goes to Indonesians and foreigners residing outside Bali. Therefore the display wealth is not visible and does not offend local sensitivities.

Bali developed because of non-local investment and entrepreneurship. The big hotels are financed from outside the island and the first entrepreneurs in the handicraft industry came from Surabaya, Jakarta and lately from Yogyakarta and Bandung. But, apparently, the Balinese did not particularly mind this invasion, and gradually emulated the innovation and entrepreneurship that is the basis of their island's prosperity.

One good example of this spread effect is that former personnel of the first Intercon Hotel are now striking out on their own to promote new hotels.

Actually the same spread effect is happening in Jakarta, but in the process many of the intellectuals feel very unhappy about the end situation and the perceived "dependencia".

So much for Bali and Ubud as an antidote for the mood in Jakarta.

Mohammad Sadli is a senior economist and former minister of mines and energy.