The culture of Bali is unique to this one island, and unquestionably drive much of Bali's attractiveness to visitors. How did this culture evolve and how has it been preserved under the crush of tourism? Editor Chad Merchant takes a closer look at Balinese history, revealing the sobering stories that ultimately led to Bali's global tourist appeal.

Geographically, Bali isn’t much more than a dot in the ocean, one of Indonesia’s many thousands of islands. It isn’t a tiny island, but it’s not a particularly large one, either. It has a couple of active volcanoes, but that’s nothing unusual in this archipelago. When viewed from a distance – flying overhead by plane, perhaps – Bali is wholly unremarkable. But once you’re on the ground here, nothing could be further from the truth, and though it is but a single island in a vast seascape, Bali’s draw is legendary. This small island has been enchanting visitors for many years, and now, just over a decade since a terrorist bomb killed 202 people and decimated the tourism industry, Bali has seen its renaissance and is now perhaps more popular than ever.

Though Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport is Indonesia’s second-busiest behind Jakarta’s, the importance of this small island and its airport to the nation as a whole cannot be overstated. More than 80% of all foreign visitors to Indonesia come to Bali, and Bali alone. Some 2.7 million foreigners visited Bali in 2011, and that number swelled to nearly 2.9 million last year (added to also-soaring domestic tourist arrivals numbering some 5 million). Unsurprisingly, roughly 80% of Bali’s economy is tied to tourism. Despite strained relationships with Australia following the 2002 bombing, Bali continues to be a major travel destination for Aussies, and that country was ranked first for 2012 tourist arrivals in Bali, followed by China, Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia. The top ten is rounded out, in order, by visitors from Russia, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom. July and August tend to be the island’s busiest months, as this coincides with Australian school holidays. Late December is also a popular time, as it is in many tourist areas.

Cultural Celebrations

What is it about Bali that so many find appealing? For most of the second half of the 20th century, Bali found itself firmly entrenched on the backpackers’ trail. Aussie surfers, German artists, American expats, British and Dutch wanderers… all contributed to the tapestry of what Bali has become. One of the enduring strengths of the Balinese people is their uncanny ability to assimilate external influences into their own inimitably unique culture. You may see a Pizza Hut on a busy street fronting Kuta Beach, but inside that distinctly Western chain restaurant, what you’ll find is a slice of Balinese religion and culture that are always interwoven, never covered up or pushed to the side. Little shrines with incense and offerings will be found in nearly every building – usually up in one of the corners – and like clockwork, men and women will place their offerings in little parcels out on the sidewalk. These offerings can also be found on taxi dashboards and even wedged into any suitable space on motorbike handlebars! But the Balinese culture goes far beyond this.

During Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence, everything on the island shuts down and goes largely dark for 24 hours, so that the evil spirits that are believed to descend on Bali during this time will be fooled into thinking the island is uninhabited and will thus move on. As a tourist on a short holiday, it’s obviously not the ideal time to visit, but it cannot be denied that this is a remarkable adherence to tradition and age-old beliefs and is fascinating to witness. And the night before Nyepi is an absolute blast: very raucous with loud parades, fireworks, and lots of

Another traditional annual holiday is Galungan, a 10-day celebration which marks the victory of good over evil. On the final day, known as Kuningan, the Balinese ancestral spirits which have been visiting the island to join in the celebration, return to the afterlife. A fairly substantial percentage of local shops will be closed for this time, but it’s not nearly as far-reaching as Nyepi, and you can still enjoy yourself as a tourist if you are in Bali during Galungan. As the holiday is calculated according to the 210-day Balinese calendar, and not the 365-day Gregorian calendar, 2013 will see two Galungan periods, one at the end of this month (March 27 to April 6) and the other from October 23 to November 2.

The Past Becomes Present

It is Bali’s amazing culture – one unique to this island – that has inspired and charmed outsiders for decades. Even when the islands of Indonesia were being plundered and their people subjugated by the Dutch during years of rule in Indonesia, the colonialists were so enchanted by the Balinese traditions, they left control of nearly all matters of culture and religion in the hands of the locals, though the Dutch maintained administrative control over the island. But the events that led to this “benevolent colonialism” were bloody indeed.

One of the darkest chapters in Bali’s history came at the hands of the Dutch when they mounted an attack on the Sanur area in 1906 and began a march to Denpasar. Several thousand Balinese, including hundreds from Bali’s royal families, dressed in their finest ceremonial garments, stood their ground, and despite pleas for surrender from the vastly superior Dutch armed forces, would not relent. Hundreds of Balinese either committed ritual suicide with the ceremonial kris dagger or marched to their certain death rather face the ignominy of surrender and occupation, a fight to the death called puputan.

This grisly act was unfortunately repeated in 1908 in the Dutch conquest of the Klungkung regency, and with that, the Dutch established clear control of the island. Ironically, when news of the brutality reached the Dutch people and beyond, there was much outrage and the Netherlands came under fire for their policies in Java, Sumatra, and Bali. As a direct result of this, the Dutch established policies that would see their forces evolving into protectors and storytellers of Balinese culture, and within only a few years, Bali was opened to tourism and became increasingly beloved by the West during the balance of the 20th century and beyond.

It is a great paradox that out of the ashes of the horrific puputan arose a great desire by the West to preserve and protect Bali’s culture. The appreciation for the traditions of the Balinese has grown from this and is in no small way responsible for Bali’s enormous appeal as a tourist destination. On the Balinese side, the puputan is glorified and honoured as a noble resistance to foreign aggression and monuments to the 1906 and 1908 events are notable additions to Bali’s landscape. Even the airport is named after a resistance leader, I Gusti Ngurah Rai, who led a puputan in Indonesia’s battle for independence. Following the defeat of the Japanese in World War II, and their withdrawal from Bali, and despite Indonesia’s declaration of independence mere days after the Japanese surrender, the Dutch tried to reclaim their colonial gem, but the Balinese were having none of it. Ngurah Rai, then a 29-year-old Lieutenant Colonel, ordered a puputan in November 1946. He, along with all of his troops, were killed in the ensuing battle, and he is now venerated as an Indonesian National Hero. In the months following the battle, the Dutch once again came under international fire, particularly from the Americans who were unamused that the Marshall Plan funds allocated to the Netherlands for the rebuilding of their country after World War II were being used in an attempt to recolonize their lucrative spice islands. Finally, on December 27, 1949, in the face of mounting international pressure, the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia’s independence.

So, though Bali’s culture is now cherished worldwide, it took a string of atrocities and a great number of brave Balinese warriors to put the events into motion that would result in cementing Bali’s considerable appeal as a global tourist destination, indeed a phoenix from the ashes.

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Source: The Expat April 2013

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