Bali Studies

Ajeg Bali, the struggle for renewal

From The Jakarta Post today:

The Bali terrorist attacks have not only forced locals to rethink the role of the tourism industry but, most importantly, they have provided the necessary momentum for the rise of the Ajeg Bali movement.

Initially conceived as a movement to preserve the island's tangible and intangible cultural heritage, Ajeg Bali has grown in the last few years into a movement stressing economic, social and political self-reliance.

From a tiny movement initiated by a few of the island's elites, Ajeg Bali has grown into a popular ideology with a large number of followers, who could significantly influence the course and future of the island.

"The bombings have left Bali in disarray. The attacks have tainted our image, damaged our economy and shattered any sense of safety and invincibility that we ever had," a respected scholar, Ketut Sumarta said.

"We need to do something big to regain control over our island, over our self. That big thing, many people believe, is Ajeg Bali."

The most ardent promoter of the movement is the local media mogul, Satria Naradha, who owns the island's largest newspaper, the Bali Post, and its most influential television station, Bali TV. He also owns several other newspapers and a network of radio stations across Bali.

His media empire has played a pivotal role in making Ajeg Bali the most popular public discourse in contemporary Bali. Meanwhile, his eccentric persona has won him popular support among the Balinese, particularly those who live in the island's rural areas.

"He believes in supernatural power and divine intervention. He gives generous contributions to numerous religious festivals all over Bali and he frequently conducts nocturnal visits to various holy temples in the island," a temple priest said.

"For many Balinese, he is the true ideal of the island's future leader, the kind of man who could balance the rush of the modern life with the tranquility of the spiritual life."

In the past few years, Satria's media empire has made a continuous effort to transform the Balinese into a well-informed, educated and self-reliant entity, which could embrace the challenges of the globalized world without losing its spiritual and cultural roots.

The empire has ran a series of public talk shows and awareness ads, urging the Balinese to protect the environment, to promote the use of local fruits and food product, to end the traditional cockfighting game of tajen and to save the island's agricultural sector.

Moreover, Satria Naradha had established the Koperasi Krama Bali (KKB), a business cooperative aimed at providing alternative jobs for the Balinese.

"Many Balinese lost their jobs following the economic slow down caused by the bombings. KKB will tries to minimize the economic impacts of the bombings by providing vocational trainings and start up money to the Balinese entrepreneurs," Satria Narada said.

Satria gave Rp 5 billion of seed money to KKB, which now boasts over 5,000 members across Bali.

However, some of Bali's most critical minds had warned that Ajeg Bali might degenerate into a racist, chauvinistic movement that would jeopardize the harmonious religious and ethnic relations the island is renown for.

"Ajeg Bali has been used as the reason behind 'administrative sweepings' targeting non-Balinese migrant workers. Some traditional institutions, such as Pecalang guardsmen, have shown an increasingly arrogant attitude toward the non-Balinese population," a noted columnist, Aryantha Soethama, said.

"Unchecked and irresponsible actions in the name of Ajeg Bali might trigger a conflict between the Balinese and the non-Balinese," he warned.

On the contrary, Satria Naradha had repeatedly stated that Ajeg Bali was not a racist nor a separatist movement.

In fact, he said it had nothing to do with the non-Balinese: Ajeg Bali had no intention of kicking out the non-Balinese population out of the island.

"Ajeg Bali is aimed at educating and empowering the Balinese, releasing them from various habitual constraints imposed upon them by their own outdated cultures and social norms," he said.

"In this respect, it is a struggle against ourselves and not a fight against some external force, such as the non-Balinese population," he added.

One such outdated cultural and social norm is the reluctance of the Balinese to take menial, laborious jobs. They considered such jobs as "lowly" and taking such jobs would damage their pride and social standing.

Their cultural and social stratification had dictated that being a Brahmin (priest) and Ksatriya (warrior) were the noblest professions for a Balinese. Being a Wesya (trader) or a Sudra (worker), therefore, were considered to be less-than-noble professions.

Government offices and education institutions are seen as the modern forms of Brahmin and Ksatriya houses. It is no wonder that a large number of Balinese people literally beg, bribe and cheat to get a job in such places.

For decades the Balinese have looked down on various menial -- albeit legal and profitable -- professions, such as ditch digger, garbage collector, bakso (meatball) vendor and barber.

"The Balinese forget that Karma (working) is one of two most important pillars of Balinese Hinduism. There is no such thing as 'lowly' jobs or 'noble' jobs, only 'selfish' and 'unselfish' jobs," Satria said.

Through KKB, Satria has educated and trained the Balinese to respect and to partake in such "lowly" jobs. Apparently, a growing number of Balinese have accepted his rationale.

Since last year, the number of Balinese bakso vendors, barbers and producers of tahu (soybean-based tofu) has increased significantly.

"I believe that teaching the Balinese to work hard, to stop being a spoiled ethnic community, will be Ajeg Bali's and the KKB's most influential legacy," a poetess Cok Sawitri said.

"Ajeg Bali will either lead the Balinese into a cultural and economic renaissance or a cultural program against non-Balinese."

It all depends on whether the Balinese has the courage to admit that their biggest problem is themselves and not the outsiders," she said.

(I Wayan Juniartha)

posted by andersonite @ 7:00 PM