Bali's Introduction

Bali is one of the 13, 000 islands found in the Indonesian archipelago. It occupies less than 0.3 per cent of Indonesia yet sees the highest number of foreign tourists. Bali can be said to be more reknown in the world instead of Indonesia.
Bali became famous as a tourist destination and it took up the name cultural tourism to promote itself. Bali is well known for its resilience against other foreign invasions and influences. When there was a huge wave of Islamization sweeping through the rest of the Indonesian archipelao and neighbouring countries, Bali remained firm to its roots of Hinduism.
Bali has very fertile land and thus, agriculture was its main form of survival for over a thousand years. However, Bali's population increased tremendously from less than one million to almost 4 million in the 20th century.
With globalization and urbanization taking place in almost the entire world, the government has tried to take precautionary measures to ensure that globalization and tourism does not damage the cultural reputation of Bali.

Bali's Culture

Bali was once a war-torn country with many political issues such as the colonial rule and Javanese invasions. Now, it is being known as 'The Island of the Gods'. Bali is one of the 13,000 islands in Indonesia and is the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia. It boasts many different forms of arts culture and sees approximately 2 million foreign visitors each year and this number is rapidly increasing.

CULTURE

Bali's culture is based on a form of Hinduism called 'Balinese-Hinduism'. The main religion is Agama Hindu Dharma, which arrived in Bali following the spread of Hinduism via Sumatra and Java during the 11th century. Originating from India, the Balinese religion is a unique blend of Hindu, Buddhist, Javanese and ancient indigenous beliefs, with customs that varies from the traditional form of Hinduism practiced in India today, which till now acts as a unique cultural attraction to tourists. With the arrival of Islam in neighboring Java during the 15th century, many artistic talents fled to Bali, leading to the rise of the artistic UBUD (town in Bali).

Balinese believe in many traditional beliefs such as their Ancestor worship and God worship. In Bali, many festivals and ceremonies are celebrated yearly to daily, mega festivals to small family celebrations. Balinese also believe in the spirits of gods, such as the good ones reside in the mountainous areas while the bad ones dwell in the sea. They worship numerous gods such as the common ones in Singapore here - Shiva and Vishnu. Many shrines and temples are built on the island to worship them and temples in Bali are known to celebrate elaborate festivals to commemorate their festivals and traditions. Some of the prominent cultures in Bali are the dances, puppet shows and its use in Gamelan in music.


RICE FARMING

Rice cultivation is the main source of income for Bali's strict communal society. Families earn a minimum amount just enough to meet their basic needs through selling of their crops and offering it to the most popular deity - Dewi Sri, goddess of agriculture, fertility and success. Families offer their gratitude and pray for a good harvet year. As rice farming is cultivated through the tilling and irrigating of terraces in mountainous areas, all villages have to divide their workload equally to ensure a good harvest.

LIFESTYLE AND FAMILY

Balinese people place great emphasis on their families and gods. It can be said that their pace of life is beautifully slow and they often describe it as the 'Barong's Wink' - through interpretation, a Barong mask never winks and thus it is meaning time pass as though eternity has passed. To the Balinese, religion and the community takes priority over everything else. through various ceremonies that they participate in, it allows them to unify with their families and is a source of entertainment, socialisation and festivity.

To the Balinese, Men are usually the breadwinners while Females stay home to look after the children and house. It is similar to the tradition Chinese culture where parents usually favor sons over daughters.

Traditions of Bali

Bali is well known for celebrating elaborate festivals from birth till death. Festivals are also an occasion for appeasing the gods, where woman bear huge, beautifully arranged, pyramids of food, fruit and flowers on their heads. There are traditional dances and music and the gods are invited to come down to join in the festivities. Traditional dances will also be carried out to pass down the legacy and stories from generations to generations.

Festivals and ritual ceremonies are classified under 5 categories mainly :

1) Dewa Yadnya: Rites related to worship God, gods, mainly temple festivals
2) Rsi Yadnya: Rites related to prophet, priest or priesthood
3) Pitra Yadnya: Rites related to the death
4) Manusa Yadnya: Rites related to social human beings
5) Buta Yadnya: Sacrifices to placate the negative or demonic forces (Butas)


Important Religious Ceremonies:

Galungan & Kuningan

As mentioned, the Balinese have extreme respect to the Gods and hold many ceremonies in their honour. These elaborate ceremonies happen once every 6 months and they are to celebrate the winning of the Good over Evil Gods and at the same time, to thank the Gods for all the good things that have happened in life. The Galungan Ritual is usually a 10-day festival and the Balinese dress their finest on these day and the entire island is colorfully and majestically decorated. Females also wear fanciful and decorative headgears and walk parade around the entire village.


Birth & Childhood

Balinese have the traditional belief that babies and the reincarnation of their ancestors and thus treat them with much honour and respect. During pregnancy, offerings will be made to the baby to ensure a smooth delivery and journey to the 'mortal' world. The remains of childbirth such as the umbilical cord and placenta will be kept and buried in the family compound.

Newborns are not allowed to be placed on the ground and are always hand carried by their parents until a purification ceremony. On their first Balinese year (210 days), the baby will be blessed in a temple and a feast will be carried out to celebrate his/her first birthday. Other than the first birthday, the other birthdays are considered of little significance to the Balinese and many will have forgotten how old they are.
Other important ritual part of life is a girl's first menstruation which requires a purification ceremony.

Cremation Ceremonies

In Bali, souls are not considered 'freed' if they are not cremated. It often depends on the financial status of the family whether or not they are able to afford an elaborate and decent funeral for their loved ones. If they are not able to do so, they will bury the deceased and wait till sufficient money is raised before doing a cremation. Cremations are usually planned ahead and are large in scale to give the dead a last grand and magnificent journey. In Singapore, cremations are usually heart-wrenching to watch as families cry and mourn over their loss. In Bali however, these rituals can be colourful, spectacular, noisy and upbeat.

The body is usually burnt on a paper tower carried by men from their homes to the cremation ground. The number of men and size of tower usually depends on the status of the deceased and family. For example, a high priest in Bali may have an elaborate and grand tower carried by hundreds of men.

Cremations are usually accompanied by the traditional music of Gamelan and there will usually be a priest standing on the tower soaking bystanders - usually tourists with holy water. At the end of the ritual, usually the eldest son or priest will poke through the remains and ensure that no part of the body is left unburnt. After this, families can collect the ashes and put it in their home or ancestral home.

Bali Arts Festival

Held in Denpasar, it is an annual one month event during the period of June to July which showcases the creativity and innovation of the Balinese. The whole of Bali would come together to celebrate and present its offerings of dance, music and beauty to everyone - Gods to tourists to fellow villagers. Schools such as the STSI School of Dance and Music was set up to standardize the dance moves for tourist dances and to produce new forms of Balinese dance. However due to the increasing costs and economic crisis, the Balinese view this Arts Festival as a source of entertainment and tourist revenue generator instead of participating in it for pure pleasure and enjoyment.

Bali's Indigenous People

Bali's history dates as far back as 4000 years ago, where bones and fossils are dug up and displayed at the Museum Situs Purbakala Gilimanuk in Gilimanuk -West Bali. It is believed that many Balinese originated from areas in Java and other neighboring islands such as Thailand. Discovery of fossils and stone tools are evidence that during the Stone age, there were already inhabitants on Bali.

Historians believed that there were a total of 3 different waves of people that came to Bali.

The first wave came from people who migrated from Java and Kalimantan in prehistoric times.

The second wave of people to Bali came from Java. They came slowly during the Hindu period, which was a time in Bali that ended the prehistoric period. The influx of people from India played a crucial part in developing the cultural aspect of Bali. They brought in their Hindu influences during the reign of King Airlangga and there was a link between Java and Bali when King Airlangga reclaimed his throne in Java.

The third wave of people, who also came from Java, occurred during the 15th and 16th centuries. During this period of time, the Hindu Majapahit Empire fell. There were many displaced people who wanted to continue their way of life but because Muslims had such a strong influence over Java they had to leave, so they migrated to Bali. The fall of the Hindu Majapahit Empire opened the gateway for Islamic influences in Bali. During these unstable times, many artists, dancers and musicians made their way to Bali, bringing along their culture and traditions with them, resulting in the cultural Bali we see today.

Languages

Balinese people speak their indigenious language – Bahasa Bali. Although their national language is Bahasa Indonesia, it is used more widely in areas such as education, legal and administrative purposes.

Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Bali are very different as the latter has a different form of vocabulary and grammar. Due to the caste system in Bali, there are many different variations in the vocabulary and grammatical structures used. Traditional Bahasa Bali is used more commonly among members of the same village/family. The caste system differentiates what kind of language is used when talking to people of different caste.

Basa Alus is used among educated people and is derived from the Hindu-Javanese court languages during the 10th century while Basa Sor is used when talking to people from the bottom class of the caste or people who do not belong in the caste system.

English has become extremely common because of interactions between English speaking tourists and the Balinese people. Thus, they have picked up very Basic English in order to communicate with them. It is not necessary for a tourist to learn their language but it is much appreciated and amusing to the locals if a tourists speaks some of their language. In schools, children are taught English from the age of twelve.

Balinese people usually begin their conversations with strangers using the high language – Basa Alus. After enquiring which caste is the person from, then the level of language will be adjusted. However when talking amongst friends and relatives, a suitable and comfortable medium language will be used regardless of the caste system. Also, in Bahasa Bali, there are very little polite words and greetings. Commonly used words will be such as ‘Kenken kebara’ – (low Balinese meaning ‘how are you?’)

Education

Bali has a few preschools that accepts children from as young as 3 years old to Year 12 in secondary school. One of such school is the Bali International School. It is the oldest and most prestigious school located in Sanur, Bali. It has qualified professional teachers and well developed facilities such as a sports field, well equipped library and also computer labs. It accepts Balinese and also international students.

However, Bali is not as fantastic as it seems on the outside. What many tourists do not see is the increasing rate of poverty in many rural areas in Bali such as the poorest district on Bali – Jembrana. Children are usually deprived of education because of the poverty cycle they live in. Unemployment and underemployment rates are high here. Wages are extremely low and workers depend on seasonal or casual labour to earn minimal money that can barely feed themselves.

Indonesia has put in place measures to ensure that all children receive universal basic education but the plan has received numerous setbacks ever since its establishment. It covers nine years in primary and junior secondary school. Supposedly, it was supposed to be ready by 2003 but because of the political and financial setbacks Indonesia has encountered, the plan has since deferred to 2008.

However there are some positive outcomes of this project. It is transforming schools in Jembrana from wrecks to a decent and conducive environment for children to study. An example of such school is Yeh Umbul 3 Primary School in Mendoyo Subdistrict. This school have underwent renovations to refurnish its classrooms and floor tiles. Electric lights are also brought into the classroom for the first time.

As schools in Jembrana are usually crammed and small in size, poor conditions of the classroom, old teaching aids and ragged school books are a common sight. With the introduction of this project, many schools are now looking forward to new books and a better environment.
Not only do children need to be educated, parents need to be educated about allowing their children to attend school as well. As fathers usually do not view girls as important and deem them as ‘worthless’, they are often deprived of the chance to go to school whereas their brothers receive priority to attend school. Thus, such mentality should be changed and parents ought to realize the importance of allowing their children regardless of gender to attend school as it is one of the ways to get out of poverty.

There is also an organization – The Bali Children’s Project, which aims at helping to get children into schools and getting funds worldwide to help these children.

Leisure Programmes

Bali has so many different kinds of activities that it literally can attract almost any kind of tourists for recreational activities. From surfing to jungle trails to cultural dances to spa relaxation, it can all be found in Bali. There are many outdoor recreation activities that can be done in Bali and Bali is known in the pacific rim for surfing.

The beach break called Halfway Kuta is one of the most ideal location to learn to surf. Other more challenging breaks can be found on the shifting sandbars off Legian and at the Kuta reef. Many shops lie along the coastal areas renting and selling surfboards, big-brand surfing gear and some even arrange transport to nearby surfing spots.

Waterbom Park
This is a water theme park based at the south of Kuta. It is set on 3.5 hectares of land and has many different kinds of unique water slides and caters especially to families with children and young adults. There is also a swim-up bar and a spa where visitors can relax and rejuvenate.

Shopping
Bali also offers an ideal place to shop as it offers many different range of quality items at an affordable price including leather, clothing using traditional fabrics, wood carvings and also antiques and silver and gold works. There are many art and Souvenir shops throughout the island, thus shopping will not be much of a problem when walking around the island.

Eco-Tours
Bali is not far behind the trend of eco-tourism. With tours carried out from watching exotic birds in the jungle, to trekking in the National Park and going on an elephant ride, it aims to attract nature tourists. Bali calls it Mother Nature’s Theme Park.

Cultural Tours
Bali is famous for the number of unique and religious temples that it houses. Ranging to a few thousand temples on its land, it holds many different kinds of festivals which range from a daily basis to an annual basis. Bali celebrates many different kinds of festivals which are incorporated into their everyday lives and culture and right from the start, Bali begun marketing their destination as a cultural destination.

In Ubud, many forms of entertainment will take place from the early morning to the late evenings as this is a district where most of the cultural events take place. One of the popular dances that attract many tourists yearly is the Legong dance, where young girls dance difficult dance moves and stories of the culture and traditions get reiterated over and over again.

Another performance would be the Barong Dance where males would don scary masks to ward off evil spirits and also to show the opposing force of chaos and destruction. Bali is also known for its tradition puppet shows – the Wayang Kulit. Similar to the traditional Chinese puppet shows used for entertainment, the Indonesian shadow puppet play are beautifully painted and gilded leather puppets are used instead of paper. A highly skilled puppeteer is able to control hundred of puppets and speak varying tones for each character. Plays are able to go on for several hours to entertain tourists and villagers.

What is Bali famous for?

One of the most common word associated with Bali would be CULTURE. Perhaps what makes Bali really unique is the resistance it has upheld against colonial rule and many different influences during the post-war period. Despite the influx of foreigners, Bali has still managed to keep its culture and traditions going. Its rich culture is played out at all levels of life, which can be seen in their everyday lives. They have elaborate processions and otherwordly traditional music and dance performed island-wide.

Even though Bali is a very small island, it has managed to incorporate everything in one island. From beautiful sunsets to long stretches of beaches to the countless number of resorts available in Bali, it makes Bali an irresistible place not to bask in. With resorts that are built at cliff-tops and right beside coastal beaches, it allows tourists to enjoy scenic views that they have never viewed before. Together with the welcoming smiles of the Balinese people, it is difficult to turn away the offer of holidaying at Bali.

Bali used to have hectares of land for rice and coffee agriculture and till today, certain areas of it still exist in their majestic breathtaking view of terraces one after another that is rarely found in the world today. Bali boasts many cultural heritage sites such as their Mother Temple found in Besakih. Over a thousand years old, it is perched on the slopes of Mount Agung, at a lofty 1,000 meters. It is the biggest and holiest of all the Balinese temples and is named after the Dragon God believed to inhabit the mountain, it's said to be the only temple where a Hindu of any caste can worship.

There is also the Tanah Lot Temple - Temple of the Sea. Where a magnificent and beautiful sunset can be watched here daily.

Disneyization

What is Disneyization?

Disneyization is the process by which the principle of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate more and more sectors of the American society as well as the rest of the world.

There are 4 different dimensions of Disneyization mainly the:

Theming – clothing institutions or objects in a narrative that is largely unrelated to the institution or object to which it is applied, such as a casino or restaurant with a Wild West narrative

Hybrid Consumption – a general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres become interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish

Merchandising – the promotion and sale of goods in the form of or bearing copyright images and/or logos, including such products made under licence

Performative labour – the growing tendency for frontline service work to be viewed as a performance, especially one in which the deliberate display of a certain mood is seen as part of the labour involved in service work

Spotting 'Disney' in Bali

THEMING

In Kuta, there is a Water Bom Theme Park catered specially to foreign tourists. It is a popular theme park amongst tourists and it has shown substantial evidence of Disneyization.




It is easy to say that with the introduction of globalisation, Bali wishes to show the world a homogeneous product and attract more tourists from western countries with this theme park. The 'original' Bali consists of many natural habitats and this theme park is completely man-made on 3.5 hectares of land.

HYBRID CONSUMPTION

Peope travel to Bali for many different reasons. They can travel to Bali to explore its cultural tourism, spa tourism or recreational tourism. The issue about hybrid consumption is many variables interconnecting with one another that leads to tourists staying longer and consuming its product more than they are supposed to.

For example, a cultural tourist might visit Bali because he wishes to explore the beaches in Kuta and relax there with his family. But because of the Water Bom Theme Park in Bali, he chooses to stay longer in Bali and visit the theme park. As Kuta is the most popular tourist destination in Bali, there are many kinds of attractions there varying from food and beverages, clubs, spa services to accommodations to the Water Bom Theme Park. Thus the idea of hybrid consumption is the more consumption items are fused together, the longer the person will stay in the venue in which they have been attracted to in the first place.

MERCHANDISING


Using the same example of the Water Bom Theme Park, there is a Pump house retail and cafe situated inside the theme park selling many different varieties of Water Bom Theme Park logos. It sells items such as swim wears, goggles and also cookies all with the logo of the theme park embedded on it. A visitor may purchase a magnet there with the magnificent slides of Water Bom instead of buying the magnet itself. The magnet thus becomes a form of commodification as well.



PERFORMATIVE LABOUR

As tourists patronize Bali, they will visit many kinds of shops from souvenir shops in Ubud to restaurants and theme park in Kuta. In these places, locals actually potray themselves happy and welcoming to the tourists and always show great hospitality to them. However, how they might be feeling on that day itself may not be potrayed. Thus, it is a form of giving a false impression to tourists about their emotions.

A good example to potray this will be the Universal Studios Singapore in Sentosa.

In Sentosa island alone, employees are made to always smile and wave to tourists whenever a monorail passes them by and also to maintain an upbeat work attitude during their work. In USS, employees are also very enthusiastic about the rides and attractions

Thus Bali is similar to USS in certain aspects as locals do not display their true emotions with tourists around. Instead, they display emotions and actions that they are 'expected' to do so that tourists will return to their island or even shop/restaurant.

Another point is that in the beginning when tourism first started out, Bali has nothing more to offer other than its authentic culture and pristine environment, thus leading to the rise of cultural tourism. Balinese were made aware that in order for them to reap the harvest of tourism (monetary gains), they have to behave as courteous and be respectful hosts. they had to promote a holistic and pleasant atmosphere in order to entice tourists to extend their stay in Bali or even return for a second visit. As tourists visit Bali to seek the authentic cultures of Bali, they are presented with what they expected, but is what Bali has purposely created for them to see. Visitors are invited to view what is 'Authentically Bali' such as festivals and events of all sorts.