MODERN
BALI AND THE FUTURE
Tin roofs also,
it is rumoured, were ordered to replace the thatched ones
because an official became deeply concerned about the possibility
of fires caused by " exploding automobiles." Only
three years ago the women of Den Pasar went to market proudly
uncovered to the waist, but the princes' wives wore the
ugly blouses and soon they became the dictate of fashion.
In Den Pasar they now regard those who go habitually with
uncovered breasts as " crude mountain people."
Young men are growing contemptuous of the simple batik kain
and headcloth of their forefathers.
After
dark, in Buleleng and Den Pasar, the equipment of the smart
young man-about-town consists of a set of striped pyjamas,
a Mohammedan skull-cap, sandals, a bicycle, and a flashlight,
although he may still wear flowers behind his car to stroll
on the main street among the food-vendors, the flourishing
prostitutes and procurors that haunt the streets around
the hotels.
Undoubtedly
Bali will soon enough be " spoiled " for those
fastidious travellers who abhor all that which they bring
with them. No longer will the curious Balinese of the remote
mountain villages, still unaccustomed to the sight of whites,
crowd around their cars to stare silently at the "
exotic " long-nosed, yellow-haired foreigners in their
midst.
But
even when all the Balinese will have learned to wear shirts,
to beg, lie, steal, and prostitute themselves to satisfy
new needs, the tourists will continue to come to Bali to
see the sights, snapping pictures frantically, dashing from
temple to temple, back to the hotel for meals, and on to
watch rites and dances staged for them. The Balinese will
be, to the tourists, guides, chauffeurs, and bellboys to
be tipped, dancers on salary, curio-dealers, and tropical
beauties to be photographed blouseless for a fee.
The
younger generation is rapidly being cut off from a cultural
environment which they have learned to regard as below them,
considering their parents, formerly their models of behaviour,
as rude peasants who have not gone to school. This, however,
is not the fault of Hollywood. To Bali goes the distinction
of being totally uninterested in the movies. Over a decade
ago an enterprising Armenian brought the first movies to
the island.
At
first he cleaned up, all the Balinese had to see the miracle;
but, not used to paying for entertainment, they soon grew
bored with something they could not understand and the movies
were a failure. Today there are two small primitive movie
houses, one in Buleleng and one in Den Pasar, that give
Sunday shows of films often twenty-five years old, patronized
chiefly by the foreign population. Chaplin may be a favourite
of even the Eskimos, but to the Balinese who saw him in
the flesh he was simply the funny man who came to Bali with
his brother and who, after watching a Balinese play, took
the stage and performed for them a hilarious parody of their
dances.
In
Bali the exalted title of Teacher, Guru, is the name of
one of their highest gods and is the most respectful way
of addressing one's father. The old-fashioned teachers were
the reservoirs of the science and poetry of Balinese culture,
but those young Balinese who have gone to lava to become
teachers for the Western-style Government schools have returned
convinced that what they learned in Java is the essence
of knowledge and progress. They have become conscious of
the contempt of Europeans for the native cultures and have
been influenced to believe that the philosophy, arts and
habits of their country are signs of peasant backwardness.
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