BALI–Before The Tourists Invaded
Balische Slavin” (Balinese Slave) by Cornelis de Bruyn, circa 1711. BARTELE GALLERY
Traders-colonisers through the coast of Coromandel brought Hinduism to Java. The religion was adopted by the Majapahit kingdom from the eastern part of the island. Bali was a vassal state of Majapahit as well as also became a safe haven for refugees through the kingdom when Islam became the prevailing religion.
The original inhabitants of Bali are the Bali Aga. Though a few Bali Aga villages remain today, the idea must be assumed which the two groups socialised as well as also mixed freely. through then Bali as well as also the Balinese were largely left to their own devices. The Dutch, who first appeared in 1597, were not definitely colonisers, a colonial power, yes, although even which was a slow as well as also cumbersome process. The process went something like This specific. After the brothers De Houtman laid a first contact with the island, the idea took the Compagnie (Dutch East India Company, VOC), as well as also after 1800 when the company went bankrupt as well as also was dissolved, the government of the Dutch East Indies, more than 300 years to become the administrative as well as also governing power on Bali.
During the centuries, the Balinese kings remained an unruly as well as also annoyingly obstinate lot – depending of course on one’s point of view. All nine of them: Klungkung, the most powerful kingdom, Karangasem, Mengwi, Badung, Bangli, Tabanan, Gianjar, Buleleng, as well as also Jembrana. Numerous expeditions had to be sent to ensure which trade agreements were adhered to, Dutch ships not plundered, which fines for various forms of anti-VOC as well as also some other misbehaviour were paid – in one case the staggering sum of 75,000 Dutch guilders… which would likely be millions of Euros when converted to the present – as well as also in general to enforce the power of the colonial government. One wonders, however, what priority Bali was given from the colonial policy of the Dutch.
Map of the regions held by VOC/Colonial Government
The VOC’s as well as also later the colonial government’s main interest was trade, as well as also as far as Bali was concerned the main commodity was slaves. The importance of This specific can be seen through the fact which in 1778 the number of Balinese living in as well as also around Batavia was 13,000. Apart through the slaves, the island had little to offer. the idea lacked the spices of Banda as well as also Ambon, as well as also the large foreign owned estates (eg. coffee, tea, rubber) of Java as well as also Sumatra. As these commercially more interesting areas had their own brand of unruliness, Dutch supremacy on Bali would likely not have been a priority. The nine kingdoms thus continued to rule their part of the island in their way, unencumbered by outsiders. Or nearly so because sometimes (regularly in fact) they had to do battle with those annoying intruders—depending of course on one’s point of view—trying to impose their rules as well as also laws.
In 1815, after the British handed the Netherlands East Indies back to the Dutch, the colonial government appeared to become more interested in Bali. Was the idea a real interest or did they feel vexed by the attitude of the kings? When the Government Commissioner H.A. van den Broeck was sent to Bali to assess the state of affairs, he encountered distrust as well as also unwillingness to continue the relationship where the idea had been left off four years earlier. Not before 1826 did the Raja of Badung express his willingness to enter into a treaty with the Dutch as well as also allow a representative of the colonial government to establish a residence in Badung. which willingness would likely, however, have to be taken that has a pitch of salt as well as also the representative was recalled already in 1831.
“Isle de Baly” (Island of Bali) by Antoine Prevost as well as also Jacob Van der Schley, circa 1746-70. BARTELE GALLERY.
Only in 1839 did all kings agree to recognise Dutch sovereignty, which, for instance, took away the king’s right to the salvaged cargo of ships stranded on their coast. although whatever treaty was signed, its actual enactment was poor. The kings (all nine) remained stroppy as well as also unruly as well as also showed in no uncertain way which they did not agree to colonial power being superimposed on them. The colonial government complained which representatives of the colonial government were not received in a friendly as well as also courteous manner, a Dutch ship was plundered, as well as also the raja of Buleleng did not reply to a letter through the Governor General as well as also the idea all lead to a series of expeditions to punish the offenders as well as also exert the right of the government. Some of these were successful, quite a number not.
Supremacy of the Dutch was not fully established till the twentieth century when in 1906, the raja of Badung, together with members of the nobility, some of his wives as well as also children, as well as also members of the royal household marched into the gunfire of the Dutch troops, preferring death over a curtailment of his royal power as well as also having to bend his knee to the Dutch. This specific puputan was repeated two years later in Klungkung. as well as also after some more unruly elements were deported to Lombok, law as well as also order was established. Again, This specific would likely of course depend on one’s point of view, although Dutch sources of the day report which the common people were not sorry to see the kings go, together with the lack of legal certainty as well as also the continual state of war they had brought about.
which the population felt relieved might even be true. According to the anthropologist Clifford Geertz the idea will be the Balinese who hold the entrepreneurial drive to look for opportunities as well as also to benefit through changing conditions. One of the alterations brought about when Dutch colonials replaced the rather despotic rules of the rajas, was tourism. Although negligible by present day standards, the number of tourists was large enough to warrant the first tourist guide to Bali . As an illustration of the Balinese entrepreneurial nous the writer of the tourist guide, G.H. von Faber, remarks which woodcarvings of quality were becoming difficult to find, as carvers as well as also traders, having noted which the tourists were undiscerning in their appreciation of the products, would likely prefer to produce virtually mass produced low-quality work as well as also thereby improve their cash flow.
The 136 lorries, 264 busses as well as also 787 rental cars, part of which were serving the tourist industry in 1930, have grown as well as also grown as well as also are still growing.
The beach at Kuta, 1930
Kuta, which in those days was a quaint fishing village that has a beach as well as also a government cabana to change into bathing costumes has outgrown itself. Hotels, home stays, restaurants, bars, cafés, shops as well as also stands selling souvenirs, beach wear, handicrafts as well as also about anything a tourist might require, have sprouted, as well as also not only in Kuta. What’s more, thousands of foreigners have taken up residence on the island, finding the official paperwork to get permits as well as also licenses fairly easy, definitely when compared to some other places in Indonesia. In some other words, the local government, too, welcomes those who bring in money as well as also acts accordingly.
I can’t help although wonder how much easier as well as also less painful (for both sides) the historical process of colonising as well as also subsequent awakening to economic as well as also political independence could have been if the VOC as well as also later the colonial government had let the kings keep their beachcombing rights, as well as also sent tourists as well as also cruise ships rather than Navy flotillas as well as also marines.
[1] Peddlers as well as also Princes, Social Development as well as also Economic Change in Two Indonesian Towns, Clifford Geertz, The University of Chicago Press, 1963. A comparative study of two Indonesian towns—Modjokuto, a market town in East Java, as well as also Tabanan, a court town in southwest Bali.
[1] BALI, het land der duizend tempels, G.H. von Faber
Source: Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië, Martinus Nijhoff, 1917
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BALI–Before The Tourists Invaded
BALI–Before The Tourists Invaded