Chapter 10 Indonesian Stories (9)

The sound world here is also very exciting.At night there is an orchestra of crickets, with frogs providing the bass.In the middle of the night, the dog howls how misunderstood he is.Before dawn, roosters proclaim from miles away how cool it is to be a rooster. ("We are roosters!" they cry, "We are the only ones who deserve to be roosters!") Every morning at sunrise, there is a singing contest of tropical birds with ten deadly winners.When the sun comes up, the place is quiet and the butterflies go to work.The whole house is covered with ivy; and I feel that one day the house will disappear completely among the blades of grass, and I will disappear with it, and become a jungle flower myself.The rent here is less than the monthly taxi fare I pay in NYC.

By the way, the word "paradise" comes from Persian and literally means "walled garden". Having said that, I must admit here that after only three afternoons of research at the local library, I realized that my original idea of ​​a Balinese paradise was somewhat misguided.Since my first visit to Bali two years ago, I have told everyone that this small island is the only true utopia in the world, where there is nothing but peace, harmony and balance throughout.A perfect Eden with no history of violence or bloodshed.I don't know where this great idea came from, but I support it with confidence.

"Even the cops wear flowers in their hair," I said, as if it proved something. In fact, Bali used to be no different from other places where people existed around the world, and it also had a history of bloody, violent, and repressive.Javanese kings first settled here in the 16th century, essentially establishing a feudal colony with a strict caste system - like every proud caste system - often with little regard for the lower classes.The early Balinese economy was fueled by the lucrative slave trade (which not only predates European participation in the international slave trade by centuries, but also outlasts European human trafficking).Civil wars raged on the island, with kings competing to attack each other (plus mass abuse and murder).Until the end of the 19th century, the Balinese were known as "fighters" by merchants and sailors. (The word "amok", such as "runningamok" [full of murderous intent], is a Balinese word used to describe the tactic of suddenly suicidal and bloody fighting against the enemy; Europeans are very afraid of this tactic.) High discipline composed of 30,000 people The army enabled the Balinese to defeat the Dutch invaders in 1848, 1849, and 1850.The Balinese kings fell apart under Dutch rule because they disagreed, betrayed each other to gain power, and worked closely with their enemies to secure good business.Wrapping Bali's history in a dream of paradise today is somewhat an insult to the truth; these people have not just smiled and sang easily over the past millennium.

However, in the 1920s and 1930s, a group of elite western travelers discovered Bali. These newcomers ignored the bloody history. The land of perfect joyful living.It's a dream that lingers; people who have visited Bali (including me the first time) still subscribe to it. "I'm mad at God that I wasn't born Balinese," said German photographer George Krauser after visiting Bali in the 1930s.Lured by reports of unearthly beauty and serenity, some top tourists began to visit the island—artists such as Walter Spies; writers such as Noei Coward; dancers such as Claire Holt; actors such as Lin; academics such as Meade (who wisely points out that Balinese society is as rigid as Victorian England despite the many bare breasts here: "the whole culture has no libido sexuality").

The good old days are over during the World Wars of the 1940s.The Japanese invaded Indonesia, and the happy foreigners who lived in Bali Garden and hired handsome domestic servants were forced to flee.During Indonesia's postwar struggle for independence, Bali, like the rest of the archipelago, became increasingly divided and violent, and by the 1950s (according to a study called "Bali: A Fictional Paradise"), Any Westerner who dares to visit Bali should sleep with a gun under his pillow. In the 1960s, power struggles turned all of Indonesia into a battleground between the National Army and the Communists.After an attempted coup in Jakarta in 1965, the National Army moved into Bali with a list of suspected communists on the island.Within a week, with the step-by-step assistance of local police and village officials, the Nationalist Army slaughtered all the way in every town.When the killing spree ended, 100,000 corpses clogged Bali's beautiful rivers.

The Garden of Eden revived in the late 1960s, when the Indonesian government decided to reshape Bali as the "Island of the Gods" in the international tourism market, and launched a large-scale marketing campaign to successfully promote Bali.The tourists lured back to Bali are a virtuous bunch (this is not Fort Lauderdale, after all), their attention drawn to the inherent artistic and religious beauty of Balinese culture, and no one pays attention to the darker side of history.It has been like this ever since, neglected until now.