Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

138 REFIGURATION OF IDENTITIES AND FUTURES IN TIMES OF TRANSFORMATIONRECONSIDERATION OF LOCAL IDENTITY THROUGHPERFORMING ARTS IN THE ERA OF OTONOMI DAERAHKaori FushikiIntroductionThis study looks at the case of Bali in the use ofperforming arts as a means of representing local identity.“Bali” represents an ethnic, religious and culturalminority within the domestic situation of a nation-state,the Republic of Indonesia. It has historically needed toinsist on its own local identity within this nation-stateand, in later years, this tendency has been strengthened.After 2000, the enactment of local autonomy (OtonomiDaerah) brought with it the tendency to adhere to thepublic opinion of Balinese society and was accompaniedby radical cultural activities.It was against this background that this research wasdone. Data were gathered through participation inand support of cultural activities, data analysis andinterviews. I carried out secondary data analysisto gain clarity about Bali’s educational system andcultural politics. I interviewed some people to clarifythe discourse of “Ajeg Bali.” The focus of the study oncultural practice was mainly the artists of performingarts. I thus observed and assisted in some performingarts competitions. My field research was mainly done inthe Kotamadya Denpasar area. This area is a center ofBalinese society where most of the Balinese local massmedia is based. Many institutes producing religiousleaders, intellectuals and artists are concentrated inthis area. It seems that the formation of public opinionis easily seen here. In this city, what kind of ideas doindividuals who engage in performing arts for a livinghave? Moreover, since the emergence of public opinionsupportive of the performing arts depends on how theyare brought to the public and by whom, how does thischange the performing arts themselves and the customsof the people?Local identity of Bali: “Ajeg Bali”With the arrival of mass tourism in the 1970s,Balinese society achieved a great deal of development.However, the turning point came in the latter halfof the 1990s. The scenery and the aspects of the“traditions” that formed the image of “Bali,” whichwere the resources that created tourism, were lost due tolifestyle changes especially associated with urbanizationand modernization. The Balinese image was furtherassaulted by the decrease in the number of tourists in1995, the Asian economic crisis in 1997, the change ofgovernment in 1998 and the political confusion thatfollowed. These events resulted in a high inflation rate,bankruptcy of hotels and restaurants, a sharp decrease inthe number of group tour visitors, a decrease in people’sactual income and increased hardship for the Balinese.This caused a sense of impending crisis in conventionalBali society, which was dependent on tourism. Thissense of crises produced the tendency among thepeople, through the mass media, to reconsider theirideas of “self.” In particular, when the authority of theBali state government was greatly expanded in 2000,a tendency to insist on local identity through culturalactivities spread out into the district societies.What is “the quality of Bali/Balineseness” (Picard2005, 112)? The word which I encountered in 2000to show Balineseness was kebalian. However, in lateryears, the keyword changed to Ajeg Bali. It is said thatthe concept of Ajeg Bali was coined in May 2002 bySatria Naradha, the president of a Balinese newspaper,the Bali Post (Darma Putra 2004, 316). This conceptspread throughout Balinese society instantly whenthe Bali Post Company launched Bali TV and held abig campaign about it. The concept called Ajeg Bali iscaptured as follows:Ever since the October 2002 Bali bombings andthe subsequent trials of Islamic radicals, manyBalinese have turned from talking about ‘BaliLestari’ or ‘Preserved Bali’ to calling for ‘Ajeg Bali.’‘Ajeg’ is a Balinese word meaning hard or stable orfixed. ... ‘Ajeg’ implies a certain tough new culturalconservation (Degung Santikarma 2003, 14).... Ajeg Bali bukanlah sebuah konsep yang stangan,melainkan sebuah upaya pembaruan terus-menerusyang dilakukan secara sadar oleh manusia Bali untukmenjaga identitas, ruang serta proses budayanya agartidak jatuh di bawah penaklukan hegemoni budayaglobal (Anonymous 2004, 46).[…constant innovation being practiced consciouslyby the Balinese makes an effort at following theiridentity because it is not conquered by the globalAsian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows