Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

REFIGURATION OF IDENTITIES AND FUTURES IN TIMES OF TRANSFORMATION 143pop songs and the participants wear traditional clothesto be Ajeg Bali. Because of their popularity, there aremany private pop competitions now. The competitionshave become popular shows. Sometimes the popcompetitions banish the “traditional” ones. In one ofthe cases I observed, the traditional kendang (drum)competition was forced out of the competition hallbecause the pop competition took so long. The popcompetition had more than a hundred participantsbut the traditional kendang competition only hadtwelve participants. There were few spectators forthe kendang competition because the stage was set ina school classroom. In contrast, the stage for the PopBali competition was built in a courtyard with richdecorations. This reflects the status of the Balinese localidentity. Traditional competitions are thought of asadhering to Balinese origins, and hence are importantones, but actually the Balinese want to be modernand suited to their times. Traditional competitions,therefore, are not as popular as the pop competitions.Conclusion: Performing arts and the reconsiderationof local identityAs I have shown above, the performing arts in local“Balinese” society are deeply concerned with people’sexpectations. Many activities are related to people’srelationships in society, including the expectation ofsocial honor and economic profit, among others. Theaesthetic criteria of the performing arts are not consideredby ordinary people. However, they are very proud to doAjeg Bali through the “Balinese” performing arts. Thefigures of the new “Bali” include not only “traditional”“Balinese” performing arts but also new “Balinese”performances like Pop Bali. This situation shows thatthe “Balinese” performing arts and their activities havebecome part of the social identity of “Bali.” Intellectualsmade the discourse of Ajeg Bali in the local mass media,while government officials spread and expanded it andset up Ajeg Bali events. And the people do it. This seemsto be one of the ways of doing Ajeg Bali.However, who really wants Ajeg Bali? In KotamadyaDenpasar, it was the people who worked in the localgovernment system, including the mayor, who gainedhonor and profit from the system. Many concernedpeople, like intellectuals, government officials and artists,met with the mayor to lobby for support to “cultural”activities such as the performing arts by appealing to acrisis of local identity and proposing the practice of AjegBali. It may be said that Ajeg Bali becomes a kind of“mantra” in Balinese society, as Ari Dwipayana (2005:14) points out. It may also be said that today’s Ajeg Balisituation is sometimes “too much” for the Balinese andothers in the Balinese local society. There is the fear thatit will become too ethnocentric, with too much AjegBali causing awkward relations with neighbors who arenot “Balinese.”To reconsider the problem of local identity, I want toshow two points of view. First, there is the viewpointof the national political situation. From this point, wecan sometimes see the radical Ajeg Bali movement,which seems to be linking with the Parisada (Hinducouncil) which gives people guidance for daily lifeand which was already disunited through the religiousact and a difference of opinion for “Balineseness.”This has resulted in changes to customs, rituals andthe performing arts. Furthermore, we can see publicopinion and public acts as political tools, such as theuse of performing arts from the Beleganjur in the Ritualof the One Hundred Years of “Puputan Badung.” Thismeans that the performing arts have been politicizedin this context. Moreover, others in Balinese societyalready feel a change in the social atmosphere. Actually,through the activities of daily customs/performing arts,social rejection of the non-“Balinese” elements in thecommunity has already occurred.Second, there is the smaller regional viewpoint. Thereis a crisis in the specificity of the regional, village wayof representing “Bali.” Nowadays, customs in dailyvillage life and models of rituals and performing artsare changing rapidly. There is already discordancebetween conservative village people and reformers insome cases.In short, there is a need to reconsider the concept oflocal identity. This process will cause social uneaseand unstable social conditions because of its politicalcharacter. It is necessary to pay attention to the easy,hasty movements that use the local identity.Why has the sympathy to expressions of the localidentity such as Ajeg Bali become a political topic? Itis because the performing arts, which are performed asrepresentations of the local identity, can become toolsof agitation by power holders and people who want toprofit from the situation. I think there is a problem inthe relationship between academic intellectuals, those inthe mass media, artists and local politicians, especially atthe village level. To clarify the problem and the system,we have to investigate the views and activities of localpoliticians. However, I had no time or opportunity tostudy this phenomenon. It still remains as the next issueto be studied.Asian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows