Balinese History – the 20th century

Tourism

In 1908, the year that the last Balinese kingdoms fell, the Dutch opened a tourist bureau in Batavia to promote the Dutch East Indies as a tourist destination. It extended its scope to Bali in 1914.

The first tourist to visit Bali was a Dutch Member of Parliament, Herr H. Van Kol.  Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

A KPM Advertisement to Bali.

With the introduction of a regular weekly KPM steamship from Java to Bali in 1924, tourism took off – the first tourists were from the colonial administration. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Over in Europe, the Europeans had gone through the First World War and were keen to forget the rigours they had to endure. Those who could afford it started to travel. In those days travel was a leisurely pursuit; for instance, it took six weeks to go from America to Bali by ship.

Books, articles and postcards whetted their appetites. Exotic photographs began to be published – the first was by a German doctor, who was posted to Bali, Gregor Krause, whose book, Bali 1912, was published in 1920. This book probably inspired Vicki Baum, the novelist, to go to Ubud, meet up with Walter Spies and write A Tale from Bali.

KLM Poster of Amsterdam to Batavia (Jakarta), 1934.

One of the world’s oldest airlines. KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines, established in 1919, flew from Amsterdam to Batavia. The first flight was on 1 October 1924 – a ground-breaking 55 day journey. The plane was a Fokker F.XII and covered 14.350 km.

In September 1929, regular scheduled services between Amsterdam and Batavia commenced. Until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, this was the world’s longest-distance scheduled service by plane.

The “Twice Weekly Service” (Wednesday and Saturday) in 1934 was a significant upgrade from the previous weekly service, covering a “1/3 of the earth’s circumference”, stopping  in 25 cities, including Athens, Cairo, Baghdad, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Bangkok, Medan, and Singapore. It took five and a half days, compared to six weeks by ship.

Tourist numbers

Bali Hotel Poster.

In the 1920s a few hundred tourists visited Bali every year and in the 1930s a few thousand. Miguel Covarrubias, who visited in the Thirties, was worried about the possible effect of tourism on Balinese culture. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The Second World War, the struggle for Independence and the difficulties in the early and middle 1960s put tourism on hold. In 1964 there were 35,915; in 1965 29,367 (a drop of 18.23 per cent.) and in 1966 19,911 (another drop of 32.79 per cent.) In 1968, the figure was 10,997. Things changed following the settling in of the New Order regime of President Suharto in 1966. It was pro-West and coincided with a better world economy.

A Bali Tourist Poster.

In 1993 there were 155,597 foreign visitors to Bali, which soared to 1.14 million in 1996. By the late 1990s millions poured in every year. In 1999 281,221 Japanese, 216,711 Australian, 118,131 Taiwanese, 108,328 British, and 75,605 Americans arrived directly into Bali. The busiest months are July and August. The total for the year was 2.4 million.

By 1999 Bali was home to 1,234 hotels with 34,317 rooms and 642 restaurants with a seating capacity for 51,660. At the end of 2001 Bali had 36,000 hotel rooms. There is now a glut of hotels. Real prices in the hotels fell 60 per cent. over the decade.

Fly Qantas to Bali.

In 2000 the country received 5.06 million visitors, slightly less than its target of 5.1 million. The attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York on 11 September 2001 had a dramatic effect on tourism. Tourist arrivals in Bali fell 25, 33 and 15 per cent. in October, November and December 2001 respectively, compared to the same months in 2000. Altogether, in Bali, there was a 3 per cent. decline on the 2000 figures, which meant that 1.3 million people visited the island. Arrivals from the United States and Europe showed the greatest decline, but even the Japanese tourists, who normally account for 27 per cent. of the market, stayed away.

A Bali Tourist Poster, 1930.

As regards spending, the Japanese spend most, followed by the British and then the Australians. In 2001 Bali commanded about 8 per cent. of the world tourist market, valued globally at US$ 100 billion a year.

After the Bali bomb on 12 October 2002, the Iraq War, the outbreak of SARS and bird flu, tourist numbers dropped significantly. Arrivals fell to the lowest level in eight years to 4,457,021 in 2003 and foreign exchange earned was only US$4,037 billion, the lowest in the previous 10 years.

Walter Spies

Walter Spies.

Bali’s most influential visitor was the Russian-born Walter Spies, son of a German diplomat. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

First of all he stayed in the royal palace but then built his own thatched bamboo house and studio in Campuan on land that he rented from the royal family. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Spies’ visitors

He was interested in every aspect of Balinese life and culture. The rich and famous, as well as musicologists, anthropologists and novelists, all beat a trail to his door: Charlie Chaplin, Noël Coward, the ethno-musicologist, Colin McPhee and his anthropologist wife, Jane Belo, and the novelist, Vicki Baum, to name but a few. Margaret Mead and her third husband, Gregory Bateson, spent their honeymoon there, as well as carrying out a lot of pioneering anthropological research and writing several books and numerous articles. Their research lasted from 1936 to 1938 with a brief stay in 1939, during which time they wrote a lot and collected more than 1,200 paintings.

Charlie Chaplin in Bali.

Noël Coward left a tongue-in-cheek poem in the Bali Hotel guest book, part of which went:

“As I said this morning to Charlie
There is far too much music in Bali,
And although as a place it’s enchanting,
There is also a thought too much dancing.

It appears that each Balinese native
From the womb to the tomb is creative,
And although the results are quite clever,
There is too much artistic endeavour!”

The most flamboyant of Spies’ visitors was the Woolworth’s heiress and film star, Barbara Hutton, who fell madly in love with him. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Spies explained a lot to Miguel Covarrubias, the Mexican painter and ethnologist, who wrote the influential Island of Bali, published in 1937 and which is still widely read today.

Goona-Goona.

Spies painted. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

He also took photographs – his photographs appear in a book he co-wrote with American dance critic, Beryl de Zoete, Dance and Drama in Bali.

Soder Havets Paradis. Dance of the Virgins (1935). Swedish movie poster.

He advised on a number of films and choreographed the Kecak dance with Katharane Mershon, the American dancer-ethnologist, for a German film. Katharane Mershon lived in Sanur and wrote a book on Balinese life ceremonies.

Colonial Exposition, 1931

Colonial Exposition, Balinese Pavillion, 1931.

Spies promoted Bali’s image abroad in the Colonial Exposition in Paris in 1931. It was a great success. The prince of Ubud was the leader of the first dance troop ever to go to Paris. Many members of the Ubud royal family went.

Pita Maha

With Dutch painter, Rudolf Bonnet, who had arrived in 1929, Spies encouraged local painters to paint everyday life, try perspective and use modern paints and materials. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Bali, Indonesia.

The final exhibition was on 3 December 1941, just 36 days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.

Hans and Rolf Neuhaus

Spies also sold to the souvenir shops that were just starting to appear. Two German businessmen, Hans and Rolf Neuhaus, managed a well-known shop in Sanur, which opened in 1935. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Spies is arrested

The Second World War, however, was looming. The Dutch were becoming alarmed by Germany and were looking for scapegoats. Spies was arrested on New Year’s Eve, 1938, charged with having sex with a young boy, convicted and imprisoned. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

When Hitler invaded Holland in May 1940 all German nationals were rounded up. Spies, who by that time had taken up a passionate study of insects and marine life, was the last German left in Bali. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The Balinese Kings

The Dutch concluded that their decision to strip away the powers of the Balinese kings had been a mistake. There were strong stirrings of nationalism and communism in the 1930s. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

5 Gulden bank note (1937).

In 1938, on the Balinese holy day of Galungan, eight Balinese aristocrats were consecrated as rulers, Zelfbesturders, at the Mother Temple of Besakih. Above each of them was a Dutch civil servant called a Controleur, whose task was to guide them on how to move Bali into the modern age.

The royal families learnt Dutch and were encouraged to go school in Java or Holland. Their job was to facilitate the colonial administration. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Before long the Japanese arrived.

The Japanese occupation, 1942 – 1945

Japanese troops cycled down Malaya, conquered Singapore, crossed over to nearby Sumatra, moved east and landed at Sanur on the coast of Bali on 18 February 1942. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The Dutch surrendered on 9 March 1942. The Battle of Java Sea at the end of February 1942 ensured the Dutch capitulation. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The Japanese continued the Dutch method of indirect rule through the pre-existing power structures and promised the Indonesians independence and thereby gained some acceptability. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

They introduced two important reforms. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

“Get Out! The Indies Must be Liberated” ie from the Japanese: 1945 Dutch propaganda poster created by Nico Broekman.

Resistance to the resumption of Dutch rule was strongest in Bali, Java and certain parts of the Celebes and that may not be coincidental with Japanese influence.

National Revolution, 1945 – 49

British and Australian troops accepted the Japanese surrender on 14 August 1945. Three days later the Indonesians proclaimed independence in Jakarta on 17 August 1945. Sukarno was to be President and Hatta Vice-President, but the Dutch did not recognize the Republic. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Proclamation of Indonesian Independence.

By October 1945 the Republic had been recognized by China, the Soviet Union and the United States. But the Dutch wanted their empire back and they were able to call upon the British to help them. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The objectives of the treaty were “to re-establish civilian rule, and return the colony to Dutch administration” and “to maintain the status quo which existed before the Japanese invasion”. The British forces were brutal. The British Government has since apologised. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The United Nations discussed the Indonesian issue for the first time in January 1946.

Dutch troops land

Over 2,000 Dutch Indies troops landed on Sanur beach on 2 March 1946. The Dutch forces were frequently undisciplined in the early months and burned villages and gunned down innocent people. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

About a third of the Balinese fought on the Dutch side. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The Republicans were themselves split into factions. So, Bali was divided and the divisions remained following independence.

Ngurah Rai.

The most significant battle was when 96 nationalists led by Lieutenant Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, were surrounded and totally wiped out in one day on 20 November 1946 by the Dutch near the village of Marga in the hills of Tabanan. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali..

The United Nations expressed disapproval of the Dutch desire to re-conquer Indonesia and the United States pressured the Netherlands to grant independence. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Independence

On 27 December 1949 the Netherlands recognized Indonesia as an independent state and agreed to transfer sovereignty. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Pancasila.

The Indonesian constitution is founded on the Pancasila principles. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

President Sukarno became the first President of Indonesia. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Sukarno, 1950 – 1967

Sukarno had a radiant personality and was a brilliant orator. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

President Sukarno.

He took an intense personal interest in Bali and toured the island at least twice in 1950 and spoke to large crowds. He built a palace in Tampaksiring and visited several times a year bringing many distinguished guests, including Nehru, Ho Chi Minh, Tito and Khrushchev. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Bali Rangda Dance Poster.

This period in Bali is marked as one of chronic violence and volatility. Bali had no strong local state apparatus. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Bali officially became a province on 14 August 1958. Prior to that there was one province Sunda Kecil comprising Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara. In 1960 the capital was moved from Singaraja to Denpasar.

In the early 1960s there were rat and mouse plagues, insect infestations and crop failures. It was not an easy time. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The economic problems coincided with aggressive national land reform legislation backed by the left leaning PKI party and the left leaning President Sukarno and his appointee, Bali’s Governor Suteja.

Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Balinese History – the 20th century