Bale Bengong

Professor Adrian Vickers
The University of Sydney

Abstract
The idea that Balinese culture needs to be preserved presupposes that it is under threat. Building on my own and Michel Picard’s earlier contention that tourism strengthens Balinese culture, I wish to show that the main real threat to Balinese culture lies in environmental degradation. At present ‘culture’ on Bali is conceived of in very narrow terms as being identical with Hinduism and certain forms of dress, music and ceremony, and much of the focus of discussions of culture is concerned with the idea of modernity’s outside threats to a reified tradition. These discussions have been framed by notions of ‘cultural tourism’ since the term was first used in 1967. Balinese culture is in need of redefinition. The borders of ‘Bali’ have always been much wider than the shores of the island itself, but in the Twenty-First Century these borders are now global. The island of Bali is less a self-contained culture than a landscape to which Balinese throughout the world refer. The globalised dimension of Balinese culture demonstrates that ‘cultural tourism’ needs a major re-think, a revision that includes stronger attention to physical aspects of heritage and the environment.

Keywords: Culture, cultural tourism, tourism, Hinduism, tradition, modernity, environment

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Balinese culture is in need of redefinition. Ever since the middle of the Twentieth Century there has been much discussion of threats to Balinese culture, particularly from elements identified with Western culture, such as hippies and drugs. In conversations Balinese also mention other potential threats that it is not wise to put into print, notably those threats that led to Bali being targeted by the bombers of 2002 and 2005. One of my Balinese friends best expressed the current state of the discussions when he recently emailed me about the idea of the whole island being declared a world heritage area, since this would be the only way to preserve Balinese culture. This idea that Balinese culture needs to be preserved presupposes that it is actually under threat, that Balinese culture has physically identifiable heritage features, and that external bodies can legislate such preservation. All of these propositions need urgent investigation, since there is a sense amongst people on Bali that over-development is reaching a critical junction, and this paper is intended as a small contribution to the discussions. Building on my own and Michel Picard’s earlier contention that tourism strengthens Balinese culture, I wish to show that the main real threat to Balinese culture lies in environmental degradation.

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