Open Fortress
Bali is a fortress built to preserve its culture — while simultaneously opening its doors wide to millions of tourists. An open fortress. Which will give first?
A foreign writer once found a weird, yet surprisingly accurate phrase to describe Bali: an open fortress.
Bali is famous for its culture and traditions. Or not, since all people talk about these days are resorts, bars, booze, pubs, clubs et cetera; no one talks about kamasan, janger, barong, or jauk anymore.
But for the sake of this post, let’s assume that it is, or was.
Bali is one of few places in which religion and traditions are so closely related that distinguishing them is almost impossible. Balinese (at least most of them) are really proud of their traditions, and they desperately try to hold on to it. In the 2000s, a Balinese press even launched a campaign to preserve the Balinese culture, and its catchphrase — Ajeg Bali, has been a trend ever since.
But at the same time, Bali is a tourist destination. Maybe even a good one. But with tourists, there’s people; with so many people, there’s interaction; and with interaction, there’s assimilation. It’s impossible — in my opinion, to host an island for millions of visitors a year without assimilating with their culture.
And that’s it. Bali is a fortress built to preserve and nurture its culture against the big bad world; while at the same time opening its doors wide to the so-called “bad influence”.
An open fortress.
Maybe one day people will face the tough call; to shut the door completely or to tear down the fortress. Which one will you choose?