Denpasar is a "village-city"
with an aristocratic past. Born from the ashes of the defeated
Pemecutan court following the Puputan massacre of 1906, Denpasar
became a sleepy administrative outpost during Dutch times. Since
independence, and especially after it was made the capital of
Bali in 1958, it has been transformed into a bustling city of
some 350,000 souls that provides administrative, commercial and
educational services not only to booming Bali, but to much of
eastern Indonesia as well. Denpasar is the most dynamic city east
of Surabaya, and arguably the richest in the country - there are
more vehicles per capita here than in Jakarta.
New city, old villages
Originally a market town - its name literally means "east
of the market" - Denpasar has far outgrown its former boundaries,
once defined by the Pernecutan, Jero Kuta and Satriya palaces
and the brahmanical houses Tegal, Tampak gangsul and Gemeh. Spurred
in all directions by population pressures motorized transport,
urban growth is little enveloping the neighboring villages obliterating
the surrounding rice fields, leaving a new urban landscape in
its wake housing estates in the midst of rice fields in the middle
of the city.
To the northeast, urbanization spills. across the Ayung River
into the village Batubulan, famous for its barong dance where
the conservatory of dance has recently been relocated. To the
south, it reaches Sanur and even to Kuta, while the Bukit it is
now subjected to a frenzy of land speculation. To the northwest,
it sprawls as far Kapal, whose beautiful temple now has to seen
above the din and dust of suburban traffic.
This unchecked growth has swallowed many old villages of the plain,
yet in many ways they remain as they were - their arc architecture
focused around open courtyard they have intact their intricate
temples collective banjars. The power structure its although adapting
to new urban tasks and occupations, has also not changed much.
Local satriyas, be they hotel managers or civil servants, remain
princes - they still have control of land and territorial temples
and M mobilize their "subjects" for ceremonies
Local brahmans are even more powerful continuing to provide ritual
services for their followers and occupying some of the best positions
in the new Bali. Thus Denpasar is a showcase of Balinese social
resiliency - still "Bali" and worth a visit for its
gates, its shrines and its royal mansions.
But Denpasar is nevertheless a modern city. Shops, roads and markets
have conquered the wet rice field areas allowed to be leased and
sold by village communities. Here, urbanization has taken on the
same features found elsewhere in Indonesia - rows of gaudily-painted
shops in the business districts; pretty villas along the "protocol"
streets; narrow alleys, small compounds and tiny houses in the
residential areas
Experiment in integration
This new urban space continues to welcome waves of new immigrants
- Balinese as well as non-Balinese. As such, it represents an
experiment in national integration. Inland Balinese indeed make
up the majority of the population. The northerners and southern
princes and brahmans were here first. Early beneficiaries of a
colonial education, they took over the professions and the main
administrative positions and constitute, together with the local
nobility, the core of the native bourgeoisie. Their villas - with
their roof temples, neo-classical columns and Spanish balconies
- are the modern "palaces" of Bali.
More recently, a new Balinese population has settled here, attracted
by jobs as teachers, students, nurses, traders, etc. Strangers
among the local "villagers," these Balinese are the
creators of a new urban landscape and architecture. Instead of
setting up traditional compounds with their numerous buildings
and shrines, they build detached houses with a single multi-purpose
shrine. In religious matters, they are transients - retaining
ritual membership in their village of origin, praying to gods
and ancestors from a distance through the medium of the new shrine.
They return home for major ceremonies, to renew themselves at
the magical and social sources Of their village of origin.
Apart from the Balinese majority, there are several non-indigenous
minorities in Denpasar, comprising a quarter of the total Population.
Muslim Bugis came to Bali as mercenaries as early as the 18th
century. They have their own "banjar' in the village of Kepaon,
where they live alongside the Balinese, speaking their language
and intermarrying with them. Old men of Pemecutan will show you
a "Bugis" shrine in a small temple near the family cremation
site.
The Chinese came early as traders for the local princes. They
integrated easily, blending their Chinese and Balinese ancestry.
They also have a shrine, the Ratu Subandar or "merchant king's"
shrine up in Batur, next to the shrines of Balinese ancestral
gods. New Chinese, often Christians, have arrived, attracted by
the booming economy of Bali.
There are also Arabs and Indian Moslems who came in the thirties
as textile traders and have since become one of the most prosperous
local communities. They live in the heart of the city, in the
Kampung Arab area, where they have a mosque.
Most migrants, however, are Javanese and Madurese, known collectively
as "jawa." They fill the ranks of the civil service
and the military (Sanglah and Kayumas areas) as well as the working
classes, skilled and unskilled (Pekambingan, Kayumas, "Kampung
Jawa" areas). New actors on the Balinese social stage, they
introduce new habits - food selling, peddling, etc. They are also
builders of new housing: shacks and tiny houses that bring Denpasar
into line with other cityscapes of modern Indonesia.
Thus Denpasar is very much a place where the theme of nation-building
is played out. It brings together within earshot of one another
the high priest's mantra, the muezzin's call, and the parson's
prayer. "Eka Wakya, Bhinna Srutti" - "The Verbs
are One, the Scriptures are Many" - so goes the local saying.
Balinese tolerance within a national tolerance.
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