Chad, regarding the point you raise, i.e., how the Balinese treat other Indonesians, I’d like to add my own insights forged from a great deal of experience with other Indonesians who are either temporarily, or permanently living in Bali.
In general, and in the vast majority of situations, the Balinese treat other Indonesians with the same respect and dignity as they do each other. Moreover, this is also true of how other Indonesians treat Balinese in other parts of Indonesia.
There are exceptions of course, and one that immediately comes to my mind is the famous burning of the carts in Kuta which occurred prior to the first Bali bombing, my best guess being in the year 2001 or there about. Those seller’s carts, being operated by non Balinese and offering a great variety of goods, were perceived as overtaking the shop business on Jalan Legian, and a great deal of animosity, jealousy, or whatever human emotion that comes from the belly of the beast culminated in a night when a gang of Balinese “ran amok” and burned them all.
Another dark event that I personally experienced was the riotous activity in 2000 or so, when the PDIP party, Megawati’s party, did not do well in a national election and once again, the Balinese “ran amok”...this time in Denpasar. I’ll never forget the image of Ronald MacDonald laying face down in the MacDonalds parking lot, all the windows broken out, fires in the streets, and trees cut down on the by-pass. Admittedly, surreal was the operative word to describe being in Denpasar in the very early morning hours following that “malam amok.”
Neither Bali, or Indonesia is exempt from very dark periods of its history. In the same breath, I can also add, neither is any other country or civilization. This is all part of the human experience, and every culture shares it to one degree or another.
However, in day to day life in Bali, one would be hard pressed to find any expression of animosity, jealously, discontent, or anger expressed in any fashion by the Balinese towards the non Balinese Indonesians. We have non Balinese Indonesians coming to us for business in our village, a very small village that hardly sees non Balinese, every day. They are always treated with great respect, and almost always, they will stop by for a coffee at the warung next to our house. They know they could get a free coffee in our house, but they chose to have coffee with our neighbor first.
I’ll never forget my wife, in the early hours following the first Bali bombing in 2002 walking back to our new house project where we had a “mini-kampung” of Javanese workers excavating the property, to inform them of what had happened and to tell them to stay put, and not leave the site in case of reprisals, (which never materialized) were to happen. She told them that we would bring them what they needed....rice, fresh fish, water, whatever. Eri also told them that if necessary, they could all take asylum in our house. She did this on her own and without any discussion with me. Needless to say, those guys were scared, VERY scared, and when I later learned what she did, I gave her an old manuscript Al Q’uaran (which I was supposed to sell) and suggested she take it back to them as well...which she did.
In my eighth year of 24/7 living on Bali, I can honestly say I have never experienced as much understanding and respect for the human condition as I have here on Bali, and the Indonesia I have visited. For most westerners, and I most surely include myself in that group, one really has to turn themselves inside out to have even a chance of understanding, let alone, adopting the Balinese/Indonesian way of life. That fact is all too often woefully missed by westerners, and obviously, way over the head of “freelancer.”
Daniel’s two stories are remarkable, and they define my life on Bali. The Balinese, not unlike us all, are truly capable of exhibiting the best and worst of human nature. As they are human, and as “UluwatuWaves” offers, should we expect otherwise?
