Many Indonesians feel irritated when they find out that Bali is often more famous than Indonesia abroad, with foreigners even often asking funny question like, “is Indonesia part of Bali?”
Bali is one of the world’s top tourist destinations. How did the tiny province with a population of about 3.34 million become so attractive to global tourists?
Many provinces in this country believe they are more exotic than Bali, but still they cannot compete in luring visitors, as they can practically offer only the natural beauty of their provinces, while Bali has moved far beyond geographical richness alone.
When terrorists bombed Bali in 2002 and in 2005, there was a global outpouring of sorrow and sympathy for the victims and for the Balinese who had to endure severe suffering because the terrorists’ barbaric acts.
Thursday (March 26) is a national holiday. Indonesia has 14 holidays this year, 12 of them are religious and tomorrow Balinese Hindus’ have their turn with the observation of Nyepi (Day of Silence) as part of the celebration to mark the Hindu Saka New Year. This Day of Silence is when our Hindu compatriots silently self reflect and contemplate the year past and the year ahead.
For other Indonesians this is also the right time to honestly acknowledge the great contribution the resort island makes not just to our economy, but more importantly to enriching our culture and systems of values as a nation. We tend to take Bali for granted, as we do with other provinces outside of Java.
While Balinese Hindus are preparing for the observa-tion of Nyepi, hopefully it is not regarded as offensive or ridiculous to ask a tempting question: Will Bali remain as magnificent as what it is now when Hinduism is not the largest religion there? There is no intention at all to offend other religions; this question is merely a matter of curiosity.
There is also no intention at all to say that Hinduism is better than other religions. What we want to say is that Hindus should have a central role in guiding Balinese people and that the world would benefit from such guidance. Indonesians, whatever their religion is, can learn a lot from the way and values of our comrades, while Balinese Hindus can also learn from other citizens of different religions to enrich Indonesia.
On Nyepi, the entire island of Bali will fall silent. The Hindus will constrain from lighting any fires or lights, working, traveling outside their family compound or partaking in any recreational activities.
Although only about 2 percent of the whole Indonesian population is Hindu, (mostly Balinese), their role and influence reaches much further beyond the statistical facts.
Bali is loved not just by Indonesians, but the world. Tomorrow, TV stations will report how deserted the island is, for one whole day. On this day of religious celebration we want to thank our Balinese compatriots for their great contributions to our nation. Through their daily deeds they also give us concrete examples of how to win the hearts and trust of the world.
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