Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bali without a fight. Java and Sumatra had fallen by March 9 and the Dutch were expelled
from the country.
The Japanese
occupation
was hard but it showed the occupied islanders that the Dutch co-
lonialists could be defeated. Throughout the war years, the idea of liberation grew and, on
August 17, 1945, three days after the Japanese surrender, Indonesia made its
Declaration
of Independence
in an announcement by President
Sukarno
. Some Balinese were strong
supporters of independence but many were uncertain about joining a republic dominated by
Islamic Java.
The fight for independence
Returning to their colony in March 1946 the
Dutch
faced ferocious fighting on Java. On
Bali guerrilla forces, the most famous of which was led by
I Gusti Ngurah Rai
, harried the
Dutch relentlessly, despite suffering massive losses in a famous battle near Marga in Taba-
nan. Ngurah Rai is remembered as a hero: Bali's airport is named after him.
However, the Dutch were also under a different sort of attack. The US questioned the Dutch
expenditure of Marshall Plan aid (money allocated to European countries for reconstruction
after the war) on fighting to keep the Indies. Finally, in January 1949, the UN Security Coun-
cil ordered the Dutch to negotiate. In December 1949, the United States of Indonesia was
legally recognized, dissolving the following year to form the
Republic of Indonesia
, with
Sukarno as president.
The Sukarno years
The early years of independence were not kind to Indonesia. The economic situation was dis-
astrous as inflation, corruption and mismanagement ran riot. Martial rule was instituted and
1963 saw a catastrophic war against Malaya.
Although Sukarno's mother was Balinese, the Balinese felt neglected by the government in
Jakarta, which, in turn, was suspicious of Balinese Hinduism. Sukarno visited his palace at
Tampaksiring regularly, with a massive entourage that demanded to be fed, entertained and
then sent away with gifts. During the 1960s, a groundswell of resentment against the gov-
ernment grew in Bali. The Balinese began to believe that a state of spiritual disharmony had
been reached, and a huge purification ceremony,
Eka Dasa Rudra
, was held in 1963 against
the backdrop of a rumbling Gunung Agung, which eventually erupted and laid waste to much
of the east of the island.
Later events in Jakarta piled disaster upon disaster in Bali. In 1965
Major-General Suharto
seized power after a mysterious attempted coup that was blamed on the communist party
(PKI). It unleashed a bloodbath in the country with actual or suspected members of the PKI
and their sympathizers the main targets, along with the Chinese population. At least half a
million people were killed across Indonesia: an estimated hundred thousand on Bali and fifty
