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Dutch Administration
The Balinese became the darlings of the Dutch authorities. Indeed, the Dutch administration took a patronizing attitude toward the people and their culture, allowing the Balinese to continue using their own language and practice their own 'adat'. Although the remaining pro-Dutch princes were deprived of political powers, they maintained much of their influence and importance as patrons of the arts. We must also be forever thankful to the Dutch for keeping the missionaries out of Bali. It was more convenient for them to control the people through their liaisons with local leaders and let religion take its own course. So little did Dutch colonialism affect Bali that even up until the 1970s, before the building of the international airport, a rural Balinese village was probably very similar to a Javanese village of the 17th century. Foreign visitors and tourists were vigorously discouraged from visiting Bali. A small group of dedicated Dutch officials safeguarded Bali's culture, which enjoyed a rebirth during the first three decades of Dutch rule. One can still see in the highlands above Singaraja and in Denpasar steeple homes with double doors, wrought-iron grillwork gates and hanging porcelain lamps, remnants of Dutch efforts to Hollandize Bali. The occupying Dutch were not, however, totally humanitarian. Although no rubber or tea plantations were established, as in many parts of Java, the Dutch took over the highly profitable opium monopoly. Starting on 1 January 1908, any Balinese over the age of 18 was allowed to legally purchase opium from one of 100 official suppliers set up around the island. Realizing a profit margin of over 90%, within one year opium sales accounted for 75% of the island's administrative budget. Only a small portion of the money ever benefited the Balinese directly. In 1910 alone, while the Dutch earned one million florins from opium, they spent less than 20,000 florins on schools. By the late 1930s, because of the combined clamor from Indonesian organizations and the Dutch Ethicists, the Dutch opium monopoly served only a few old die-hard Chinese addicts. |
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