| What
Indonesia - Bali is all about ?
'and
most chic of all, the European drop-scene. Now the curtain
plays, as we have seen, a very important part in the
entrance of an Ardja dancer. How 'modeeran' if the voice
proceed not out of a patch-work curtain, but from a
romantic lake below a volcano in eruption, or from the
gateway of a Balinese temple, while white birds wing
their irresolute flight across the blue fields of the
sky! So some really up-to-date Ardjas use the framework
of the Djanger scene, and Toean We and Sampik coil endlessly
with broken hearts against a background of real painted
streets.
Sometimes Djanger, Stamboel, and Ardja may all be combined,
without any feeling of incongruity on the part of the
Balinese. The Djanger itself may be introduced at great
length by a dark gentleman of solemn aspect in spectacles,
felt hat, grey dittos, muffler and false moustache,
who issues from a painted curtain and patrols the stage,
singing Americo Malay songs, the personified negation
of all expression
They
seldom see overt crises, children running away, street
children, or drug use, abuse, or selling. Some adolescents
brought to the psychiatric clinic for evaluation reveal
disagreement with parents and instances of disobeying
them. Teachers may note poor concentration and underachievement
in children. There are no data on adolescent rape, theft,
indecent exposure, or violence; however, sporadic instances
are reported in the newspapers.
The only information available about adoiescent suicide
is from Suryani's survey of cases at Wangaya Hospital:
in 1968-78 most suicides occurred in the 20- to 25-year-old
group, in 1984, there was an increasing trend in the
15- to 20-year-old group. The Balinese Hindu religion
is a strong deterrent to suicide because it considers
suicide to be an offence against the gods, a reason
for punishment, and a wrong way to die, a mis-death
(salah pati). The Balinese believe that the soul of
a suicide faces difficulty in going to heaven and requires
a special ceremony by the family to correct the problem.
Present information
indicates that adolescence in Bali is a period of life
relatively free of overt turmoil, crisis, trouble, and
delinquency., In 1927, Mead published her startling
findings that the Samoans fitted this description (Mead,
1928; Freeman, 1983) but she failed to recognize it
as a characteristic of the Balinese. The absence of
adolescent problems in Bali is so striking that it is
hard for the Western observer to miss. Mead must have
noticed that Balinese adolescence is easy and trouble-free
like the Samoans' but not sexually permissive. Mead
may have ignored it because the theme of her book Coming
of age in Samoa was an easy sexually permissive, problem-free
adolescence, a case of 'negative instance'38 in anthropology.
For Mead to have acknowledged such mentally healthy
and positive traits in Balinese adolescents may have
been incompatible with her and Bateson's theorizing
about child-rearing patterns resulting in schizoid characteristics
of the Balinese.
Please
access this web site for more Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bandung,
Surabaya and all Indonesia Hotels bali lombok yogyakarta
jakartahotels- and Indonesian Holidays Information,
hotels and travel reservation indonesia hotels travel
holidays
|