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Abstract
The collapse of the tourist industry in Bali since late 2002 has had devastating effects on the lives of those who depended on tourism for their livelihood. This sector comprises a vast array of market segments, from those directly employed in hotels, restaurants and retail outlets, or those sustained by an ebullient domestic and export-oriented arts and crafts industry, to the miscellaneous self-employed who predicate their economic strategies on a guaranteed supply of tourists. The present paper examines one such group, the beachboys (cowok), who loiter around the beaches, cafes and bars of Lovina, North Bali, in hope of striking a love match with a foreigner. Such matches are perceived as providing a means of migration to an affluent Western or East Asian country, conceptualised as a place of fantastic wealth and opulence. Although this strategy frequently bore fruit during the prolonged tourism boom of the late 20th century, in the wake of the second series of terrorist bombings, occurring on October 2, 2005, it has foundered. Tourists have deserted the island in droves. The consequent economic and social vacuum so created is not only undermining beachboys’ aspirations for a luxurious life abroad, it may also be transforming the fundamental pattern of foreigner–local interactions in North and even South Bali. The present paper points to the implications of some of these macroeconomic and social changes for the ways in which North Balinese beachboys construct their identity as cowoks, both now and in the future.
Acknowledgements
This paper is based on two main sets of data deriving from (a) extensive ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in North Bali before the first spate of bomb attacks in 2002, and (b) tentative observations made after the second bomb attack in 2005. The first data set was generously supported by the Commonwealth Government of Australia in the form of both an AIDS Postgraduate research Award (APRA) and an Australian Vice-Chancellor's Award for Research in Asia (AARA). The author thanks the University of Queensland for funding the second set of data through its New Staff Research Start-up Fund (NSRSF).
Notes
1. For example, see McKean (Citation1973), Noronha (Citation1979), Maurer (Citation1981), Vickers (Citation1989), MacRae (Citation1992), Neech (Citation1993), McCarthy (Citation1994), Picard (Citation1996), Jennaway (Citation2002), Darma Putra and Hitchcock (Citation2005, Citation2006), Howe (Citation2005).
2. In an early academic response to the first bombing event, Hitchcock and Darma Putra (2005) noted the quick and vigorous resurgence in Balinese tourism. They attributed this to ‘the widespread adoption of measures designed to avoid conflict’ which, they theorised, ‘appears to have helped restore confidence in Bali's tourism industry’. However, I was unable to see evidence of such a resurgence after the 2005 bombings.
3. The Australian media was much criticised in the immediate aftermath of the bomb for its undue focus on the 88 Australian fatalities and neglect of the 38 Balinese who also lost their lives in the tragedy.
4. SARS was not brought under control for another year.
5. The second spate of bombings occurred on October 1, 2005, and consisted of a series of three bombs striking two restaurants in the coastal resort of Jimbaran Bay and another in Kuta Beach. This time there were 23 fatalities, including mostly Indonesians (Balinese), four Australians and the three suicide bombers themselves. However, the number of injuries relative to deaths was far higher, reaching a total of 109.
6. An update disseminated on Monday, April 10, 2006, through the BACN Bali Arts and Culture Newsletter (via Listserve facilitator Rucina Ballinger) by Bali Discovery Tours put a rosy spin on airport arrivals data. Highlighting comparative data for post-2002 and post-2005 bombings, the agency stated that the downturn in tourist numbers the second time was starting from a higher base of arrivals, was not so severe as a proportion of the overall average and appeared to be on a similar trajectory to recovery as that associated with the previous bomb attacks.
7. The Central Bureau of Statistics (CitationBadan Pusat Statistik Propinsi Bali) was engaged in conducting an island-wide census when I visited in mid-December 2006 and was unable to provide even preliminary statistical data for 2006.
8. Many Balinese are acutely aware they have been inadvertently caught up in an ideological war between radical Islam and Western imperialism. The discourses they construct around these circumstances range from bewilderment that God should inflict such a fate upon them and passive acceptance (pasrah) of it (many even wondering what offence they have committed and engaging in extensive and elaborate rituals of recompense) to anger at the Muslim community, as well as the central government, which is perceived to be captive to it.
9. The young women of Punyanwangi never referred to Lovina's beachboys as gaid (their own term); invariably, they used the word cowok. ‘Cowok’ is Indonesian slang for ‘guy’, with similar connotations of hip, eligible and attractive. To avoid possible confusion with the use of the terms ‘cowok’ (women's term) or ‘gaid’ (men's term), I invented the label ‘Lovina Lone Rangers’ for those Lovina gaid/cowok who fit the beachboy mould.
10. It should be pointed out that, despite continual allusions/allegations to the contrary, Kuta cowboys/casanovas do not identify as gigolos, which would imply direct payment for a specific sexual service. Rather, they are the recipients of a multitude of gifts, ranging from payment of the door price into a nightclub, the shouting of a meal, to entire journeys overseas as the companion or visitor of some besotted foreigner.
11. This may indicate a broadening of the cowok/guy category to imply that all young males in the region have beachboy potential; however, such a possibility must remain purely speculative until further research can be undertaken.
12. The 1992 fieldwork spanned a period of 12 months, supplemented by continuing briefs from the field from research assistants, friends and colleagues, as well as a follow-up research visit in January 1999.
13. All venue names in Lovina are fictitious in order to protect the identities of the informants.
14. Unlabelled excerpts such as this one are taken from my book Sisters and Lovers: Women and Desire in Bali (Jennaway Citation2002).
15. Balinese adat law deems children to be the property of their male patriline; this operates as a major deterrent to many of the Balinese women who seek divorce.
16. Even including huge outlays for kidney treatment at a private hospital for another brother who has a weakness for tuak (palm wine).
17. Given the reduced pool of informants, even compared with my 1992 data, and the ease of identifying mixed couples on the basis of the specific mix of ethnicities, I have used different pseudonyms again from those used in 2002. I have also been deliberately vague about personal details, such as overseas country of residence and particular livelihoods.
18. My daughter, ‘Zoe’, was just 2½ years old when my husband and I arrived in North Bali at the start of our 12 months of living in Punyanwangi village, 8 km south of Lovina. I use the pseudonym ‘Zoe’ not to guarantee anonymity, which she does not require, but to deflect attention away from her identity.
19. Eligible young females, the equivalent of male cowoks. A joke that is often bandied around in the nearby villages asks what one does down at Lovina. Answer: nonton cowok cari cewek [watch young men look for young women]—a play on the activity of viewing/watching (nonton) associated with seeing a band or a video.
20. According to Gede, marijuana had, in any case, become impossible to obtain—‘too dangerous’ since the Corby case—and, hence, the supply had dwindled.
21. The boy was of indeterminate nationality: he could have been Balinese, Indonesian, Filipino or something else again, and therefore I will avoid making assumptions here.
22. Much of this response has been spearheaded by the prominent Balinese psychiatrist Luh Ketut Suryani, who I accompanied on one of her visits to personally confront the head of the district justice department (Dinas Kejaksaan) to query his apparent failure to imprison convicted Dutch paedophile Max le Clercq, convicted of sexual predation towards a 13-year-old schoolboy. On this occasion, she was misinformed because le Clercq had been incarcerated for the past 12 months. Suryani has also waged extensive media campaigns to expose such offenders.
23. I was unable to establish what had happened to Budi's Balinese wife, Kartini, although she no longer lives in Budi's family compound.
24. The lapse into Indonesian is verbatim; although Rudy is a fluent speaker of English, as is common among bi- and trilingual Balinese, he often mixes languages in speech.
25. I have documented the phenomenon of polygyny in North Bali elsewhere (Jennaway Citation2000).