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Taksu, a Divine Vibration Exuding Charms

This is a story or something like a confession delivered by community of Ubud when asked about the uniqueness of their region. “I do not know for sure whether it is related to the culture, natural beauty, hospitality of the people or anything else. I am not so confident,” said one of the residents. He added when those aspects were all said to be the charm to draw tourist visits, the other regions also have them. “And theirs are even better,” said the man. But the problem is why the other regions are less well known than Ubud? “Oh, I do not know about that,” he added.

Within the Balinese society, there is a term known as taksu or divine vibration. It is something invisible that has a tremendous energy so that a place, area, object, person and the others turn very attractive. Probably, there are no definitions exactly correct about the taksu. It is difficult to describe it in sentences, let alone with a single word or term. Taksu is taksu. Perhaps, such a power is better to be enjoyed, impregnated and appreciated. Bali has taksu so that it becomes the leading tourist destination in Indonesia. Even, it has become one of the most unique destinations around the globe. Ubud has taksu, Kuta has taksu, Tanah Lot has taksu and Besakih Temple has taksu and so forth.

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Strong Ties to the Ancestral Land

Compared to the other ethnic groups in Indonesia, let’s say to Javanese or Padang, Balinese people are often given a predicate of ‘disliking to wander.’ Why does it happen? Many reasons can be raised. The commonest reason is the attachment to Hinduism and customary tradition. Well, Balinese humans are very difficult to leave the land of their ancestors.
However, a lot of Balinese people have scattered in various islands across Indonesia, right? Their favorite destinations, for instance, are Sulawesi and Sumatra. Of course, they have gone to another island and left their homeland because they are forced to do it, facing economic trouble and going to the other land through resettlement program. They moved to the island having been promised by the government. Some residents just need to build a house and plow rice fields provided, but some others are forced to clear the jungles to create settlement, rice field and moor.

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A Sincere Sympathy from Uncle Sam

A few days ago, I had a guest from the United States named Gregory G McElwain. He is Assistant to the Press Attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. Wearing white batik shirt with floral motifs, this man looked so calm. He spoke slowly and steadily. After talking more about the press industry as well as advances in the information technology causing a lot of the media industries in the world to be marginalized or even go bankrupt, Greg, as he familiarly greeted, asked a lot of questions about Bali and its condition so far.

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“Tourism Promotion” on YouTube

ACTION of the blackmail committed by police officer to tourists from the Netherlands, Kees Van Der Spek and then uploaded to YouTube site drew various reactions from a number of parties. By all means, Police Department was full of anger and then immediately relieved the rogue individual police officer. Besides, Police Department was said to plan summon to Van Der Spek for questioning. On the other hand, ordinary people, some of whom having been interviewed by print and electronic media regarding the incident gave various opinions. In essence, they seemingly agreed to what had been done by Van Der Spek through his candid camera.

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Blueprint

This March may be regarded as a month full of Hindu ritual celebrations. They are starting from the celebration of Nyepi Day of Caka New Year 1935 to the upcoming Galungan and Kuningan future. To Balinese people, the successive holidays should be made a kind of torch, to flash on the path forward. By all means, it is in the context of how to build Bali as a whole.

Today, it is recognized or not, Bali bears abundant loads either related to environmental, cultural or social issues. It requires a clear and mature thinking. Probably, it has been mentioned for thousands of times that Bali has not had a blueprint for the development at least for thirty or even fifty years to come. The development is rolling out as it is, without careful planning. How about the blueprint of agriculture, tourism centers, housing and sacred zone? There is nothing about them. Even though a regional bylaw has been made, it does not guarantee and has no enough authority to absorb the turbulence in all sectors of development tending to be uncontrollable.

As a result, it’s like that. There are still inter-sectoral disparities increasingly getting wider. These matters have been voiced about twenty years ago. But anyway, there are no meaningful responses from the government to overcome them. Then, do not be mistaken if there will be a kind of excessive development among the counties. No need to wait, these facts have been coming to view at the moment.

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