Bali is Bali Forever. Sustainable Bali has become the topic of deep discussion by diverse groups from educators and party leaders to village chiefs and company heads and the general Balinese community within Bali and beyond. Bali is changing. There are significant shifts in the traditional fundamentals in social, economic, political and environmental aspects. Should these changes be allowed, tolerated or accepted? How to maintain the identity of Balinese community and culture? How to decide which elements of culture should be maintained and who has the authority to determine such decisions?
There is a plan and suggested strategies to implement it; a philosophy based on Tri Hita Karana (THK) as an all-inclusive concept to balance and harmonize all aspects of Balinese life – human’s relation to God (parhyangan); human’s relation to fellow humans (pawongan) and humans relation to the surrounding nature (palemahan). Tri Hita Karana is a concept mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita; a unique life philosophy rooted in Balinese Hinduism which teaches the values and universal practice to achieve prosperity, peace and happiness through equilibrium and harmony among the spiritual, social and natural realms. Tri means three, Hita means happiness and Karana the source.
Learned professors of law, anthropology, archaeology and lecturers on the environment, the Head of Bali Government Tourism Office, the General Manager of Bali Travel News and a Constitutional Judge all have pondered deeply on this philosophy and have presented strategic studies toward the future of Bali such as putting forward an offer of ideal concept; mapping of objective condition; grand strategy of Bali Future Development and THK Implementation in agriculture, tourism, industry, religion and spiritual aspects; legal; demographic; spatial arrangement; environment and in the life of customary village.
Faced with the paradox of preserving the traditional culture and unique spirituality and becoming a modern society able to compete in the global markets is a delicate balance. Traditional culture and unique spirituality are the very reason for many tourists, writers, artists, meditation groups and study groups to visit Bali, and the choice destination for many important conventions and conferences, such as the forthcoming Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming. Tourism is the backbone at present, with nearly 30% of revenue for Bali and careful consideration towards its impact on the environment, its saturation levels, its water consumption, etc. is required immediately. The disappearing rice paddies, often sold to developers who then build luxury villas in mostly western style is another pressing concern as agricultural land is lost and therefore income too is lost. The loss of rice fields has long reaching effects for the next generation because land is most often passed down to the children in the family to continue farming. Once sold it is forever lost.
THK philosophy teaches about the balanced unity of life in the religious realm, where religion does not only worship God but also strengthens the spiritual power to maintain the conservation of nature and is devoted to building prosperity both materially and spiritually. The call to Balinese community to gain a deeper understanding of their own culture, representing an expression of Hindu religious life, is an essential to preserving it. Bali Hinduism deviates remarkably from Hinduism stipulated in the scriptures. A proposal to reformulate the religious system using modern methods to educate the wider community is put forward as a step towards its preservation. Examples presented encourage replanting on dormant lands and making tree planting as planned actions which could be carried out during celebrations of religious feast days, and not disposing of waste into rivers and the ocean, thereby engendering an attitude of nature conservation representing the manifestation of devotion to God. In Bali the system of worship through ritual and ceremony also functions as a social concord, familial, territorial, professional and universal.
The THK Tourism and Accreditations program was originated by top management of Bali Travel News, a bi-monthly Tourism newspaper, in cooperation with team leaders of SOCEI (Study of cumulative environmental impact) and later the team of Center for Bali Studies (PUSAKA) also joined the program. Their vision - to develop an integrated-holistic approach to reduce material-economic aspects and to pay attention to the physical, socio-cultural and aesthetic/spiritual environment dimensions according to the Tri Hita Karana concept. Their mission for the present is: Motivating the government, private sector and community to realize the religious and effective quality of life, to realize the social life that is harmonic and highly appreciate the socio-cultural values and to realize harmonic, hygienic, healthy, everlasting and alluring environment. The first award was presented on 22 December 2000.
The book, Bali is Bali Forever is offered to create public awareness, awareness in bureaucracy and legislative institutions and provides a workable solution if the formal and informal leaders of Bali and the Indonesian government are serious about preserving Bali’s culture and environment at the same time moving towards a prosperous and modern Bali, maintaining its unique spirituality and its historical tag of ‘Island of Thousand Temples’.
As all nations ponder the solutions to this most urgent problem of global warming, it is interesting and commendable and inspiring that Bali too has an all-encompassing plan for a more sustainable future environmentally, culturally and most important of all, spiritually.