joyed years of comparative peace and tranquility. Tourists began flocking to the island in great numbers in the 1970s, bringing a In 1963. more sorrow engulfed the island. An attempted takeover of the Indonesian government in Jakarta by communist insurgents resulted in the murder of six top army leaders. Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians died in the reprisals and fighting that broke out following the unsuccessful coup attempt. Bali was the scene of some of the worst violence. As many as 100.000 people, not all belonging to communist political par¬ties, may have been killed as members of the island’s political parties turned upon each other.
Bali bounced back from the tragic decade of the ’60s. as it had so many times before. Under the new Jakarta government led by President Suharto since 1968, Bali has enture. production of livestock or industry.
measure of prosperity to many of its artists and craftsmen whose work became prized souvenirs. The Balinese even managed to stage a successful Eka Dasa Rudra ceremony in 1979 with President and Madame Suharto in attendance during its climactic moments. Mt. Agung did not utter a single rumble.
There has been improvement and expansion of educational facilities and health ser¬vices and per capita income has increased somewhat. But problems remain. The island has become overpopulated, and there appears little room for expansion of agriculits assembly and its branches of civil and military provincial offices. The stabilizing forces of ancient adal still regulate the life of the ordinary villager not only in his contacts with his immediate family and neighbors but also with village elders, the temple priests,The new Bali is one of the 27 provinces of the Republic of Indonesia — a unique province in that it has preserved and enhanced the ancient Hindu culture which, in adjacent Java, has been deeply overlaid by the Islamice. Despite Javanese conquest’and massive infusion of influences in early times. Bali has always been a discrete entity within the Indonesian archipelago. And despite widespread dissemination through the schools of the nationalist outlook, the islanders still feel themselves as much Balinese as Indonesian.
Today, the province of Bali is divided into eight kabupaten. or districts that correspond geographically to the traditional rajadoms. Each has its elected bupati, or district head;
and. the new agents of the centralized governments — the school teacher, medical personnel of the clinic, the agricultural agents and others.
The genuine Bali and the authentic Balinese are still to be found. It is therefore perhaps imprudent to assay Bali’s prospects by referring to facts and figures that maybe either inaccurate or inconsequential. 1 he Balinese magic still works, which in itself is a reassuring miracle.