Even more than the environment, most of the research that has been done on the impact of tourism on Tanah Lot has been on the cultural effects. The Tanah Lot people consider themselves a distinct ethnic group within Indonesia. In Tanah Lot, Hindus make up 93 percent of the population, but they are only 2 percent of the Indonesian population. Additionally, Hinduism is unique in Tanah Lot, as it is intertwined with art and nature, and is less involved with scripture, law and belief.
It is a blend of Hinduism, animism and ancestor worship, thus it is more concerned with local and ancestral spirits than with the traditional cycles of rebirth and reincarnation. Temples are associated with a family house compound, rice fields or geographical sites, and each Tanah Lot people belongs to a temple through descent, residence, or “some mystical revelation of affiliation. The Tanah Lot people see life as a “never-ending dance between the powers of good and evil, order an disorder.”(Their religion tries to find a proper balance between these opposing forces, and thus it fills their entire lives and, thereby, the entire island. Their offerings and rituals are performed in order to soothe the gods, scare away demons, entertain the faithful, and to fill their days with a common purpose).
Culture has always been the island’s strongest attraction, ranging from the beautiful Hindu temples to the dances and traditional arts. Tourism will inevitably have some influence on the cultural traditions of any host community, and this has also happened in Tanah Lot, even when its culture is considered its strongest asset.
With the need to improve the economic welfare of the people, the government decided to develop cultural tourism as part of the National Development Plan. Yet, there were no concerns at the time with any type of cultural impact assessment (and evidently no environmental impact assessment either). As a result, there has been a commercialization of Tanah Lot culture to meet the tourist demands. Sacred temples are overcrowded by foreigners; dances normally performed only every 60 years are now requested and organized by hotels on a weekly basis; many masks, costumes and jewelry used for religious rituals are in great demand in antique shops, and thus handicraft workshops are promoted to produce copies, which upsets many Tanah Lot people.
One of the most recent controversial issues concerning the impact of tourism on culture was the building of a resort area near one of the most sacred temples of Bali, Tanah Lot. Many Balinese felt that this resort would threaten the temple’s “cosmological primacy.” The resort will house a 300-room luxury hotel, an 18-hole golf course, 156 villas, 380 resort homes, and even a spa. Bali’s highest Hindu body, the Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia, decreed in 1989 that any development not related to spiritual needs must be at least two kilometers away from a sacred temple; however, the regulation was never truly enforced. The resort’s plans definitely violated that rule; nevertheless, after much protest from the local Balinese, the government of Indonesia allowed the project to go ahead in mid-1994. The PHDI ended up accepting a compromise that included changing the resort’s logo, which used to be Tanah Lot’s silhouette; relocating small family temples displaced by the golf course at the firm’s expense; and erecting a hill of earth planted with trees to block the view of the hotel from the temple and vice-versa. However, the resort was allowed to remain within the two-kilometer area. At any rate, the area around Tanah Lot has not been a pristine site in recent years. The spectacular sunsets attract enormous crowds, some dressed in “the briefest of shorts and halter-tops,” and nearby there are rows of dilapidated shops and small restaurants, waiting to cater to the 600 daily visitors to the temple. Local people, however, do not see these small- scale and locally owned operations as intruding on the spiritual sacredness of the temple. The resort, on the other hand, was to be owned and managed by outsiders, and therefore would “upset the harmony among man, god and nature.”
Many Balinese, however, feel that their culture is staying alive and well despite the tourism influences. According to I Made Bandem, an ethnomusicologist from the island, tourism is a major source of support for dancers, musicians and artists on the island. The arts are not considered a profession, rather they are used for religious occasions, like temple festivals and other ceremonies. Bandem believes as well that culture needs change, not seclusion, to survive. He sees the Balinese culture accepting influences from other cultures, modifying and transforming them, “making a new art but always based on the old Balinese forms. That is what is unique about Balinese arts.”
The Balinese have accepted new forms and styles of arts introduced by foreigners. Even though some crafts and ancient dances are dying out, like tortoiseshell work, bone and horn carvings, and terracotta figures, new arts are being adopted, such as batik from Java, furniture styles, woodcarvings and masks. These developments, of course tend to offend many purists.
Inevitably, there are negative impacts as well. Beggars are now very common. Beach vendors are pervasive and a nuisance. Some of the best sawahs have been replaced by art shops hoping to profit from tourism. Prostitutes are in evidence, especially in Kuta, although the Balinese say they are immigrants.
Source : http://www.tanahlot.net
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