THE ECONOMIC ORDER

Passive disobedience at first, and Dutch supremacy later, left the princes in the position of impoverished nominal aristocrats, who, despite the fact that they represent the Government, are excluded from the administrative management of the - villages. Through their co-operative societies, the bandjars and subaks, the Balinese have recaptured some of their village autonomy. However, the communal system has suffered considerably in the feudal territories where the princes have held sway; the communal lands sometimes became part of the estate of the local prince, who gave grants of lands to his vassals in exchange for servitude, and gradually ownership of the land in these districts became more and more individualistic, developing a class of organized small landowners. Village ground cannot legally be disposed of, but sawa's have been pawned when there was great need of ready cash. Land has never become a commodity, however, and today the agriculturist is protected to a certain extent by the law forbidding the sale of agricultural lands to foreigners, perhaps one of the wisest laws passed by the Dutch Government.

Economic inequality is not as striking in Bali as elsewhere. Until recently almost everybody wore the same type of clothes, all went barefoot and lived in thatched houses. At first sight they all seemed happy and prosperous. The majority of the population has a roof, enough to eat, and some big silver dollars buried under the earthen floor of the sleeping-quarters. Yet there are some who are' extremely poor while others are considered rich. There are people without lands or a house of their own, living a parasitic life of slavery, a remnant of feudalism, attached to the household of a master and eating whatever is given them. A rich family is one who has sawas, a house with a gate of carved stone, a large rice granary, an ornate family temple, and a well-built pavilion for guests. They may have some fine cloths put awayand heirlooms in the form of gold jewellery, a kris with a gold sheath and handle set with precious stones and a number of silver or gold vessels, all of which can be pawned in one of the Government pawnshops, in case of need.

In general the Balinese have little need of dash to procure the daily necessities of life. Normally the cost of living is extremely low and food and the requirements for shelter are produced by the Balinese themselves. A. meal in a I public eating-place may cost as much as twenty cents, but, having rice, the cash expense for food for an entire family in the home amounts only to a few pennies, perhaps only enough to buy salt and spices. Fruit and vegetables are grown in the gardens ad joinin & the house; pigs, chickens, and ducks are raised at home to be killed Ion special occasions or for offerings which the people themselves eat after the gods have consumed the essence. Fuel consists of the fallen dry leaves and stems of the coconut trees.

The housing problem is simple. Entire families live, together in ancestral compounds, and a modest house can be built almost overnight out of bamboo and thatch at- a very low cost. People without means or without a house simply go to live with a relative, ,(I sharing a kitchen " in exchange for small services and assistance in the general housework, or procure land from the village and gradually build their own household. The daily clothing consists of a kamben, a piece of cotton worn like a skirt, and a head-cloth, with an added shirt or blouse in the more " modern ", districts. A complete ordinary outfit of clothes costs about two guilders ($1.36 at the time of writing) one guilder for the skirt, fifty cents for the headpiece and fifty cents more for the shirt. Amusements are free and transportation is mainly by foot, leaving medicines and luxuries to be bought for cash.

It was always a mystery to us how the Balinese made the money they seemed to spend so lavishly in extravagant festivals and in beautiful clothes. They never appeared to work regularly for wages, and outside of the market, in which alone business was transacted, they never see me & interested in commerce, The men were always busy in the ricefields, but rice cannot be considered an important source of cash income. The Balinese grow rice for personal consumption and for offerings, selling only what is left over from the second planting, which they regard as unfit for offerings to the gods.

Their main source of income is in the sale of cattle and pigs, and of coconuts for making copra; a second source is from coffee, rice,and tobacco which they. sell for export to Chinese middlemen.. The trades and crafts are indidental sources of income and in the markets -one may see people selling pottery, mats, baskets, and so forth-, together with the vendors of vegetables, dried fish, spices, 2nd flowers. Some craftsmen, such as the gold and silver workers, the blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers of palm, and pottery-makers, have regular incomes, but -they remain independent artisans. The Balinese men work for wages only spasmodically and as an adventure. In the larger towns they engage as chauffeurs, clerks, and servants - positions which are regarded as superior. With the affluence of tourists, some now derive an income from the sale of sculptures, paintings, silverwork, weavings, and so forth.

Ruled by the principle of live and let live, landowners allow others without land to share their crop in exchange for help. There are, however, organizations of laborers (seka mejukut) who work the earth for a communal wage. They are paid by time recorded by water-clocks (gandji) similar to those used in cockfights: a half coconut-shell with a small hole in the bottom, placed in a basin of water, the time it takes to sink being the measure. The fees are arranged by the head of the group.

At the present time, however, the economic balance has, temporarily at least, ceased to exist. With taxes and imported commodities on the increase, and the price of Balinese products for export at rock-bottom levels, the whole population has come
to find itself in need of cash, not in kepengs (Chinese cash valued at a fraction of a cent with which they buy the daily necessities), but in Dutch guilders worth from five hundred to seven hundred kepeng according to the exchange. There is no demand for their insignificant products, and the deflated Dutch currency has become harder than ever to obtain.

The Balinese are more and more eager for the " advantages of civilization " in the form of inferior foreign cloth, bicycles, flashlights, aniline dyes, and motor-cars, and if their miserable earnings are not taken away by the Arab merchants it is only because they are already due for back taxes. Besides a tax on each household, there is a sawa tax (pajeg) and a tax (upeti) on dry grounds bearing coconut and coffee trees. The most hated of taxes is that paid every time a Balinese kills a pig, no matter how small, for which needs a certificate, This has led to clandestine slaughter and with it the reduction of the pig supply, and the reward 'promised to denouncers has introduced the element of discord into otherwise unified communities. Dr. Korn, the authority on Balinese sociology, says that the population would prefer an export tax on cattle to the troublesome slaughter tax.

With the relentless drain of the island's, wealth, poverty, too, is on the increase and the Balinese are threatened with -the loss of their lands through failure to pay taxes. They have been forced to sell whatever they possessed of value - antiques, fine brocades, jewellery, and even the bits of gold that decorate their krisses - to tourists and gold-hoarders, while theft and prostitution are on the increase. It is to be feared that if present conditions continue, the simple and well-organized life of the Balinese will be seriously

Bali rice 1, 2, 3 ,4