“There is something very special about Bali...
...and special about Uluwatu Lace.”
I know, because I wrote those lines and used them in marketing for Uluwatu Boutiques
for years. They were very effective.
I created a whole world around them, a vision of an idealized Bali, and tourists
loved it.
At the center of it I created a fictional character—named after my wife, Ni
Made Jati—who courageously founded and built Uluwatu Boutiques with her sisters
through years of hard work. The entire story of the Uluwatu marketing campaign can
be found HERE.
The story is fictious, of course, but through the events related in Eleven Demons
the story became real, and as it turns out, it was not so hard to do. All of us—expatriate
and Balinese alike—want to believe so much in a place like Bali.
Bali really is a special case
But Bali really is a special case if we consider legal problems. Throughout Indonesian legal institutions
Bali is often regarded as the most corrupt, collusive, and resistant to oversight from the reform commissions in Jakarta.
The reasons are clear; we discussed them earlier in the Mafia Hukum. A tremendous amount of money flows into Bali,
both legally from tourists and expatriates eager to invest, and illegally from money laundering and narcotics.
The investors don’t speak Indonesian, don’t understand Indonesian law, and are uniquely naive and ready to believe.
Bali as we would like it to be...
Bali is
- spiritual,
- creative,
- trendy,
- safe,
- artistic,
- honest,
- natural,
- eco-conscious,
- friendly,
- stylish,
- sensual...
or whatever else you like.
And because Bali is so special, everyone who visits Bali wants a little piece of
it, to experience a special smile, to meet a special person, to receive a special
insight into a world of spirit closed to us in our ordinary life .
We want to believe. But what we end up believing isn’t Bali; it is a world of our own making, a reflection
of ourselves.
Can’t we buy a little of that?
That’s what makes us such easy victims; we come along willingly.
It broke my heart...
I have been ripped off by a driver I hired while in Bali.
This exchange appeared recently in my LinkedIn group forum:
David: He emailed after I returned home and offered to ship me some Bali coffee.
I never received the coffee after I sent him the money via Western Union. He then
began begging me for more money claiming his son was sick. I have this person’s
address, email, phone, a photo of him and his employers information. Should I report
him to the police in Bali? Is there any hope of getting my money back? I feel duped.
He was very friendly in Bali and seemed honest.
David: After we returned home a friend said she was approached by a tour guide about
his daughter's school tuition and wanted $300.00 or more to help out since he was
so “poor”. I wonder just how poverty stricken these shysters really are? My driver
even took me to his home to show me how bad his living conditions were. It broke
my heart: one room, small TV, no furniture to speak of and I met his wife who was
skinny and wore what looked like second hand clothes. Being American I was grief
stricken and decided to help the guy make a little money on the side. I feel like
a sucker of course but these people were destitute. Thank you Desley for setting
the record straight.