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The Dark Side of Paradise: Political Violence in Bali
"The Dark Side of Paradise is an effective attempt to put the politics back into Bali's twentieth-century history. With a sure mastery of both Indonesian and Dutch sources, Robinson analyzes the class tensions between aristocrats and commoners during the late colonial period."--Times Literary Supplement"Robinson's work reaches beyond history, amply illustrating the possibilities of what might be termed a 'comparative historical sociology' approach."--Indonesia"Robinson's incisive, well-written work demolishes the fiction of the 'peaceful Balinese' that pervades academic and popular literature, and, for the first time, places modern political history directly into the middle of Balinese scholarship."--Choice"This is a brilliant book that must be read by anybody interested in modern Indonesia."--Journal of the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology
368 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 1995
15 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey B. Robinson
3 books8 followersGeoffrey B. Robinson is a professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles who writes and teaches about the history of political violence, genocide, human rights, and mass incarceration, primarily in Southeast Asia.
A Canadian, he earned his BA at McGill University and his PhD at Cornell, where he was a student of Benedict Anderson and George Kahin. Before coming to UCLA in 1997, Robinson worked for six years at Amnesty International’s Research Department in London, and in 1999 he served as a Political Affairs Officer with the United Nations in Dili, East Timor.
His books include The Dark Side of Paradise: Political Violence in Bali and “If You Leave Us Here, We Will Die”: How Genocide Was Stopped in East Timor (Princeton).
A Canadian, he earned his BA at McGill University and his PhD at Cornell, where he was a student of Benedict Anderson and George Kahin. Before coming to UCLA in 1997, Robinson worked for six years at Amnesty International’s Research Department in London, and in 1999 he served as a Political Affairs Officer with the United Nations in Dili, East Timor.
His books include The Dark Side of Paradise: Political Violence in Bali and “If You Leave Us Here, We Will Die”: How Genocide Was Stopped in East Timor (Princeton).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 18, 2008
good book, for shitty head Balinese. who don't know shit about the dark side. apa yang saya pelajari di sekolah tentang sejarah bali,NOTHING! dari buku ini, saya tau kalo ada gubernur bali I.B.Soetedja yang hilang, saya menjadi tau kalo orang bali yang terkenal ramah dan sangat berbudaya bisa menjadi begitu kejam terhadap saudara2nya sendiri yang dituduh komunis,spt: pemenggalan oleh tameng,pembakaran, pemerkosaan (terutama yg dilakukan oleh adik dari Wedastra Suyasa.eat your heart out arya weda!). tentang bali yang pengekspor budak terbesar di nusantara, sampai sekarang? (raja2 bali sangat diuntungkan dari bisnis ini). tentang raja2 yang memihak Belanda, tentang gerombolan bersenjata pengacau keamanan.dan masih banyak lagi. Bacalah buku ini dengan kepala yang dingin, dan dengan waktu yang luang.
July 12, 2020
Geoffrey Robinson berhasil menampilkan narasi sejarah Bali yang apa adanya. Buku ini membahas Bali secara tuntas, dan menjelaskan mengapa Bali ada seperti sekarang ini.
October 1, 2025
Correcting an image
There’s the tourist Hawaii we’ve all seen in magazines, in movies, on the Internet and in tourist brochures—the things we know, or think we know—hula, grass skirts, surfing, a luau, flower leis, ukuleles tinkling. And then there’s Hawai’i, a stolen nation, the original inhabitants pushed aside, their language struggling to survive, bases, American rules, American problems. But Hawai’i is not the only place that has been sold as a tourist paradise, a cultural “wonderland”. Bali is right up there too. From early in the twentieth century, Bali entranced the few Westerners who managed to get there. Their tales brought more and eventually a flood of tourists from all over the developed world poured into that famed island of sculpture, gamelan, dancing, a gracious religion, painting, beaches and flowers, and of course, beautiful, bare-breasted maidens. Was/is that peaceful island the real Bali? Westerners, the colonial Dutch government and later the Indonesian government said “yes”.
Geoffrey Robinson says “no!” emphatically. He points out in painstaking detail that an examination of Bali’s history shows nearly constant fighting between the island’s many small kingdoms over the centuries, fighting with the Dutch at the start of the 20th century, various rebellions against those colonial rulers, World War II, and at last the huge massacre of Communists and suspected Communists in 1965.
One of the key points he makes is that unlike many places, Bali’s conflicts and violence occurred among Balinese, not against outsiders. Even fighting with the Dutch often involved Balinese on both sides. “In twentieth century Bali there have been at least two types of state authority beneath the various central [governments]: those with their [center] in the island’s individual kingdoms and those encompassing the entire island….” (p.12) Conflict has dwelt in both types and Balinese might give their loyalty to either type. Because the second type has consistently been weaker, he says, that has led to recurring conflict and the absence of a strong regional or ethnic-based movement as in some other parts of Indonesia. So, despite having the appearance of an exotic lotus-eating land, the author says that his objective is “to demystify Bali, to take the romance out, and to restore to their rightful place, the conflict and the violence that have characterized the island’s politics on and off throughout the twentieth century.” (p.18)
And that’s what he does.
A lot of that process is to explain why the outward peace and order of the colonial era could lead to civil war. The Dutch looked unfavorably on much of traditional society and tried to reform it for greater “efficiency”. They disparaged the “inefficient” elite, but still allied themselves with them. The Dutch manufactured a new Balinese tradition and imposed it during the 1920s and 1930s. They saw their rule in Bali as threatened by social unrest, caste conflict, anti-feudal intellectuals, and the decay of some socio-cultural practices that would bolster Dutch rule if preserved. So, in line with this thinking, they set about bolstering the rajas of the eight traditional kingdoms on this small island, thus making allies who already commanded much loyalty among the people. The colonial rulers tried to “freeze” Balinese culture and society by decree, almost turning it into an ethnographic preserve where modern education was scarce and “tradition” much honored.
At the same time, economic conditions worsened in the 1930s. Landlessness rose. Industry was not even a blip on the horizon. Suddenly, in 1942, the Japanese occupied Bali along with the rest of the Dutch East Indies. Bali experienced forced labor and the expropriation of products leasing to hunger and privation. At the same time, though, the Japanese encouraged anti-Dutch or anti-colonial feelings. (They didn’t count their rule as colonial!) Youth groups formed that would play a part in the post-war struggle between Indonesian nationalists and the returning Dutch who wanted to continue their rule. But because the peasants and lower levels of society were just surviving, those who supported the independence movement were largely among the relatively well-off. Various movements and reactions to the fluid situation grew after 1945. The author details them, his point being that a return to the past was unlikely.
Many Indonesians across the vast archipelago supported independence, but by no means all of them (similar to the USA in 1775-80). A similar situation was guaranteed in Bali where there had never been an island-wide government, where different rulers steered their subjects in different directions. The Dutch had continually viewed the Balinese as apolitical and non-violent: you can say that these colonial rulers were victims of their own propaganda. However, the independence struggle in Bali turned out to be a civil war of pro-Dutch and anti-Dutch factions.
A large section of the book thereafter details painstakingly the events after Independence in 1949, a study of the maneuvering of three major post-independence parties for power in Bali. We find dozens of names, of initials of various organizations and learn of actions and influences in Balinese politics in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Polarization occurred during the struggle for state power among the Nationalists, the Socialists, and the Communists. By the early 1960s, economic conditions had degenerated, leading to increased support of the Left. Land reform was needed and the poorer sections of society would support any party calling for such a move. At the same time, the armed forces in Bali did not encourage any kind of regional or ethnic consciousness as they did in other parts of the country, thus their presence and influence encouraged political divisions in Bali. That is, instead of uniting as Balinese to demand better conditions, the Balinese split among themselves guaranteeing that local conflicts would become dominant.
If you read this excellent and very-well researched book, you will arrive at the massacre of Communists and alleged Communists in Bali that occurred after the military coup in Jakarta that dislodged Sukarno and led to the physical elimination of the Communist party in one of the bloodiest events of the 20th century (though there are so many rivals). In Dec. 1965 and January 1966, some 80,000 Balinese were killed, both for being Communist or for being rivals of their killers, who took advantage of the situation to get rid of them. (If we imagine this percent of the population being killed in the USA, it would be roughly 16 million people!) The total throughout Indonesia was at least a million.
The gradual process that led up to this violent denouement is what you will read if you take up Robinson’s book. If you are interested in the topic, you can’t go wrong here.
There’s the tourist Hawaii we’ve all seen in magazines, in movies, on the Internet and in tourist brochures—the things we know, or think we know—hula, grass skirts, surfing, a luau, flower leis, ukuleles tinkling. And then there’s Hawai’i, a stolen nation, the original inhabitants pushed aside, their language struggling to survive, bases, American rules, American problems. But Hawai’i is not the only place that has been sold as a tourist paradise, a cultural “wonderland”. Bali is right up there too. From early in the twentieth century, Bali entranced the few Westerners who managed to get there. Their tales brought more and eventually a flood of tourists from all over the developed world poured into that famed island of sculpture, gamelan, dancing, a gracious religion, painting, beaches and flowers, and of course, beautiful, bare-breasted maidens. Was/is that peaceful island the real Bali? Westerners, the colonial Dutch government and later the Indonesian government said “yes”.
Geoffrey Robinson says “no!” emphatically. He points out in painstaking detail that an examination of Bali’s history shows nearly constant fighting between the island’s many small kingdoms over the centuries, fighting with the Dutch at the start of the 20th century, various rebellions against those colonial rulers, World War II, and at last the huge massacre of Communists and suspected Communists in 1965.
One of the key points he makes is that unlike many places, Bali’s conflicts and violence occurred among Balinese, not against outsiders. Even fighting with the Dutch often involved Balinese on both sides. “In twentieth century Bali there have been at least two types of state authority beneath the various central [governments]: those with their [center] in the island’s individual kingdoms and those encompassing the entire island….” (p.12) Conflict has dwelt in both types and Balinese might give their loyalty to either type. Because the second type has consistently been weaker, he says, that has led to recurring conflict and the absence of a strong regional or ethnic-based movement as in some other parts of Indonesia. So, despite having the appearance of an exotic lotus-eating land, the author says that his objective is “to demystify Bali, to take the romance out, and to restore to their rightful place, the conflict and the violence that have characterized the island’s politics on and off throughout the twentieth century.” (p.18)
And that’s what he does.
A lot of that process is to explain why the outward peace and order of the colonial era could lead to civil war. The Dutch looked unfavorably on much of traditional society and tried to reform it for greater “efficiency”. They disparaged the “inefficient” elite, but still allied themselves with them. The Dutch manufactured a new Balinese tradition and imposed it during the 1920s and 1930s. They saw their rule in Bali as threatened by social unrest, caste conflict, anti-feudal intellectuals, and the decay of some socio-cultural practices that would bolster Dutch rule if preserved. So, in line with this thinking, they set about bolstering the rajas of the eight traditional kingdoms on this small island, thus making allies who already commanded much loyalty among the people. The colonial rulers tried to “freeze” Balinese culture and society by decree, almost turning it into an ethnographic preserve where modern education was scarce and “tradition” much honored.
At the same time, economic conditions worsened in the 1930s. Landlessness rose. Industry was not even a blip on the horizon. Suddenly, in 1942, the Japanese occupied Bali along with the rest of the Dutch East Indies. Bali experienced forced labor and the expropriation of products leasing to hunger and privation. At the same time, though, the Japanese encouraged anti-Dutch or anti-colonial feelings. (They didn’t count their rule as colonial!) Youth groups formed that would play a part in the post-war struggle between Indonesian nationalists and the returning Dutch who wanted to continue their rule. But because the peasants and lower levels of society were just surviving, those who supported the independence movement were largely among the relatively well-off. Various movements and reactions to the fluid situation grew after 1945. The author details them, his point being that a return to the past was unlikely.
Many Indonesians across the vast archipelago supported independence, but by no means all of them (similar to the USA in 1775-80). A similar situation was guaranteed in Bali where there had never been an island-wide government, where different rulers steered their subjects in different directions. The Dutch had continually viewed the Balinese as apolitical and non-violent: you can say that these colonial rulers were victims of their own propaganda. However, the independence struggle in Bali turned out to be a civil war of pro-Dutch and anti-Dutch factions.
A large section of the book thereafter details painstakingly the events after Independence in 1949, a study of the maneuvering of three major post-independence parties for power in Bali. We find dozens of names, of initials of various organizations and learn of actions and influences in Balinese politics in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Polarization occurred during the struggle for state power among the Nationalists, the Socialists, and the Communists. By the early 1960s, economic conditions had degenerated, leading to increased support of the Left. Land reform was needed and the poorer sections of society would support any party calling for such a move. At the same time, the armed forces in Bali did not encourage any kind of regional or ethnic consciousness as they did in other parts of the country, thus their presence and influence encouraged political divisions in Bali. That is, instead of uniting as Balinese to demand better conditions, the Balinese split among themselves guaranteeing that local conflicts would become dominant.
If you read this excellent and very-well researched book, you will arrive at the massacre of Communists and alleged Communists in Bali that occurred after the military coup in Jakarta that dislodged Sukarno and led to the physical elimination of the Communist party in one of the bloodiest events of the 20th century (though there are so many rivals). In Dec. 1965 and January 1966, some 80,000 Balinese were killed, both for being Communist or for being rivals of their killers, who took advantage of the situation to get rid of them. (If we imagine this percent of the population being killed in the USA, it would be roughly 16 million people!) The total throughout Indonesia was at least a million.
The gradual process that led up to this violent denouement is what you will read if you take up Robinson’s book. If you are interested in the topic, you can’t go wrong here.
December 23, 2012
Robinson's gave insight about Bali which contradict common and popular believe about Bali. Well written.
June 28, 2013
This book has remained me how sometimes I use the word "traditional" loosely without really knowing the meaning and its consequences. Sometimes I thought I know what I am talking about, but then realized that actually what I just said was just repeating one's article or book without really understand about the thing that I talked about. I think this book has helped me to be careful about describing place, person or something that I think I know.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews