15::Sanur Beach, Bali
2.4.97 Tuesday

Concept of the day: sustainability. What will replace communism as the hope of the masses? Market-driven "progress-at-all-costs" (Suharto) is such a short-term view - as shown by "resettlement" of people from Java to Kalimantan and Iryian Jaya in order to "develop" the area through deforestation, etc.

Yogi has been our guide for 2 days, a tall, friendly Balinese with a crooked smile. He dislikes the corruption and nepotism of Suharto - noting that none of Sukarno’s kids got rich. Golkar (the ruling political party) stands for corruption. He puts his hopes in Megawhati, Sukarno’s daughter. Pancasila, he says, is government lip service. The Lippo Group contributes to U.S. Democrats. Why? To keep the U.S. heat off Suharto.

Balance is much of what Bali is about - god statues are dressed in black and white checked cloth to show the balance between good and evil, the "head and the stomach." (The flowers and the draping show Balinese intimacy with the gods.) In the dances we've seen, the hero never definitively trounces the villain. Good does not conquer evil. Only the balance between the two is restored.

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