Living As A Christian Balinese

Sadly, there are those who are not as tolerant. Due to the intertwined nature of Balinese identity and Hindu religion, some interpret those who abandon the Hindu faith as no longer Balinese. For them our practice of Balinese culture seems as copy cat practice. At best we are misguided in our attempt to preserve something no longer ours. At worst, we are impostor who deliberately blurred Hindu and Christian identity in order to proselytize.

Globalization led reactionary ideas to take steam in response to influx of outside culture among Balinese. It gave a sense of urgency to defend their identity. Internet also amplify their voice of intolerance. There were attempts to enforce the cultural distinction between 'true' Balinese (i.e. Hindu) and 'false' ones. These attempts, in effect, reject the legitimacy of our identification to Balinese identity and culture. In short, they reject our very existence as invalid.

This is my reality and everyday life. And, sadly, I see the same pattern popping up both nationally and internationally.

There are social and political forces that attempt to enforce identity stereotype and, by so doing, shrink its definition. In Indonesia, former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja 'Ahok' Purnama lost an election largely due to him being Christian and of Chinese descend in predominantly Javanese Muslim electorate. In United States, Donald Trump shrink the American identity to exclude Latinos and Muslims.

No community can claim to be universal victims. We are all perpetrators and victims in different parts of the world. However, almost universally, minorities and marginalized people are always the victims.

To be fair, the perpetrators of these actions are not doing so out of malice. They are frightened. The ever globalized world led them to feel threatened over their fragile sense of identity. One wrong first encounter could lead an ignorant person to fear and turn that fear to hate.

To break this cycle of fear and hate we must address the stereotype so ingrained in our collective minds. We must understand not all people, and indeed most people don't, fit into our boxes of identity and definitions. Not all Christians are Western, not all Balinese are Hindus, not all Muslims are Arabs, not all whites are white supremacists, not all men are misogynists, and so on. Peace will be achieved when we understand people as who they are, not as who we expect them to be.

Coming from this unique small community of Christian Balinese has given me this perspective: stereotypes are not always true. They exists for a reason, mostly statistical, but outliers are not to be neglected. They exists and their existence must be acknowledge to be as valid as everyone else's.

This writing has been published previously here. It is translated by request and edited to fit a more international audience.