A population mainly distributed in the south
The presence of Muslims in Bali, a predominantly Hindu island, can be explained as follows: in the 1930s, 2% of ethnic Balinese Muslims were mercenaries in the former kingdoms. These former serfs, merchants or doctors practiced the traditional exchange of women and occupied uninhabited land under the protection of the local Balinese kings. Later, a new wave of Muslims arrived as civil servants under Dutch rule and settled in, marrying Balinese women or bringing their wives with them. New Muslims arrived in the 1970s as merchants.
As the Island of the Gods depends mainly on tourism, Balinese from the rural north have migrated to the south, where most tourism is concentrated. The capital Denpasar, close to the airport, is the most populous with almost 900,000 million inhabitants. Kuta and Ubud, in the cultural center, are among Bali's top 3 most populated regions. The exception is Singaraja, near Buleleng in the north, with a population of just 100,000.
Many Balinese, who have recently settled in the immediate vicinity of Denpasar, participate in the life of the new banjars , but nevertheless retain links with their banjar of origin, which creates an imbalance in the distribution of social tasks. Originally, the banjar corresponded to a group of houses with its own temple and altar, but nowadays banjars have been dispersed and no longer correspond to a strictly territorial organization. Two banjars may occupy the same territory, and their members may live several kilometers from the core community. It forms a community called banjar suka duka, or "association sharing joy and sorrow". Its specific functions ( ayahan) range from helping one of its members prepare for a wedding or respond to a request from the local government, to building a cremation tower at the cemetery. But these functions also include activities linked to the life of a temple: maintenance, preparation of a ceremony, etc.
An official language, a local dialect and a tourist language
Every modern state needs a common means of communication. This is how the various regional languages of the archipelago gradually and imperceptibly found their way into Bahasa Indonesia, which became the country's official language in 1928. The Second Indonesian Youth Congress encouraged the formation of a unified national language: " Satu nusa, satu bangsa, satu bahasa " (one country, one people, one language). Indonesian(Bahasa Indonesia) is largely derived from Malay, to which it is closely related, and is peppered with Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese and, more recently, French and English, albeit in very small doses. The language is more complex than it seems to a French speaker, with suffixes and affixes added to words to form new ones. Not to mention the level of language, sustained or colloquial, which is very important when communicating with an Indonesian.
In Bali, where children are widely educated, it's very rare for people not to speak Indonesian, except in very poor and remote rural areas. Balinese is spoken by a large proportion of the island's inhabitants, although it tends to be forgotten. The language has several levels related to the caste system and many dialects. Few people, apart from the notables, venture to use it, for fear of committing an offence. Its highly complex script is being lost (almost no Balinese, apart from certain representatives of the Brahmin caste, can write Balinese). The first Balinese writings date back to the 11th century. The script is said to be derived from the Palava script, which originated in southern India.
In Lombok, although Indonesian is widely spoken, Sasak is the language of honor, as over 85% of the population is of this ethnic group. Also known as Bali Sasak, this language of Austronesian origin also includes forms of politeness and derives more directly from Balinese than from Indonesian. Unlike Bali, Lombok's English-speaking inhabitants are few and far between, as the island attracts fewer tourists, so it's worth knowing a few essential formulas in Sasak.
The Bali-Aga of Bali, a resistant minority
The so-called Bali-Aga, or original Balinese, are the communities that escaped the Indo-Javanese influence of Majapahit and the Balinese courts that followed. Their difference lies in two essential points: they have kept their customary laws(Adat) and their land. Some villages, such as Tenganan, still betray their distant customs, which can often be traced back to other Nousantaran customs still in force in the rest of the archipelago, particularly Nusa Tenggara. Aga means mountain, and obviously refers to those places that have been able to escape foreign influences most easily by defending their less accessible lands. Chronicles mention a village called Aga, on the slopes of Mount Raung in East Java, from which Rsi Markandya is said to have come, and who was the founder of the first Besakih temple in the 8th century. Bali-aga culture is said to have been a blend of influences from the west, via Java and its civilizations dating back to before Majapahit, and from the east and northeast, in particular the Nousantarans who inhabited the various islands before arriving in Bali. At the center of the village of Tenganan stands the balé agung, or council pavilion. The Bali-Aga have preserved numerous collective buildings reminiscent of certain architectural and political entities still in use in Sumba or even Kalimantan. The Bali-Aga arts do not include entertainment or musical concerts. Here, art is ritual and corresponds to precise functions and aesthetics. Thus, the beauty of rejang lies more in the atmosphere of grandeur and deference to the ancestors than in the ceremonial clothing and magnificent headdresses made of hammered gold flowers.
