Making Sense of Modernity in Colonial Bali: The Polemic Between Bali Adnjana and Surya Kanta (1920s)

International audienceStarting in 1917, several organizations were established in Singaraja, whose members started publishing journals, a complete novelty for Bali. Written in Malay, these publications provided a forum where the emerging Balinese intellectual elite could confront the changes which they were facing as a result of increasing interference by the colonial government in native affairs.<br />The polemic opposing triwangsa and jaba - expressed through their respective mouthpieces Bali Adnjana (1924-1930) and Surya Kanta (1925-1927) - has been much publicized, even if it yet remains to be thoroughly investigated. At first sight, one would be inclined to see the jaba as the forerunners of modernity and progress, which would leave the triwangsa as the proponents of tradition and conservatism. But things are not as clear-cut, as both factions were claiming to be "progress-minded" (madjoe), all the while showing a similar concern over asserting their identity as Balinese. In these journals, Balinese identity - called Kebalian - was construed as being based on agama and on adat. Yet, if triwangsa and jaba shared a common reference to agama and adat, as the pillars of Kebalian, they diverged as to how their respective domains were related. Whereas Bali Adnjana wished to strengthen both agama and adat, Surya Kanta wanted to invigorate agama but to get rid of whatever in adat was deemed incompatible with progress. That is, for the former, Balinese religion was based on the traditional social order, within which agama was inseparable from adat, while for the latter, religion could and should be dissociated from a traditional order seen not only as unfair, but also as an obstacle to progress