01-29-2005, 05:31 AM
Reform is inevitable: News from Bali
<b>Priests call for a halt to sea turtle slaughter</b>
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?
fileid=20050127.P01&irec=1
It clearly was not an ordinary day. The morning sun radiated a warm
glow that softly embraced the spacious patch of plush green grass in
front of the office of the local education agency in Renon. At the
same time, a light drizzle wet the ground while a strong breeze set
the nearly pine trees swaying gently.
"That's what usually happens when a large number of high priests
gather in one place," said the secretary of Bali's Hindu Dharma
Parisadha, Made Mayor Sudharsana. .
"It is a sign that Mother Nature has bestowed her blessing upon this
meeting," he said.
Interestingly, the meeting he was referring to had a lot to do with
nature. Co-organized by the local branch of the Hindu Dharma
Parisadha (the Hindu religion's governing body in Bali) and the WWF
(Worldwide Fund for Nature), a global conservation non-governmental
organization, the meeting on Jan. 15 was focused on the conservation
and protection of sea turtles.
It was a unique meeting due to the presence of at least 29
influential Hindu high priests from East Java, Bali and Lombok.
"This pesamuhan (gathering) is the first of its kind. Never before
has such a large gathering of respected high priests been called to
discuss the issue of turtle conservation," the chairman of the Bali
Parisadha, I Made Artha, noted.
It was not an easy task to secure the participation of all the high
priests. There were "political" obstacles; the fact that Artha's
Parisadha is not the only Parisadha on the island and the existence
of slight feelings of mutual antipathy between the Pedanda (high
priest of the Brahmin caste) and the Sri Empu (high priest of the
Pasek caste). There were also more practical problems, mainly due to
the tight schedules of the high priests.
"Fortunately, despite all those obstacles, all the high priests
eventually agreed to attend the meeting, even those who supported
the other Parisadha," said WWF's turtle campaign leader Ida Bagus
Windia Adnyana.
Windia was the person responsible for contacting all the high
priests. The fact that he was born into a respected Brahmin family
and is thus a candidate for the high priesthood himself, and is well-
versed in religious scriptures obviously played a critical role in
his ability to win over all the high priests.
"The Pesamuhan went so well that all of those problems mean nothing
now," he added.
The meeting did indeed go surprisingly well. WWF Indonesia's
executive director Mubariq Ahmad gave a chilling presentation on how
the island's turtle trade and consumption, which by the late 1990s
resulted in over 20,000 sea turtles being slaughtered per year, was
not only robbing the island of its turtle population but was also
creating ecological strains in numerous sea turtle habitats around
the country, such as in Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
The presentation apparently brought about a sudden realization of
the crisis facing sea turtles on the part of the dozens of Hindu
intellectuals and community leaders attending the meeting.
"I never knew that our tradition (of consuming turtle meat) could
have such grave ecological impacts in other places," admitted Sri
Wahyuni, one of the participants.
For decades, Bali has been the center of the country's illegal
turtle trade. Despite all the regulations and law enforcement
efforts, between 500 and 1,000 turtles are still illegally imported
into the island each month.
Various elements of Balinese society, particularly turtle poachers
and traders in the island's main turtle ports of Serangan and
Tanjung Benoa, have justified, and thus perpetuated, the trade by
claiming that turtle meat is an essential part of Balinese Hindu
sacrificial rituals.
According to those involved in the turtle trade, those who sought to
protect and conserve turtles were, in fact, trying to destroy the
island's cultural and religious heritage. Such arguments have placed
local conservation NGOs and law enforcement agencies on a
perpetually frustrating defensive footing for years.
The meeting changed all this.
"Only the biggest sacrificial rituals require turtle meat. By the
biggest, I mean rituals aimed at cleansing the island or the world,
certainly not rituals or offerings at the family level. In this
context, Hindu rituals only need between 100 and 200 turtles per
year," stressed the chairman of the Sabha Pandita (Council of High
Priests) of the Indonesia Parisadha, Ida Pedanda Sebali Tianyar
Arimbawa.
Meanwhile, another high priest, Ida Pedanda Gde Bang Buruan Manuaba,
a passionate conservationist, boldly stated that turtle meat could
be substituted for by turtle rice cakes or pictures of turtles.
Another alternative was to use a live turtle for the ritual and then
release it back into the ocean once the ceremony was over.
"These alternatives are not new as they are mentioned in various
ancient scriptures. I have put it into practice. I have conducted a
Caru Satya Ahimsa sacrificial ritual, in which no animal was killed,
and I have also officiated at a ceremony in Yangapi village, Tabanan
that involved live sea turtles. At the end of the ceremony, I
released these sacred turtles back into the ocean," he said.
Buruan Manuaba stressed that Hinduism was a religion that not only
respected life but also cherished and celebrated it.
"The international NGOs have dubbed the turtle trade in Bali
as "Slaughter in Paradise". We must work to show them that life
starts in paradise, not death," he told.
"It is simply a matter of educating the Hindu faithful to stop using
religious pretexts for non-religious purposes. If they use turtle
meat for meals during traditional parties, then they should be
honest and admit that they need the turtles for personal consumption
rather than for religious offerings," the influential Ida Pedanda
Gde Sebali Kenatan of Lombok stated.
At the end of the meeting, the high priests issued a seven-point
recommendation, which, among other things, asked Balinese Hindus to
stop using turtle meat during in religious ceremonies until such
time as the turtle population was deemed stable by the government.
"We will present the recommendation at the next Mahasabha (grand
convention) of all the country's Parisadha in March in Lampung.
There is a good possibility that the Mahasabha will agree to adopt
the recommendation as a Bhisama (religious decree)," Ida Pedanda
Sebali Tianyar Arimbawa stated.
Securing the high priests' support was clearly a major victory for
the conservation NGOs, turtle activists and law enforcement
agencies. Not only that, it was also a major triumph for Balinese
Hinduism.
<b>"Today, we see that our high priests have courageously taken the
first step in revitalizing our religion so that it contains a body
of teachings and, most importantly, practices that place the life
and well-being of all living things above selfish, petty rituals. To
a large extent, it will be a journey back into what Hinduism once
was, a religion of compassion and enlightenment," said young Hindu
activist Cokorda Yudhistira.</b>
<b>Priests call for a halt to sea turtle slaughter</b>
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?
fileid=20050127.P01&irec=1
It clearly was not an ordinary day. The morning sun radiated a warm
glow that softly embraced the spacious patch of plush green grass in
front of the office of the local education agency in Renon. At the
same time, a light drizzle wet the ground while a strong breeze set
the nearly pine trees swaying gently.
"That's what usually happens when a large number of high priests
gather in one place," said the secretary of Bali's Hindu Dharma
Parisadha, Made Mayor Sudharsana. .
"It is a sign that Mother Nature has bestowed her blessing upon this
meeting," he said.
Interestingly, the meeting he was referring to had a lot to do with
nature. Co-organized by the local branch of the Hindu Dharma
Parisadha (the Hindu religion's governing body in Bali) and the WWF
(Worldwide Fund for Nature), a global conservation non-governmental
organization, the meeting on Jan. 15 was focused on the conservation
and protection of sea turtles.
It was a unique meeting due to the presence of at least 29
influential Hindu high priests from East Java, Bali and Lombok.
"This pesamuhan (gathering) is the first of its kind. Never before
has such a large gathering of respected high priests been called to
discuss the issue of turtle conservation," the chairman of the Bali
Parisadha, I Made Artha, noted.
It was not an easy task to secure the participation of all the high
priests. There were "political" obstacles; the fact that Artha's
Parisadha is not the only Parisadha on the island and the existence
of slight feelings of mutual antipathy between the Pedanda (high
priest of the Brahmin caste) and the Sri Empu (high priest of the
Pasek caste). There were also more practical problems, mainly due to
the tight schedules of the high priests.
"Fortunately, despite all those obstacles, all the high priests
eventually agreed to attend the meeting, even those who supported
the other Parisadha," said WWF's turtle campaign leader Ida Bagus
Windia Adnyana.
Windia was the person responsible for contacting all the high
priests. The fact that he was born into a respected Brahmin family
and is thus a candidate for the high priesthood himself, and is well-
versed in religious scriptures obviously played a critical role in
his ability to win over all the high priests.
"The Pesamuhan went so well that all of those problems mean nothing
now," he added.
The meeting did indeed go surprisingly well. WWF Indonesia's
executive director Mubariq Ahmad gave a chilling presentation on how
the island's turtle trade and consumption, which by the late 1990s
resulted in over 20,000 sea turtles being slaughtered per year, was
not only robbing the island of its turtle population but was also
creating ecological strains in numerous sea turtle habitats around
the country, such as in Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
The presentation apparently brought about a sudden realization of
the crisis facing sea turtles on the part of the dozens of Hindu
intellectuals and community leaders attending the meeting.
"I never knew that our tradition (of consuming turtle meat) could
have such grave ecological impacts in other places," admitted Sri
Wahyuni, one of the participants.
For decades, Bali has been the center of the country's illegal
turtle trade. Despite all the regulations and law enforcement
efforts, between 500 and 1,000 turtles are still illegally imported
into the island each month.
Various elements of Balinese society, particularly turtle poachers
and traders in the island's main turtle ports of Serangan and
Tanjung Benoa, have justified, and thus perpetuated, the trade by
claiming that turtle meat is an essential part of Balinese Hindu
sacrificial rituals.
According to those involved in the turtle trade, those who sought to
protect and conserve turtles were, in fact, trying to destroy the
island's cultural and religious heritage. Such arguments have placed
local conservation NGOs and law enforcement agencies on a
perpetually frustrating defensive footing for years.
The meeting changed all this.
"Only the biggest sacrificial rituals require turtle meat. By the
biggest, I mean rituals aimed at cleansing the island or the world,
certainly not rituals or offerings at the family level. In this
context, Hindu rituals only need between 100 and 200 turtles per
year," stressed the chairman of the Sabha Pandita (Council of High
Priests) of the Indonesia Parisadha, Ida Pedanda Sebali Tianyar
Arimbawa.
Meanwhile, another high priest, Ida Pedanda Gde Bang Buruan Manuaba,
a passionate conservationist, boldly stated that turtle meat could
be substituted for by turtle rice cakes or pictures of turtles.
Another alternative was to use a live turtle for the ritual and then
release it back into the ocean once the ceremony was over.
"These alternatives are not new as they are mentioned in various
ancient scriptures. I have put it into practice. I have conducted a
Caru Satya Ahimsa sacrificial ritual, in which no animal was killed,
and I have also officiated at a ceremony in Yangapi village, Tabanan
that involved live sea turtles. At the end of the ceremony, I
released these sacred turtles back into the ocean," he said.
Buruan Manuaba stressed that Hinduism was a religion that not only
respected life but also cherished and celebrated it.
"The international NGOs have dubbed the turtle trade in Bali
as "Slaughter in Paradise". We must work to show them that life
starts in paradise, not death," he told.
"It is simply a matter of educating the Hindu faithful to stop using
religious pretexts for non-religious purposes. If they use turtle
meat for meals during traditional parties, then they should be
honest and admit that they need the turtles for personal consumption
rather than for religious offerings," the influential Ida Pedanda
Gde Sebali Kenatan of Lombok stated.
At the end of the meeting, the high priests issued a seven-point
recommendation, which, among other things, asked Balinese Hindus to
stop using turtle meat during in religious ceremonies until such
time as the turtle population was deemed stable by the government.
"We will present the recommendation at the next Mahasabha (grand
convention) of all the country's Parisadha in March in Lampung.
There is a good possibility that the Mahasabha will agree to adopt
the recommendation as a Bhisama (religious decree)," Ida Pedanda
Sebali Tianyar Arimbawa stated.
Securing the high priests' support was clearly a major victory for
the conservation NGOs, turtle activists and law enforcement
agencies. Not only that, it was also a major triumph for Balinese
Hinduism.
<b>"Today, we see that our high priests have courageously taken the
first step in revitalizing our religion so that it contains a body
of teachings and, most importantly, practices that place the life
and well-being of all living things above selfish, petty rituals. To
a large extent, it will be a journey back into what Hinduism once
was, a religion of compassion and enlightenment," said young Hindu
activist Cokorda Yudhistira.</b>