If you have been living under a rock, have not been watching Australian commercial television, or accessing “what’s hot” from YouTube, you would not know that Bali and Australia have now resumed their long-lost love affair. In the last few decades or so, the relationship between the island of Bali and Australia has been marred by a variety of disasters, such as the Bali bombings and the string of drug smuggling cases, all of which have stirred up high emotions in the Balinese and Australian communities.
The tension ran even higher in the offices of both governments with the handling the damage caused by such incidents. They had to deal with the much-dreaded issue of capital punishment for convicted drug traffickers and terrorists, cautiously, so as not to jeopardize their bilateral and economic relationships. There were individual cases too of violent incidents resulting in the death of young Australians visiting Bali, which did not make it to the media headlines, but which caused sorrow no less burdensome to their friends and families. But now Rhonda has murmured, “Kiss me, Ketut”.
The character of Rhonda is a well-established and mature Australian woman, lounging by the pool on the paradise island, and Ketut is a young Balinese waiter, taking care of her comfort and pleasure, real or imagined. These television advertisements for an insurance company have struck a chord in the Australian psyche, and the populace has embraced them wholeheartedly, as if they are all being reminded that everyone has fallen in love at some stage during a holiday in Bali to some Ketut, or maybe to a Wayan or a Nyoman.
For many Australians, that was the “age of innocence”, flower power’s time, when Bali was undisputedly their second home. Perhaps even a more favorable home because it was a holiday island, where they could let their hair down, with surf, sand and rock‘n’roll. This perception greatly contributed to, even helped form, the development of the tourist in Bali. For the Balinese too, Australians are “family” with a special place on a part of the island, as well as in their hearts. And families do quarrel from time to time over one thing or another, are distanced and separated, but reunited again in the good times.
This time, the reunion is represented by Rhonda and Ketut on the TV ads, which have now spread to YouTube and across the Internet. They have even appeared as crowd cheerers on horse racing days, at soccer games, and you can bet your money on the possibility that there will be a musical theater production of Rhonda and Ketut soon, judging from the many reenactments of their affair shown on social media. But in reality, the love interest of Rhonda and Ketut is an illusory, if not an illusive, one. Even in the TV ads, Rhonda has to wake up, and in the end reality (in the form of a truck) crashes into the back of her car.
Hence, the need to insure your lives for any hope of happiness. By implication, for the romance of Rhonda and Ketut to work, it requires real commitment, a real job and real money to buy the car plus insurance, and hopefully there is some money left to save for a week’s holiday in Bali. Of course, this reality is very well known and well understood by the Australians and the Balinese who have gone through real romances, then continued on to get married or live in a real relationship.
The high number of separation and divorces in Balinese-Australian mixed marriages (much higher than the overall Australian national divorce statistics) could be an indication that successful unions from such different cultures are, indeed, very illusive. But why rock the boat? Why not just let Rhonda be happy spending her no-claim insurance bonus in Bali, with Ketut the waiter attending to her thirst for exotic drinks, perhaps with a squeeze of romance, like the good old days, even if it’s all just an illusion, eh mate?
Ketut Yuliarsa, a poet, lives in Ubud
source : bali daily
Ketut Yuliarsa, a poet, lives in Ubud
source : bali daily
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