Battle of Puputan Celebrations: Bali

Being in Bali between the months of September and December this year will be an exciting one with celebrations planned for the commemoration of the Battle of Puputan which occurred in 1906.

The Battle of Puputan was sparked by the sinking of a Dutch ship in 1904. The Dutch blamed the loss of the loads on Badung people. After fruitless negotiations, governor-general van Heutz deployed his troops to the southern coast of Bali in 1906.The king led his people into battle, which took place over seven days; many were killed and Badung was defeated. The prince, who was 11 years old, was exiled to Lombok.

Food festivals and traditional dance festivals as well as a golf tournament amongst others are planned as part of the celebrations. Here is a small article from the JP explaining all about it including an excellent website:

Battle of Puputan to be Commemorated: Bali

The 10th king of Denpasar, Ida Tjokorda Ngurah Jambe Pemecutan, told a press conference that the fighting spirit of the Battle of Puputan in 1906 between the Dutch and Badung kingdom has inspired efforts to lift Bali out of its economic slump.

Therefore seizing the moment to help recover the Bali economy, the Association of Indonesian Female Entrepreneurs(IWAPI) and Indo-PR will hold a series of events there from September through December.

Billed 100 tahun Perang Puputan Bali (100 years since the Battle of Puputan in Bali) the events will include a golf tournament, trade bazaar, Nusantara food festival, traditional dance festival and Puputan heritage exhibition.

"There will be about 260 booths in the bazaar mainly from small and medium sized enterprises and members of IWAPI" Indo-PR president director Damayanti Hakim Tohir said. "Mostly they will sell handicrafts."

The Puputan Heritage will take place at the former Badung palace which now serves as the governor's residence. There will be dozens of permanent artifacts on display. In addition the organizer is negotiating with a museum in Leiden to bring some Puputan artifacts to Denpasar.

For the dance festival the committee has asked seasoned dancers Retno Maruti and Bulan Tisna Djelantik to perform. Both dancers performed an extraordinary collaboration last month in Jakarta.

The Battle of Puputan was sparked by the sinking of a Dutch ship in 1904. The Dutch blamed the loss of the loads on Badung people. After fruitless negotiations, governor-general van Heutz deployed his troops to the southern coast of Bali in 1906.

The king led his people into battle, which took place over seven days; many were killed and Badung was defeated. The prince, who was 11 years old, was exiled to Lombok.

The organizing committee has managed to obtain a reproduction of 200 Battle of Puputan pictures taken by Dutch soldiers. The originals are kept in Leiden.

The committee plans to publish a bilingual coffee-table book containing pictures and the story of the Battle of Puputan as part of the series.

On the Net: www.100tahunpuputan.com secretariat@100tahunpuputan.com