The Magallanes World Study Tour 2.0 (MWST 2.0) made its fifth stop at Station 5 — Bali, Indonesia on 7 November 2022 via Zoom. The virtual study tour was also live-streamed on Facebook and it successfully attracted more than 300 participants from various universities.

Aiming to provide participants from all around the world the opportunity to experience the world heritage sites recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and cultural assets of Bali, UTAR joined hands with Universitas Warmadewa (UNWAR), Indonesia to present the topic titled “Legacy of Our Great Past”.

The virtual study tour began when the moderator, who is also a UNWAR academic, Ida Bagus Gede Parama Putra welcomed the participants with a brief introduction to the university regarding its origin of name, history, structures, faculties and programmes offered. Along with the introduction, videos of their projects including the “Joint Workshop Bamboo” and Bamboo Competition were played to give some insights to the participants on the creativity and innovation brought along with their students’ structural designs which were based on bamboo.

The show was passed to the main speaker of the day, UNWAR Head of Department of Architecture Dr I Nyoman Gede Maha Putra, who shed light on Balinese heritage. According to him, Candi Borobudur is one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world which is recognised by UNESCO. It is located in Central Java, which is the third-largest island in Indonesia. Dr Maha Putra shared that the name ‘Borobudur’ was written initially as ‘Bore-Budur’ by Stamford Raffles who also founded modern Singapore. Some possible reasons for the temple’s abandonment were also discussed, including the emigration of the capital of the Medang Kingdom to East Java due to volcanic eruptions and the mass conversion from Buddhism to Islam in the 15th century. Left with it were the wonders that remain to these days and its glory faded as years flew by. As the aftermath, folk stories which depict superstitious beliefs associated with bad lucks supposedly brought by the monument of the temple began to surface and resulted in various chronicles being circulated among the general public.

Dr Maha Putra stated that Candi Borobudur is slightly larger than a football field. It was largely built with rocks from the surroundings of the temple and stacked on top of one another without the use of cement as adhesive material. It was considered as a source for souvenirs by many. In 1896, King Chulalongkorn of Siam made a visit to Java and took home various sculptures from the temples with permission from the Balinese authorities. Before concluding his explanation, he introduced the stupas of the temple, which were categorised into three levels, namely Kamadhatu, Rupadhatu and Arupadhatu. The Kamadhatu level was once said to comprise erotic content and mural a long time ago, but the content had since been covered up by the Indonesian government.

Next, the unique Subak system in Jatiluwih of Bali is deemed a world heritage site by UNESCO. It is a traditional irrigation system utilised by Balinese farmers to grow crops, particularly rice paddy. It was even symbolised by Balinese people as a socio-agricultural-religious with high determination and enthusiasm. Dr Maha Putra clarified that the system can be used interchangeably to grow not only rice paddy, but also crops like corn and cassava when the water is directed to the other fields. The history of the Subak system is etymologically assumed to be more than a thousand years old. Since Bali has limited land yet is filled with hills and mountains, the locals took advantage of the hilly terrain and devised the Subak system to sustain themselves. In addition, the Subak system is in line with the Balinese philosophy “Tri Hita Karana” which could be translated literally as the “three causes of happiness”. It emphasises the need to have a harmonious relationship with god by living peacefully with other humans and nature. As rewards, god will grant happiness to the people who uphold the philosophy.

It was revealed by Dr Maha Putra that the Subak system is vanishing due to land and economic modernisation. He said, “In the past, we faced the challenges of distributing water in the Subak system, now we face the challenges of retaining the system in this modern world. A lot of Subak are being turned into industrial sites, hotels, villas and other modernised structures which people see as having rapid economic benefits. Meanwhile, working with Subak is considered hard work by many people and they have to wait three to four months to reap the rewards. In contrasts, hotels and villas can generate daily income.” In an effort to maintain the Subak system, the students at UNWAR came up with a few proposals. One of them suggested building a vertical farming system in a residential area which operates on simple gravitational power without any help from state-of-the-art technology. Instead of the traditional sloping outlook of a Subak, the proposed system retains the core structure of the Subak system with its efficient water management but in a vertical form to keep space usage to the minimum in today’s increasingly limited land.

Apart from the other two, the traditional architecture of Bali is also unique to the island as they are generally smaller compared to the buildings in the other regions of Indonesia. Dr Maha Putra shared that the lack of external resources importation in past-day Bali caused people to improvise with the local natural resources, thus resulting in smaller and organic-looking buildings. They were typically built in the form of house compounds where a Balinese family occupies several relatively small buildings in them. They are usually comprised of Merajan (family temple), Bale Meten (main house), Bale Dauh (guest living quarters), Paon (kitchen), Bale Gede (multipurpose pavilion), Lumbung (granary), Bale Dangin (ceremonial pavilion), Natah (courtyard); gate and Aling-aling (wall behind the gateway) which is believed to keep out spirits by the Balinese locals. “A typical Balinese village is usually built following the direction of the mountains. Balinese people respect the mountains as they see water as the source of happiness. It is understandable since water is the source of the Subak system which is one of the cores of the Balinese culture,” explained Dr Maha Putra.

A remarkable point is that the size of the buildings ideally fits the occupants since the buildings are built with the occupants’ body parts measurements in mind. Other than that, their general appearances differ according to the location. “In regions close to mountains, the people use bamboo to build structures, but in another part, they may use wood since they are close to the forest; in another area, we can see stones being used in the buildings’ structure. We can also see different forms of buildings like long ones, square-shaped ones or tall ones. It mainly depends on the local materials and the work structure of a society,” said Dr Maha Putra as he explained the distinctive structures of traditional Balinese buildings.

Marking the end of the fifth virtual tour of Magallanes World Study Tour 2.0 was a question and answer session along with a virtual group photography session.