CONQUEST OF SOUTH BALI

In Bali, things continued in a state of turmoil. The allied states of Badung, Klungkung, and Bangli united to make war on Gianyar. In 1900 the powerful prince of Ubud, Tjokorde Gede, influenced the Dewa Manggis, Radja of Gianyar, to ask for help from the Dutch Government. An army was sent immediately to protect Gianyar, which was automatically annexed by the Dutch.

In May of 1904. the small Chinese steamer Sri Koemala, coming from Borneo, was wrecked and looted in Sanur, on the south coast of Bali. The owners held the Dutch Government responsible and demanded three thousand silver dollars' damages and the punishment of those culpable. Official embassies were sent to obtain the amount from the Radja of Badung, Anak Agung Made, who refused. The dickering went on for two years, but final1y the Dutch, angered because the prince could not be made to pay, ordered the closing of Badung to all exports and imports , asked the co-operation of the bordering states.

All of the independent princes refused to close their frontiers. That was the beginning of the struggle for supremacy between the Dutch and the Balinese Radjas. The people themselves were, for the most part. indifferent. To them the victorv of one side or the other meant chiefly a change of masters, somebody else to whom to pay taxes.

In the fall of 1906 the Radja definitely refused to meet the demands and on the 15th of September a large military expedition landed in Sanur, only three miles from Denpasar, the capital of Badung. Here the people remained indifferent to the presence of tlhe soldiers, because, being under the influence of the peace-loving Brahmanas, they were unconcerned with the troubles of the Radja. But at dawn of the following day an army of Balinese with golden spears, coming from Den Pasar, made a surprise attack.The fighting went on all day; a few Dutch soldiers were wounded, but hundreds of Balinese were killed in the unequal fight, and by evening the Balinese were forced to retreat.

The itch remained in Sanur for a few days, occasionally giving concerts for the Balinese, ironically playing the Sourire d'amour on their brass band. When the advance on Den Pasar was started, the army was opposed all the way, but when they came to the lace of Kesiman, just outside the town, they found it deserted. there the acting ruler had been killed by a priest in an argument over whether they should oppose the Dutch. It is curious that inside the palace they found two bronze cannon that had belonged to Napoleon, bearing the date 1813 and the Napoleonic “N,” together with a number of muskets from 1620.

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