Publishing over the Balinese stereotype

THE RENOWNED Balinese lifestyle and mindset, alluring and at one with cosmic forces, has been pronounced a charade by no less a Balinese intellectual than Degung Santikarma in his new monthly magazine.

According to the publication, Balinese people are not intrinsically more exotic than anyone else, the beauty of village life is merely mythology made lucrative, and it's time for a fresh look at the whole subject of where East and West meet.

And the Bali mystique - which draws huge numbers of tourists to the island every year - is only one of many sacred cows that are on their way to slaughter thanks to his new international Latitudes monthly. It's subtitle is 'Views from 6 degrees above to 11 degrees below the equator'.

The first edition, issued in February, opened with an unusual look at where Chinese cultural expression fits in the lives of a motley group of Indonesians. It went on to examine the social construction of identities, which helps cause the vicious communal fighting under way in several provinces across the Indonesian archipelago.

An article and photo essay by East Java's gay-rights leader and university lecturer Dede Oetomo examined the fate of trans-gender people in Indonesia, in another celebration of the kind of diversity that defies categorisation.

A magazine like this could never have appeared during the 32 years of rule by former president Suharto. Just as enterprising as the ideas on display is the attempt to survive with the help of advertisements, many from the country's tourism industry.