Bali Bias

Widi, a 20-year-old Balinese woman from a village near Ubud, completed the equivalent of an Associates Degree in Graphic Design and English from the local college. After graduating, she landed a job working for a design firm–a dream job, in many respects, which afforded her the opportunity to use her creativity, education and bilingual skills. It did not afford her, however, a basic Ubudian lifestyle. That’s why she chose a new career: Starbucks barista.

1,000,000–one million rupiah. That’s the average monthly salary for a Balinese local in Ubud. 1,000,000 rupiahs are about U.S. $116.

No matter  how third world a developing country may be, a monthly salary of $116 is not enough money to live on.

The average cost of a tall Starbucks coffee in Ubud is 30,000 rupiahs (Indonesia really needs to drop a few zeroes from its currency to make it less ludicrous and confusing, but that’s another blog post), or about U.S. $3.60. A local Balinese coffee lover who drinks one Starbucks coffee per day spends about 98% of his/her gross salary on lattes. Of course, local Balinese do not (can not, at those prices on their salaries) patronize Starbucks.

Locals can’t afford to patronize a lot of the shops, restaurants, food markets, yoga studios, “healers” (Ubud means “medicine” in Balinese) and assorted other businesses in Ubud. This is not strictly a third world problem–I couldn’t afford to shop in many of the stores I walked by daily in San Francisco and Manhattan. It’s a matter of scale.

I rarely have an opportunity to interact with a local Balinese unless I’m paying that person for his or her services. This is one of the many differences between Indonesia and India. When I’m out and about in India, I interact with tons of locals in markets, cafes, temples, shared jeeps, on buses and trains. In Bali, the gap between locals who are prosperous by Balinese standards and visitors to Bali is unbridgeable.

Bias, in fashion, means slant or angle. Bias also means unfairness, bigotry, one-sidedness. In Bali, some are making their fortunes off the influx of expats who flock here for the Marin County vibe, fantastic climate, ease of life for westerners. Too bad it’s rarely the locals who prosper.