Warring Societies of Pre-colonial Southeast AsiaBeaumont rifles had recently been purchased from Singapore.^75 The
Dutch military expeditions in 1846, 1848 and 1849 led to increasing
colonial influence in Buleleng and Jembrana, but left the competitive
South Balinese kingdoms fully autonomous while Karangasem was
swallowed up by its twin kingdom in Lombok. With these three sizeable
territories conquered by outsiders, the remaining six micro-states expe-
rienced increased competition and inner convulsions, accompanied by
a sequence of natural calamities and epidemics.
As pointed out by Adrian Vickers,^76 the lack of complete Dutch suc-
cess in 1849 may have given the micro-states a false sense of security,
reinforced by the explicit Dutch policy to avoid direct intervention in lo-
cal kingdoms unless absolutely necessary. Nor was the heir of Gelgel, the
Dewa Agung of Klungkung, a potential centre of political integration.
While he maintained a position of precedence, his attempts to transform
nominal power into real during the nineteenth century only worsened
the extremely volatile situation on Bali. His role in the destruction of the
Gianyar and Mengwi kingdoms in 1885 and 1891 evoked bitterness from
several elite lineages.^77 The unstable situation served hawkish Dutch
politicians as a rationale for military intervention when the traditional
non-intervention policy was abandoned in the wake of the Aceh War
around 1900. Thus the scene was set for the Dutch expeditions in 1906
and 1908 that ushered in the renowned suicide attacks (puputan) and
destroyed the kingdoms of Badung, Tabanan and Klungkung, bringing
the island under direct colonial rule.^78
Conclusion
The present chapter has attempted to point out phases of expansion
and contraction in Balinese military activity, and their connection to
the degree of internal (in)stability. Although Bali was far from the only
non-Muslim domain in late pre-colonial Indonesia, it was unique in
conducting an expansive mode of warfare, gaining suzerainty over, or
- Julius Jacobs, Eenigen tijd onder de Baliërs (Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1883): 153.
- Vickers, “The Desiring Prince”, 73–74.
- Schulte Nordholt, The Spell of Power: 175–197; Wiener, Visible and Invisible
Realms, 241–48. - There is no space in this brief essay to delve into the ideology underpinning the
performance of puputan; see in particular Wiener, Visible and Invisible Realms.