What’s lost when sacred objects are stolen from Bali’s temples? More than one may think

SINGARAJA, Bali: Before sunrise every morning, Mangku Borden Cahyadi walks from his home to the nearby Mas Penyeti Temple in Singaraja, a waterfront city in northern Bali.

As the Hindu temple’s priest, Cahyadi ensures the compound is ready to welcome worshippers looking to offer prayers to the gods before their morning commute to work.

On Apr 7 last year, Cahyadi arrived to find the contents of a drawer where he kept his keys disturbed, and the door to the temple’s storage room improperly shut.

“I immediately rushed to the storage room to make sure everything was there,” the 45-year-old priest told CNA. His heart sank when he realised some items were missing.

Among the stolen artefacts were two ceremonial plates made of silver, a centuries-old kris dagger and 12 figurines of Hindu gods and goddesses – all of which were adorned with jewels, gold and ancient coins.

“(The theft) has been very devastating for us, because (these objects) have been passed down for many generations. And now they are gone,” said the temple’s caretaker Putu Bagus Arya.

Cases of artefact theft like the one at Mas Penyeti Temple are rampant in Bali, a Hindu-majority island where every village has its own temple and every household, its own family shrine. According to some estimates, there are at least 10,000 temples in Bali. 

The vast number of temples  – most of which are outdoor and not well-guarded – and the countless artefacts they contain make Bali more prone to theft than other parts of the country, where similar objects can only be found in museums and historical sites.

Police in Indonesia do not release figures on cases of artefact theft each year.

However, media reports suggest there are at least seven artefact theft cases in Bali every year.

Meanwhile in East Java, where remnants of ancient Javanese kingdoms like Majapahit and Singasari are scattered, there could be three or four theft cases yearly affecting archaeological excavation sites.

The latest reported theft in Bali occurred last September – incidentally, around the same time the Netherlands announced it would return 288 historical artefacts taken when Indonesia was colonised by the Dutch. 

Except for four statues taken from Java in the first half of the 19th century, all the repatriated artefacts were taken during a bloody military campaign against the Balinese kingdoms of Badung and Tabanan in 1906.

The items arrived in Jakarta on Dec 15 and have since been displayed at the National Museum in the country’s capital.

WHERE SHOULD RETURNED ARTEFACTS GO?

While several academics feel the objects should be returned to the people of Bali, some Indonesian officials say they may be safer in Jakarta, given Bali's theft situation. 

“We don't have any plans to return (these objects) to the provinces. We have to consider also the security. There are some cases (where artefacts) were stolen (in these areas),” said Indonesian Minister for Culture, Fadli Zon, during a discussion with the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club on Feb 10. 

He was responding to a question from CNA on whether these items should be returned to where they came from.

Gede Arya Sugiartha, chief of the Bali Cultural Affairs Agency, also acknowledged there are many issues to be addressed before the island-province is ready to take back repatriated artefacts.

The safest place to store these objects would be museums, he said, but not all of Bali’s nine regencies – which roughly correspond to the island’s former kingdoms – have museums.

“Frankly speaking, the province of Bali is not yet ready (for these repatriated artefacts),” he said.

SACRED TO THE BALINESE

Whether an artefact was seized by force like in the past, or stolen through deception and stealth like today, the impact on the Balinese community is the same.

“For Balinese, these artefacts are sacred,” said Bali Cultural Affairs Agency chief Sugiartha. “They are blessed in special rituals and thus revered. And to some extent, they are believed to possess spirits which can protect local communities.”

“We call them ‘pratima’, which means ‘sacred objects’,” said Arya of Mas Penyeti Temple. 

“To make them, rituals have to be performed from the time a tree is cut to when the wood is sculpted, and ceremonies are held when the pratima is finished and taken to its new home, a temple.”

The most sacred objects are figurines depicting Hindu gods and goddesses. They are typically made of wood and adorned with gold leaves, gold-plated metal sheets, precious stones and old coins donated by worshippers.

These figurines are worshipped daily and, during certain times of the year, are paraded across a village or neighbourhood so people can receive blessings and protection.

When sacred objects are lost, “we have to ask forgiveness from the gods and our ancestors because we failed to protect these items”, Arya said.

Following last year’s theft, the Mas Penyeti Temple immediately staged a cleansing ceremony and replaced the figurines and ceremonial plates with new ones.

But the stolen kris is irreplaceable, Arya said, as it is believed to be at least 600 years-old, dating back to the founding of the temple.

Anak Agung Ngurah Kakarsana, a Balinese nobleman, said these cleansing rituals and ceremonies can cost at least 10 times the monetary value of the stolen artefacts.

“(These artefacts) are stolen for their gold which can be worth between one and 10 million rupiah (USD$61 to US$613), for example. But (the cost of these) rituals can reach hundreds of millions or even billions (of rupiah),” he said.

“If the affected temple is a village temple, then the entire village will have to take part in the ceremony. If the temple is a grand temple like Besakih, perhaps the whole of Bali will have to participate,” Kakarsana told CNA, referring to Bali’s biggest and most important temple located at the foot of the island’s sacred volcano, Mount Agung.

In Kakarsana’s district of Blahbatuh in southern Bali, there have been several cases of theft from temples. The latest occurred in 2021 when thieves took two figurines and dozens of gold-covered temple decorations, he said.

PROOF OF OWNERSHIP A CHALLENGE

Artefact theft is so rampant in Bali that local police are running out of space to store all the objects confiscated from thieves, middlemen and collectors. Which is why the police are handing a fraction of this collection to the Bali Museum in the provincial capital Denpasar. 

CNA was given access by the museum to view these confiscated artefacts, which are kept in a windowless room protected by steel doors, padlocks and numerous CCTV cameras.

Inside the room, shelves are filled with figurines in varying conditions. Most are largely intact, albeit stripped of their gold ornaments and precious stones. Other objects have pieces missing or are in an advanced state of decay.

About a dozen cabinets hold artefacts linked to major cases the authorities have dealt with over the last 15 years. Each cabinet is labelled with the names of the criminals from whom the objects were seized.

Written on one of the labels was "Roberto Gamba", an Italian living in Bali who was arrested in 2010 with more than 100 stolen artefacts. 

Written on another label was “Mr Kino”, a Japanese man whose identity remains a mystery as he fled the country before police raided his property in 2010 and confiscated around 70 objects.

There were also items seized from local middlemen who were arrested for trying to ship some of these artefacts to overseas buyers. 

Ida Ayu Made Sutariani, head of the Bali Museum, said her office is keen on studying these stolen objects.

“Some of them are at least a hundred years old and they have very unique carvings, colouring techniques and shapes, which might be specific to certain regions of Bali during certain periods of time,” she said. 

“These figurines and objects... can be useful to (understanding) the development of arts and culture in Bali.”

But before the museum can do that, researchers must find out where these objects come from and seek permission from their rightful owners.

“Many of these temples do not have good records and documentation of the things in their possession,” Sutariani said.

This makes it hard to trace objects back to a particular temple. Lack of proof of ownership is one of the main reasons why many of these objects have been collecting dust at the museum’s storage facility for more than a decade, unable to be returned.

Another reason is that it is taboo in Bali to return a stolen artefact to its original temple.

“There are owners who feel that these objects have been tainted because they once fell into the hands of evil people. To restore their sacredness they must perform certain ceremonies which can be more elaborate than the ceremonies involved in making new ones from scratch,” said Bali Culture Agency chief Sugiartha.

“This is why many owners never come forward to claim their stolen artefacts.”

PUNISHMENT TOO LENIENT?

With few people who can prove the provenance of the objects and testify in court, criminals often get away with just a few months behind bars.

The Italian Gamba, for example, was sentenced to only five months in prison despite buying more than a hundred artefacts from thieves and middlemen. He was later deported and barred from returning to Indonesia.

Religious and customary leaders in Bali say lenient sentences are one reason why artefact theft is rampant, with some thieves showing little remorse and repeatedly offending.

In the Singaraja case involving Mas Penyeti Temple, five people were apprehended and sentenced to between six months and four years in prison.

But they have been vague about what happened to the stolen items and the information they provided to police has so far led to dead ends.

One of the five offenders, Ketut Hendra Yuliawan, had twice stolen from other Hindu places of worship before targeting Mas Penyeti Temple.

For his first offense in 2018, the 27-year-old was sentenced to 10 months in prison. For his second in 2022, he received a jail term of 18 months. For the April 2024 theft, he was sentenced to four years in prison.

“The punishment has been too lenient,” said the Balinese nobleman Kakarsana.

“These criminals should be put behind bars for a long time and compensate for the cost of the ceremonies we have to perform because of their actions, especially if they are wealthy middlemen and collectors.”

PREVENTION MEASURES ENCOURAGED

Minister Fadli said his office is working with the Indonesian police, immigration and customs office to catch perpetrators and stop historical and cultural artefacts from leaving Indonesia.

The ministry is also monitoring auction houses around the world for any stolen artefacts up for sale. Fadli said his office will then alert local authorities to make sure these items are returned.

On its part, Bali’s provincial government is encouraging temples to install CCTV cameras, invest in vaults and start neighbourhood-watch groups.

“These thieves have no conscience. Even though they’re Balinese and know full well the impact their actions have on society, all they think about is money,” Sugiartha said.

“Nevertheless, people should be more vigilant and take steps to prevent such theft from happening.”

Arya of Mas Penyeti Temple said it is now taking all precautions.

“Since the theft, people have donated CCTV cameras, metal doors and safes. They also volunteered to patrol the neighbourhood at night. People have also donated gold and ancient coins to make new pratimas,” he said.

“I guess that’s the silver lining of this incident. It brought the community together," he added.