The Perils of Penyu: Ritual and Dietary Turtle Meat. Part
Two
The consumption of turtle meat on Bali conjures up powerful,
frightening, ancient forces of animism, hunger, anarchy, and
superstition. After the October 12, 2002 bombing of the Sari
Club and Paddy’s Bar in Kuta, the Balinese turned, as
always, to their priests, for a karma-based, theological explanation
(rather than a political rationale) for these horrific events.
Several months earlier, a giant adult turtle had been slaughtered
as part of a large ceremony south of Kuta: it had been used
purely as an offering, and the flesh had not been eaten. During
the ceremony, a man in trance predicted that something bad
would happen in Bali as a consequence. Many Balinese contend
that the bomb was the manifestation of that premonition—divine
punishment for killing the peaceful, aged reptile. The gods
were angered: all over Bali, villagers made offerings to apologize,
ask forgiveness, and repent for their mistakes. Other Balinese
believe that the Kuta conflagration was related to a separate
turtle incident in Klungkung, where a gigantic turtle was
found by the seashore several months earlier. When the Balinese
see something strange, they normally consult their priests
before taking action: instead, they precipitously killed it.
It is believed that the turtle was the mythical, south Javanese
princess, Ratu Pantai Selatan (wielding white magical powers).
She was searching for two hundred panjaks (lower-caste devotees
or retainers who traditionally showed respect to and helped
the Kings in old Bali), and was killed before she could find
the followers. Many people believed that she would take revenge:
approximately two hundred people were killed during the Kuta
blast.
Wanton turtle genocide displeases the gods and provokes the
authorities: it is now illegal to kill turtles for any reason,
and individuals must seek special permission from their village
government to obtain a turtle for a religious rite. Legal
safeguards and a bureaucratic, procedural quagmire block the
acquisition of ritual turtle meat: if an individual family
or a village needs a turtle for religious purposes, they must
get a written, signed authorization from their traditional
village chief. (Since turtles are only supposed to be eaten
for ceremonies, a “prohibition-style” system has
developed whereby some villagers lie to get them and falsely
claim that they are having a ceremony.) Armed with the certificate,
a village representative then goes to the village chief in
Serangan Island or at two locations at Nusa Dua (who then
approaches the Bali government on their behalf to issue a
special permit). The villager then brings the permit to official
turtle sellers (fishermen concentrated on Serangan Island)
who are allowed to vend a certain number of turtles to the
Balinese for ceremonies. As a conservation measure, only older
turtles are used—young turtles remain free to reproduce
and repopulate Bali’s decimated wild turtle population.
Because of the scarcity, expense (a thirty-kilogram turtle
costs Rp.3 million), difficulty, and complex legal strictures
involved, turtles are less frequently eaten in the villages
now as either secular or religious food. For small ceremonies,
the Balinese will ordinarily use pork, chicken, or duck instead.
A holy man (priest) will advise them if a turtle is required
(usually for large ceremonies or an island-wide celebration
at the mother temple, Pura Besakih, when many different types
of animals are assembled).
Although sacrificial rituals dictate the use of meat from
the turtle and its head, in 2003 a leading Balinese high priest,
Ida Pedanda Gede Ngurah Kaleran, weighed in on the controversy
over customary turtle meat consumption, stating that he could
find no stipulation in ancient Bali-Hindu literature mandating
the use of turtle meat in religious ritual practices. Badung
regency religious authorities estimated that only seventy
turtles are needed for customary and religious purposes in
the regency each month—leading to hope that Balinese
ceremonial needs can be accommodated without sacrificing the
future of the species. A high priest from Sanur was also very
outspoken against the turtle trade, stating that “it
is not necessary to sacrifice turtles for ceremonies, but
that it is a good excuse to slaughter turtles as their meat
is delicious and only here to make the belly happy.”
He also claimed that by making simple ketupat (rice cakes)
in the shape of turtles (a common practice in Jimbaran) one
would achieve exactly the same religious result as when butchering
live turtles. If they are available, turtle satés are
still found at Balinese religious ceremonies, but the slaughter
and consumption of turtle meat for ritual purposes is less
common than in the past.
Turtle cuisine is banned, and turtles are under government
protection, but people can always find edible “penyu”
if they want it. Turtles are still being sold for daily, non-ceremonial
consumption in response to a brisk, covert, continuing demand
for (what is considered to be delectable) turtle meat, soup,
and eggs among the local population. A smiling, giggling,
Kuta Beach, hotel poolboy was recently drinking arak with
his friends one night. His friend said that he missed turtle
meat, so they went to an all-night warung in Sanur (“hiding,
hiding,”--cause illegal--and she will be taken away
to jail”) that sells turtle whenever it is available.
Made relished (“Very good!”) a diversified plate
of turtle meat lawar, saté penyu (alternately sate
lilit penyu), and rice for Rp.10,000. The Balinese love the
taste of the turtle, but afterward Made felt sick, dizzy and
lightheaded. Was it the excessive arak, or the karmic revenge
of the slaughtered endangered penyu?
Pork increasingly replaces or supplements turtle in quotidian
street food. Enterprising saté sellers in Kuta, Jimbaran,
and Sanur vend their sizzling wares squatting down on the
side of the road in the late afternoon. In the past, the satés
were predominantly turtle meat: Uluwatu car park sellers would
hawk these saté penyu sticks predominantly to drivers
and visitors from Asia. Today, they mostly sell pork satés—and
claim that they are turtle to unwitting customers. They mix
one-third turtle with two-thirds pork and sell it as pure
turtle (genuine turtle satés can be discerned by the
smell of the smoke and the color of the meat). Some of this
turtle supply chain hails from Balinese waters, while the
rest is brought in illegally from other Indonesian islands
(southern Sulawesi, Lombok, Madura, Sumbawa, Flores, and as
far away as Irian Jaya) by boat. The Balinese say that the
taste of Bali turtle is much better and that they can tell
the difference: the Sulawesi turtle is watery (with a watery
taste) when you open it to eat it.
