Love and Death in Bali

"I have looked about me and I cannot believe there is a country on earth as beautiful as Bali.  I cannot give it away to foreigners or sell it.  I cannot and I may not.  What would they make of it once it was in their hands?  They do not know our gods and they do not understand the laws by which mankind must live.  They would pull down the temples, and the gods would forsake out island, and soon it would become as barren and ugly as the deserts of China.  They would grow sugar-cane, not as our peasants do, just enough to sweeten their food, and for their children to enjoy; they would cover the whole country with sugar in large buildings, until the villages stank of it, and they would take the sugar away in great steamers to change it into money.  They would plant ugly trees in rows and draw rubber from them; they would lay the sawahs to waste and cut down the beautiful palms and fruit trees to make room for their homes.  They would turn our peasants into slaves and brutes, and leave them no time for cock fights and festivals and music and dancing.  And our women would have to cover their breasts as if they were whores, and no one would wear flowers in their hair any more or bring offerings to the temples.  And they would squeeze the joy from the hearts of our children, and tear the patience and tolerance and gentleness from their natures, and make them bitter and unkind and discontented, as the white men are themselves."

                     - spoken by Alit, the prince, in Love and Death in Bali, by Vicki Baum