Target Lock

Benoa Port, Island of Bali 0926 Hours, Zone Time: August 15, 2008

It is said that Bali is the largest outpost of the Hindu religion outside of India; yet, this is not quite true. The religion of the Balinese, Agama Hindu Dharma (the Religion of the Holy Water) is unique unto and of itself, tempered with the ancient mysticism of the first peoples of the archipelago.

God- and demon-haunted, seemingly as delicate as a mountain mist or a butterfly’s wing, this religion/philosophy/way of life has endured through the centuries with the resiliency of tempered steel.

To Bali the Brahman priests and scholars of the lost golden Majapahit Empire retreated in the fifteenth century, and here they made their stand against the Islamic invasion from the West. Here they held, the followers of Mohammed breaking like the waves against the stark coastal cliffs of the little island.

Here, also, the Dutch came in 1846, Bali being the last free holdout in the archipelago against Holland’s colonial empire. Sixty years of savage resistance would follow before the last battle was fought, and yet, all the Dutch could claim were the towns and villages, never Bali’s soul.

In the late twentieth century came the most insidious invasion of all, the twentieth century itself, with its tourists and commercialization and a government in Jakarta with decided ideas of what should be done “for Bali’s own good.”

And yet, the Balinese stand. Perhaps it is because the Followers of the Holy Water have an advantage over every other religion in the world: It is said they know what heaven actually looks like.

Like Bali.

The Sea Fighter Task Force arrived with the growing heat of the day, standing in through the mouth of Benoa Harbor, past Serangan (Turtle) Island and the tip of Cape Benoa.

The expected reception committee awaited them at the Port: an Indonesian army band and honor guard from the local garrison force and a small cluster of civil and military officials to say the appropriate words of welcome and to put the brightest possible spin on this visitation from the United States.

Others awaited the Sea Fighters’ arrival as well.