Rizal Tanjung Surfs Kuta

Photos by Nathan Lawrence

People call Rizal Tanjung the ambassador of surfing in Indonesia. Not only was he one of the first Indonesians to excel in the world of professional surfing, his philosophy of social consciousness is playing a part in evolving the views of young Indo surfers.

A famous quote of Rizal’s reads “I believe in karma. Karma and surfing are all about balance. If you take, you gotta give.” The morning he was slated to hit the peeling right hander at Keramas, as part of the Billabong Pro circuit, he talked with us about where he’s at in life.

Theme: Where do you live?
Rizal Tanjung: Bali, Indonesia.

Age?
I’ll be thirty this November.

As a kid did you want to become a pro surfer?
Yeah, always. I’m living my dream life—I always dreamt about traveling around the world, surfing and meeting people. Luckily that’s what I get to do now.

Do you live with family?
I live with my wife and two-year-old son. I’ve been married for three years. My wife and I have been together for a long time now. We started dating when she was fifteen and I was eighteen, so just over ten years.

Describe the place where you live.
Bali is one of thousands of islands that make up Indonesia.The interesting thing is that most [95%] Balinese are Hindu [about 90% of Indonesia’s 210 million citizens are Muslim. Only about 1% are Hindu]. And Hindus tend to have a very different philosophy from the rest of Indonesia. They’re a lot more chill. Tourism has made Bali famous, and there’s always a holiday-vibe, like Hawaii. I guess you could describe Bali as a newer version of Hawaii. People from all over the world come here to visit. June, July, and August we get a lot of visitors from Europe. March and April, Japanese, and Australians all the time since it’s very close.

So how has Bali been affected by the tsunami?
We’re actually a good distance away from Aceh, where the tsunami hit mostly, so it wasn’t really physically affected. It affected tourism a great deal, though. Travelers just stopped coming for a while. But Bali’s vibe is never really going to change. It’s a totally different vibe than anywhere else in Indonesia. It’s a magical place.

How is it different than other places you’ve visited?
Bali’s a small island, and it’s changed a lot in a short span of time. It used to be a small fishing village. Now there are big buildings, malls and hotels being built all over the island. It’s quite futuristic. The Hard Rock Hotel is here, and Circle K, and lots of other little things that make it feel a lot like Hawaii.

Is that a good thing?
It’s good for the people who can give their kids a better education because of the tourist dollars, or gain access to material things they themselves never had, but on the other hand it’s bad because of the environmental impact. We have a garbage problem, which we’re trying to get addressed. There are lots of things to fix—we’re still something of a third-world country, but things are getting better. I’m hopeful that this generation will change things for the better.

How long have you lived in Bali?
My parents are from Sulawesi—one of Indonesia’s larger islands south east of Borneo—and they moved here twenty-eight years ago. I was a year old then.

What does your average day look like?
I wake up at six or seven in the morning. I check the waves, call my friends, we pick a spot, surf for a couple hours, then I come home to hang out with my family. Then I go to my shop and work for a while, and spend time with family after that. It really depends on how good the waves are that day. It’s pretty chill.

Tell us a little about your business.
I have a shop called Electrohell, and we stock local and international streetwear brands. We opened almost two years ago. In Kuta [the resort area of Bali] alone there are more than fifty surf shops.We wanted to offer something different.We support all the local brands. The bar next door has different punk and rock bands play there three times a week. The bar, myself, and one other shop are collectively called the Maximum R&R Monarchy. The guy that owns the building is a drummer in a famous band, and he’s really into helping young musicians. There’s so much good music developing here.

Is there much separating the place you live versus where you work?
From my house I can see surf breaks around the whole island. You can actually drive around the whole of Bali in 25 minutes. It’s not a big place. I can check out all the best surf from the comfort of my home. It’s quiet. I have fresh air, and easy access to possibly some of the best surf spots in the world.

Do you still compete a lot?
I still travel around a lot, and I enjoy filming for video parts, and doing photo shoots for magazines. I like that more than competing, because I get good vibes from doing that stuff. There’s no stress. It seems like that’s what I’m focusing on at home more and it keeps me busy.

How long have you been surfing?
Since I was eight. My dad used to surf, and he had a lot of surfboards and stuff which I had easy access to. Kuta wasn’t much back then, and there was really nothing to do. I have a love for the beach, which is why I started. I still really love the beach.

Are you sponsored by anyone right now?
Hurley International, Gravis, DaKine, I ride surfboards shaped by Yoshinori Ueda. I have great sponsors, and they want me to be myself. They don’t pressure me about hitting contests, they just want me to keep surfing as I’ve always done. That’s why I have a big smile on my face. I’m loving it right now.

Tell us something few people know about you.
That I’m tall and skinny?

Everybody knows that.
Maybe that I always make people laugh?

Does living in Bali make you a better surfer?
Yeah, for sure. There are great waves everyday in Bali. And usually it’s offshore all day, the best conditions you can get in surfing. I’ve been traveling all around the world, and I can practice for any contest at home. There are so many different spots to surf, and Bali’s surfers have our own unique styles. The style comes from the art of Pencak [a form of the martial art, somewhat similar to Brazilian Capoeira], where there is a dance element as well as the pure martial art. It keeps everyone’s style clean and balanced. Pencak helps a lot. I really want to be able to help kids to be able to live through surfing. If you love it, you can make it happen. In Indonesia people don’t know that yet. All my life, everything I have has come from surfing. Not just the material stuff, but the experience of meeting people, happiness, and just living life.