Residents of Dukuh hamlet, Sibetan village, Karangasem not only eke out a living from salak plantations, but actually live among this species of palm trees native to Indonesia.
‘Salak’ land: The view from the top of Mt. Dukuh hamlet, Sibetan village.JP/Luh de Suriyani
In fact, 90 percent of the 150-hectare hamlet is a salak (also known as snake fruit) plantation. There are no housing blocks. Houses are actually built inside the plantation.
People visiting the area will not see any homes in the hamlet, apart from a few houses and small shops around the public hall.
Although the houses are spread across the plantation, most are connected to state power company PLN’s electricity grid. Only few of them though have access to drinking water from state water firm PDAM.
During the first harvest in August and September, called panen gaduh, salak fruits will grow and fall to the ground, even though salak will produce more fruits during the major harvesting season in January and February.
Nowadays, villagers are worried property developers will build tourist villas on their plantation, if a few villagers can be convinced to sell their land.
So a group of locals are now finalizing their own spatial master plan, which they will soon propose to the Karangasem regency administration.
“The regency administration is currently drafting a spatial master plan, and we want to propose our own version. We are concerned the administration’s design will run counter to our efforts to conserve the plantation,” said I Nyoman Sujana, head of Dukuh hamlet cooperative.
The cooperative fears more buildings will go up in the area since development plans are already in place, and a couple of inns have already been built.
“We earn an irregular income from the salak plantation, and investors might take advantage of this situation,” said Sujana, who started bringing concerned villagers together since early 2000, supported by the Ecotourism Village Network and Wisnu Foundation.
I Nyoman Sadra, member of Karangasem regency council, believes villagers have every right to be concerned, as investors have been lobbying the administration while the spatial design plans have been under deliberation.
“It’s obvious they are worried. We are fighting for the space,” he said.
Plots of land in Karangasem have been selling like hot cakes, he added, including the areas belonging to the customary village.
“We are facing a big enemy, so we should fight it with a big bullet too.”
Several regencies in Bali are currently hammering out the details of their spatial planning to implement the 2009 bylaw on Bali’s spatial planning.
The bylaw regulates the use of green open space, including forest areas, to prevent land conversion.
Some regencies, including Karangasem, Gianyar and Tabanan, have opposed the 2009 bylaw, as they believe it will hamper tourism investments.
“Villagers can only at best delay tourism investment. Locals are merely spectators, they are not involved,” said environmentalist I Made Suarnatha from the Ecotourism Village Network.
Dukuh hamlet, one of the four hamlets in Sibetan village, has already designed its own map and spatial planning on show at the hamlet’s public hall. In its three-dimensional map, 90 percent of the locals’ land is dedicated to the plantation, the rest to a housing area, temples and public facilities.
Their plans include conservation areas to protect certain lands, a customary rule about the sale of land to people outside the village, and an agreement to farm only salak.
“You can plant crops other than salak, as long as the additional plants don’t damage the salak plantation,” Sujana said.
The villagers elected a sacred man to guard the village. They believe they owe their existence to Jero Dukuh Sakti, a wise shaman with supernatural powers. It is said Jero Dukuh Sakti also planted the first salak tree in Dukuh and in Sibetan.
The villagers insist it is important to minimize the use of natural resources.
“We will propose our own spatial design because we know the village best,” Sujana said.
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