Council bows to pressure on spatial plan bylaw

The Bali Legislative Council finally caved on Monday under growing public pressure demanding that it cancel the revision of controversial Bylaw No. 16/2009 on the island’s spatial planning.

The legislation, supported by the Bali’s governor, intellectuals, religious leaders and environmental activists, was rejected by the island’s mayors and regents, who succeeded in convincing the council to form a special committee tasked with revising it.

Council speaker Anak Agung Oka Ratmadi stated that efforts to revise the bylaw had been terminated. The decision was made last week and was supported by the council’s members. “We will not revise the spatial planning bylaw. That is our final decision,” he said.

Ratmadi’s statement drew huge applause from hundreds of protesters from the Bali’s People Alliance (AMB), an umbrella organization that has spearheaded the popular campaign to counter the move to revise the bylaw.

AMB members gathered in the council building since early in the morning after receiving information that the council might launch a final attempt to push for revisions. They were accompanied by dozens of temple priests and high priests who supported the bylaw due to its stronger protection of sacred zones around major Balinese Hindu temples.

Ratmadi, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) Bali chapter, explained to the protesters that there will not be any such attempt. The decision to shelve the revision was based on the recommendation submitted by the special committee, he said.

In an apparent face-saving move, Ratmadi later stressed that the council had never tasked the special committee with revising the bylaw. Instead, it was tasked with “perfecting” the bylaw.

The protesters welcomed the council’s decision. We are grateful for the decision. The revision will only damage the environment in Bali,” Udayana University rector and AMB spokesperson Made Bakta said.

Indonesia Hindu Council Parisadha (PHDI) Bali chapter head I Gusti Ngurah Sudiana said that the council’s decision had relieved the Balinese of their anxiety.

“At least, now we are sure that the environment in Bali will be more secure than before with the existence of the bylaw. The revision will only damage our island,” Sudiana said.

The influential Grand Council of Customary Villages (MUDP) chairman Jero Gede Putu Suwena added that customary villages across Bali are ready to safeguard the implementation of the bylaw.

The proposed revision offered stronger protection of the island’s greenbelts, shorelines and ravines. It also adopted the 1994 Hindu Council of High Priests’ bhisama (religious edict) stipulating that no tourist facility be built within 5 kilometers of any major temple on the island. Moreover, it would have been the first bylaw that would punish a government official, including a regent, with prison time if he was found guilty of breaching zoning and spatial arrangement requirements.

Unfortunately, deliberations on revising the bylaw had been hampered for months after being unanimously rejected by the island’s regents and mayors, who feared it would sever the flow of investment to their respective regions. Since being ratified in 2009 by the Bali Legislative Council, the same council that later turned its back on the bylaw, it has drawn strong opposition from the regents, certain communities and investors.