T

he provincial administration is ready to submit the draft of a bylaw on the protection of the island’s revered traditional farming and irrigation system, known as subak, to the Bali Legislative Council.

During the past several weeks, the administration organized public consultation meetings to introduce the draft bylaw to various elements among the general public.

“The bylaw is a strategic and urgent piece of legislation to protect subak as one of our most valuable cultural resources. We want to strengthen the subak and at the same time prevent the conversion of the island’s rice fields into housing or tourism facilities,” Bali cultural agency head I Ketut Suastika said Thursday.

Subak has been a central pillar of Balinese traditional society and culture. Through Subak, Balinese farmers succeeded in not only creating an efficient and ecologically sustainable rice-growing culture but also in producing one of the most esthetic bodies of art and culture in the world.

Over the years, however, the subak system has been threatened by the rapidly growing tourist industry. It is estimated that up to 1,000 hectares of rice paddies are converted annually into housing and tourist facilities, where the lucrative tourist industry has risen to become the economic backbone of the island, pushing aside the once powerful agriculture sector.

Data from the Bali branch of the Central Statistics Bureau (BPS) shows that in 2010, the amount of wet rice fields on the island totaled 81,908 hectares, down by 23 hectares from the total area in 2009. The total number of non-rice agricultural land also decreased, from 274,092 hectares in 2009 to 273,363 hectares in 2010.

The proposed bylaw — consisting of 24 articles and 11 sub-articles — regulates important points, such as the organization of subak and the arrangement of water use in rice fields. The bylaw will make it mandatory for those who want to use the water resources for non-agricultural purposes, to first gain agreement from the local subak. Moreover, the bylaw prohibits any party from blocking an irrigation channel.

Presently, a water-bottling company could tap into a spring without the consent of the local subak, and a construction company could block an irrigation channel to force farmers to sell their rice fields.

“Those who intentionally block irrigation channels will be punished in accordance with the local subak’s awig-awig [traditional law],” Suastika said.

The Bali Legislative Council welcomed the legal initiative.

“This bylaw should give the subak a strategic position, not only in maintaining their irrigation system, but also in improving their economic conditions,” one of the councilors, Nyoman Partha, said.

Nengah Sukatama, from Subak Jembrana Forum, said he really appreciated the provincial administration’s initiative. However, he suggested that the bylaw should also regulate tax subsidies for farmers. He referred to a large number of farmers who had abandoned agriculture and sold their rice fields simply because they could not afford to pay the land and property taxes.

Besides the subak bylaw, the Bali administration also plans to introduce a bylaw on land protection in an effort to curb the disturbing rate of rice field conversions. The bylaw will be the local implementation of the 2009 Rice Field Protection Law, issued by the central government.