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Customary villages must be saved to preserve culture: MUDP

The newly endorsed Village Law is causing anxiety in Bali as it forces the regional administrations to choose between having customary villages or administrative villages

Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post)
Denpasar
Mon, June 30, 2014

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Customary villages must be saved to preserve culture: MUDP

T

he newly endorsed Village Law is causing anxiety in Bali as it forces the regional administrations to choose between having customary villages or administrative villages.

Responding to the law, the influential Grand Council of Customary Villages (MUDP) is urging the administration to register customary villages, rather than administrative ones.

'€œThe MUDP has agreed that we have to save customary villages. If we are forced to choose between having customary villages and administrative villages, Bali must register customary villages,'€ the council'€™s deputy chairman, Dewa Ngurah Swasta, said on the sidelines of a seminar on the village law in Sanur, Bali on Saturday.

Bali'€™s village structure is different to many other provinces in Indonesia. The island has strong cultural roots with 1,488 customary villages, which are different to administrative villages. An administrative village is a formal government-defined village that manages administrative issues such as the issuance of ID cards, while a customary village is a unit for the purposes of adat (customary law) and is a community whose unity is based on customs and traditions. Physically, the two types of village overlap and can encompass the same area.

Customary villages are regarded as the most powerful traditional institutions on the island, wielding significant influence over their members due to their important role in organizing religious and customary rituals, both at the family and village levels.

For years, customary villages and administrative villages have run smoothly side by side, each with their respective purposes. However, the new village law stipulations have caused confusion.

As the gatekeepers of Balinese traditions, the possibility of the '€œdeath'€ of customary villages is worrying as it could lead to the extinction of Balinese culture.

Swasta said that a meeting held by the council in May decided to urge the government to register customary villages rather than administrative villages in an attempt to preserve Balinese culture. The Sabha Kertha meeting is the highest forum of the council, an umbrella organization for nearly 1,488 customary villages.

Besides forcing administrations to choose between customary villages and administrative villages, Law No. 6/2014 also states that around 10 percent of the state budget transferred to the regions must be allocated to the villages. The law stipulates that each village be given around Rp 1.4 billion (US$116,770) in development funds annually.

Swasta said that the MUDP was fully supportive of any attempt to fight the law to preserve the existence of customary villages and to maintain the current dual system.

'€œHowever, if all attempts fail, we urge the government to save customary villages. Let the administrative village stand as a sub-unit of the customary village,'€ Swasta said.

Swasta said that funds from the state budget that would be allocated to villages were not the major consideration. '€œThe new law stipulates when administrative villages are registered, the customary villages must die. If the customary village is registered, the administrative village must cease to exist. So, we have to decide on the customary villages,'€ he stated.

For the last several years, the provincial administration has provided cash support for all customary villages across the island. This year, the provincial administration provided Rp 100 million to each customary village, the same amount that was provided in 2013. This was a dramatic increase from the Rp 55 million in 2012.

Speaking during the seminar, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika gave his assurances that the administration would fight to keep the existence of customary villages. '€œI am committed, even if the sky collapses, customary villages will exist,'€ Pastika declared.

Pastika said that a marathon discussion involving all stakeholders, including academics and prominent figures, was needed to decide the best formula to implement the law in Bali.

Earlier in a meeting at the governor'€™s office, a judicial review of the law was proposed. Another idea was to propose special autonomy for Bali, as the island could not implement the village law.

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