W

ith the sweeping changes resulting from free trade to be ushered in by the ASEAN economic community in late 2015 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) free trade era starting in 2020, Bali'€™s Grand Council of Customary Villages (MUDP) reminded that Balinese culture could be seriously threatened.

The council chairman, Jero Gede Suwena Putus Upadesha, said Wednesday that the Balinese should be preparing for the new era. '€œWe have to be ready to face a new era, where people from all around the world can come to the island to live and work. We should maintain our Balinese culture,'€ Suwena said.

To be prepared for the free flow of people into the region, the council intends to compile a plan to preserve a lively Balinese culture. Suwena said that the plan would be discussed during the council'€™s paruman agung (congress) on Friday. The congress will be attended by heads of customary villages from across Bali.

The MUDP is an umbrella organization for the 1,488 customary villages across the island. 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.

'€œCurrently, Balinese culture is preserved by the customary villages. We have to be able to stand strong to face challenges that could threaten our culture in the future,'€ Suwena said.

This was an opportunity, Suwena said, for the Balinese to strengthen their culture. Thus, the council meeting on Friday would conduct a SWOT analysis, looking at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that could be faced.

'€œIf there is a threat, we should start thinking how to change it into an opportunity. We will try to identify our strengths and our weaknesses so we can ensure we are ready for the new era,'€ he said.

Council secretary Ketut Sumarta added that customary villages had successfully safeguarded Balinese culture on the island for at least ten decades. However, the free trade era would have a huge impact on the Balinese way of life.

'€œThe Balinese will inevitably face huge changes as anyone from the ASEAN countries will be able to work here. The 2020 WTO free trade will bring an even more powerful change. Customary villages must adapt to this,'€ Sumarta said.

However, Sumarta said, customary villages had a great opportunity in the new era with several new regulations strengthening their roles, such as the tourism law, microfinance law and the newly enacted village law.

Law no. 10/2009 on tourism, he said, provided a significant chance for village tourism development. '€œIt is one of our strengths,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Law no. 1/2013 on microfinance institutions stipulates that Bali'€™s village microcredit body, LPD, is not a microfinance institution. Thus, LPDs are permitted to continue financing cultural activities.

Established in 1984, the financial institution managed by customary villages in Bali is specifically dedicated to residents of customary villages, their sole and exclusive customer base. '€œIf the LPD had been included as a microfinance institution, it would have had to follow the rules of the Indonesian central bank [Bank Indonesia] and the Financial Services Authority [OJK]. That would mean LPDs could not fund cultural activities anymore. We'€™re glad that we have this law,'€ Sumarta said.

Another opportunity to strengthen customary villages will be through the newly enacted village law. '€œThe law will give full autonomy to villages to manage themselves. As long as Bali registers the customary villages under this law, Balinese culture will continue to exist,'€ he said.

All the above laws will be discussed during the congress.