The Bali administration sent the Circular No. 3172/2019, signed on April 5, to all event organizers, government institutions, ministry offices, NGOs, consulates general and private companies. The circular is designed to introduce Balinese culture to the international community, as well as to preserve the culture.

“The policy is designed to preserve Balinese attire, language, script and literature. It should also generate a culture-based economy for Bali’s people,” Koster said in a press release on Monday.

Koster explained that many national and international events have been held on the resort island over the past few years. The biggest event so far, the International Monetary Fund annual meeting in 2018, was attended by around 34,000 people from all over the world. However, in most of the events, the participants mostly wore jackets and ties.

In the circular, Koster encourages organizers to present Balinese attire for every national and international event. At the very least, he suggests, the event committee members or the organizer’s employees should use Balinese attire. Meanwhile, the participants can wear their own traditional attire.

“At least, the opening ceremony of the events could present people wearing Balinese attire. I would really appreciate it if the Balinese attire could be used for entire events,” Koster said.

Religious events such as wedding ceremonies, which are also often held in hotels, are exempted from the policy. The bride, family, and all the organizer employees are allowed to wear their own attire based on their own traditions.

As for the language, at the very least, the title of the event should bear the Balinese translation, written in Balinese script. The Balinese script has to be positioned above the Indonesian or English title, the circular instructed.

The circular is part of Koster’s cultural-preservation drive. Last year, he issued two gubernatorial regulations on a Balinese-attire day and on protection and use of the Balinese language and Balinese attire every Thursday in all institutions and companies in Bali. Non-Balinese are exempted from the policy and they can wear what they like.

Ngurah Rai International Airport implemented the regulation last year.

The chairwoman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesia Event Industry Council (Ivendo), Grace Jeanie, welcomed the latest policy, saying that business players were also concerned about cultural preservation.

“We warmly welcome the government letter. We [want to take part in efforts to] preserve Balinese culture,” Grace said.

Grace pointed out that many event organizers in Bali had been active in introducing the local culture to participants from across the globe.

“Even before the governor introduced the policy, we had actively promoted the Balinese culture. Event organizer officials and masters of ceremony usually wear Balinese attire. We also often provide Balinese woven endek or destar for delegates and participants,” she said.

However, the rules should not be applied to all field workers, who need flexibility depending on their roles on the ground, she said.

She added that the recommendation to use Balinese script in event promotional materials could not be enforced as clients have to approve the final design of all types of communication media.

“We will also need experts to proofread [the Balinese script],” she said.

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