Bali called on to protect ancestral lands and religious sites

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR, Bali (JP ): Balinese people will be cursed if they sell plots of lands belonging to traditional villages and religious temples because they are part of the valuable assets of the local Hindu people, said a leading religious leader.

Ibu Gedong Bagoes Oka, chairperson of Ashram Gandhi Vidyapith, gave a strong warning to the Balinese people to be aware of the possibility of losing their ancestral lands to various development projects.

Ibu Gedong, who is also a member of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), is very concerned over the development of mega projects in several areas, many of them located in traditional villages and religious sites.

A number of large-scale projects were developed in Nusa Dua, covering hundreds of hectares of land, by the Bali Tourism Development Center. Other projects include reclamation of Serangan Island (around 300 to 400 hectares of land), Bali Nirwana Resort Tanah Lot, Bali Pecatu Graha and Garuda Wisnu Kencana in Jimbaran.

In the pipeline are a 150-hectare Formula I racing circuit, a golf course near Ngurah Rai airport, Tulamben-Karangasem resort in East Bali and heaps of other project proposals currently being considered by the provincial government.

"Bali has been encircled by mega-projects," said Ibu Gedong.

Made Sukerana, a youth activist commented that he objected to the development projects on tanah ayahan traditional properties.

He said that tanah ayahan functions as a village asset and the land provides long-term social support.

Local religious and traditional organizations in Bali have been too late to save these traditional and religious properties from the collaboration between local authorities and investors.

The family of former president Soeharto, known as the Cendana clan named after their residence on Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta, dominated the acquisition of traditional lands to make way for their projects.

Citing an example, PT Bali Pecatu Graha, owned by Soeharto's fugitive son Tommy Soeharto, seized around 40 to 70 hectares of land tanah laba pura Uluwatu designated as a part of religious site in Uluwatu in the mid l990s. The company possessed the property without giving any clear compensation.

"The company's property rights have no time limit," said lawyer Wayan Ariawan who defends local inhabitants in Pecatu.

The takeover of traditional properties by investors was made possible through the mediation of high-ranking government officials including former governor Ida Bagus Oka and former Badung regent Gusti Bagus Alit Putra.

Astoundingly, the entire land certificates of tanah laba pura Uluwatu were kept by unknown officials.

"The Uluwatu foundation has applied for the certificates but up until now we don't know who holds them," said Gusti Ngurah Sangku, chairman of the foundation assigned to take care of the property.

While the case of Uluwatu land has not been cleared yet, another problem awaits. This time it involves PT Niaga Hutama Karya (NHK) which plans to develop a 110-hectare area into a miniature park in Tulamben.

"The idea of developing such a project which duplicates Taman Mini Indonesia in Jakarta is ridiculous," commented Made Sukerana.

The loss of traditional and religious properties will weaken Balinese tradition and cultural resilience, he said.

Even some plots of land included in Besakih mother temple were registered as private properties, according to Muliarsana, a lawyer in Gianyar who monitored the use of Besakih properties.

The management of Pura Besakih properties is ambiguous. There is a lack of transparency in managing revenues from the local government and donations from Hindu congregations.

"We don't know how much money is received by the temple's management and who is responsible," said a local community leader.

Despite the rapid growth of development projects, local religious organizations including Parisadha Hindu remain silent,

Only Pemuda Hindu, the Hindu Youth Organization, has shown its teeth. The organization has pledged to apply strong social and political pressure to protect traditional lands and religious sites from greedy investors.

Hindu scholars, community leaders and academicians have voiced similar concerns.

Meanwhile, Bali Corruption Watch (BCW), an anti-corruption organization, has been collecting data on alleged corruption cases and violations of human rights.

Nyoman Sunarta, BCW's secretary, revealed that most land acquisition projects were carried out using repressive tactics and were against human rights.

For example, Tommy Soeharto's Pecatu Graha project was developed on a 650-hectare plot of land, belonging partly to local farmers, 123.14 hectares of state property and between 40 to 70 hectares of land which was part of Pura Uluwatu religious site, all without transparent procedures.

The company, Bali Pecatu Graha, only paid Rp 5 million in compensation per family.

Another example is the land reclamation project in Serangan Island by PT Bali Turtle Island Development (BTID). Allegedly backed by a strong military figure, the company intimidated local residents into giving up their land.

Without consistent law enforcement, the present officials will likely follow in the steps of their predecessors from the New Order regime. And this is already obvious. The Karangasem regent had given the green light to the development of Tulamben without asking approval from local community and religious leaders.

"These officials should learn from past mistakes. They should know that repressive and corrupt officials will sooner or later lose their power," said lawyer Sunarta.