Bali called on to protect ancestral lands and religious sites
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.