Bali traditional institutions under question

By I Wayan Juniarta

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The beautiful and pristine Beratan Lake in Bedugul, one of Bali's famous tourist resorts, located 60 kilometers north of Denpasar, recently witnessed a tragedy that cost the life of 55-year-old Djohny Leopato.

While Djohny was not Balinese, he and his family owned the legal rights to a 1.9-hectare plot of land in the resort area opposite the lake, a strategic and pleasant place for vacationers.

The tragedy, which took place on Dec. 15 sometime before dawn, shook the once peace-loving Balinese community. On this date, Djohny, on his way to his property, was attacked and killed by hundreds of local villagers in Bedugul.

Dozens of police officers, who tried their best to save the life of Djohny, could only stand by helplessly and witness the murder.

This brutal killing began as a common land dispute when Djohny filed a lawsuit against the Bali administration.

He claimed his family owned the property, stating that some 30 years ago the Bali administration rented the land from his family, failing to pay them any compensation.

The disputed land is now occupied by Lila Graha, a 16 villa resort. Apparently, the resort is a gold mine for the local administration, and it refused to return the land to Djohny and his family.

The case wound its way through the courts before landing in the Supreme Court, which on May 3, 2000, issued a verdict in favor of Djohny.

The verdict angered Bedugul villagers, who viewed Djohny, being both a non-Balinese and a non-Hindu, as "a greedy outsider".

Silently supported by the local administration and legislators, the traditional institutions of the local community, such as Banjar Adat and Desa Adat, began mobilizing their members to oppose the verdict.

When in the middle of November 2000 the officers of the court attempted to enforce the Supreme Court's decision, the local community was waiting for them.

Thousands of locals from Banjar Adat and Desa Adat, mostly attired in traditional Balinese dress, surrounded the disputed area and prevented the officers from enforcing the decision.

A second attempt to enforce the Supreme Court's decision occurred on Dec. 15, the day Djohny was killed.

The night before the murder, a large number of locals set up two roadblocks in the area and began stopping and checking passing vehicles.

One of the vehicles that was stopped was Djohny's car. The villagers chased and then blocked the car. The victim was pulled out of the vehicle and beaten to death, and the car set ablaze.

Several hours later, the regent of Tabanan, Adi Wiryatama, announced that the enforcement of the Supreme Court's decision was suspended until further notice, and that he would always support his people's struggle and aspirations.

National Police chief Gen. Bimantoro ordered the Bali Police to arrest those involved in the murder of Djohny. Up to this point in time, however, it seems the Bali Police have taken no action and have remained silent on the matter.

Meanwhile, the people of Bedugul attempted to justify the murder by claiming it was "the work of the gods".

The gods were angry with Djohny, that is why on that fatal day many villagers were in a state of trance known as Kerauhan when they murdered Djohny, they claimed.

Djohny's death caused questions among Balinese intellectuals, who still shiver when they recall the murder.

They posed two major questions. First, the scholars questioned whether the empowerment of Bali's traditional institutions had gone too far and down the wrong path. The second question raised was whether Bali's formal legal institutions were capable of working effectively to deal with cases of "mob justice".

"Empowering traditional institutions, giving them more power, politically and economically, without establishing a way to supervise, contain and to control them is a very dangerous endeavor," said social observer.

During the New Order regime, the power of many Bali's traditional institutions, such as Banjar and Desa Adat, were systematically lessened and transformed into tools of the government.

The New Order used local institutions as an effective means to carry out or disseminate development programs, and, later, to mobilize villagers to support the then ruling Golkar party.

By becoming tools of the New Order, the traditional institutions practically lost most of their freedom and ability to solve problems democratically.

When the regime was toppled, many of Bali's intellectuals began to question the way the government treated these traditional institutions.

They demanded Banjar and Desa Adat be given more space and authority to rule themselves. Because the current administration of Bali envisions stronger traditional institutions playing a larger role in a solving many of the problems on the tourist island, it warmly responded to the intellectuals' demand.

It seems that both the scholars and the government forgot that these traditional institutions were created centuries ago, when social problems were fewer in number and less complicated than they are now. Also, Bali was a virtually homogeneous society at the times these institutions came into being.

They did not realize these local institutions were not properly equipped with modern laws or judicial processes.

"So the last resort of (the traditional institutions) in dealing with problems or disobedience is brute action," a source said.

In addition to Djohny's murder, Bali has witnessed communal acts of violence committed by members of Desa Adat and Banjar against illegal housing complexes and Javanese immigrants working in various informal sectors on the island.

The most recent case occurred in Kuta, where hundreds of semipermanent kiosks belonging to street vendors were damaged and set on fire when Desa Adat Kuta decided to make the streets cleaner and more orderly.

There also have been cases of Desa Adat imposing large fines on rebellious members and prohibiting them from praying at village temples. They also refuse to bury the "traitors" when they die.

Djohny Leopato was definitely not the first victim of such mob violence, and will surely not be the last unless the Balinese immediately find a way to reform their traditional institutions.

It is also a challenge for formal legal institutions to interfere in this complicated issue and strongly demand traditional community members and institutions be more civilized.