Govt criticized for exploiting guards

The presence of Balinese traditional village guards or pecalang has captured the attention of most delegates attending the current UN meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Everything appeared to be running smoothly until Wednesday morning when hundreds of NGO members staged a big rally at the resort complex, which apparently provoked dozens of pecalang to the brink of an ugly, violent clash with the demonstrators.

Anak Agung Arya Wedakarna from the Bali Hindu Youth Association blamed the Indonesian government for involving pecalang as the security team to safeguard this UN-sponsored meeting.

"It is part of the politicization process of Balinese traditional community members," charged Arya.

Pecalang guards are closely linked to the traditional village of Banjar and now operate throughout Bali.

"They do not belong to any political party or other institutions, only Banjar," he said.

Each pecalang member was directly elected by the entire village community.

According to Balinese traditional rules, pecalang are obliged to protect and to defend their respective village regardless of the situation.

"We assume that there is a systematic effort to ruin the image of pecalang. We, the Balinese people, never had any intention to disturb the meeting." -- JP