Tenganan people care for enviromnent

Tenganan people care for enviromnent

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

The large drum at the tower beats 21 times as a wakeup call to
residents of quiet Tenganan Penggringsingan village near Candi
Dasa resort in Karang Asem, around 100 kilometers east of Nusa
Dua.

Some 600 residents of the village hastily leave for their
ricefields, plantations and workplaces. The women cook meals for
their families and later in the day they weave Tenun
Penggringsingan cloth.

The way of life of the Tenganan villagers has been strictly
regulated according to the awig-awig customary laws bestowed upon
them for many centuries by the god, Indra, and their ancestors.
Everything remains largely unchanged since the 11th century.

Every member of the Tenganan community has the obligation to
preserve and protect the centuries-old rules in order to maintain
their traditions.

In 1998, the village won the prestigious Kalpataru
environmental award from the central government for their efforts
to preserve their land and forest.

Secluded in a mountainous valley, Tenganan village is one of
the surviving Bali Aga aboriginal communities in Bali. The term
"Bali Aga" refers to the indigenous Balinese communities that
resisted the Majapahit kingdom in Java around the 14th century
and its Hindu-Javanese court culture and were able to maintain
the ownership of their land and the authority of their local
laws.

Preserved for hundreds of years, Tenganan village, one of
Bali's most important water catchment areas, and its community
have become living subjects for research and studies by local and
international scholars.

However, since Bali became Indonesia's most important tourist
destination, the once tranquil and peaceful Tenganan was also
designated one of the island's unique tourist destinations.

Tenganan villagers politely turn down visitors when dusk comes
and the village gates are closed, only villagers remain within.

But as tourism develops and cultural and natural resources
become over-exploited, Tenganan villagers question their wisdom.

I Nyoman Sadra, a Tenganan resident, said that since the
tourism boom, the Tenganan people have only become tourist
objects.

"Thousands and thousands of people come here to visit our
preserved village, to watch our religious and traditional
rituals, handicrafts and rare woven cloth but it provides small
benefits to our community," Sadra complained.

Bali's vast array of traditional arts, architecture and even
religious rituals are tourist best-sellers.

Once a tour operator, he said, brought about 100 guests to his
village and charged US$100 per person. "The tour operator only
paid a donation to the village of Rp 200,000 ($20)," said Sadra.

Worst of all, visitors often dump plastic bags, soft drink
cans and other items in places considered sacred by the local
community.

"Such unfair tourism has taken its toll on us and other
indigenous communities on the island," he said. Something must be
done to stop this practice, he said. But the locals have neither
the power nor skill to put an end to it.

"We have to join forces to build a strong pressure group,"
Sadra said.

It was only in April 2000 that the people of Tenganan,
together with people from three other villages, had the courage
to question their participation in the mass tourist industry and
the injustices it brought about.

The three other villages were Nusa Ceningan islanders, Pelaga
in north Badung and Sibetan village in Karang Asem, East Bali.
Supported by the Bali-based environmental group, Wisnu
Foundation, the four villages established Jaringan Ekowisata
Desa, a village ecotourism network, in April 2000 to empower the
hidden potentials of the tourist industry.

I Made Suarnatha, director of the Wisnu foundation, explained
the networking system is only one of the tools to encourage the
locals to voice their own needs and aspirations.

"Local people have been systematically excluded from any
decision-making process regarding land use, use of natural
resources, which later caused so many social, cultural and
environmental problems," Suarnatha said.

The problems culminated in the l990s and adversely affected
locals.

IB K. Yogatama, Wisnu Foundation's program director, said the
foundation helped people organize their plans and activities.

"They had already identified the problems and ways to solve
them but they were not eloquent in expressing them," explained
Yogatama.

What they need to realize is that they can actually
participate and become significant players in the tourist
industry if they know how to unleash their potential and
capabilities.

Through the networking system, villagers will be able to
collaborate in the marketing of their farming products,
handicrafts, and improve their community-based tourist
activities.

Men could work as tour guides, women could produce food or
handicrafts, while the youth could handle various cultural and
sporting activities, he said.

In Tenganan village, the first step was to visually map out
the village boundaries, to create a cooperative and set up
trekking spots. "We had more than 900 hectares of land comprising
fertile ricefields, forest and well-planned habitable sites," he
said. In the past, he added, their ancestors always reminded them
they were a rich community.

The Wisnu foundation, Suarnatha added, has given basic
management and organizational training to help them.

"The villagers have abundant natural resources and don't need
tourism to secure their livelihood. If they accept tourism, they
could become players with strong bargaining power to create their
own visitor regulations," he said.