The headache of customary regulations in Gianyar

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): The body of Ni Wayan Pasek, 55, had been in the house for more than one month. The head of the desa adat (traditional village) would not allow the family to bury the deceased in the cemetery due to a dispute over the Pura Shanti temple in their village of Tibakauh, Payangan subdistrict, Gianyar regency.

The family of the deceased claimed the temple was theirs, while the village head said it belonged to the village. The village would allow the burial of Pasek only if the family paid a penanjung batu (a type of fee) of Rp 5 million.

"It does not make sense because our family is not in the wrong," said Sugiarta, 32, a son of the deceased.

The body was finally buried earlier this year at a cemetery in a neighboring village which sympathized with the family and provided a plot of land free of charge.

Not long after the Pasek case, a similar thing happened to the body of Ribeg in Bonbiyu, Saba village, also in the Gianyar regency. The village would not let the family use the cemetery unless a Rp 2.4 million penanjung batu was paid. The deceased's family was sanctioned for not following various customary regulations. The burial was later taken care of by the regional administration office.

Apart from the sanctions, villagers were prohibited from praying at the pura (temple) because they had failed to pay their installments at the village credit institute, a non-bank financial institute owned by the village. The same thing happened in August 1996 to scores of villagers from Sangsit Dangin Yeh in Buleleng regency.

The above decisions are often made based on awig, or customary regulations. If there is no reference point in the awig, decisions can be made based on paruman krama (deliberation between village members).

The Bali Council for Supporting Customs Institutes, or Majelis Pembina Lembaga Adat (MPLA), has become a target of criticism by those who regard the sanctions as a violation of human rights, religious philosophy and Pancasila democracy.

However, Ida Bagus Putu Purwita, the council's deputy chief, stated that the council is not authorized to take steps against a desa adat.

"These types of villages are autonomous, and we are only authorized to the level of supporting," he said.

There is also the Executive Body for Supporting Customary Institutes, or Badan Pelaksana Pembina Lembaga Adat (BPPLA), which is under the supervision of the council. But the body is not allowed to interfere with any decision made by a customary village. The MPLA and the BPPLA are regulated by Bali's 1986 Regional Regulation No.6.

The council's statement that it cannot interfere with the autonomy of customary villages has startled a number of citizens, including intellectuals, who disagree with the decision to prohibit burials and forbid villagers from praying.

I Dewa Gede Ngurah Swastha, chairman of the Indonesian Hindu Observers Forum, said at a discussion in Besakih last month: "The MPLA's authority needs to be expanded, and its regional regulation renewed."

Paper tiger

He said that in the last 10 years the MPLA had only looked on "like a paper tiger" when citizens got "strange" sanctions from the village. The MPLA, he said, can do nothing when a village prohibits its citizens from praying or from using cemeteries. However, he said, autonomy should not mean that the villages can mete out what ever sanctions they want.

The secretary of Bali's MPLA, I Gusti Ngurah Oka Pemecutan, said expanding the council's authority, "is a good idea, but we need to consider the existing regulations."

However, Swastha's blunt opinion is opposed by a number of Balinese bureaucrats. Ida Bagus Pangjaya, head of the Balinese Culture Agency, openly refutes the idea.

"The idea deviates from Regional Regulation No. 6/1986 and will limit the autonomy of customary villages."

According to Pangjaya, the regional regulation authorizes the bendesa (village chief) to act as a judge in local customary conflicts. If there is no way out, they are allowed to ask suggestions from the BPPLA or the MPLA. If this fails, they can submit their case to a public court of justice. However, he said, the best way is to avoid court and find a solution through deliberation.

I Made Suasthawa Dharmayuda, an expert on customary law at Udayana University, said in an article called Expanding the MPLA's authority in the Bali Post daily (Feb.26, 1997) that what had been done by the MPLA is in accordance with the principles of Balinese customs. He explained that if a citizen in a dispute wants his case puput (solved), he can go to the bendesa. But if he wants pematut (the truth), the place to go is court.

The MPLA's authority does not include the authority to make judicial decisions on customary disputes. If the MPLA's authority were expanded, said Dharmayuda, it would be difficult to solve customary matters, which are usually a combination of various factors and interests. Chronic customary cases, according to Dharmayuda, should not be dealt with by expanding the MPLA's authority, but by giving guidance to the villages and properly enforcing customary law. Law enforcement, he said, is not just about meting out sanctions but keeping order in the community.

The polemic went on and the MPLA organized a meeting on Feb. 27 at Denpasar Hindu University. The meeting was attended by members of the Bali MPLA, the BPPLA from all regencies in Bali and a number of Balinese customs observers. The participants discussed the role penanjung batu and other customary sanctions deemed contrary to religious teachings and human rights.

The meeting yielded an agreement that was a relief to all concerned. The participants agreed that prohibiting prayer could no longer be tolerated. In their opinion the only justifiable sanctions were those concerning pawongan (related to persons), and palemahan (related to the location of customary villages). The participants agreed that things related to parahyangan (prayer) could not be prohibited and that penanjung batu amounts should not be burdensome.

Several villages have since set relatively low penanjung batu rates, such as 500 uang kepeng (old coins) totaling Rp 100,000, or banknotes totaling between Rp 100,000 and Rp 200,000.