The headache of customary regulations in Gianyar

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.