Community Leaders Furious, Governor Koster: It’s Time to Intervene to Save Jatiluwih

Denpasar, 29/4 (Atnews)—

Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, who heads the Island of the Gods with the vision of Nangun Sat Kerthi Loka Bali, said that it is time to intervene to save the Subak Jatiluwih area, if wishing not to be laughed at by the world community.

Why? Because there is a threat of revocation of the Subak Jatiluwih area which is designated as one of the world heritage sites from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Due to the uniqueness of subak, a community organization specifically regulating irrigation system used in rice cultivation in Bali, UNESCO established subak as a world heritage in 2012.

Sites having been designated as world heritage will continue to be evaluated by the UNESCO. One of the judgments is in terms of the authenticity. The supervision does not seem to be playing around with the world institution, it is proven that in case there are few abnormalities the institution will reprimand it.

The sentence is not playful, namely the revocation of the predicate it has carried out. Therefore, Koster who is also the Chairperson of the PDIP Bali should be able to use his influence to the regional leader of Tabanan district.

The status of subak as one of the world heritage sites is threatened to be revoked because of the construction of a helipad in the subak area which can damage and change the authenticity of the site.

Construction of the helipad between the rice fields is a total mistake. Regent of Tabanan is asked for her awareness to turn it back into rice fields because it had damaged the authenticity of the rice fields.

The request seems to have received less attention from the regent of Tabanan, so that many community leaders are furious at the attitude of the local government leader, especially to the management.

Chairperson of the Subak Research Center of Udayana University (Unud), Prof. Wayan Windia, for example, asked to stop the exploitation the Subak Jatiluwih area.

“If the Tabanan regional government does not change, let’s boycott Jatiluwih,” said Prof. Windia in Denpasar. He also had a stake in participating in fighting for Subak Jatiluwih to become a world heritage.

He hoped the Tabanan regional government to arrange the Catur Angga Batu Karu area so that it will not damage nature. If it is ignored, tourists are encouraged to divert their visit from Jatiluwih Subak.

“Divert the visits to the other subak areas,” he said, while stating that investors in Jatiluwih are too greedy. In the past, he even opposed to the construction of parking in the location.

The regional government is expected to make a detailed plan for the world cultural heritage (WBD) in the Catur Angga Batukaru to clarify what is allowed and what should not be built there.

Likewise, the construction of parking lot must be made far from Subak Jatiluwih area. Local government also formed world cultural heritage, not a management body of the Tourist Destination Area (DTW).

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Bali Tourism Society Alliance, Gusti Kade Sutawan, asked the regional government of Tabanan to dare to return the Subak Jatiluwih area as one of the world cultural heritages from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“For this reason, the regional government must firmly resolve this problem, if it is completely revoked it will be detrimental to Indonesian tourism,” said Kade Sutawan, because the area is already known to the world and becomes the image of Bali tourism which has a significant number of visits.

Due to the supervision of the regional government and the commitment of the management has changed the authenticity of the region leading to the threat of revocation of the status from UNESCO, whereas the determination of the status is beneficial for the branding of subak that is in demand by tourists.

Operations Manager of Jatiluwih Tourist Attraction, Nengah Sutirtayasa, argued that the development is to provide services and comfort for tourists. He responded to the center point of the Jatiluwih tourist attraction considered to be a helipad for commercial use is not true.

The place is built in a three-way intersection of the subak road where it is an unproductive land belonging to members of the subak (farmers).

Such construction is actually a center point of the object to provide comfort for tourists wishing to get information about Jatiluwih tourist attraction.

Do you know, after Subak Jatiluwih is included in the category of world heritage, its existence is increasingly well-known in the community among nations. Moreover, US President Obama in 2017 was interested and very happy to enjoy the panoramic view of rice fields that are second to none in the world.

President of the superpower country had an extraordinary influence so the international community, especially travelers from the country of Uncle Sam, would be interested in following in the footpath of their leader and wish to know what it is and how terraced rice paddies are.

To avoid the status of subak as one of the world heritage sites threatened to be revoked due to the construction of the helipad, it is necessary to influence Governor of Bali Wayan Koster to move the heart of the Tabanan regent to return the authenticity of the rice fields there. Hopefully, he will do so! (Ika/ART)