Village and state in "new order" Bali

Abstract

This thesis documents the complex process by which a conservative village, Brassika, in South Bali, has been absorbed into the nation-state of Indonesia. National-level political events such as the Land Reform Act of 1960 and the Gestapu coup and its violent aftermath have led to a significant redistribution of agricultural land in Brassika. The Puri, the traditional ruling house of the village and major landowner, has transferred significant amounts of land to new owners. Government policies and development programmes have enmeshed the villagers in the Indonesian macroeconomy. Green Revolution technology, the Family Planning programme

and a wide range of other development programmes have been widely adopted. Government legislation has also caused the introduction of new bureaucratic structures in the village, leading to a loss of local autonomy. The political role of the Puri in the village has also being transformed. One important 'New Order' policy has been to expand the national school system and thus to "equalize" access to the fruits of economic development. Access to schooling has consequently expanded rapidly in the New Order period, but in Brassika, boys, especially high-caste boys, have enjoyed far greater access to schools than girls. Schooling thus reproduces traditional elite positions and cannot be regarded as an agent for equal opportunity. Further, schools have a curriculum which emphasizes citizenship and the power of the state. Schooling is thus a form of political control. 'New Order' ideology stresses the value of progress, order and stability. The 'New Order' period has been characterized by comparative social order, prosperity and stability. Traditional political theory in Bali also emphasizes the importance of order and legitimate rule signified by the possession of sakti. The prosperous, stable reign of the traditional village head, the Cokorda, was partly a creation of the New Order government and partly the product of an inherited tradition of legitimate rule. His recent move into the Indonesian bureaucracy reflects modern elite interests in the supra-village sphere of the government. It also signals the separation of the political tie between Puri and village.