Badung Regent Lands in holy row

Bali Legislative Council is recommending that Governor Dewa Made Beratha summon Badung Regent A.A. Gde Agung next week to discuss a planning controversy concerning the Uluwatu temple.

The development of villas near the temple site is alleged to violate the 2005 regional development planning regulations.

The villas are constructed near the Uluwatu temple in South Badung. Many intellectuals and religious leaders have said the development may be located within a sacred area.

"We will coordinate with the governor to summon the Badung regent next week to talk about this," head of Legislative Council Commission I on legal issues, Made Arjaya, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The 2005 regulation stipulates that development and construction of buildings that have no religious function are not allowed within the area of a major temple.

The regulation says that the area up to five kilometers around a temple may be considered sacred and the existence of a building with no religious function may disturb the sanctity of the site.

Arjaya said that he and legislative members from commission I and Commission IV made a site visit Wednesday and saw the construction in the temple area was worse than expected.

"There was a villa located only one kilometer away from the temple," he said, adding that there were around seven minor temples located inside the Uluwatu temple site.

Perched on a steep cliff, Uluwatu temple is one of the most iconic places in Bali. The Balinese Hindus revere it as one of their most important places of worship since it is believed to be the spot where the sage Danghyang Nirartha achieved Moksha, the ultimate state of enlightenment.

Nirartha was the ancestor of Balinese Hinduism's powerful high priest clan of Brahmana Siwa.

Arjaya said, however, he did not blame the investors since they possessed the necessary licenses for the developments.

"We appreciate their good will by arranging licenses before carrying out construction in the area. It is the Badung administration that was not consistent in upholding regulations," he said.

He added that the council had given the Badung administration the opportunity to respond to the alleged violation but it had not yet done so.

Chairman of the Bali Parisada Hindu Dharma religious council I Gusti Ngurah Sudiana said he had received the report from a council member who participated in the site visit. This confirmed the villa closest to the temple was covered by a planning license issued in 2006.

"We are very worried about the stance taken by Balinese leaders who tend to prioritize material achievements despite the fact Badung regency already has enough income from tourism even without development of these new villas," he told the Post.

He said he hoped future leaders would not carry out similar violations.

He added that as a Hindu religious council, they only had authority to encourage Badung administration to follow the law.

"If the law stipulates the construction should be demolished, then the Badung administration should implement this and revoke the development licenses that were issued," he said.

"Are they courageous enough to do that?"

He said there were actually many similar violations in the past, such as at the Tanah Lot temple and others.

Unfortunately most of the villas around these shrines were built before the 2005 regional development plan and zoning regulation, so the council could not urge the regional administrations to punish the violators.