How power works in Bali.

Bali has two systems of authority side by side, the state administration and the customary village.

Both systems matter for land, building and living here.

This page sets out who decides what, with the legal basis and the official channel for each.

The dinas hierarchy runs from the central government, through the province, the kabupaten/kota, the kecamatan, to the desa dinas and kelurahan, under UU Nomor 23 Tahun 2014 tentang Pemerintahan Daerah.

Land (pertanahan) is a national affair. Kementerian ATR/BPN runs it through a kantor pertanahan in each kabupaten/kota, including the certificates and the registration record.

Spatial planning and building, including penataan ruang and bangunan gedung, are duties the law places on both the province and the kabupaten/kota. In practice, the kabupaten/kota issues the building approval (PBG) and the certificate of worthiness (SLF).

Business licensing runs through the national OSS system. The province and the kabupaten/kota act as the licensing authority OSS delegates to for many permits, while the business identity number and the risk classification are issued centrally.

Perda Provinsi Bali Nomor 4 Tahun 2019 tentang Desa Adat di Bali defines Desa Adat as a kesatuan masyarakat hukum adat, a customary law community with its own territory, position, original structure, traditional rights and property, bound together in Kahyangan Tiga or Kahyangan Desa (Pasal 1 angka 8).

The Majelis Desa Adat (MDA) is organised in three tiers, provinsi, kabupaten/kota and kecamatan (Pasal 72 ayat 3). Its tasks include advising government on customary matters, accompanying a Desa Adat in writing its Awig-Awig and Pararem, adjudicating unresolved adat disputes referred up from kecamatan level, and giving an opinion on development plans that cross a Desa Adat's boundaries (Pasal 76). The provincial MDA's certificate that an Awig-Awig or Pararem was written to its guideline is one of the papers required to register it (Pergub Bali 4/2020 Pasal 6 huruf d and 13 huruf d).

A Desa Adat's territory (Palemahan Desa Adat) includes land it owns and communal or individual guna kaya land, which carries a customary, religious, traditional and economic function (Pasal 10). Any change to the status or function of Desa Adat land needs a resolution of the Paruman Desa Adat, reported to the kabupaten/kota level MDA (Pasal 11). Land the Desa Adat owns is registered in its own name (Pasal 58).

Within its own territory, a Desa Adat's local scale authority (kewenangan lokal berskala Desa Adat) includes tourism destinations and attractions, sacred sites, forests, water sources, coasts, fisheries, local markets and settlements (Pasal 25). A Desa Adat may run its own business units, the LPD (a customary credit institution) and the BUPDA (a commercial unit) (Pasal 60 to 63).

Every Desa Adat must have an Awig-Awig, a set of customary rules, and must write it down (Pasal 13 ayat 4), and the Prajuru register the written Awig-Awig with the provincial office in charge of Desa Adat affairs (Pasal 17 ayat 1). A Pararem is a rule or decision of the Paruman Desa Adat that implements the Awig-Awig, regulates a new matter, or settles a customary case, in three kinds, Pararem Panyacah, Pararem Pangele and Pararem Panepas Wicara (Pasal 1 angka 29 to 30, Pasal 18 ayat 2). A Pararem is registered in the same way (Pasal 19 ayat 3).

Where an investment plan sits inside a Desa Adat's territory, Perda 4/2019 gives the Paruman Desa Adat, its highest decision body, authority over decisions on that investment plan (Pasal 41 ayat 3 huruf e).

Where land use or status changes inside a Desa Adat's territory, the same Perda requires a resolution of the Paruman Desa Adat, reported to the kabupaten/kota level MDA, separate from and before any registration step at the kantor pertanahan (Pasal 11).

The Perda does not set out a role for the Desa Adat inside the state permitting chain described in the table above, for KKPR, PBG or NIB. What the statute gives Desa Adat is authority over its own territory, land and investment decisions, as described above.

This section will be reviewed together with a Balinese co-author before Respek Bali treats it as complete.