The Subak

SUBAK ORGANIZATION

One unique organization in Bali is he association of Subak which has the function of bring the distribution of water evenly and appropriately among their members. The member of he subak association are those who own land needs water supply to grow rice. Depending on the capacity of water supply, the number of the member are varies from one association to another. The name of this association is " Sekaa Subak", which is cross border of traditional organization which is already exist such as banjar or desa or even formal border set by modern government of Indonesia. Every subak organization is an independence organization autonomous in their administration, in case land owner has 2 plots of land and each belong to different subak organization, then he/she must enters 2 membership.

The source of water is taken from river which is splinted deep in inner part of Bali or high land. the expert of water canalling has been able to asses how to measure the gravitation level so as when the water flows reaching the rice field it is exactly as planned although some higher land might do not get water. The long way of canal sometimes has to pass difficult areas which is impossible to dig open canal. For example when crossing high and deep ravines, steep drop high hills and others. In this situation a canal must be dug as subway which is to often a subway can not be made directly on surface but must be under the soil It is amazing that the subway canal expert of subak since ancient time has developed their still what traditional tools that hey can dig subway canal with many turnings under soil and still can exactly arrive at the appointed spot. The technique of digging subway canal is not always worked from one side, but to often from both sides of a ride or crossing mountain, which is according to our assumption they will experience hard way to meet each other underground. but in most cases they did. When the water flows reaching the area where the subak members land a unique traditional way of distributing water evenly is made called " Tembuku ". At first the volume of the water is counted and theatrically distributed to all members. Then after the figure of each member is found, normally with centi meter, then made a divider by wood ( today mostly renewed with concrete ) to flow the amount of the water per minute. Each member of the subak further bound by the obligation of maintaining water canals from their dam to the main canal and dam plus worship of the temple called " Pura Bedbug" or " Pura Elating" Indeed the organization of sub ak is a separate jurisdiction from the traditional organization of settlement of Banjar and Desa which is by Arab word called " Ad at", then on the writing of western observers called " adapt law " As a co-ordination between the organization of sub ak with their government of Indonesia representative is maintained at the level of local government called " Pekaseh " This representative would work on various relations such as land administration relating to traditional law, fund assistance from government if any, ana any other recommendation from both sides.

The subak organization is headed by a chairman called Kelian subak, who lead the member in establishing the subak order from type of infringements and its sanction to the schedule of rituals and subak temple maintenance. The power of worldly rules and sanctions are given the special ritual to enforce the power of the rules, that is will not only wordily punishment falls on person who has acted against the consent, but also the power of invisible being that will punish the actions. This means that although an action is not detected by human being due to the tricky way of member to steel the water beyond his quota, then the punishment will go on by spiritual guardian of god who reside subak temple. This double sanctions have been very successful in maintaining the quality of water distribution, although during the driest season where the volume of water drops to the lowest supply. In the past during the opening of irrigation which was followed by a ritual of thank at subak temple it might be followed by oaths and curses which prevents the offence of the members consent.

Bali tour program which can give a glimpse look on a distribution of water for irrigation can be joined such as tour program to Jatiluwih rice terrace and Batukaru temple a tour program to the center west of Bali where the organization of subak has been very successfully and known as the rice granary of Bali. During the tour to Besakih Temple also can stop some where on the way, as on the way dan still be seen rice terraces with beautiful views, but not as good as those on west central Bali. When visiting Tanah Lot Temple also can see also the distribution of water, the tembuku, yet need to walk from the main road to deeper area where the rice field still maintained very well. A special subak and irrigation tour can be arranged also on special request combined with Bali farming activities at Krambitan village.

Subak Irrigation

The general Balinese philosophy guiding the subak system adheres to the principle of Tri Hita Karana which emphasises that happiness can only be reached if the Creator (God), the people (the farmers) and nature (the rice fields) live in harmony with each other. Based on this philosophy are the ceremonies which are a substantial part of the rice cultivation cycle. The ceremonies are carried out at the various temples which are associated with the subak.

They are organised hierarchically as follow: the simple shrine (chatu) at the individual water inlet, Bedugul temple at the dam or tunnel intersection, Ulun Suwi / Ulun Carik temple at each subak area, penyungsungan subak temple ’sanctuaries which were originally desa temples that one or more subaks helped to worship, after which in the course of time, all the expenses connected with the temple services and offering ceremonials have, gradually fallen to the subak or subaks and Ulun Danu temple, the Baliwide inter-subak temple at the crater lake Batur, the most sacred lake in Bali. For all the temples and other places of worship there are certain times when religious ceremonies are held, either periodically or as occasion demands.

The periodical ceremonies are divided into ngerainin and ngebekin or ngusaba. Ngerainin consists of making a flower offering in the puras ulun charik and penyungsungan subak; it takes place on certain favorable days (rerainan) such as full moon, new moon, Wednesday-Kliwon, Anggara Kasih (Tuesday-Kliwon), and the like, and is performed by the pemangku without the members of the subak being present. No ngerainin takes place at the chatus, which, since they are not puras, do not have pemangkus.

The harvest festival is celebrated in the last stage of the ripening of the rice, in alternate years as ngebekin and ngusaba. New moon is considered a favorable time for ngebekin, while ngusaba takes place at full moon. The former ceremony has the character of an offering to the demons; the latter, primarily a festival of thanksgiving to the deity, is more elaborate than ngebekin and is often accompanied by the Placing of festive Poles of bamboo (penjor) each kesit (field).

The ceremonies are not just performed based on the calendar but also carried out regularly following the stages of rice growth and the sequences of rice farming activities (which are quite similar with the rite of passage) starting from land preparation which is presided by “water opening ceremony”; seeding; transplanting; blooming of rice plant; milking; harvesting until the harvest being stocked at granary. The rituals may be performed individually by each farmer at his own altar as well as in a joint cooperation with other members of the same subak or even different subaks at relevant temples according to the kind of ceremony to be performed.

In effort to keep harmonious relationship with other living creatures such as pests and insects, rice farmers in former times used not to kill them, but rather they performed ritual known as nanglukmerana (“avoid pest attack ceremony”). This ritual is still practiced until today by Balinese farmers. The philosophical meaning of this ritual is that not to kill any creature as could as possible but just to protect the crops from pest attack. In some places, many subaks still used to perform “rat cremation ceremony” as a form of nangluk merana ritual, by praying for God’s blessing so that no pest would attack their crops. Other important rituals that need to be mentioned here are the so called tumpek uduh (“flora day ceremony”) and tumpek kandang (“fauna day ceremony”). Each of these rituals is performed every 210 days on Saturday based on Balinese calendar. These rituals symbolizing the biodiversity preservation efforts of Balinese rice farmers.

The Tri Hita Karana philosophy is also the basis for the clearly defined rules of a subak, called awig-awig. This set of laws regulates rights and duties among the members. It includes public obligations, regulations concerning land and water use, legal transactions of land transfers, and collective religious ceremonies. For instance, all members have the right to the same share of water at all times. This principle of equitable water sharing is put into action by fixed proportional flow division structures.

Subak internal matters are handled by the pekaseh, the subak head who is democratically elected by all members of the subak. He is responsible to overlook the irrigation management within the subak area, to schedule cultivation cycles and to organise subak ceremonies. He is supported by several assistants, such as the vice subak head (petajuh), the secretary (penyarikan), the treasurer (petengen or juru raksa), the messenger (kasinoman), special helper (saye) and the heads of the sub-subak groups. Bigger subak are divided into sub-groups, called munduk. Munduk may have a separate inlet from the subak main canal. A munduk usually comprises an average of 20 to 40 farmers.

Every munduk is headed by a pengliman who receives direct orders from the pekaseh and is responsible for all matters related to the munduk. As a sub-group of the subak, the munduk has to follow the subak rules and regulations. However, certain organisational and water management issues can be decided autonomously on the munduk level. The munduk is an important dimension within the subak. Day-to-day cultivation decisions are made on this level and provide the fine-tuning of the subak water and crop management – not always following the subak laws by doing this. The relationship between subak and munduk is to facilitate top down and bottom up information flow.

Members of subak also form an informal group which is called sekaa, in order to make ease a certain working activity on the rice field by working together on a certain field and certain activity. For examples: sekaa numbeg (for land cultivation), sekaa jelinjingan (for water tunnel maintenance), sekaa sambang (for water and pest surveillance), sekaa mamulih (for seed plantation), sekaa majukut (for plants surveillance), sekaa manyi (for harvest work), sekaa bleseng (for carrying paddy to the barn). These sekaa may recruit workers outside subak members. The code of work in these sekaa is simple, “I scratch yours you scratch mine.”

The indigenous social-administration organization in subak also supported by efficient and effective water system. Subak’s water system comprise of many parts such as empelan (dam) functioned as water reservoir, aungan (tunnel), telabah (primary waterway), tembuku aya (primary inlet), telabah gede (secondary waterway), tembuku gede (secondary inlet), telabah pamaron (tertiary waterway), tembuku pamaron (tertiary inlet), telabah penyacah (quaternary waterway), tembuku penyacah (quaternary inlet), tembuku pengalapan (individual inlet), tali kunda (individual waterway). Subak’s water system also has complementary part such as penguras (flushing), pekiuh (overflow), titi (bridge), Jengkuwung (small tunnel), abangan (off-land tunnel), petaku (waterfall structure), and telepus (siphon).