A Brief Explanation Of “Banjar”
The banjar are the local community that apply the traditional laws, each area of Bali has its own Banjar which is supervised by the representative chiefs (klian adat) of each family living in the area. The leader is elected and a medium is used to approve whether or not his nomination speaks in the name of Gods. They commonly meet every month to discuss different matters: they determine dates for local religious events, they raise funds for ceremonies and allocate them for temple maintenance. They also have a role in property transactions happening in the area. A commonplace is shared in a Banjar and used as a common room as well as a meeting room for the gatherings.
Every married man has to belong to a Banjar. Every ceremony has to be approved by the Banjar and different Banjar can split the organization of ceremonies throughout the year. When it comes to making a decision it has to be unanimous among the families. Since 1979 the Banjar is an official Indonesian structure, the lowest and more local one.
Whereas the Banjar represented a physical space in the past, nowadays two Banjar can share an area, and the term Banjar represents more the group of people that compounds it. Every member of a Banjar has responsibilities and has to help the community. A Banjar is also a keeper of traditions: they watch that local people are hired rather than foreigners, regulate the traffic when there are ceremonies and are sometimes acting as an intermediary in some conflicts.