Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

The large drum at the tower beats 21 times as a wakeup call to residents of quiet Tenganan Penggringsingan village near Candi Dasa resort in Karang Asem, around 100 kilometers east of Nusa Dua.

Some 600 residents of the village hastily leave for their ricefields, plantations and workplaces. The women cook meals for their families and later in the day they weave Tenun Penggringsingan cloth.

The way of life of the Tenganan villagers has been strictly regulated according to the awig-awig customary laws bestowed upon them for many centuries by the god, Indra, and their ancestors. Everything remains largely unchanged since the 11th century.

Every member of the Tenganan community has the obligation to preserve and protect the centuries-old rules in order to maintain their traditions.

In 1998, the village won the prestigious Kalpataru environmental award from the central government for their efforts to preserve their land and forest.

Secluded in a mountainous valley, Tenganan village is one of the surviving Bali Aga aboriginal communities in Bali. The term "Bali Aga" refers to the indigenous Balinese communities that resisted the Majapahit kingdom in Java around the 14th century and its Hindu-Javanese court culture and were able to maintain the ownership of their land and the authority of their local laws.

Preserved for hundreds of years, Tenganan village, one of Bali's most important water catchment areas, and its community have become living subjects for research and studies by local and international scholars.

However, since Bali became Indonesia's most important tourist destination, the once tranquil and peaceful Tenganan was also designated one of the island's unique tourist destinations.

Tenganan villagers politely turn down visitors when dusk comes and the village gates are closed, only villagers remain within.

But as tourism develops and cultural and natural resources become over-exploited, Tenganan villagers question their wisdom.

I Nyoman Sadra, a Tenganan resident, said that since the tourism boom, the Tenganan people have only become tourist objects.

"Thousands and thousands of people come here to visit our preserved village, to watch our religious and traditional rituals, handicrafts and rare woven cloth but it provides small benefits to our community," Sadra complained.

Bali's vast array of traditional arts, architecture and even religious rituals are tourist best-sellers.

Once a tour operator, he said, brought about 100 guests to his village and charged US$100 per person. "The tour operator only paid a donation to the village of Rp 200,000 ($20)," said Sadra.

Worst of all, visitors often dump plastic bags, soft drink cans and other items in places considered sacred by the local community.

"Such unfair tourism has taken its toll on us and other indigenous communities on the island," he said. Something must be done to stop this practice, he said. But the locals have neither the power nor skill to put an end to it.

"We have to join forces to build a strong pressure group," Sadra said.

It was only in April 2000 that the people of Tenganan, together with people from three other villages, had the courage to question their participation in the mass tourist industry and the injustices it brought about.

The three other villages were Nusa Ceningan islanders, Pelaga in north Badung and Sibetan village in Karang Asem, East Bali. Supported by the Bali-based environmental group, Wisnu Foundation, the four villages established Jaringan Ekowisata Desa, a village ecotourism network, in April 2000 to empower the hidden potentials of the tourist industry.

I Made Suarnatha, director of the Wisnu foundation, explained the networking system is only one of the tools to encourage the locals to voice their own needs and aspirations.

"Local people have been systematically excluded from any decision-making process regarding land use, use of natural resources, which later caused so many social, cultural and environmental problems," Suarnatha said.

The problems culminated in the l990s and adversely affected locals.

IB K. Yogatama, Wisnu Foundation's program director, said the foundation helped people organize their plans and activities.

"They had already identified the problems and ways to solve them but they were not eloquent in expressing them," explained Yogatama.

What they need to realize is that they can actually participate and become significant players in the tourist industry if they know how to unleash their potential and capabilities.

Through the networking system, villagers will be able to collaborate in the marketing of their farming products, handicrafts, and improve their community-based tourist activities.

Men could work as tour guides, women could produce food or handicrafts, while the youth could handle various cultural and sporting activities, he said.

In Tenganan village, the first step was to visually map out the village boundaries, to create a cooperative and set up trekking spots. "We had more than 900 hectares of land comprising fertile ricefields, forest and well-planned habitable sites," he said. In the past, he added, their ancestors always reminded them they were a rich community.

The Wisnu foundation, Suarnatha added, has given basic management and organizational training to help them.