Subak's Social Capital: Could They Enhance the Existence?

Abstract

"Subaks are traditional organization in Bali which managing water for rice field. Subaks have existed for centuries and characterized by a common source of water with the subak's water temple in close proximity, one or more rice field temples, written or unwritten rules and full autonomy for managing its own affairs. A subak, with its carefully crafted rules, roles, right and responsibilities, is one of the world's best example of long-enduring, local resource management system (Asian Development Bank, 1997). Recently, where demand for non-agricultural lands have been sharply increased, subaks have a significant role in controlling land use conversion and many social environmental resource rent. As a traditional organization, subaks have strong norms that correlate with religious activity. That is why all members of subaks have high participation on every collective action. The existence of subaks is not only dependent on norms but also on social capital as a whole such as trust and network. The organization needs to strengthen the trust building and develop its network to achive high social capital level. The aim of this research is to analyze the social capital of subaks and its role on agricultural and natural resources. The data collected from the several villages in Bali Province include four regency that is Jembrana, Karangasem, Badung and Gianyar. In this paper, therefore, we compare between subak's social capital as a traditional organization in agricultural community and social capital of modern organization e.g. tourism. The results indicate that there is significant relationship between kind of job and level of thick trust. Subak have lower level of general trust and higher network density than modern organization. The general implication of this research is involving on organization not depend on trustworthy but depend on norm and sanction only."