Legal Protection for Calonarang Watangan Performers: Harmonizing Positive Law and Balinese Customary Law

Abstract

The calonarang performance is one of Bali's intangible cultural heritages that features the watangan character as a symbolic representation of death. Because this character is performed directly by a human actor, it creates physical and psychological risks for the performer, raising legal questions regarding the performer's status as a legal subject and the protection that should be afforded to them. This study aims to analyze the legal standing and qualification of the watangan performer as a legal subject and cultural actor within Indonesia's positive legal system, and to formulate a construction of legal protection through the harmonization of positive law with Balinese customary law in anticipating safety risks faced by the performer. This study employs a normative legal research method using a statutory approach, a conceptual approach, and a sociological approach toward the living law of Balinese customary communities. The results show that the watangan performer retains standing as a legal subject to whom rights and obligations remain attached, as guaranteed under the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, Law Number 39 of 1999 on Human Rights, and Law Number 5 of 2017 on the Advancement of Culture, so that the sacredness and cultural value of the role performed cannot be used as grounds to override the performer's legal rights. This study also finds an operational legal gap concerning safety standards for high-risk cultural actors, indicating the need for preventive protection through informed consent, standard safety operating procedures, risk identification and mitigation, and the precautionary principle, as well as repressive protection through tort liability under Article 1365 of the Indonesian Civil Code, reinforced by customary sanctions through awig-awig and pararem, insofar as these do not conflict with national law.