Latest Journey of the THK Awards
THE Tri Hita Karana Awards (THK Awards) as an accreditation of local wisdom has been carried out since 2000. The Tri Hita Karana, as a pearl of Balinese local wisdom, has been able to manage the development of this island since the eleventh century so that it established spatial planning of Bali Province as we enjoy it today.
The Government of Bali Province also wants to create a quality, safe, comfortable, productive, independent, competitive, eco-friendly and sustainable regional space as a center for the development of tourism, agriculture and culture-based industries imbued with the Tri Hita Karana philosophy inspired by the values of Sad Kerthi’s local wisdom in one area, one island, one pattern, and one governance.
Local wisdom is local knowledge created from the adaptation of a community that comes from empirical experiences having been communicated from generation to generation. Thus, local wisdom is local knowledge used by local communities to survive in an environment having been
integrated with belief system, norms and culture expressed in traditions and myths having been held for a long time.
Balinese people have proven and tested local wisdom and social roaming ability in overcoming various problems of social life. The values of developing local wisdom believed to be the social glue is frequently used as a reference in managing relationships and harmony among religious communities in Bali Province.
As a local wisdom accreditation, the implementation of the THK concept through the THK Awards program for 20 years has made many records of achievements, both at the local, national, regional and international levels. Ultimately, in 2015 the THK Awards and Accreditation was recognized by the UN-WTO (the United Nation-World Tourism Organization) as an implementation of the Global Code of Ethic for Tourism.
THK Awards of the New Era From the eleventh century to the twenty-first century, the role of THK’s local wisdom continuously exists to establish the Island of Bali which has received many
nicknames and praises (Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy). Just look at the artifacts of the subak (irrigation cooperative) region in Bali. For thousands of years, the subak landscape has rarely been damaged and destroyed because it is very sacred, but still applies scientific reasoning approach, namely hydraulics which utilizes the hilly topography of Bali, so that a beautiful panorama is created like the scratches of painting depicting the harmony of Balinese nature and its people.
The rapid progress of tourism in Bali has made us forget that the famous Balinese landscape is a painting of heaven, so it is necessary to evaluate the implementation of THK’s local wisdom. Finally, from 2000 to 2019 the THK Awards were awarded every year. However, in 2020, another evaluation is needed because the world is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the end, the THK Awards program entered a ‘new era,’ so that it became the THK Awards of the New Era in accordance with the vision and mission of the government of Bali Governor Wayan Koster and his Deputy Cok Ace. Hopefully, this program can pave the way for us so that we remain aware of the local wisdom known as the tri hita karana which is believed to be one of the ways to accelerate recovery because Balinese local wisdom is a magnet for tourists coming to Bali. We do hope so! * BTNewspaper
