DENPASAR (indo.com): Galungan and Kuningan mark important festival days for Balinese Hindus, with abundant food, fruit and new clothes for kids and ceremonies for adults. It is pretty much the Hindu equivalent of Christmas.

One aspect which is less celebratory, but also highly inportant, is that it is also time for the village members to conduct a grand plenary session to evaluate what they have done in the past six months and what they are going to do in the next six. The festive days occur every six months according to the Balinese pawukon calendar, in which each month consists of 35 days.

There will be many banjar meetings during this period of time, especially when local Balinese hold incidental ceremonies such as cremations, family bazaars or make special offerings to placate evil spirits when something bad happens in the village.

The annual meeting, which takes place before or between Galungan and Kuningan, is treated as special since it is a time to evaluate whether or not the previous plan had been successful.

Just as with the American system where a President has to make a progress report to the senate members, the banjar meeting follows a similar pattern. Members of the banjar (all the married men within a village), listen attentively to the progress report made by the banjar chief and his ministers.

Questions are asked about any issues of particular concern or things about which the banjar members are unhappy. If too many people are not satisfied, they might vote for an impeachment. In addition, Balinese people have an unwavering belief in karma, with good conduct resulting in good feedback and vice versa.

This is one reason why people will insist on going to their own villages and hometowns between Galungan and Kuningan Day, separated only by ten days. They are strictly required among (other things) to attend the plenary meeting. The meeting will also decide the master plan for the banjar's activity for the next six months or more.

This may include the renovation or development of the village temple, other construction such as bridges, roads, schools, or any other community project. In well developed tourist or commercial towns such as Nusa Dua, Denpasar, and Kuta, discussion also includes drug abuse, illegal migrants and of course the tourism industry.

While people often credit the Western world with the development of various forms of democracy, it is interesting to note that the Balinese have also applied a form of democracy in their traditional banjar system for a similar length of time as the Western world.