Pecalang (pronounced "pechalang") are a type of local, traditional security officers of an

administrative village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

, Indonesia. They are uniquely present in Bali and usually engage in mundane tasks such as assisting

traffic control Traffic management is a key branch within logistics. It concerns the planning, control and purchasing of transport services needed to physically move vehicles (for example aircraft, road vehicles, rolling stock and watercraft) and freight. Traff ...

, but during large, usually religious events, they are tasked with general security. Pecalang work in coordination with other state security and law enforcement agencies, such as the

Satpol PP The Municipal Police Unit (, or translated as "Public Order Enforcers Police" or simply 'Municipal Police', abbreviated as Satpol PP or POL PP), are municipal police units throughout Indonesia which are under the control of the local governments ...

and the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

, but they only report to the village head, known as ''kepala desa''. Bali has had hansip and pecalang security bodies for hundreds of years, and these forces traditionally reported to one of the royal families of the historic Bali Kingdoms. It has been reported that some 22,000 pecalang were deployed for

Nyepi Nyepi, also known as Day of Silence, is a Balinese people, Balinese holiday held every ''Isakawarsa'' ("new year") according to the Balinese saka calendar, Balinese calendar, and it can be traced as far back as 78 A.D.sarong A sarong or a sarung (, ) is a large tube or length of textile, fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often ...

s and black vests over their shirts. They also wear the traditional Balinese headdress, known as udeng.

References

Law enforcement agencies of Indonesia Bali {{law-enforcement-agency-stub