The Transformation of Balinese Satua Values: Strengthening the Character Education of the Alpha Generation (A Case study at Saraswati Tabanan Kindergarten, Bali)

The study aims at describing the transformation of the Balinese satua values for strengthening the alpha generation (Gen A)’s character education in Kindergarten Saraswati Tabanan. The method used was qualitative research with a Cultural Studies approach. The results showed that Masatua (storytelling) was carried out for twenty minutes every “Thursday Cultures" in Balinese, such as Masatua Siap Selem, and Ni Bawang Teken Ni Kesuna. They were very happy to listen to stories because they were supported by pictures media, the narrator was hilarious and familiar, interspersed with dialogues and Balinese folk songs. Previously, the characters of Gen A was relatively less independent or less confident, spoiled, and egocentric. After Gen A was given Balinese storytelling continuously, there was process internalization of balinese satua values, which can influence the strengthening of the character of children, such as children become independent, confident, religious, honest, disciplined, tolerant, creative, and responsible. In conclusion, the Balinese satua contains noble moral values that can be told to children in practical ways, and pragmatic manner in a pleasant atmosphere. Masatua was carried out sustainable so that it became a habit, culture and can strengthen the characters of Gen A, and also preservation and development of local wisdom.


A. Introduction
Building the character of Alpha Generation (Gen A) from early ages, a global issue that is still warmly discussed. Educating and building the character of children from an early ages are an obligation of a country. Gen A is the nation's assets as the next generation. Gen A is in their golden ages. If the education for Gen A is done appropriately, the child's growth will be disrupted. As a result, the future of the nation will be destroyed. Such a phenomenon almost occurs in every country, so this problem is a universal global issue. The difference is probably in the way of thinking and the model of character education in children.
Bali as part of the world, also experiences such a phenomenon. The character of early childhood or Gen A in Bali particularly and in the world generally tends to experience change due to the influence of globalization and modernization. To overcome this phenomenon, local wisdom needs to be empowered.
The majority of Balinese people are Hindus, which are very thick with various traditions with their unique customs and culture, so that Bali is called as "The Island of Gods". One of the traditions of Bali is Masatua, which is an asset of Balinese local wisdom. Masatua means storytelling and satua means folklore (Anom, et al, 2008: 627). The folklores are anonymous, because it is not known who the author is (Antara, 2010).The Masatua has been around for a long time and is deeply rooted. It is a transformation of tattwa (a Hindus philosophy) to be carried out to children easily, practically and pragmatically. The philosophy of character education of Ki Hajar Dewantara are ethics, literacy, aesthetics, and kinesthetic. These character values were developed by the Indonesian Ministry of National Education to the eighteen character of education values, namely religious values, honesty, tolerance, discipline, hard work, creative, independent, democratic, curiosity, national spirit, love for the country, respect for achievement, friendly, peace loving, fond of reading, caring for the environment, social care, and responsibility.Then these values are crystallized into five, namely religious, nationalist, independent, mutual cooperation and integrity, as strengthening character education (Presidential Regulation No. 87 of 2017).
These values are also contained in Balinese satua. If these values continue to be transformed in Gen A through masatua, Gen A characters can be strengthened. Because, value transformation is a process of internalization as a transition from external orientation to internal orientation in the development of values and morals. Hoffman's Moral Socialization Theory states that the development of values and morals prioritizes the transfer (transmission) of values and morals from the culture of society to children so that children later become members of the community who understand the values and cultural norms of society (Hakam, 2007;Yunus, 2013).
Character education starts from children, because after adolescence it will be difficult to form or change bad behavior. Young children must be educated and accustomed in a good character, when they reach adulthood, the good characters are already embedded in them. Sardiman (2009) states that character formation is carried out through a long character education process. namely the learning process to instill noble values, manners, noble morals that are rooted in religious teachings, customs and values of Indonesianism (via Burhan, 2010).
One way of building the children's character is done by familiarizing the children through listening to or reading the folklores in their respective areas, and for Balinese children, it would be satua. If Masatua is carried out continuously and culturally, it can shape the character of Balinese children, because satua contains many values and moral messages that are conveyed to the listener. Juniartha's research, et.al.(2015) stated that folklore in ancient times was inherited from generation to generation and was very popular with citizens because it contains teachings of moral character or moral education and entertainment for the supporting community.
According to Suastika (2011), Balinese satua is one type of oral tradition that is usually delivered orally by Balinese people. Balinese satua can be said to be multipurpose as an educational medium containing educational values, religious values, social values, it is fun at the same time, so that it have a good impact and can improve students' critical thinking. There are some Balinese Satuas titles, such as Siap Selem, Ni Bawang Teken Ni Kesuna, I Cupak Teken I Grantang, Cangak Maketu, Pan Balang Tamak, Men Sugih teken Men Tiwas, and Ni Tuwung Kuning (Klinik Pendidikan Tabanan, 2016).
The tradition of Masatua is often done by the Balinese parents when they will put their beloved children to sleep. Wiguna (2015) stated that the masatua in the previous context is a medium for parents to put their children to sleep. In fact, while masatua is done at school, the teachers also gave gifts as motivation through the masatua. Children are enjoy and love to listen to satuas if teachers could communicate well and inspire one another, or if teachers could "enter their world" and hypnotize the Gen A.
Teachers and parents can introduce the characters in the satua, both good and bad characters and the messages conveyed. Children are given insight, understanding of behavior and due to the actions of protagonists and antagonists. As an option, the child is directed by the figure which can be imitated and the figure should not be imitated by the children. The results of Fitroh's study (2015) found that fairy tales is a very effective media in forming characters of Gen A and the need of habituation as well as good examples in building children's character.
Masatua could create emotional relationships. Relationships could create harmony if the narrator is interesting, consistent, honest and sincere. This is a line with the results of Widyakusumastuti's (2018) study, which showed that positive experiences of communicating through stories can create emotional relationships and increase knowledge about something. In order to create a strong and positive impression in telling the story, the storyteller must be consistent, interesting, honest and sincere in telling stories.
However, recently the Gen A as a millennial generation (Gen Y and Z) is already facilitated with gadgets or smartphones in both urban and rural areas. The media is a "double-edged knife" for them, which can be good or bad. Caregiving that relies on digital media creates a robotic interaction. Physical interaction that makes the closeness and emotional warmth of the child does not exist. The child is contaminated by the media, both physical and mind and also the character.
Based on the results of observations and interviews to school principal, it seems that the character of Gen A in the study location before being given the Satuas are relatively varied, some are less confident, less independent, lazy and selfish. To anticipate the adverse effects of early childhood, schools should make regulations that the Gen A's are prohibited from carrying and playing gadgets, or smartphones in schools.
The school facilitates the children the forms of educational games such as motoric training, singing, and telling stories. To find out transformation of the values of satua Bali in strengthening the character of Gen A, a case study of Gen A at Kindergarten Saraswati Tabanan, Bali was held.

B. Method
The method used is a qualitative research method with a Cultural Tabanan in Gen A, which can be seen in the following picture 1.
The parent does Masatua when they put their children to sleep, even when the child was sick, the story such as the Satua Siap Selem, and Satua Ni Bawang Teken Ni Kesuna (the onion and the garlic). When some of parents do storytelling, they just did it orally, and some of them are also assisted by media, such as books and disks. In building the character of  keberang ibane mulih". (My son Doglagan, now my mother will leave you here. If you will be eaten by I Meng Kuuk, you must be clever in effort. Tell her, your flesh is still bitter, still slippery, and not worth eating. Ask her to be bred you until you grow fur. When your feathers have grown, that's when you fly home).
While in Satua Ni Bawang Teken Ni Kesuna, the text of the satua reveals good and bad behavior which ultimately those who do good get good rewards. One of the text, as follows: "Keto suba upah anak ane mrekak, setata demen mapisuna timpal, sinah muponin pala karma ane tan rahayu" (That's the reward of arrogant people, who often bully their friends, so the results are not good either) (via Adi Sudiatmika, 2014).
The satuas that is commonly told to the children of Saraswati Tabanan Kindergarten namely Satua Siap Selem and satua Ni Bawang Teken Ni Kesuna apparently has a moral message and character education values as the following These students have heterogeneous attitudes and behaviors. Their characters are relatively spoiled, egocentric, less independent, less confident, and less responsible. Education and strengthening the character of Gen A, they are trained in gymnastic, singing, praying, playing, and cultural activities every "Thursday culture" day, regularly and continuously, so that it becomes a habit and culture. The activities on Thursday Culture, are models of character education, which contains Balinese cultural activities such as Masatua Bali, speaking in Balinese, playing traditional Balinese games and singing Balinese folk songs. The activity of strengthening the character of Gen A at the research location, is shown in figure 3 below.
The activity of Masatua Bali is one of Bali's local wisdoms. The   tolerance. The study of Ash-Syalhub (2008), which states that the benefits of storytelling, among others, forming the personality of the child.
The transformation process continues and becomes a habit, so unwittingly shapes and strengthens children's character. Satua Siap Selem which is very well told to children, then the moral message of the Siap Selem can penetrate into the soul of the child. The feelings of the children are happy, so that the children's personality can grow up and develop to be good, such as children becoming disciplined, honest, democratic, responsible, tolerant, hard working, and religious. This is evidenced by a teacher, Mrs. NGA PD who continues to give satuas to his son I AS AW (male) since he was two years old, until he was five years old and it turned out that his son's behavior or personality could grow well. The character of his son formerly spoiled, lack of confidence, lack of discipline. After the NGA PD continued to give satuas to his son which contained noble moral values the character of the child become discipline, confident, hard working religious, tolerance and responsibility. It is relevant with Musfiroh's study (2005), which stated that the benefits of storytelling is to help shaping the personality and morals of children. Children who are used to listening and reading stories, in their souls grow up to be good individuals and have high interpersonal intelligence. In addition, stories can also help in the building, the development and the strengtening of their morals and characters.
The transformation of Balinese Satua values in Gen A characters can be seen in their attitudes and behaviors that are presented when they hang out and play with their friends. They are very familiar, tolerant, disciplined, creative, democratic, curious, friendly, peaceful, caring for the environment, caring for the social, and responsible. The aktivities of Gen A shown in figure 4 below.

Discussion
The Masatua Bali is one of the character education programs conducted for Gen A at the research site every Thursday Culture. The masatua that are carried out continuously children experience the process of internalizing noble moral values and mesatua can stimulate the development and intelligence of the child's brain. The connection of brain cells in early childhood has grown to several times, which is around 20,000 connections. This affects the children to be able to absorb all the positive or negative things that exist in their environment. If children are accustomed to be in a positive environment, positive children's behavior will be formed, and vice versa. Nearly 70 percent of the formation of human character starts from zero to 5 years. The intelligence capacity of children has reached 50% at the age of 4 years, then reaches 80% at the age of 8 years. This shows the importance of providing stimulation to early childhood. Neurological research proves that giving the right stimulation since early childhood is very influential on the process of connecting and strengthening the cells and brain nerve nodes of children (Gordon, 2000).
The results of the research revealed by the Director of the Ministry of National Education Early Childhood Education (PADU) named Dr.
Gutama, stated that giving stimulation to early childhood is very important, before they enter school. Nearly 70 percent of the formation of human character starts from zero to 5 years (https://www.paud.id).
The character education of Early childhood or Gen A is actually to direct the students to become subjects (Freire, 2007). Gen A is not an empty vessel, but individuals who have valuable knowledge and opinions (Nuryatno, 2011: 40). One way is masatua, because masatua is accordance with the world of children, and the content of the satuas contains the nobility of moral values, about the struggle between good and evil, which is finally won by goodness. It means that Gen A always thinking,speaking and action (trikaya parisuda) well. Masatua is a practical and pragmatic method for humanizing humans. This is an accordance with the concept of critical education, that education is humanizing humans (Fakih in O'Neil, 2008).  (2010) revealed that the danger of using gadgets in children can increase the risk Gen A who live in digital-based era, satua Bali is given with the help of measured gadget or smartphone. They were also given satuas of Bali in a verbalistic way. This traditional way turn out to be more humanistic because there were interactions and touched the soul, and there were affection between children and parents or storytellers. The Balinese masatua activities carried out sustainably by combining traditional and digital ways which can strengthen the character of the children and also the development and the preservation of the Masatua tradition.

D. Conclusion
Gen A is not an empty vessel, but a unique subject that has a reason and curiosity. Gen A belongs to the golden ages, which has a