ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE MOLUCCAS

Maurice Strong on the impending global environmental catastrophe...

"If we don't change, our species will not survive... Frankly, we may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrial civilization to collapse." -Maurice Strong quoted in the September 1, 1997 edition of National Review magazine.

Maurice Strong is one of the most influential men in the world. He is a senior advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, organizer of the Rio Earth Summit and former senior advisor to the President of the World Bank. When media mogul Ted Turner wanted to give the United Nations $1,000,000,000 to work on finding solutions for international conflict and environmental decline, he first consulted Strong. In the past thirty years, no single person has done more for the environment movement - and provided a platform for change - than Strong.

With the publication of Where On Earth Are We Going? (TEXERE, April 23, 2001, 456 pages, clothbound, $27.95), Strong reveals his pivotal role in the political and environmental activist movements, and talks plainly about what remains to be done. And there remains much to be done. Strong provides a historical context by which to judge our progress in the struggle to save the planet from environmental degradation, and lends insight as to where we are heading.

Eliza Kissya: "Today, people talk about sustainable development. But hundreds of years ago, our ancestors created and enforced sasi, laws which are still adhered to in our community".

Eliza Kissya: Preserving the 'sasi' tradition against the odds 
The Jakarta Post May 11, 2006

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon, Maluku

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Eliza Kissya has for 27 years dedicated his life as a kewang chief to guarding the land and waters around his village on Haruku island in Central Maluku regency.

The 57-year-old Haruku native who comes from a family of kewang (traditional village policemen), says his job to conserve the environment in accordance with tradition is not easy.

Unpaid and alone he regularly deals with fishermen who use explosives in the area to stop them destroying the marine ecosystem, particularly the coral reefs.

He also meets state officials, bosses, mining companies and even opposes government legislation that does not conform to the traditional norms his ancestors laid down hundreds of years ago.

Despite the stressful nature of his work, Eliza felt unable to refuse being appointed a kewang chief by his Kissya clan. He and his brother gave up school at elementary level to undergo preparation for their future positions.

Eliza was officially appointed kewang chief in 1979, while his brother is now the village secretary. His first challenge was Law No. 5/1979, which aimed to bring uniformity to all rural administrations throughout the country. Eliza says the enforcement of this law weakened traditional, village-level institutions in Maluku.

Eliza stood his ground against the new law, working to maintain the kewang institution and its central concept -- sasi -- conservation-inspired prohibitions passed down by his ancestors.

As a kewang chief, he feels called upon to apply the traditions of sasi as a means to preserve natural resources on land and in the water.

There are three kinds of sasi in Haruku: marine, terrestrial and domestic prohibitions. To protect a particular species of fish, one must enforce a marine sasi in a particular part of the ocean. Fishing is then forbidden in this particular area for a certain period of time, say a year or two.

When a sasi is enforced in a particular part of a forest, people are not allowed to collect anything from the area for a set period. Anyone violating the law is normally subjected to social sanctions along with material ones in the form of a fine.

Domestic sasi in Haruku are concerned particularly with personal morality and conduct. A man is allowed to be outdoors wearing only a sarong during the day, except when he is sick. However, when a woman comes home from taking a bath or washing clothes in the river, she must wrap her body in a cloth, covering it past her breasts. Violating these sasi leads to a fine of Rp 10,000. 
                                      
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Eliza Kissya wrote a book --
Sasi Aman Harukui (The Sasi of Haruku) -- in which he describes the sasi traditions and the kewang role to the public.
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Radja J.P. Rahail wrote a book about the customay law of Kei (Hukum Adat Kei )