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".

Kewang Eliza Kissya of Haruku (on the right)

 

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Eliza Kissya: Preserving the 'sasi' tradition against the odds

The Jakarta Post May 11, 2006

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

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.

Eliza says the different kinds of sasi stem from one traditional source -- generations of wisdom about how to deal with nature.

Sasi govern the relationship between human beings and nature as well as between people.

"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 told The Jakarta Post.

One local sasi which has attracted some international attention is the lompa sasi (lompa is a fish).

In Haruku, seawater lompa are bred in rivers. The customary law on the island requires the villagers to protect the fish from the time their eggs are released into the rivers until the adult spawn are collected.

Eliza said the sasi tradition was economically advantageous to the public because it ensured an abundant harvest. Villagers could accumulate more-than-enough to eat and had savings for hard times in the future.

The tradition also has a special arrangement for widows and orphans in communities, who generally get a bigger share of the natural resources collected when a particular sasi is lifted.

For his consistent efforts to preserve the sasi tradition, Eliza was awarded the Kalpataru environmental award in 1985. In 1999, he received the Satyalencana medal of merit.

He has also received several citations at the international level for his dedication to environmental conservation and is frequently invited to speak at forums involving traditional communities from a variety of countries.

It has not been easy, however, for Eliza to ensure the sasi ancestral tradition is well-heeded. He has had to take those fishing with explosives to court singlehanded and attend trial sessions, going from Haruku to Ambon island without legal assistance and paying for his own travel.

Still, the father of six and the husband of Elizabeth has never stopped fighting for the rights of his village, especially if its the natural environment is under threat. Unpaid as a kewang, he feeds his family by growing plants and raising cattle.

To earn some money for the institution, in 1980 he wrote a book -- Sasi Aman Harukui (The Sasi of Haruku) -- in which he describes the sasi traditions and the kewang role to the public.

The book has sold well among students, environmentalists, researchers, anthropologists and non-governmental organization activists. OXFAM has asked that when reprinted, the book be translated into English.

The first village of Haruku was razed to the ground during the religious rioting that broke out in the region in 2000. The villagers later abandoned the place, rebuilding elsewhere.

Eliza is now cautious about applying sanctions on fishermen using explosives because most come from a neighboring village that was involved in a bloody conflict with his own.

While before he tried to put the fishermen behind bars, he now prefers to settle problems with them more amicably.

Eliza had to work even harder when PT Aneka Tambang, a state gold mining company, planned to carry out prospecting activities in his village during the early 1990s.

He believed the exploration work would be a threat to the environment and a health hazard for his fellow villagers.

Staunchly against the mining, he did not budge from his position when dealing with the enterprise and the regional administration.

The head of a family that usually prays together when any of their members is facing a problem, Eliza remembers he was moved to tears when his youngest daughter, Halida Kissya, prayed so solemnly that she cried when he was in conflict with PT Aneka Tambang.

Assisted by non-government organizations, environmentalists and the media, he fought hard against the company and eventually won, when it abandoned its plan.

"I feel happy if I am successful in my struggle, particularly if I can preserve the legacy of my ancestors," Eliza said.

"My family understands that I face a lot of challenges in my position. They understand that I fulfill my responsibilities without hope of reward.

"I receive no salary and suffer great pressure in this job."

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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"SASI System"— An indigenous Way

"SASI System"—An indigenous Way of Protecting the People’s lives & Natural Resources in Haruku Island in Maluku, Indonesia."Fishing is prohibited in an area declared off limits by the Sasi, except for those using the `Jala' net," states the "Sasi" law governing matters of the sea. "But even so, one cannot use a boat but wade by foot into the sea only up to the height of an adult's waist level," it further explains.

This is one of the unique but effective regulations explicitly described in the "Sasi" system, a set of traditional laws governing different aspects of Haruku society. Although the island is just a short hop from Ambon, the capital city of Eastern Indonesia's Moluccas region, its people have managed to wisely preserved the "Sasi" practise. On Haruku Island, environmental protection is a way of life for its 12,000 inhabitants.

This sixteenth century old "Sasi" system does not only give guidance to conservation practises, but also to a whole broad spectrum of social issues. This ranges from giving advise on women's dress code appropriate for climbing trees to prohibition on washing dirty dishes and other utensils in the stream. The "Sasi" laws are divided into several broad categories covering the protection of natural resources of the land, forests, sea,and society in general.

Haruku island is famed for growing Canary nuts (got its name sake from the Canary birds which feeds on these nuts) and a variety of root crops found in abundance on the island. But the people still depend very much on fish as its chief source of food. The "Sasi" system was an appropriate system of laws which has helped Haruku society maintain its natural food resources. Consequently, the people have managed to sustain their simple livestyles of drawing their livelihood from the land and the sea.

There are basically 3 types of "Sasi" laws. The first is related to conservation and protection of the environment and all its resources. The second touches on the social aspect which includes, social habits and general human values. Finally the third deals with the implementation of the "Sasi" laws which even define the rates of fines for law breakers.

The "Kewang" or chief of the local customary laws upon consultation with the local rulers will judge and fine the offenders. According to the traditional structure of Haruku society, the Kewang falls directly under the village's Raja (King) who is accountable to a council of rulers comprised of all the 12 Raja's on Haruku Island. As such, the Kewang is actually like an adviser to the Raja and conscience of the people on matters pertaining to traditional customary law.

Kewang Eliza Kissya (Oom Elli) is the guardian of Haruku's "Sasi" laws and he has to be sensitive to the pulse of the environment at all times. This designation has been in his family for generations and one day he will pass it on to one of his children. He is a person well versed with the conditions of the village and the natural cycles in order to know when to declare the closing and opening of "Sasi" at the appropriate times.

The closing of "Sasi" on a certain item means that no one could harvest that product regardless of whether it is grown in the compound of their house or in the forest. This is usually indicated by certain symbols like a wooden stake tied with a cononut tree frond, or a woven straw mat with a sample of each of the items protected by the "Sasi" tems hanging from it. These indigenous visual signboards are very important message carriers to an island populace which posess a very low literacy rate.

An individual can also execute the "Sasi" especially on certain items near his home by putting up some sign to publicly tell the others to observe the "Sasi' closure on that particular tree, bush and fruit.

The opening of the "Sasi" is quite a festival. For instance the opening of "Sasi" for Mackeral fishing, a very symbolic and important food source for the islanders, is marked by a ceremony of drum beating and rituals. The Raja and the customary council leaders will cast the first nets into the waterways, to be followed by the rest of the village people.

This event marks the first day of Mackeral fishing for the community who will then catch and store up enough food to last them for the entire duration of the "Sasi" closure. It seems when the "Sasi" opened for Mackeral fishing in 1984, the people harvested about 35 wet tons of fishes in 2 days, a clear indication that the "Sasi" system has been effective in ensuring a continuous boutiful harvest of fishes in Haruku.

"If the Kewang is not wise about the environment, many problems will arise in our society," said Kewang Oom Elli. Together with his village Chief Raja Bertie Ririmase, the customary council head of 2 villages on the Island, both of them have been the prime movers behind the revival of their traditional "Sasi" laws and practises since the late seventies.

They have also catalysed many efforts of working together among the local population to act against fish bombing, the destruction of coral reefs, and other environmental struggles confronting their villages. Their efforts were even recognised by the Jakarta government who awarded Haruku with the highest National Environmental Award in Indonesia in 1985.

Kewang Oom Elli has just recently published an extraordinary book about the "Sasi" system in Haruku Island. This is the first time the subject has been documented by a local person from that community. The work has actually become the referrence material of many academicians, researchers and envirnomental activists.

In his very thin but concise book, Kewang Oom Elli describes almost everything about the "Sasi" system from its origin to its application in today's Haruku society. It even has a section outlining the different rates of fines which could be imposed on the offender of the "Sasi" laws.

Besides the monetary fines, there are other forms of punishment especially for children, such as caning. A child is caned 5 times with a thin 3 foot-long rattan cane for each offence that he has committed. The 5 times actually symbolizes the offenders' obligation to the 5 clans existing on the Island.

But most of the offenders over the years are mostly outsiders, people from other islands who are perhaps unfamiliar to these laws or not perhaps deliberately not wanting to observe the local traditions.

"These forms of deterrence might seem harsh to an outsider or newcomer to the island," Oom Elli said. "But for many years, the traditional wisdom of the "Sasi" system has been crucial in the protection of the environment, resources and ultimately the survival of the Haruku people." he added.

Writer: Jo Hann Tan

* Editor’s note: Since the Maluku, Indonesia crisis erupted in 1998, Haruku Island also fell prey to the indiscriminate plundering and destruction of lives and property of the Haruku people. Kewang Om Elly and some other community organizers and leaders are managing the relief and rehabilitation efforts in their home village as well in the surrounding vicinity.

Source: SEAPCP

Through a Green Lens: The Construction of Customary Environmental Law and Community in Indonesia's Maluku Islands

Charles Zerner Law & Society Review, Vol. 28, No. 5, Symposium: Community and Identity in Sociolegal Studies (1994), pp. 1079-1122 (article consists of 44 pages) Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Law and Society Association

Abstract

In the Maluku Islands of Eastern Indonesia, a center of global diversity in coral reef systems and the historic center of trade in cloves and other spices, tenure practices known as sasi have flourished for at least a century. This article analyzes changes in the ways Dutch colonial officials, Indonesian government officials, and environmental NGOs have interpreted Moluccan customary law and local institutions. Dutch colonial accounts of sasi, a generic name for a historic family of institutions, laws, and ritual practices that regulated access to fields, reefs, and rivers, suggest that sasi was a synthetic, highly variable body of practices linked to religious beliefs and local cultural ideas of nature. During the past two decades, as international and national conservation discourses have proliferated and a movement has developed to support indigenous Indonesian cultural communities, Indonesian NGOs and the Ministry of the Environment have promoted, and largely created, images of sasi as an environmental institution and body of customary law promoting sustainable development, conservation, and social equity. This article focuses on how sasi has been continuously reinterpreted by a variety of actors, following the trajectory of changing institutional interests and images.


 


 

BURU ISLAND

Buru forest farmers appeal for their land

Indigenous communities on the island of Buru in the Moluccas are pressing the authorities for the return of forest land taken from them in 1957. The land in Lilialy, Kajely and Tanalisa is planted with eucalyptus trees which produce a fragrant oil used in the cosmetic industry. Maluku Tengah district government originally took over the plantation nearly 50 years ago, with the intention of increasing production of the kayu putih oil, despite strong opposition from the local adat (customary) council. With the creation of new administrative areas, the indigenous people's plantation is now part of the assets of Buru district. The three communities formed an association in late 2004 and have held meetings with and written to the district administration and representatives of the local assembly. As yet, there has been no acknowledgement of their rights and the local authorities continue to exploit the eucalyptus plantation to generate revenue for the district. (YPPM 25/Sep/05)

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Chris is a traditional pearl diver from the Aru Islands in Southeastern Moluccas

If he is lucky, he would go home with about 2-3 of these mollusc after an entire day of diving. Otherwise, he would have no income for that day.

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Story of the Pearl

Chris is a traditional pearl diver from the Aru Islands in southeastern Moluccas in Indonesia. He has been in this trade for the past 7 years. Almost everyday, Chris and his fellow divers go to the sea in search of pearl oysters, a very sought after mollusc of Aru's thriving pearl farming industry.

If he is lucky, he would go home with about 2-3 of these mollusc after an entire day of diving. Otherwise, he would have no income for that day. Most people think that pearl divers like him must be enjoying the affluence that is usually associated with this expensive gem. But for Chris and other traditional divers like him, their living conditions are far from the lustre of these precious pearls.

His village Marlassy is a remote hilly community built on a vast bed of fossilised coral North of the Aru Islands. But it is one of the main centres of Indonesia's lucrative pearl industry. However the villagers here do not enjoy electricity and piped water and they travel in fishing boats from one island to another.

As most of the people in Marlassy are engaged in the pearl diving work, their livelihood is literally dependent on the Chinese merchants who collect their catch and sell them to the nearby big pearl culturing farms.

History of pearls

Throughout history, human beings have always regarded pearls as priceless gems. Hundreds of years ago, knights believed they possess magic to protect them from harm. The ancient Egyptians buried their dead together with their pearls. In ancient Rome, pearls were a status symbol for the rich and status.

During the Renaissance in Europe then, some countries even passed laws forbidding ordinary people to wear pearls except for the nobility! At one point in history, pearls had greater value than the diamond. In the eastern parts, pearls were ground into powder and believed to be a cure for anything from heart diseases to potency.

Value of pearls

There are essentially three types of pearls: natural, cultured and imitation. A natural pearl is formed when an irritant such as a tiny grain of sand gets into the shell and the oyster tries to cover this irritant with a fluid. And after several years the constant secretion of this liquid will form the pearl inside these oysters. But it is very rare to find a natural pearl.

That’s why the process of pearl culture was developed where humans induce this irritant into the shell and wait for about 3 years for the pearl to be formed. In this process, it is said that after a 5-10 year cycle, only about 50% of the oysters will survive. Out of this figure, only about 5% can be considered of acceptable quality for the top jewelry makers.

The art of pearl culture was invented by a man named Kokichi Mikimoto in Japan in 1893. Until today, the Japanese are considered the foremost experts in seeding oysters and the Mikimoto family continues to be one of the largest pearl producing empires.

But two definite factors to assess a pearl for its value and price are its luster and size. For example, the Japanese Akoya cultured pearls are some of the most lustrous and a necklace of 40 such pearls measuring 7mm in diameter could cost between $1,500 to USD4,500. (Y165,000 – Y495,000)

In comparison, the South Sea pearls of Australia, Myanmar, and Indonesia are less lustrous but they are more rare and larger, with diameters of 10 to 20mm. These pearls are far costlier for instance, a 16-inch strand of white South Sea pearls could be sold for between USD$40,000 to USD$50,000. (Y4,000,000 – Y5,000,000)

Organisations such as the World Pearl organization, Cultured Pearl Association, Japan Pearl Promotion Society, and Australia’s Licensed Pearl Producers have ongoing awareness raising efforts to inform the consumers with information about pearls and how they are priced. They are very concerned that uninformed buyers could actually create confusion in the market price of pearls.

According to the world record, in 1992, the highest price paid for pearls was a necklace made of a 17-inch strand of 23 cultured pearls embedded on 60 round diamonds. It was sold at London’s famous auction house, Sotheby’s for a price of US$2.3 million! (Y253,000,000)

Japanese interests in Indonesia

Today the foremost producers of pearls are Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Myanmar, China, India, Philippines, and Tahiti. Japan controls roughly 80% of the world pearl market, followed by Australia and China respectively. Many pearl producing countries export their pearls to Japan, where they are sold to retailers around the world or sold to consumers in Japan. Only around half the pearls sold in the Japanese market actually came from Japan.

South Sea pearls culturing was established in 1920 by Dr. Sukeo Fujita, a veteran of the Japanese Akoya pearl industry, who started in the Celebes (Sulawesi), an island in East Indonesia. However, during the World War II, this culture activity was transferred to another country in the Pacific.

In 1963, several Japanese companies started pearl culture again but this time in Buton Island. In 1969, a certain Japanese company invested US$1 million dollars into starting a pearl operation in Aru Islands in the Moluccas province.

By the early 1990’s about 28 major pearl operations was already established along the coast of the northern and eastern Aru islands, most of them Japanese and Chinese owned. In mid 1990’s Japanese investors had spread their interests in the pearl culture industry only in the province of Maluku, but also in Southeast and Central Sulawesi (Celebes), West Nusa Tenggara, Lombok (Eastern Indonesia) and Lampung (Sumatra). But since the violent conflicts erupted in the Maluku & Sumatra provinces in 1999, some pearl cultivation has shifted to other parts of Indonesia.

Problems caused by the pearl culturing operations.

The over-exploitation of the pearl culturing business has created an alarming loss of these special wild mussels and their natural habitat. As a result many countries have passed laws to protect these resources but its strict enforcement is still difficult.

In Indonesia a critical issue is the control over ancestral and traditional land of the local inhabitants of these islands and their seas. Most of these companies try to influence local villagers to secure a lease to their communal lands and marine resources in order to be able to operate their pearl culturing activities there.

In Aru Islands, there are agreements signed about 15-25 years ago between village leaders and these investors that are quite ridiculously in favour of the companies. For instance, one village leader shared that his father who was the former village chief had signed an agreement with an investor allowing them to operate on their land & sea for 10 years for a small fee of only RP10 million (USD4,500 at the exchange rates of that time).

Local villagers who used to fish freely are now prohibited from fishing or even passing nearby the pearl farms along the coastal areas. "We are treated like thieves because when we travel a little too near the pearl breeding sites, armed men in speed boats shine powerful torches into our faces and rudely chase us away," Chris the traditional diver said.

The Moluccan People react

Today, after years of being exploited by the pearl industry, villages are finally awakened to their unjust situation. Recently, several communities are beginning to revive their traditional customary "Sasi" laws which have very strong emphasis on conservation of their natural resources of the land and seas.

The Sasi laws are traditional customary laws of the indigenous Moluccas people which can be used to prohibit certain natural resources of their customary land from being harvested. And if anyone caught breaking the Sasi law will be penalised and fined by the communities.

"We, the customary councils of different villages have to cooperate to check this alarming situation and protect our sea and land resources from being drained by these industries," said Mr.Demi Djubumir, village head of Marlassy community. Mr.Djubumir and his community have decided not to renew the agreement made between his village and some pearl operations some 10 years ago.

As such communities such as Marlassy have already started to educate their people and starting to seek alternative income generation activities such as cooperative fishing, farming and other trade. This way the people will not have to continue feeding the pearl culturing business with the oysters and destroying their own natural resources in the near future.

"If we continue to depend on the pearl industry for our livelihood, our lives will suffer more hardship in the coming days," Djubumir said.

Source: SEAPCP

Bapak Raja Rahail, The Wise King of "Kei Besar" Island

 

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Bapak Raja, The Wise King of "Kei Besar" Island

By Tan Jo Hann
In the long meeting hall of Bapak Raja's palace, 2 kerosene lamps hang in strategic places revealing a congregation of his subjects. They sit around him with illuminated faces and in deep thoughts as the King from Kei Besar Island carefully read the old legal documents.

Bapak Raja had called for the gathering of 30 headmen and representatives from different villages in his constituency to discuss their right to the land.Quoting from these manuscripts, the 67-year old King and customary leader of the "Maur Ohoi-Wut" area was reinforcing to his people their right to the land as guaranteed by these historical evidence.

His majesty JP Rahail or "Bapak Raja" as he is fondly referred to by all his subjects, oversees 46 villages on the eastern coast of Kei Besar Island, in the Southeastern Moluccas province of Eastern Indonesia. Being the leader of about 14,500 people, Bapak Raja has been honoured the title "Bohirir Borvav" as one who has defended and upheld the integrity and cultural identity of the Eva people of Kei.

Today, after having served as the King for 31 years, the elderly ruler continues to visits his constituency to dialogue with the people and hear their problems. Sometimes, he would travel for days by foot to villages to be in touch with his subjects.

Watler, the name given to the capital of his kingdom, in the local lingo means `a burning rock. "The burning rock if undisturbed remains calm, but when it is agitated, it would start a fire," Bapak Raja explained. He added that this name describes the character of the people very aptly.

The Kei Besar people are steeped in tradition and culture, the basic elements which has helped the people maintain their sense of dignity and identity. This inherent quality of the people has also helped protect the island's rich resources, most of which come from the sea, and its bountiful forests.

Kei Besar is one of the 3 main islands of the Moluccas region. It is long, thin and mountainous and motorised longboats are the chief means of transportation. Land transportation is almost non-existent.

Water is collected from the hills and mountain streams by a simple water piping stytem. Electricity is mostly unavailable on most parts of the island. But in some villages, Bapak Raja was able to negotiate for a grant from a foreign country which helped established Watlar's own generator system to provide power supply to the villages but mostly for the nights.

Because of his outspoken stance against the Jakarta government's initiatives to exploit the island's resources, Watlar region has been somewhat neglected by the authorities for the past several decades.

Today, he continues to be hailed and admired by many local leaders and even those from other islands, for his wisdom as a ruler and a strong advocate for his people and the environment.

A ruler in Kei Island is not defined by his wealth or strength or other usual characterisics of a King but only by his personality and lifestyle, setting an example to the others," Bapak Raja said.

"The importance of his people are always above his own. He is a king to the people and also in their hearts," he added. Being the most respected and progressive ruler among the 6 kings of the entire Kei Besar Island, Bapak Raja is influential and credible with his subjects. He is looked upon as a caring father rather than an autocratic monarch.

The modern day king and his council of rulers are sensitive to the environment and their people. Over the years, the island's traditional `Sasi' conservation laws have helped protect and manage its resources based on the natural cycle of the environment.

Every year, the headmen of all the 46 villages gather to meet with the king in the traditional rulers council meeting in Watlar. This annual meeting is an important enevt as it is like the parliament of the island where certain laws and policies are made to help govern the affairs of the island.

Late last year, a new community hall was especially built to hold the traditional rulers' council meeting. The unique feature of this building project was that it was completed with volunteer labour force and building materials mostly paid by the villagers.

Today this monument of the people's intergrity and self-reliance is situated right next to the King's "palace". Bapak raja is also an ardent documentor of his people's history, and has already published 2 books about his people's cultural traditions and laws. The second book when compared to the first one is said to have a sharper analysis "very clearly pointing out the problems of indigenous peoples in their struggle against the modern system of knowledge and formal laws."

Bapak Raja explained that his awareness about his own indigenous peoples' problems has been enhanced by his 'cultural journey' when he encountered many similar problems and struggles of many indigenous peoples in Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries, in the last 3 years. Recently he has just inaugurated one of his son to take over his office as the head of the village. Meanwhile he continues to hold the throne and the traditional leadership over the Watlar kingdom. "As a King, when I only hear about certain matters, I usually have to assess it carefully before acting," Bapak raja said in describing his style of rulership. "But when I witness a certain incident with my own eyes, then I must respond to it immediately," he added.

According to the King from Kei island, "a serious problem or obstacle can be minimised and ultimately resolved. But the important point is to ensure that it does not happen again."

Note: Bapak Raja, the beloved King of Maur Ohoi Wut kingdom died of illness in 2001 but his legacy lives on forever especially in the hearts of the people.

Writer: Tan Jo Hann is a writer and community organiser trainer who has been working with the Maluku people for the past 12 years.

Radja J.P. Rahail wrote a book about the customay law of Kei (Hukum Adat Kei )

 

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Raja Rahail: We are all one

INSIDE INDONESIA April-June 2002

How custom overcame religious rivalry in Southeast Maluku

P M Laksono

Southeast Maluku has been neglected not only in the story of the fighting throughout Maluku from early 1999, but also in that of its end. The district capital Tual is located in the Kei Islands, just 800 km to the north of Darwin in Australia. Indonesian newspapers reported hardly any details about the outbreak of fighting on 31 March 1999, except to suggest that hundreds died and tens of thousands became refugees. Almost nothing has been written about why the fighting stopped and what brought the community together again.

Like chocolate melting from the edges in, so the Indonesian state in Maluku experienced structural melt-down after Suharto resigned in 1998. Its ability to bind groups together vanished. The dominance of Golkar, of money, of the values of developmentalism, and of the military, which had held Indonesia together, evaporated and left people disoriented. They lost their trust in the system. When religious fighting broke out in Ambon in January 1999, it created enormous confusion in Southeast Maluku. People lost their grip on reality and a kind of anarchy broke out.

Why should the state be so important in a remote place like Tual? We have to understand that the classic liberal concept of the state - one that doesn't interfere in the market or in people's lives except to provide security and perhaps welfare - has never applied in Maluku. There has never been a free, independent economy. Instead, there is close collaboration between the state, capital, and the values of modernisation and development. Everything has been a monopoly of the state - from rice to petrol.

Southeast Maluku is actually not a remote area. In the early 1960s, the district head (bupati) was a big man. He had to be inventive to fulfil the area's budgetary needs. But by the mid-1980s, with the New Order at its height, all the money came from Jakarta, without any effort at all on the part of the district head. The district had gone from self-sufficiency to an extreme degree of dependency. Human development had actually regressed - the opposite of what the development program intended.

Instead of eating food made from the local sago and poisonous cassava, the civil servants in town now ate rice and instant noodles - all imported by the state and by big capital. Civil servants are the backbone of urban society. By the end of the 1980s nearly all the rupiah flowing into the district came from civil service salaries. Almost no rupiah came in outside the government budget. Agriculture is just subsistence. There is practically no export - just a little copra and marine products. The big fishing trawlers that frequent Tual harbour are Taiwanese and pay their money to Jakarta. The whole of society depends on the state - even if only as a labourer at a school building site.

Segregation

Even now it is not clear who started the conflict in the Kei Islands in 1999. There was a rumour that Islam had been insulted, and a fight broke out on the border between Tual town (Islamic) and neighbouring Ta'ar (Protestant). Every village is relatively homogeneous in religious terms. Even those few villages that are mixed have exclusively Protestant, Catholic and Islamic neighbourhoods. There is thus very little social interaction between people of different religions - just a memory that they were once one.

This kind of social segregation dates back to the introduction of the world religions in Southeast Maluku at the end of the nineteenth century. This was also the time when the highly extractive and bureaucratic colonial state of the Netherlands Indies was first established here. Religion is a state concept. Its introduction and maintenance has always been a policy of the state. Throughout the New Order, anyone who was not religious was an enemy of the state - a communist.

Religion invokes political issues. For Kei Islanders it is not just an inspiration for peace but also a political inspiration. The political institutionalisation of religion takes on fearful forms - it is the institutionalisation of fear. The communist issue is taken very seriously.

They do believe in religion, but in practice it becomes too serious and heavy. Religion is an initial barrier that must be overcome before Kei Islanders can interact more deeply. Religion is competitive. In colonial times power was distributed according to religion. Under the New Order the rhetoric was secular, but in reality religion remained important in determing who became district head or chairperson of the local assembly.

The moment that central power experienced melt-down was therefore also the moment when competition spun totally out of control. Everyone knows everyone else in a small community. But rumours immediately began to circulate of impending attacks from another community in a neighbouring village or island. As long as the Big Brother state was in charge, such outside attacks were impossible to imagine, although they did happen. There are always long-standing problems between neighbouring villages - whether it is over land or an unpaid bride price. Indonesia provided a kind of imperial peace that dampened inter-village warfare.

Ambon, the provincial capital 600 kilometres to the west, had always been the model of statecraft. No village head could be appointed without the approval of the governor in Ambon. The social segregation in Tual was very like that in Ambon too. So when Ambon descended into chaos, so did Tual. Suddenly people lost confidence in the 'guarantees of security' provided by the village head to protect those belonging to a minority faith. If someone heard a rumour that the village would be attacked, they just fled.

Everyone was suddenly on the stage, acting out a script of Christian-Muslim warfare that had been written in Ambon. Of course they all knew what inter-religious tension was, but they never imagined it could come to war. There was a kind of stage fever driven by extreme fear, as well as by a sense of exhiliration, that turned into real violence.

Kinship

However, the conflict did not sever all social relationships. It did not make a complete break in history. There were still some relationships across the religious divide, and especially within local communities. In that sense the conflict was a superficial one, although it had a big local impact.

It really wasn't 'themselves' up there on the stage. After a time they came to their senses, and got down to become spectators again. It became a kind of game once more - even if things were not the same because of the refugees and the dead. I don't believe there were hundreds of dead. In 'my' village of Ohoitel there were just eight dead. Talking numbers was part of the escalation of war. Even one is too many. There were also many stories of people helping one another across religious barriers. They said 'we are all one' - 'Ain Ni Ain'.

When Kei Islanders remember their golden age of enlightenment they do not mean the coming of religion, but the creation of their customary law, the larwul ngabal. The historical watershed for them was not the coming of the Dutch, or of the Republic of Indonesia, or of religion, but much longer ago than that.

They have long regarded Tanimbar Kei, a small island in the south, as the last stronghold of Kei custom and beliefs. During the conflict, this island became a sanctuary for refugees of all religions.

The resurgent belief in the efficacy of custom led to a revived interest in the remaining customary leaders who had not been coopted by the New Order. The key role in turning back to a history of customary kinship was played by Bapak Raja J P Rahail, the customary king of Watlar. Raja Rahail began by preventing any rioting in his own kampung. In the hierarchy of local raja he was the most junior of the twelve in the Kei Islands, but he was able to approach the others and start a movement of customary reconciliation. Throughout the New Order, Raja Rahail had always been outside the system. He was something of a symbol of opposition to it. He revived the customary community known as the ratskap (from the Dutch 'raadschap'). Raja Rahail was close to the NGO community - being one of the chairpersons of the archipelago-wide customary association Aman (Asosiasi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara), as well as of an Asia-wide association since the early 1990s.

The 1979 law on village government (no 5/1979) had totally destroyed village autonomy. But Raja Rahail had succeeded in retaining custom in his ratskap of Maur Ohoiwut, and this was an inspiration for the community that lived there. The ratskap consisted of several villages, with different religions.

So there were two models of community in Southeast Maluku. One shaped by Indonesia, which bound together religions through the distribution of patronage in the form of official appointments. This experienced melt-down and violence in 1999. As a consequence, people once more began to look to another model, one based on custom and local autonomy.

Even though Raja Rahail was only relatively junior - not in age, he was about seventy years old and in fact died in November 2001 - but his statecraft became a model for the others when they saw how he was able to manage conflict.

Raja Rahail had only his authority and his prestige to offer. He was an expert in creating consultative mechanisms. Every year he held a great debate, a musyawarah, in his ratskap. This had been running since the early 1990s assisted by various non-government organisations (NGOs). He inspired Kei Islanders with the idea that they belonged to one community, and that peace depended on the people's initiative. This played a significant role in ending the conflict in Southeast Maluku.

P M Laksono (laksono@ugm.ac.id) teaches anthropology at Gadjah Mada University. His book 'The common ground in the Kei Islands' (Yogyakarta: Galang Press) appeared in March 2002 (see Bookshop page).

KEI ISLANDS IN SOUTH EASTERN MALUKU

NO TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT TO THE EVAV PEOPLE OF KEI BESAR

The Evav of Kei Island in the Southeastern Moluccas, has enjoyed customary rights to the sea for centuries. In 1993 the Indonesian government has leased out a part which used to be a traditional fishing area to PT Mina Sinega, a company owned by the Indonesian Army. As a result, fish stocks have been depleted and. in their simple boats, the Evav have to sail some 23 kilometers onto the sea to find fish. On land the Evav are denied entry to the forest because it has been designated a consevation area. This means the people have to walk an extra 10 kilometers to find their staple food, sago. Not a single Eva is employed by PT Mina Sinega. PT Mina Sinega has not only denied the Evav their staple food and a income, they also disrupt the Evav community by prohibiting them from entering their forest.

ARU ISLANDS

FISH FACTORY IN BENJINA - ARU ISLANDS IN SOUTH EASTERN MALUKU

The majority of the workers of the fish factory in Benjina are transmigrants. Every day 750 trawlers sweep clean the sea around the Aru-islands for shrimps.

The total population of Aru is about 60.000 to 70.000 people and it has only one medical center in Dobo, the capital city of Aru. Dobo is being turned as a center for prostitution. It is one of the biggest of Indonesia.

The mangroves forest on Aru have been parcelled out to 28 separate companies and the Aru people are no longer allowed to dive for pearls. Those who work for the companies are employed as coolies for Rp 500 per day.

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Down To Earth

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Mr. Demi Djubumir, village head of Marlassy community: "If we continue to depend on the pearl industry for our livelihood, our lives will suffer more hardship in the coming days".

 

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