The harvest from marine sasi is divided among all villagers, including those who do not fish
by profession. One part is for the church, another for the village head, and a third for the
widows; the rest is divided amongst the households. This principal stems from the realization
that benefits from the sea have to be shared among all villagers. The direct re-distribution of
resource benefits makes Haruku’s marine sasi unique.
11.4.2 Sasi: the players
In sasi, the three principal social institutions play a complementary role or, as the village head
attests: “The village head is the government and arranges it, the church prays for it, and the
kewang watches the people and enforces it.”
The formal village government has no active role in resource management or monitoring. The
village head in Haruku is also inaugurated as kepala adat. This position allows him to open and
close sasi together with the village head of Sameth, the church people and the head of the kewang.
However, compared to Nolloth, the role of the village head is relatively insignificant.
The kewang is the principal institution when it comes to the execution of marine sasi and
enforcement of the rules. Officially, the head of the kewang functions under the authority of the
village head. However, when the kewang and sasi were revitalized in 1979 (see Section 11.4.3),
the sasi rules were written down and revised by the traditional council of clan leaders, and not
by the formal government. The kewang has become a relatively autonomous institution and
only relies on the village government when its members have to deal with offenders of sasi.
The Protestant church of Haruku plays an important role in sasi. The church’s involvement in
sasi on coconuts goes back many years and is executed in collaboration with the kewang. When
sasi on coconuts is closed, the people gather in the kewang house where there is a communal
prayer “to protect the people from stealing.” Cloves have only been under church sasi since
1992 when theft was so intense that the people asked the village head to put the crop under
church sasi. Church sasi has been stable over the last years because the church is independent
from village politics, or as the church minister explained: “People commit to God and not to
the village head.”
The church minister feels strongly that there is a mission for the church in sasi. Gradually, the
church is getting more significant and it is slowly taking over “adat things”. The minister
explained: “Adat is a behavioral code, not a traditional law. The spirit of sasi is adat and thus
part of the culture. But where adat provides the cultural framework, the church provides the
spiritual content. Therefore the church and adat have to merge.”
The formal enforcers (police) play a marginal role. The local policeman assigned by the state
(the catadara) represents formal authority. In reality, his authority is limited and when local
authorities cannot deal with a matter, it is reported to the police in Pelauw. Occasionally, the
police patrol catches a blast fisher, but it does not have its own speedboat. The police station
is 18 km from the village and the police tend to leave the arrest and prosecution of offenders
to the local authorities.
A last organization that may not be very prominent, but that is essential for the future execution
of sasi is the kewang kecil or mini-kewang. It was installed in 1994 by Eliza Kissya (the current
head of the kewang) and is meant for children who assist the kewang, report offenders, and
take care of mangrove reforestation. The group is open for boys and girls from all social classes.
The main purpose is to secure prolongation of the kewang and start environmental awareness
130 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia