13.2.2 Village organizations
The PKK was established in the 1970s. But since the wife of the current village head took over
from Christina Noija Taihutu last year, the PKK has become inactive. The activities (a kiosk,
breeding chickens, baking and family gardens) were not continued. The wife of the new village
head is not active and limits her activities to cooking for the school and providing secretarial
support to her husband. The weak position of her husband, the village head, will surely not
motivate the women to join the PKK.
The Pelwata aborted most of its activities when the former chairlady became involved in a
conflict with the Pelwata officials. When she left, the problems were not over, because the new
minister’s wife is not interested in the position of chairlady of Pelwata. Despite the lack of an
active chairlady, the Pelwata continued the bible services, skills training, and regular visits to
other villages and the sick. However, the Pelwata is not fully functional. Hulaliu once rejected
a Klasis program. It concerned a recreation program for which the women simply stated that
they had no time.
The KUD or “Haturua” (lit. two stones) has existed since 1985 and is active. The KUD has a
kiosk, a credit system, a speedboat, and a minibus, but the main income is derived from the
trade in cloves. The KUD does not deal with fisheries or fisheries management. The benefits
are divided among the 163 members in a yearly meeting. Despite the fact that the KUD has an
active savings program, membership is lower than these in the other villages.
There are two KEP organizations in the village. The first was established in February 1997 to
improve the productivity of fishers in Hulaliu. The members, appointed by the village
government, received Rp3 million (± USD1,070, 1997 rate) government funding to purchase
boats, nets and other fishing gears. The fishers will be trained, and after the money is invested,
the revenues will be saved. Recently, a second KEP was established for female fish traders.
There are four IDT groups in Hulaliu and a group of farmers started an “agro business”
supported by the Department of Agriculture.
People can save their money either through the ARISAN savings group (open for men and
women) or the KUD. Besides these formal groups, there are no informal meetings.
13.2.3 Role of women
Women in Hulaliu are very skilled in dry-land agriculture, especially the cultivation of corn
and yam. They have a leading role in cultivation, maintenance, harvest and post-harvest
activities, whilst men only support women in this sector. However, the drought has drastically
decreased the women’s income from agriculture. After clove prices dropped, women shifted
their attention to marine resources. Currently, marine resource use by women is rather intense.
Commodities, such as shells, snails and the fish they find at low tide, are usually for family
consumption. For income earning, the women trade fish they obtain from the fishers.
Despite their activities on the economic and household levels, women are excluded from
decision-making processes in the village. The village head argued that women are involved
in village affairs, but as in the other villages, only where they concern “women’s activities”.
Women perform public tasks like being secretary and treasurer, or work in the refreshment
section, but they are not involved in decision-making. The traditional system limits women’s
involvement in activities related to development planning. Programs are usually “top-down”
164 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia