The PKK in Hutumuri was established in 1984. The majority of PKK members are farmers’
wives, with very few teachers and wives of civil servants. The main activities of PKK are
gardening, skills training, trade and sports. Income is derived from the sale of vegetables and
each unit had an ARISAN savings program. However, the PKK has been dormant since the
previous village head passed away. The wife of the current village head has health problems
and the members feel uncomfortable about initiating their own activities without her because
“they honor the wife of the village head as their leader.”
The KUD in Hutumuri was established in 1988, but really developed when in 1992, an asphalt
road was opened. The KUD in Hutumuri is successful and was recognized as the best KUD in
Maluku in 19974 . The KUD trades in cloves and nutmegs; it operates a shop, a minibus, a
coconut and sago grinder, it has a credit and savings system, is involved in gasoline retail
and processes bills for the Electricity Company. A fishery unit is to be started in February
1998. The KUD officials and 18 workers are paid a monthly salary of Rp100,000 (USD40, early
1997 exchange rate) plus a share from the annual profit. The annual profit is divided into
three parts: 5% for officials, 5% for workers (through the manager) and the rest for the members.
Besides, the members get cheaper goods from the KUD shop and have access to loans and
credit. The membership fee is Rp10,000 and compulsory savings are Rp500/month. Although
the KUD is doing very well, the members feel that they have few benefits. They feel that most
of the profits are for the officials and workers of the KUD. The low clove prices paid to
producers, for example, were beneficial for the KUD, but the revenues were not reflected in
the annual share of Rp10,000 that the members received.
In 1992, a group of fishers in Hutumuri received a fishing boat and net (purse seine) from the
Provincial Fishery Department. The KUD provided the capital (Rp11 million or nearly
USD5,000, 1996 exchange rate) for the operational cost of the enterprise. However, as of 1996,
the fishers were not able to pay the money back. They decided to return the boat and fishing
net to the KUD as payment. Now the KUD plans to hire the fishers as KUD workers (to run
the fishing enterprise) to assure that the fishers will not lose their jobs. This plan will be
discussed in the annual membership meeting in February 1998.
15.2.3 Village organizations in Toisapu
Several church organizations, Takesra, and IDT are represented in Toisapu.
For the IDT program, each village receives a Rp20 million loan (± USD8,700, 1996 exchange rate)
from the government which may be paid back without interest. In Hutumuri, there are three IDT
groups of which one is in dusun Toisapu. In 1996, the 32 members received a Rp6.5 million fund to
be used to grow pigs, chickens, peanuts, yam, etc. There was a suggestion for a fishery enterprise,
but because all members are farmers, the idea was turned down. Within the year, the individual
loans of Rp200,000 have to be repaid so that a new, larger enterprise can be started.
In 1996, the Takesra savings group “Lansat” was established in Toisapu as a government
initiative by the Ambon branch of the National Coordinating Agency for Family Planning
(BKKBN). The members are women (farmers) with a low income. The members save Rp1,000
each month, and with an additional Rp200,000 government loan, they will start an enterprise.
The current group has five Ambonese and six Butonese members. Beside the Lansat, two new
Takesra groups have just been established, but they are not yet active.
4 In 1997, the manager of KUD Hutumuri represented Maluku during the celebration of the KUD anniversary in
Jakarta (a photograph on the wall shows him shaking hands with President Suharto).
200 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia