The 1940-70s saw losses of adat sasi focused on large villages (Class 4) on Ambon Island.
Population statistics from that period are, unfortunately, not available but it is possible that
Ambonese villages started to reach some critical threshold of population during those decades.
Adat sasi persists mostly in intermediate-sized villages.
Table 17.3. Loss of adat sasi. Note one village in Ambon never had adat sasi.
|
Adat Sasi |
Seram |
Ambon |
Haruku (n=7) |
Saparua |
Nusa Laut (n=6) |
Total |
|
Lost in 1990s |
2% |
2% |
6% |
13% |
0% |
23% |
|
1980s |
0% |
4% |
3% |
0% |
4% |
11% |
|
1970s |
0% |
4% |
0% |
4% |
2% |
10% |
|
1940-1970 or |
8% |
30% |
6% |
6% |
6% |
56% |
|
Total lost |
10% |
40% |
15% |
23% |
12% |
100% |
Table 17.4. Patterns of loss of adat sasi in villages of different sizes and religion. Note the one village
that never had adat sasi is in Class 4.
|
Adat Sasi |
Class 1 |
Class2 |
Class3 |
Class4 |
Muslim (n=16) |
Christian |
|
Lost in 1990s |
2% |
13% |
4% |
4% |
8% |
15% |
|
1980s |
6% |
2% |
2% |
0% |
2% |
8% |
|
1970s |
4% |
2% |
0% |
4% |
2% |
8% |
|
1940-1970 or |
11% |
10% |
13% |
23% |
21% |
36% |
|
Total |
23% |
27% |
19% |
31% |
33% |
67% |
17.3.3 The erosion and loss of marine sasi
Active marine sasi institutions are difficult to detect. Out of 63 villages inventoried, only 17
have some form of marine sasi. Before, marine sasi was much more prevalent. We documented
18 villages where officials described marine sasi being lost in living memory (Tables 17.5 and
17.6), meaning that at one time, at least 35 villages (i.e., 56%) had this institution. In four
more villages (Seith, Ouw, Seri, Rutah), one or more fishers interviewed thought sasi was
either in force or had been practiced at one time. In the other 24 villages, either marine sasi
never existed or it has been totally forgotten.
In over half the cases where marine sasi has been lost, the loss occurred prior to 1970 (Table
17.6). Since then, marine sasi has been relatively stable compared to other forms of sasi. Most
losses in the 1970s to 1990s have been in either the smallest (Class 1) or largest (Class 4)
villages, and in the 1990s, the only recorded loss was on Ambon Island.
17.3.4 Factors influencing activity of sasi
The level of activity of land sasi was measured using indicators for presence, closures,
consistency of application, and local effort (see Section 2.2.3). Similarly, marine sasi was scored
using indicators for presence, closed areas, written rules, and monitoring. We assume that
less active sasi is in decline.
244 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia