An institutional analysis of sasi laut in Maluku, Indonesia

Table 17.8. Factors related to activity of marine sasi in central Maluku. Homogeneity status: 1: 95-
100% is of dominant religion; 2: 60-80% is of dominant religion. Size Class 1=population≤1,000;
Class 2=1,001-2,000; Class 3=2,001-3,000; Class 4=>3,000. For an explanation of the activity scores
see Chapter 2. * Sasi moved to church in 1992; ** Sasi moved to church in 1995.

Table 17.9. Type of sasi in villages that have or had or never had, marine sasi.

17.4 Reasons for Loss of Sasi Between 1940 and 1997

During the inventory, we asked whether our informants could remember when some aspect of sasi
changed or was lost, and why this had happened. Explanations were often quite explicit and included
contextual information pertaining to the evolution of socio-political systems in Maluku (see Appendix
4 for details). The comments (Table 17.10) came from villages where sasi was actually lost or
transformed. The numbers represent the number of comments, not the number of villages.

Weak leadership and conflicts are key elements in the erosion of sasi. In the opinion of villagers,
conflicts within the village government, between the village chief and adat authorities, among
churches, and over land, all resulted in partial or complete loss of the institution. Conflict
between adat leaders and village government leading to the erosion of sasi was reported only
in Christian villages and never on Nusa Laut.

246 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia

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