Because of their impartiality, the kewang members are respected enforcers. Police, on the other
hand, are commonly perceived as more distant, less legitimate and less trustworthy. A fisher’s
personal perspective on the legitimacy of the enforcer influences the rate of compliance. For
instance, we noted in Hulaliu that fisheries rules were broken as a form of political statement
against the local “enforcer”, the village head.
18.4.2 Incentives related to feedback loops between the sasi institution and the
community
Spirit of sasi
Sasi is based on adat and in traditional villages, it is indissolubly connected with the ancestral
spirits and conventional codes of behavior. In both Nolloth and Haruku, for instance, people
explained: “Sasi has a spirit, and everyone carries it because it is adat and part of our culture”.
In other villages, the spiritual significance was rarely mentioned but people denied that sasi
had died. The church tends to take over the spiritual role in sasi but it can never completely
replace adat. Sasi may have different shapes and practices, and rules may even cease to be
applied, but the basic principles are still retained in village consciousness. Thus, sasi is
appreciated in sasi and non-sasi villages alike.
The importance of ceremony
For strong adat communities, the physical acts of adat ceremony attached to sasi are important
to village self-image and pride, and help reinforce the institution. In more modern societies,
however, there is less willingness to spend time on such physical manifestations of local culture.
Transformation of ceremony into a tourism product, such as the public festival around sasi in
Haruku, provides economic incentives to uphold the institution.
Property rights
Village tenure over a defined area of both land and sea is strongly entrenched in the culture
and recognized as legitimate by fishers even though it is not formally supported by law. This
legitimacy of traditional tenure is an incentive to cooperation and compliance within sasi if it
is accompanied by a degree of security of access or guaranteed benefits for local people. Tenure
under adat law is, however, insufficient. A comprehensive management system that sought
(among other things) to ensure equitable access for local needs would require legal recognition
of community access and withdrawal rights.
Leadership and legitimacy
Respect for adat and elders plays a large role in the legitimacy and popularity of sasi. It is,
therefore, an incentive to comply with sasi rules, as long as the village government has either
incorporated or acknowledged traditional leaders. Village leaders who are from the raja line
have a powerful incentive to cooperate and participate in sasi because of the social prestige
and legitimacy factor. A village head from outside of the “royal family” can also benefit from
the legitimacy conferred by association with adat authority, through incorporation of traditional
leaders into his LMD and LKMD. In fact, not paying attention to traditional structures can
lead to a paralyzed government (see the Hutumuri case study). Participation in sasi ritual or
showing interest in reviving sasi is also very good for the image, and can be used as a tool to
stabilize leadership (the Hulaliu case study). The church also seeks to increase its role in sasi,
in part to counter the legitimacy of adat. The church, by cooperating with and supporting
266 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia