Section C - Research Results
Chapter 7
Results of the Inventory of Sasi
7.1 Presence of Sasi in Central Maluku
This chapter shows the occurrence and activity of the sasi institution in the villages of central
Maluku. Sasi institutions can be classified in two ways (see Table 7.3): where the rules are applied
(on the village, on the land, in a river or at sea), and who is responsible for governing sasi. Rules
may apply to activities and resources within a village (village sasi), to land crops (land sasi), and
to resources in a river or the sea (marine sasi) (Imron 1995). The governing authorities may be adat
leaders (adat sasi), the church (church sasi) or other secular agents (we call this “other” sasi as it
has no special Indonesian name). In this chapter, the general occurrence of sasi will be reported,
followed by the breakdown of occurrence by each category. Finally, the levels of the activity of
sasi, the types of resources to which it is applied, and how it is enforced, are described.
7.1.1 Overall occurrence
Out of 63 central Maluku villages surveyed, 47 (75%) had some form of sasi institution (Table 7.3).
Sasi occurred on all islands, in all village size classes and in both Muslim and Christian villages
(Table 7.1). Comparing the distribution of the sasi and non-sasi villages (Table 7.1 and 7.2), we see
that only on the island of Haruku do all villages have some form of sasi. On an average, non-sasi
villages are larger than sasi villages but when each island is considered by itself, this trend holds
true only for Ambon and Nusa Laut. When villages were grouped by religion, island and population
size class, no factor had a statistically significant impact on the distribution of the sasi institution in
general (Table 7.4), although there are significant relationships with specific types of sasi.
Table 7.1. Demographic breakdown of villages having any form of sasi, including four having only
village sasi. Class 1=population£1,000; Class 2=1,001-2,000; Class 3=2,001-3,000; Class 4=>3,000.
|
Island |
Total # |
Muslim |
Christian |
Class 1 |
Class 2 |
Class 3 |
Class 4 |
Avg. pop’n |
|
Saparua |
10 |
1 |
9 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
2,437 |
|
Nusalaut |
6 |
0 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
720 |
|
Seram |
6 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2,241 |
|
Ambon |
14 |
9 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
6 |
2,967 |
|
Haruku |
11 |
4 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
2,252 |
|
Total |
47 |
14 |
33 |
10 |
11 |
16 |
10 |
2,246 |
Table 7.2. Demography of non-sasi villages. Class 1=population£1,000; Class 2= 1,001-2,000; Class 3=2,001-
3,000; Class 4=>3,000.
|
Island |
Total # |
Muslim |
Christian |
Class 1 |
Class 2 |
Class 3 |
Class 4 |
Avg. pop’n |
|
Saparua |
6 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1,582 |
|
Nusalaut |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1,725 |
|
Seram |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2,149 |
|
Ambon |
8 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
4,528 |
|
Haruku |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
- |
|
Total |
16 |
6 |
10 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
7 |
3,100 |
66 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia