An institutional analysis of sasi laut in Maluku, Indonesia

Table 7.4. Presence of sasi in the survey area, and factors significantly affecting the pattern of occurrence.
Where differences among factor categories (two religions: Muslim and Christian, four population size
classes, five islands) are significant according to chi square tests, probabilities are indicated as follows:
*=p<0.05, **=p<0.01, ***=p<0.001. ns=no significant difference in the occurrence of sasi among the
categories within each factor.

In 18 cases, villagers indicated that marine sasi used to be practiced but had died out in living
memory. Therefore, historically, over half of the villages in the study area practiced some form
of marine management. Marine sasi was historically most common on Saparua and Nusa Laut.

7.2 Function and Scope of Sasi in Resource Management

7.2.1 Land sasi

In this study, we focused on sasi applied to marine resources. However, as will be seen,
marine sasi is intimately related to, and influenced by, land sasi. Sasi as applied to land crops
is generally in the form of a harvest prohibition on fruits that are unripe. For instance, sasi
applied to coconuts usually involves closed seasons lasting three to four months. When sasi
is declared open, often for just a few days at a time, harvests can proceed. Sasi is most
frequently applied to just one or two crops (Table 7.5), especially in smaller villages that have
only church sasi. Coconuts are the most common crop regulated, followed by nutmegs. In
some places, there may be day-to-day rules concerning the cutting of trees and firewood,
gathering thatch for roofing, and entering forest garden areas on Sundays. There is often a
village kewang to keep an eye on the crops under sasi and protect them from theft, but this
depends on the type of sasi institution that is practiced (adat or church) and its level of activity.

The division of the harvest is also governed by sasi. How this is done depends on the type of
sasi implemented. In some cases, individuals have sasi placed on their own crop (e.g., the
village of Kariu). When it is harvested, they donate a portion to the church (often 10%), and
sometimes they also donate to the kewang and/or village government. More usually, sasi is
applied generally to village lands so that all people harvest at the same time (e.g., Nolloth) or
groups harvest in rotation (e.g., Tengah-Tengah). In some villages, this communal harvest is
placed under the control of a tuan sasi who, after paying a fee to the village government, then
organizes the harvest and sale of the crop and takes a proportion of the sales value (e.g.,
Pelauw, Kailolo). This is called sasi lelang. Lelang means auction, and the harvest rights are

Result of The Inventory of Sasi 71

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