Frank Cooley - Village Government in The Central Moluccas

Southeast Asia Program Publications at Cornell University
Village Government in the Central Moluccas

Author(s): Frank L. Cooley
Source: Indonesia, No. 7 (Apr., 1969), pp. 138-163
Published by: Southeast Asia Program Publications at Cornell University
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VILLAGE GOVERNMENTIN THE CENTRAL MOLUCCAS*

Rev.
Frank L.
Cooley
influences
the Badan Saniri
have fashioned
Many diverse
the
which
the main institucouncil
constitutes
village
Negeri,
tion of local
The name itMoluccas.
government in the Central
self bears witness
which has molded it--badan
is
to the history
the
for
a
term
for
is
a
Seramese
saniri
Malay
corporate
body;
which used to govern the region of the Three Rivers;
and
council
is the Malay form for the Sanskrit
word nagara,
meaning
negeri
the structure
city or realm.'
territory,
Any attempt to describe
*
This paper is a revised

version
of Chapter III
of the author's
in Central
doctoral
and
Throne
"Altar
dissertation,
unpublished
Moluccan Societies:
between the
a Study of the Relationship
Institutions
of Religion
and the Institutions
of Local
Government in a Traditional
Society
Change"
Undergoing Rapid Social
The revision
the results
contains
1962).
(Yale
University,
of recent research
undertaken
by a team of scholars,
including
the writer,
on the local
of the Moluccas
history
during the
The research
is being done under the
1475 to 1675.
period
of the
of the National
Research
Institute
Cultural
auspices
The original
thesis
Indonesian
research
Academy of Sciences.
to
was carried
out in 1957 and 1960, and was limited
largely
Haruku
Christian
on
the
and
of
islands
Ambon, Saparua,
villages
Nusalaut
from Uliase).
(the last three are now known as Lease,
The description
here is also
of village
government presented
which constitute
to the Muslim villages,
generally
applicable
less
than 50% of the total
of the Central
slightly
population
and
Moluccas
and share with the Christians
a common physical
cultural
heritage.
This paper is largely
own field
based on the writer's
notes and those of Raymond Kennedy, "Field
Notes on Indonesia:
Ambon and Ceram, 1949-1950,
notes are
field
1955."
Kennedy's
as yet unpublished,
but are available
from the Human Relations
Area Files,
New Haven, Conn.
In addition,
two unpublished
"The
A. N. Radjawane,
were used:
papers by Ambonese scholars
of Haruku,"
Structure
of Village
Government on the Island
of
and a lecture
to a conference
(1956)
by A. B. Latuconsina
in
heads
1957.
Ambon, May 16,
village
1.
The Seramese terms for negeri

are hena or yama.
Negeri probfrom the
as
result
of influences
these
terms
a
ably replaced
is
but when the change took place
western part of Indonesia,
evolved
from
uncertain.
One informant suggested
that negeri
a term used by the Dutch East India
Company officials
negorij,
to refer to Moluccan villages
and employed before in South
"The Structure
Africa
for the Negro villages
there.
Radjawane,
139
LI1
00
(1JI
OA
cx
OD
LAN
Eti Riv
S ERAM
HITAM
PATASIWA
TalaRiv
mu
on
RUKUA
Nolloth
oja
nNusanive
MBONorHitu-
~Allang
SA
LA
140
of contemporary
and functions
include
some account
of these
historically.
village
government should,
therefore,
influences
and how they developed
Within the Badan Saniri

Negeri at the present
time, one can
at least
four types of offices,
each with progressively
identify
less political
power.
Among the first
group, are those traditional
offices
which are still
such as radja
fully functional,
both
and kepala
of a collection
of kin-groups),
(ruler)
soa (chief
of power,
At the same level
of which date back many centuries.
saniri
are those non-traditional
members who are elected
by the
the subdivisions
to represent
and functional
groupings
people
in the village
The second type consists
of traditional
society.
who retain
officers
as,
only a part of their former function,
the tuan tanah (the lord of the land).
Third are
for example,
those traditional
whose original
are virtually
officers
functions
such as the malessi
or kapitan
commander).
obsolete,
(military
like the mauweng (a religious
there are certain
offices,
Finally,
and exist
which are no longer filled
official),
only in the
memory.
people's
in nearly every Badan
There are eight offices
represented
the
the
the soa chiefs,
Saniri
ruler,
region:
Negeri throughout
the adat2 chief,
the tuan tanah,
the kapitan,
the k4wang, the
and the ordinary elected
members of the council.
But
marinjo
of offices
this present
constellation
only developed
gradually
over time.
The earliest
units were fairly
known political
simple comsmall
munities
of
a
families
of
composed
settling
group
migrant
in a particular
Each of
before 1450 A.D.
location,
probably
these earliest
settlements
was headed by an upu, who was responIn military
for all matters related
sible
to the temporal world.
he
a
affairs
and
was
assisted
malessi.
matters,
by
Religious
with the powers inhabiting
"the other world" were
relations
the malimu or
conducted
by the mauweng and his adjutant,
maitale.
The upu, theoretically,

one of the soa, the early
of Village
the word
gives the
from the
Wolters,
was a descendant
of the leader
of
two or
migrant groups.3
Eventually,
identifies
A Dutch dictionary
Government," p. 1.
the
East
term
but
as
Indian
also
negorij
nagaree,
and coming
word negerij,
meaning "Negro village,"
root neger, Negro.
Engels Woordenboek (Groningen:
1959),
p. 550.
refers
2. Adat, as used in this paper,
the conventional
personal
underlying
law governing
of individuals
actions
3.
to the structured
norms
behavior
and customary
and groups.
soa seems not to have been a lineage

group but
Originally,
See
more an ad hoc term for an inter-related
migrant group.
below pp.
The etymology of the term soa remains
TWTff.
also
141
more such family groups joined to form small settlements called
The aman was a settlement somewhat smaller than the
aman.
later-formed negeri, and, in those days, the soa were also much
smaller than at present.
They included only the mata rumah
which had come in the first migration.
the patrilineages
asali,
Other patrilineages
(mata rumah) were added to the soa later.
In the process, a single leader, the latu, emerged from
among the various chiefs (upu) of the smaller groups (soa).
The other leaders became his assistants,
but were still
refor their own original
The first patrilineage
sponsible
group.
in special
to arrive continued to be distinguished
ways and
its leader to be known by the title tuan tanah, even if it
in the posiwas eventually superseded by another patrilineage
tion of top leadership.
Three offices found today resulted
from this development, namely, latu, kepala soa, and tuan
tanah.
Another development, caused by the growth in the size and
of functions.
power of the settlement, was a differentiation
It seems likely that, in the original
soa, all functions were
held by the upu, who served as king, priest and battle combecause
mander, and who probably became the leader precisely
and powers in
he was believed to possess special
abilities
times relate
these crucial spheres.
Legends about the earliest
were manifested, to
numerous events in which these qualities
the great advantage of the community. But, as the population
control
increased,
groups became more complex and territorial
It became necessary for the upu (now called latu)
expanded.
to delegate some of his powers to others who probably already
but were not recognized as holding
acted as his assistants,
These offices developed in the functional
separate offices.
(latu, kepala soa, marinjo, alamanan),
spheres of administration
and
war (malessi)
(tuan tanah, mauweng, ma'atoke),
religion
There is some evidence
land affairs (kepala dati and kewang).5
until
that from the time the present negeri were established
The indigenous term in Allang is urur; in Erie,
uncertain.
antoun; in Waraka, South Seram, it is nurua.
Allang informants atributed soa to the Hoamual, West Seram dialect.
Others attribute it to the North Moluccas.
is derived from the
4. Aman (with amang and amano as variants)
An aman
indigenous term ama, meaning "father" or "lord."
was a settlement ruled by or belonging to an ama. Soja was
of which
said to have consisted of nine aman, the locations
remembered. Aboru claimed to be composed of 99 aman,
are still
council members could
but when asked to list them, the village
remember
23
was
and
there
only
names,
disagreement about many
of them.
The kepala
5. See also:
Kennedy, "Field Notes, 1955," p. 79.
to determine the
dati is elected from within the patrilineage
land and its produce.
of patrilineage-held
distribution
142
around the end of the nineteenth century, there were similar
offices attached to each soa--kepala
soa, mauweng, malessi,
alamanan, and marinjo--but of these only the first and last
remain today.
As the population continued to grow and the villages
to
into federations
called
expand, the aman began to coalesce
These aman were located in the hills,
two or three
uZi.
kilometers from the shoreline.
The dominant aman in each
uli came to be called,
and is so even today, the negeri lama or
The negeri lama is the village
in which the
"old village."
mata rumah radja and mata rumah tuan tanah are located.
The
uli usually contained five or nine aman, with the strongest
ruler and aman predominating and providing the federation's
the radja.
The constituent villages
were headed by
chieftain,
lesser rulers called patih or orang kaja.
The uli certainly
predated the arrival of the Dutch in 1605, and perhaps even
that of the Portuguese in 1512.
Most likely, the federating
occurred
as
the
result
of
process
powerful alien groups moving
in from Java, the Celebes or even the North Moluccas.
These
groups were able to subjugate the Central Moluccan populations
because they possessed more advanced weapons and skills.
The
in
the
several
of
more
ruling patrilineages
important villages,
such as Hitu, Nusanive, Soja, Aboru, Tulehu, claim relationships
in
with, if not direct descent from, ancestors who originated
eastern Java or southern Celebes.
Thus, by the time the Europeans appeared, the basic system
of government as it exists today had already developed.
It was
introprimarily Seramese in pattern but with important additions
duced from other regions.
The coming of the Europeans and the
establishment
of colonial
rule, brought new forces into play.
The Dutch destroyed the uli system and replaced it with autonomous
villages
directly subject to Dutch East India Company officials.
into smaller units and
They worked to break the federations
centers of resistance.
In addition,
thereby weaken potential
such small units were more easily manipulated to achieve Dutch
economic aims, notably a monopoly on the spice trade, and to
secure an orderly and obedient subject population.
The realization of these aims required at least fifty years, only nearing
completion in the latter part of the seventeenth century.
During the general
dislocation
and instability
which char-
the period
acterized
of village
formation
1480 to 1660),
(roughly
the aman disappeared.
Today only the soa and the mata rumah
remain in the structure
of village
There were
government.
several
fierce
wars in various
Moluccas
parts of the Central
between groups within the region in which outside
forces,
including
A general
involved.
European
periodically
states,were
upheaval
was caused by the move from the hills
to the shoreline.
Some
mata rumah, and even soa, within an aman were either
liquidated
143
or banished
to other places
as a form of punishment.6
The
Dutch Governor at Ambon led hongitochten
(punitive
expeditions)
recalcitrant
The expeditions
were transsettlements.
against
(war canoes),
from the vilported by cora-cora
requisitioned
and manned by villagers.
The degree and quality
of
lages
in these expeditions
determined
by the villagers
participation
Dutch rewards or punishments,
which, in turn, effected
changes
in landownership
or land-holdings,
and
ruling patrilineages
the ranks of village
In addition
rulers.
to war, the coming
of Islam and Christianity
a certain
number
caused
undoubtedly
of groups to move voluntarily,
as when religious
differences
a particular
into two or more groups.7
split
village
Offices
of Village
Government
The Dutch retained

the earlier
the
pattern
by dividing
into three ranks, with the radja
rulers
as the highest.
In
which had been the chief settlement
those villages
of the uli,
the title
of radja was continued
even though the ruler no
over the other villages.
Aljurisdiction
longer exercised
the
chief
is
referred
to
though today
village
usually
by the
title
of pemerintah
general
negeri,
literally
"government of
the village,"
the villagers
almost always address
him as Bapak
The term radja
is actually
of Sanskrit
and
derivation
Radja.
was probably
introduced
before the Dutch arrived.
The
is still
in titles
and often
term, latu,
indigenous
preserved
used in ceremonies.
The other two ranks of village
ruler were the
lower level,
the orang kaja,
patih and, at a slightly
meaning
of
high position."
"man
6.
This happened in Allang in the second quarter

teenth century,
and almost certainly
in other
well.
7.
that, before the village

Allang elders
reported
accepted
in 1622, part of the people
were Muslims and
Christianity
the rest Alifuru.
Some from each group may have left rather
than accept
conversion.
8.
The terms patih and bupati,

administrative
offices,
signifying
in the Moluccas,
is clearly
are common on Java.
a
Patih,
loan word from Javanese
and perhaps
is rooted in one of the
Indian
In the glossary
of Kennedy's
"Field
Notes,"
languages.
as an
(not composed by Kennedy himself),
patih is identified
Ambonese word, but this is wholly unconvincing.
The Kennedy glossary
states
that orang kaja is a higher
rank than patih,
the latter
as the "third rank
being defined
in the noble hierarchy."
I can account
for this only by assumwith
of the glossary
were not familiar
ing that the compilers
the details
of Moluccan society.
informants
My
unanimously
ranked patih second and orang kaja third.
The title
orang
kaja is Malay and was already
employed in the region around
of the
villages
sevenas
144
The Dutch colonial

the radja,
government presented
patih
and orang kaja each with a kepala
rotan perak (silver-headed
as a symbol of their formal installation
and their
baton)
After some years of service,
a radja's
political
authority.
status
increased
was symbolized
by a tongkat mas (gold-headed
The patih or orang kaja might also raise
baton or staff).
their
some
meritorious
respective
positions
by performing
unusually
for the colonial
service
government.
These differences
in status,
however important to the
individual
involved
or to colonial
were not significant
protocol,
within the village.
The orang kaja and the radja
had
apparently
the same status
relative
to their respective
Each was
peoples.
the top man in a particular
the
most respected,
village--the
most feared and the most powerful.
There seems to be no evidence
that these differences
in rank between village
chiefs
existed
in indigenous
This suggests
that the
Seram society.
strongly
uli system was introduced
to Ambon, and perhaps
Lease,
by
The occurrence
of
immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.
the term patih strengthens
this hypothesis.
The village
comes from the highest
level
of
ruler usually
the village
The position
tends to be hereditary.
aristocracy.
In earlier
the eldest
son of the radja
times,
normally succeeded his father,
he was clearly
unless
The father
incapable.
made the choice
and prepared
the "crown prince"
apparently
for his future role.
The village
council
approved the choice
and installed
him after his father's
In more recent
death.
it
has
been
understood
the radja
must
that
times,
generally
come from one among a group of specified
patrilineages,9
which are considered
to have the hereditary
right and traditional
to rule.
In most villages,
there are at least
responsibility
two clans with this prerogative,
the clan in power before
rule and the clan elevated
colonial
to power by the Dutch.'0
In
when the Portuguese
It
Malacca
that city in 1511.
captured
is generally
used for village
heads in the Central
Moluccas
in both the earliest
and in Ridjali's
Portuguese
reports
Tanah Hitu.
This latter
work was composed around
Hikajat
but in the Arabic script,
1650 in the Malay language
probIt is the earliest
written
of Ambon island.
ably by a native
source on the region by an identifiable
native
author.
9.
10.
This is an abbreviated
term
form of the technical
kinship
in Indonesia
(Ithaca,
preferred
by Koentjaraningrat,
Villages
In other publicaN.Y.:
Cornell
1967),
University,
p. 141.
tions the writer has usually
used the term clan or patriclan
Structure
(New York: Macmillan,
Murdock, Social
following
1949),
pp. 63-69.
the following
In several
tale was related
villages
concerning
The ruler would be summoned from the
these circumstances.
to meet the Dutch or Portuguese
lama in the hills
comnegeri
He would be too afraid
or too proud to go himself,
mander.
145
a number of villages,
however,
only one clan (mata rumah) has
have exOther villages
ruled as long as anyone can remember.
had no
who
when
rule
was
by
persons
usurped
periods
perienced
one often hears accounts
In such cases,
right to it.
hereditary
the usurper's
which befell
of misfortunes
family and the vilthat
the
is
The
belief
descent-group's
specified
prevalent
lage.
with adat,
and anything which deviates
are consonant
prerogatives
from the adat is fraught with danger.
more to
was truly an absolute
ruler,
Formerly, the radja
He represented
all the power of the
be feared than respected.
in whose line he stood and in whose name he governed;
ancestors,
he was backed up by
he also had great temporal power because
Under the Dutch East India
the colonial
Company, the
regime.
so long as he
a law unto himself,
ruler was virtually
village
The colonial
the demands of Company officials.
satisfied
sysso
rulers
the cooperation
of local
tem depended on securing
would be forthcoming at
that the desired
goods and services
In the Central
cost to the Dutch government.
little
Moluccas,
were
various
as elsewhere,
given to the pemerintah
perquisites
were required
to render perThe ordinary
villagers
negeri.
to
to the lords),
heerendienst
(service
called
sonal services,
the radja
The Dutch also provided
the radja
and his wife.'"
in the form of commodnahosi)
with an annual payment (called
loss
for the personal
as compensation
It was considered
ities.
be sold
that all
he had sustained
spices
by the requirement
had paid
the villagers
to the government.
Previously
directly
The village
of their annual crop to the radja.12
a portion
in some cases
and an assistant,
that the latter
with the result
the foreign power.
would descend,
a marinjo,
as ruler by
was recognized
11.
number of young men, usually

Each week or month,a specified
were
of the village,
from five to eight depending on the size
exhis
for
the
to
work
radja,
mainly cultivating
assigned
from
These men were called
lands.
tensive
kwarto, probably
of ordinary
the division
the Portuguese
term which indicates
The young women, called
watches.
seamen into ship's
wife.
the radja's
the
in
served
house,
assisting
hakakil,
of
the rights
in 1920, because
The system was abolished
It was replaced
abused.
were frequently
kwarto and hakakil
The
ruler.
to the village
by payment of a monthly stipend
the
ruler's
meet
sufficient
to
was
in
fact
living
stipend
for only about two weeks.
expenses
12.
several
the nahosi
included:
to one village
ruler,
According
boxes of red powder for use in the tjakalele
dance, mirrors
60 yards of unbleached
77 yards of white cloth,
and beads,
of 30 yards each of denim, and
seven bolts
cotton stuff,
used in
of red cloth
twelve 12-yard bolts
(kain berang),
costumes.
ceremonial
146
ruler also
his village
received
a 200-guilder
bonus for each
who entered the colonial
army.13
young man from
None of these perquisites

remains today, but all
are rememat times with some nostalgia,
in view of the meagre rebered,
muneration
now given to village
rulers.
In 1960, for example,
the remuneration
was a cash "stipend"
of 200 rupiah per month-it was emphasized,
not a "salary,"
for the radja
is not a civil
but the head of an adat community.
servant
At the official
rate of exchange,
this amounted to slightly
less
than $5.00,
and only about $1.00 at the "open market" rate.
Yet the custom
the radja with gifts in kind from the sea,
of presenting
or
from gardens and groves,
when the harvest
is good, is still
followed
as head
and is a manifestation
of his status
generally
of the adat community.
The present
role of the pemerintah
is more like that
negeri
of a president
He is the head of a
than a ruling monarch.
with administrative
government, a chief executive
assistants;
in general,
the notion of special
to the person
powers attached
of the radja
has disappeared.
He is elected
to the office
by
the villagers,
and his rights
and duties
deare more clearly
fined and limited
than in pre-Independence
Since 1950,
days.
the authority
of the village
has been whittled
government itself
of ruler has suffered
from this reduction
away, and the office
in power and prestige.
The kepala
to the vilserves
as principal
assistant
soa14
The number of soa in a given village
lage ruler.
may vary but,
there will be at least
two:15
generally,
Aboru, with a population of nearly 2,300,
with approximately
has five soa; Allang,
has eight;
with 600, has four; Naku,
Erie,
2,800 inhabitants,
with 700, has three;
and Soja,
with 715, has two, at present.
is available
indicates
that the soa, in
What information
of each
more or less their present
form, date from the settling
at its present
location.
village
been
It is possible
a kin-group.16
that at a very early

Sometimes rumah tau
time the
coincides
soa may have

with soa,
13.
250 guilders.
Later these
The family of the boy received
and 60
for the ruler,
amounts were reduced to 50 guilders
for the family.
14.
The indigenous
term is
"Fieldnotes,
1955," p.
15.
The writer personally

knows of no case where there are more
such
than eight,
may exist,
among the
though
especially
Muslim settlements.
larger
16.
Kennedy so identifies
Indonesia:
S. Celebes
1953),
Files,
p. 256,
p. 345.
mutuaella,
117.
according
to Kennedy,
it in two places:
Field Notes on
Area
1949 (New Haven: Human Relations
on Ambon,
and also "Fieldnotes,
1955,"
147
and rumah tau (or lumatau) is the indigenous term for the uniidentidescent group, the mata rumah. If the historical
lineal
which the
fication of rumah tau with soa could be established,
be a
writer thinks highly unlikely, then soa would definitely
Confused interpretations
of the
kin-group similar to a clan.
term soa may have arisen from a mistaken identification
of the
soa with its central rumah tau, the patrilineage
around which
it was formed and which holds the hereditary privilege
of ruling
it.
(that all
Reports that at one time land was soa-controlled
dati-dusun were held and administered communally by the soa) may
also imply that the soa was originally
One of the
a kin-group.
main functions of unilineal
descent groups is the control and
administration
of land.
But it is conceivable
that land may
have been held communally by the soa, without the soa necessarily
caused by
having been a kin-group, prior to the disruptions
the Dutch between 1620 and 1680.
It is fairly certain that
the spice trade not only
harsh Dutch policies
for controlling
shifted the locus of clove production, but also radically
altered
the pattern of land-holding
and land-ownership in the Central
Moluccas. 17 Private or patrilineage
seem to have
land-holdings
developed under the system of intensive spice production instituted after the Dutch supplanted the Portuguese in 1605.
Whatever the case, it seems clear that from the time the
were established
in their present locations,
the soa
villages
has not been a kin-group but rather a collection
of kin-groups,
has
and that the social
structure of the soa and the villages
The only changes have been the
remained more or less fixed.
of certain soa, as a result of colonial
addition or elimination
Aboru and Erie, for example,
policy or shifts in population.
have added soa; whereas, in Soja, some soa have died out.
It is sometimes stated that the soa is a geographic subthe term
In Allang, for instance,
division
of the village.'8
soa is indeed used ambiguously, and it would be easy to conclude
or wards within this rather
that the eight soa are districts
Careful study of the available
data, however,
large village.
(New Haven:
17.
Ambonese Adat, A General

Cooley,
Yale University,
1962),
p. 58.
18.
There
For example,
1955,"
Kennedy, "Fieldnotes,
p. 256.
which would allow one to
are two possible
interpretations
One we have already
the soa as a geographic
unit.
describe
to be exceedingly
considered
and concluded
unlikely,
namely,
a landand therefore
the idea that a soa was a kin-group
unit.
In this case its land would very likely
administering
in one district.
The other possibility
have been localized
is to identify
aman with soa, which Kennedy seems to do in
Since an aman was a geohis "Fieldnotes,
1955,"
p. 333.
The writer
be so too.
graphic unit, a soa would naturally
sees no evidence
for this assumption.
Description
148
that this meaning of the term is derivative

makes it clear
and
Even in Allang,
the basic
only to this village.
applies
meaning
of soa remains a fixed grouping of patrilineages
over
presided
chief
the
a
who
assists
While
or
head.
headman,
village
by
in a few places,
it
soa may thus have geographic
connotations
but to lineal
descent.
refers not to geographic
locale
basically
of unilateral
descent
Soa are collections
mata rumah,
groups,
which became established
at a particular
time.
They were, in
some cases,
of new immigrant patriby the addition
enlarged
in other cases,
mata rumah
they shrank, when certain
lineages;
Some soa may have completely
died out.
for the
disappeared
same reason.
to the lesser
The kepala
soa belongs
and is
village
aristocracy
from among qualified
candidates
a
to
selected
specific
belonging
the kepala
As with the office
of radja,
clan.
soa, in former
son of the preceding
In recent
incumbent.
days, was the eldest
the
office
has become elective.
Adult members
however,
years,
of the soa (the anak-anak
whose
soa) nominate the candidates,
to the entire
electorate.
names are then submitted
village
rather than by the soa has been instiElection
by the village
when the kepala
soa serves
as officer-of-the-month
tuted because
his
over the
extends
soa
jurisdiction
djaga bulan),
(kepala
whole village.
There are generally
two categories
of kepala
soa.
Kepala
soa akte are soa chiefs who have been approved and installed
by
the district
a small remuneration
government, and who receive
for those months in which they serve as kepala
soa djaga bulan.
have
official
are
somewhat more
status,
and, therefore,
They
The kepala
soa
soa tanah or kepala
by the villagers.
respected
elected
to village
traditions,
according
masing are soa chiefs
but not recognized
or installed
by the district
government.
They
in matters of land (tanah)
or adat,
have particular
functions
which give them the title
of kepala
soa, but they do not rule
soa akte, nor do they
over a soa in the same way as the kepala
serve as officer-of-the-month.
no remuneration
They receive
The kepala
soa serve as members
administration.
from the civil
in
of the Badan Saniri
high status
Negeri and have relatively
Because
village
society,
though well below that of the radja.
and do
the functions
administrative
of soa head are essentially
the
much contact
with supra-village
not involve
authorities,
influenced
forces than
office
has perhaps been less
by outside
or adat,
to religion
that of the radja,
or other offices
related
such as mauweng and tuan tanah.
Tuan tanah has
Sometimes the titles
19.
There are various

the same thing:
been translated
as "lord of the land."19
tuan negeri
or tuan adat are used, but tuan
indigenous
amanopunjo,
terms, all of which

amanupui,
amanapui,
roughly mean
latunusa.
149
tanah is the most exact and most widely applied.

This office
is filled
descendant
of the first
ancestor
to
by a hereditary
settle
in the area,
in many cases
the first
It
probably
upu.
often happened that the lineage
of this upu was later
politically
which then assumed the title
of
superseded
by a newer lineage,
This defeat,
latu or radja.
in any way
however, did not affect
the earlier
over the land of the
jurisdiction
lineage's
special
and their rights
and
and responsibilities
in closing
village
the
be
infirmities
believed
to
caused
sasi,20
opening
healing
with tabooed
and objects
within the village,
by contact
places
or administering
oaths.
With the fading of traditional
beliefs,
the actual
functions
of the tuan tanah have noticeably
declined.
Yet in most villages
and the
is still
filled,
today the office
tuan tanah performs at various
ceremonial
occasions
involving
the whole village.
The tuan tanah,
like the radja,
is ranked as a member of
the upper village
to
both are connected
aristocracy;
by descent
the original
The tuan tanah does not
founders of the village.
as the radja
he has lost much of
because
enjoy as high status
his functional
The position
filled
in the
is still
significance.
traditional
son
his eldest
way; the incumbent tuan tanah trains
in the necessary
and
the
eldest
son
skills.
If
lore,
knowledge
is not interested,
does not stay in the village,
or is not capable,
another is chosen and prepared
to assume the office
when it falls
vacant.
there is more than one tuan tanah,
beIn some villages
cause there was more than one patrilineage
in the first
immigrant
that the original
conditions
must be
group, and it is believed
maintained.
The kepala
is the present-day
adat (adat
heir of some
chief)
of the functions
of the mauweng, a position
no longer found in
Moluccan villages.
The mauweng (or mauwen, maueng) was the main
in
the
as
functionary
indigenous
religion,
serving
especially
of the secret
which
all
into
(Kakehan)
priest
religious
society
male members of Patasiwa
Hitam were initiated
when they reached
The Kakehan house,
or temple, where the mauweng
adulthood.21
20.
is a closed
Sasi
season
declared
on products
of the
in the interests
of conservation.
if deemed necessary
Ambonese Adat, pp. 77-80.
21.
institutions
inThese are particular
within the over-all
digenous
religious
system that seem to have characterized
The movement of populations
Seramese
from Seram to
society.
the coming of Islam and
Ambon-Lease perhaps preceded
Hence the
of time.
Christianity
by only a short period
main institutions
of the indigenous
were
not yet
religion
both Islam and Christianity
For this reason,
deeply implanted.
than
were much more quickly
and easily
in Ambon-Lease
accepted
in the interior
of Seram, in Buru or in the Southeast
Moluccas,
where the was much more resistance
efforts.
to all missionary
sea
and land,
Cooley,
150
in the forest,
was located
at some distance
from
officiated,
each
soa
a
the village.
had
Apparently,
mauweng, who was refor all matters connected
inwith the "other world,"
sponsible
both religion
and adat, which, prior to the coming of
cluding
seem not to have been significantly
differentiated.
Christianity,
This is why the kepala
adat has succeeded
to part of the mauweng's
and position.22
The mauweng also practised
the art
functions
events which had occurred
in some
of divination,
determining
or would occur in the future,
distant
in order to protect
place
of the village.
The usual methods of
or advance the welfare
divination
were the examination
of the entrails
of fowl or
or using the riceanimals,
ginger root or coconuts,
cutting
sieve
and a pair of scissors.
The kepala
adat in present
Ambonese society
is the person
there are two) who is the expert on adat
(sometimes
requireHe is appointed
ments and ceremonies.
and approved
by the radja
like the older mauweng, he is
however,
Usually,
by the Saniri.
the son of the previous
from his
incumbent, who has learned
father all the lore and secret
to his posiknowledge essential
He belongs
to the lower village
tion.
and is much
aristocracy
he is
and feared,
by the young, because
especially
respected
to have a special
believed
to the powers of the
relationship
other world.
in the indigenous
The kapitan,23
termed malessi
language
to as the kepala
was also referred
(leader
of the forces),
pasukan
or the panglima perang (commander in warfare).
In the early
warfare between villages,
days, when there was much internal
in search of slaves
or other valuand when raids
by outsiders
of
the office
able goods were still
occurrences,
frequent
or kapitan
was vital
to village
This
office
malessi
security.24
of functions
differentiation
seems to date from the original
to above, by which particular
offices
were established
alluded
the kapitan
seems to have
to meet specific
needs.
Originally,
the
warfare and
been appointed
latu
for
his
in
by
upu
prowess
The position
became hereditary,
with the old
later
magic.
of warone of his sons the strategy
and skills
teaching
kapitan
of magic and ritual.
fare, as well as the secrets
22.
was
function
and position
The other part of the religious
taken over by the tuagama, who in the days before most village
or "teacherwere served by ministers
Protestant
congregations
was the main religious
functionary
guru djemaat,
preachers,"
in Christian
villages.
23.
The name of this office

changed from the indigenous
word some time after 1512.
this Portuguese
24.
out that it
Kennedy has pointed
one traditional
had had at least
1955,"
notes,
pp. 307-308.
term to
seemed as if every village

See his,
"Fieldenemy.
151
was responsible
for planning
The kapitan
and leading
military
whether offensive
of defensive.
He was believed
to
operations,
magical
powers which rendered his person invulnerable
possess
and guaranteed
the success
to weapons,
of the foray, provided
the required
ceremonies
were properly
These rituals
performed.
the killing
of fowls, the waving of weapons through the
included
heat and smoke of particular
types of burning wood, the wardance (tjakalele),
and the recitation
in the indigenous
tongue
of formulae for summoning the ancestors
the
and threatening
is found today in only
enemy.25
Knowledge of these ceremonies
a few villages.
there were two kapitan.
One had primary
In some villages
for the defense of the coastal
area against
attack
responsibility
this accounts
from the sea;
for his title,
Laut (Captain
Kapitan
The other,
of the Sea).
sometimes referred
to as Kapitan
Darat,
of the Land),
was charged with resisting
all attacks
(Captain
or landward side.
from the "rear"
The hill
would probvillages
have
one
With
the
consolidation
of Dutch
only
ably
kapitan.
the region was pacified
and there was
power in the Moluccas,
an attendant
reduction
in both internal
conflicts
and raids
As a result, there was less
from outside.
and less
occasion
for
the
art
of
warfare
the
on
The
level.
practising
village
kapitan
and malessi
had little
to do, and gradually
the
consequently
for all but ceremonial
The
functions.
positions
disappeared
malessi
still
finally
disappeared
altogether.
Only the kapitan
remains and he retains
a
shadow
of
his
The
former
duties.
only
office
in most villages,
exists
but its only remaining
functions
seem to be ceremonial,
such as the renewing of pela bonds,26
the war-dance
and leading
on occasions
of special
(tjakalele)
The kapitan
is not considered
member
a regular
significance.
of the Badan Saniri
he may be invited
but, on occasion,
Negeri,
He is a highly respected
to sit with the council.
and feared
member of the community because
his hereditary
connects
position
him with the early ancestors
of the village,
beand especially
cause he is believed
to be the heir to their magical
powers.
The kewang acts as the village
or security
force.
police
There are two classes,
the ordinary
kewang numbering as many as
20 or 30 in larger
and the kepala
villages,
kewang, who is selected
the
ruler
with
the
the
of
and who is responsaniri,
by
approval
sible
for the kewang forces.
One informant suggested
that the
since
from the kepala
or dati chiefs,
kewang were selected
dati,
this group is most intimately
with the details
of
acquainted
The main function
land-boundaries.
of the kiwang is policing
of this
25.
For a description
1955."
notes,
26.
The
Ambonese Adat, pp. 71-77.
Cooley,
and mutual obligation
bonds of friendship
performance
see,
Kennedy,
"Field-
a are ceremonial
between villages.
152
lands to protect
them from encroachments.
The
garden and forest
is the supervision
other responsibility
of the sasi,
kewang's
has previously
been made.
to which reference
The kewang are
from
the
biasa
and have no
(commoners)
among
orang
appointed
status
within village
The kepala
particular
society.
kewang,
not usually
a member of the saniri,
although
may be asked to
attend when questions
within his jurisdiction
are discussed.
The office
still
has real functions,
even though it has lost
some of its importance
with the decline
of the adat sasi.
The office
of marinjo appears
to have a long history,
to show
dating from the time when government was only beginning
The marinjo was originally
one of
signs of differentiation.
the kapitan's
a spokesman who transmitted
the ruler's
assistants,
and decrees
instructions
to the people,
as
acting
mulut radja,
"the radja's
of his close
mouth."27
literally
Probably because
with the radja,
association
the marinjo enjoyed
considerable
in village
even though he did not belong to
prestige
society,
the aristocracy
and held no hereditary
he
Later,
position.
became the assistant
of the soa chief and served as an adjutant
or general
soa during the month when
of the kepala
errand-boy
that notable
was on duty as the radja's
To"prime minister."
is appointed
He receives
a
day, the marinjo
by the saniri.
tax exemption as remuneration
for his services,
a
and enjoys
somewhat higher than that of the common people
status
from whom
he is chosen.
In addition
to his official
duties
for the village
to perform personal
services
for
government, he is expected
the radja
and the soa chief on monthly duty.
The final
office
in village
government is that of the elected
the Dutch, in response
member.
to the presDuring the 1920's,
sures of nationalism,
instituted
the practice
of including
members on all government councils.
elected
These elected
members were of lower status
than the traditionally-determined
memIn the Moluccas,
bers.
one representative
was elected
from
In some cases,
those elected
among the commoners for each soa.
held a special
within
own soa.
their
position
They might be
dati or kepala
rumah tau, but on the saniri
kepala
they sat as
elected
members reflecting
the opinions
The
of the people.
elected
members now enjoy a status
higher than that of the
but not equal
to that of the lower aristocracy.
Within
marinjo,
the saniri,
for some segthey may have special
responsibilities
ment of village
such as roads and transportation,
or
life,
activities.
youth
Two offices
no longer exist,
27.
with the village

formerly connected
government
except in the memory of a handful of the oldest
He was called
in one of the dialects.
maitale
Variant
terms
The present
are malimu and marimu.
was
title,
marinjo,
introduced
after 1512 and derives
from merinho, the
term for the corresponding
office.
Portuguese
153
The incumbents of these offices,in
inhabitants.
all likelihood,
were at one time considered
members of the saniri,
but they seem
not to have had high status
in the village.28
The first
of these
was the alamanan or alamanane,
defined by Kennedy as a "spokesman
in the saniri
council."
each soa was entitled
to have
Apparently
one alamanan on the saniri.
he
the
of the
was
forerunner
Perhaps
modern elected
saniri
members who supposedly
the soa
represent
members.
More likely,
with special
however, he was an officer
in matters involving
rights
adat,
particularly
when the saniri,
or part of it, sat as a judicial
The
court.
alamanan may have been the spokesman-in-court,
with particular
for cases
his own soa.
The withdrawal
responsibility
involving
of judicial
functions
from the saniri
account
may, therefore,
for the disappearance
of this position.
The other office
which has also
in
long since
disappeared
is that of the ma'atoki,
most villages,
whom Kennedy describes
as the custodian
of the baiZeu,29
charged with the responsibility
of keeping the baileu
clean and in order,
the radja
and notifying
of needed repairs.
that there was one ma'atoke
Kennedy reports
for each soa.30
The Radja of Elpaputih,
main
one of Kennedy's
in 1949, described
informants
the ma'atoke
to the present
writer
in 1960 as "the ruler of the baileu,
the person responsible
for
at
held
ceremonies
there."
This description
does not
officiating
accord with other information,
which suggests
that the tuan tanah
and the kepala
adat officiated
at baileu
ceremonies.
Kennedy's
of the ma'atoke's
function
seems more acceptable,
description
since other informants noted that in the earliest
days, when
families
first
came to the village,
the radja
certain
assigned
in return for which he granted them land.
Included
duties,
among
these duties
were the care and repair
of the baileu,
which conthe office
stituted
of the ma'atoke.
The office
no longer exists
the baileu,
as an institution,
has itself
today, perhaps because
all but disappeared.
The Structure
of the
Council
Village
The government of the village

is carried
out by three conthe title
centric
institutions
all bearing
saniri.
They are the
of the Radja and his Assistants),
the
Saniri
(Council
Radjapatih
28.
One of these offices

was encountered
only
to the region,
on his second visit
but was
in the region
in his researches
especially
South Seram.
Kennedy, "Fieldnotes,
1955,"
29.
The village
30.
Kennedy,
adat-house;
"Fieldnotes,
see
1955,"
Cooley,
pp.
once by the writer,

to Kennedy,
reported
in
of Elpaputih
pp. 140, 179, 184ff.
Ambonese
179,
Adat,
184.
pp.
8-13.
154
and the Saniri

Saniri
Council),
Village
Negeri Lengkap (Complete
There are minor variaCouncil).
Negeri Besar (Great Village
in different
tions in terminology
but the general
villages,
to
the
entire
It
is
applies
pattern
region.
widely believed
that the structure
of government
in the Central
is
Moluccas
after that found originally
on Nunusaku, the legendary
patterned
mountain in West Seram, source of the Three Rivers,
the Eti,
the Tala,
and the Sapalewa,
and traditionally
as the
regarded
and the end, the source and the destiny
It
of life.
beginning
will be useful,
to indicate
what is held to have been
therefore,
the structure
of government in indigenous
Seram
(Alifuru)
The Three Rivers region was divided
into three adatsociety.
one for each river.
each village
areas,
Throughout the region,
had a council
of its own called
the saniri.
Its most important
members were the saniri
chief (kepala
adminisfor civil
saniri),
the mauweng, for religious
and the kapitan
tration,
affairs,
for matters of war.
There appears
also to have been a larger
matters affecting
the welfare
of
body, which met to consider
the people
of each River.
It was composed of all the saniri
of the villages
within that area,
chiefs,
mauweng and kapitan
and elected
three chief officials,
called
On
latu inama.
the three top officers
occasion
from each River met in a supreme
the nine members reflected
the fact that this is the
saniri;
Patasiwa
region of Seram, where the number nine has special
significance.
3
As we have seen, the mauweng and the kapitan
for all
have,
The core of the
functional
purposes,
practically
disappeared.
Badan Saniri
is the
level,
Negeri on the village
therefore,
which
the
ruler
Saniri
consists
of
(radja)
Radjapatih,
village
and his assistants.
This is a small group, usually
about six
and it is the administrative
body of the village
persons,
the executive
branch of village
It can be called
council.
executhat
is
a still
smaller
in
mind
there
government, bearing
and the kepala
of the radja
soa djaga
tive unit consisting
matters of
with their marinjo.
Internal
bulan,
together
to the outside
world are
and all affairs
related
importance
When he deems
and action.
referred
to the radja
for decision
he summons the other soa chiefs
for consultation
it necessary,
The Saniri
the big drum on his porch.
and decision
by beating
the most important
is, for all practical
purposes,
Radjapatih
All members of this body are chosen
government.
part of village
of
leaders
and they are the traditional
to lineage,
according
the village.
The Saniri
Negeri Lengkap is composed of the Saniri
to
and elected
members referred
Radjapatih
plus the co-opted
This is the legislative
section.
in the preceding
body of
It discusses
matters of larger
importance,
village
government.
31.
Kennedy,
"Fieldnotes,
1955,"
p.
184.
155
and issues regulations.
makes policy decisions
In addition to
it includes both traditional
the members of the Saniri Radjapatih,
such as the kepala adat, tuan tanah and kapitan, and
leaders,
It
members elected as representatives
of the commonpeople.
a
should be clear, however, that the Saniri Radjapatih possesses
strong voice within this larger body. Although not generally
a numerical majority, it has the weight of status and tradition
on its side.
Although in theory the judgment of the radja and
soa chiefs may be over-ridden,
in practice
this rarely happens.
Yet sharp differences of opinion are frequent and are vigorously
expressed.
In some villages,
there are functional committees within
the Badan Saniri Negeri, responsible
for particular
areas of
In Soja, for example, there are "departments" of
concern.
health, roads and transportation,
forests, and youth, which have
over these fields and are responsible
for bringing
supervision
to the saniri meetings any problems or projects which require
or collective
action.
This arrangement seems
policy decisions
to be fairly recent.
from the
Perhaps it developed logically
decline of the traditional
offices of kewang, mauweng and tuan
tanah.
The Saniri Negeri Besar meets on those occasions
when the
whole electorate
must be consulted.
This "great saniri"
consists
of the Saniri Negeri Lengkap plus all males over eighteen years
of age.
this means the heads of households.)
It
(In practice,
decides matters affecting the welfare of the entire village
and
At such meetings, assignments
requiring action by every family.
may be made to implement a decision already taken by the Saniri
The meetings
Negeri Lengkap or by the Saniri Negeri Besar itself.
of the "great saniri" are preferably held in the baileu,
if there
The saniri may also meet there when hearing cases of
is one.
of adat or civil law.
alleged violations
We have already commented on action by the Dutch government
to broaden the base of the Badan Saniri Negeri by providing for
the election
of a member to represent each soa.
Before that,
there was only the Saniri Radjapatih
and the Saniri Negeri Besar.
It may be conjectured that in those days the Saniri Negeri Besar
met more frequently than after the Dutch policy was put into
practice.
that the structure

of local
One may observe
government bears
to Guided Democracy,
in the dominant
resemblance
considerable
and to a lesser
extent the kepala
role played by the radja
soa,
in the
not only in the executive
branch of government, but also
and judicial
purposes,
legislative
branches.32
"For all practical
32.
contention
to Sukarno's
In this sense there is some substance
in the
for "Guided Democracy"
that he had found the pattern
Indonesian
institutions
of various
indigenous
political
regions.
156
which governs,"
to one
it is the Saniri
Radjapatih
according
ruler.
To characterize
the situation
thus is not to
village
of government are simply empty forms
say that the other levels
it is
or that there is no democracy in the Central
Moluccas;
the prevailing
tendency.
merely to stress
The Basis
and Method of Constituting

Government
Village
all the changes which have occurred,

is
Despite
heredity
still
the predominant
for selection
to the most
qualification
in the village
In former times,
important
government.
offices
the
rule
the
of
eldest
son of the
following
primogeniture,
incumbent usually
succeeded
to the father's
This
position.
has now been modified to mere patrilineage
heredity,
principle
that is to say, the person to be elected
or kepala
soa
radja
Within the patrilineage,
must come from a fixed mata rumah.
however, there is a considerable
range of choice
among possible
The two positions
for which the rule of primogenicandidates.
ture still
are the tuan tanah and the kapitan.
generally
applies
been shown to retain
These officers,
however, have already
only
ceremonial
functions.
and trainMoreover,
special
preparation
a person to perform even these remaining are needed to enable
functions.
means
This
that the successor
must be trained
ing
The principle
of
by the incumbent before taking office.
suits
this situation.
flexibly
primogeniture,
applied,
admirably
Two factors
have joined
to promote this change from
The occasional
to patrilineage
lack
primogeniture
heredity.
in the household
of a candidate
of the incumbent meant that to
within the prescribed
mata rumah, it was neceskeep the office
select
the
to
one
of
other
male
there
relatives.
Second,
sary
were sometimes more able candidates
in other households
within
the patrilineage
than in that of the incumbent.
Since it was
to
have
and
soa
it was best
rulers
chiefs,
important
competent
that they be chosen from among the more capable
candidates.
has become the other dominant criterion
for holding
Ability
office.
The present
method of selecting
officers
is illustrated
of the Radja of Aboru in 1955.
Oral, but
by the selection
nominations
were received
by the soa chief from his
private,
were passed
on to the village
soa members.
These nominations
to the district
the full list
office
which transmitted
council
After consideration
by the
pemerintah
setempat).
(kepala
of candidates
district
was announced in
government, the list
the village
and the day of the election
fixed.
The district
the election
Votes were cast
office
very closely.
supervised
but in secret,
each elector
verbally,
coming to the district
The baileu
officer
and indicating
his preference.
is often used
as a polling
if
It
in Aboru,
is
suitable.
was
not
this
place,
157
and so the church was used.
The district
officer conveyed the
results to the Badan Saniri Negeri,which then announced them to
the people, after which a date was set for the installation
of
the new official.
The change in the procedure for selecting
officials
illustrated
here is very striking.
It is one thing to fill offices by the
automatic rule of primogeniture, or even by the incumbent choosing
his successor
from among his sons or close relatives.
It is quite
another matter to vest the nomination and election
of new officials
in the community at large, albeit only its adult males.33
This is
a notable demonstration of the tendency away from the autocratic
tradition
of the past and towards more democratically
conceived
a tendency which has accelerated
since Independence.
institutions,
Duties of the Main Officers
and the Village Council
The pemerintah negeri, the village
ruler, has two sets of
duties or two points of reference for his responsibilities.
He
is responsible,
in the first place, to the village
community,
that is,all
those who have lived in the village,
as well as those
who at any given time reside there.
In this regard, his duties
are domestically
But he is also
oriented.
and is, therefore, responacknowledged by the higher authorities
sible to the district
government for all matters under its
jurisdiction.
As head of the village,
the radja is ultimately responsible
for the proper observance of the adat.3
He must, therefore,
in, and be at the center of, all village
participate
ceremonies,
as in the case of the annual purification
the pela renewal
rites,
ritual and the receiving of the "cloth of blessing."
The detailed
guidance of these ceremonies rests with the kepala adat, or,
in some cases, with the tuan tanah, but the radja is ex officio
the over-all
adat.
supervisor of the village
The radja is also kepala saniri,
which means that he presides
at all meetings of the Badan Saniri Negeri at whatever level they
As chief executive in the village
take place.
government, he
holds the final power of decision and of implementing decisions,
although he may delegate many of his functions to the officerof-the-month.
33. Of the total population of Aboru, circa 2,000, there were

530 adult males; 361 votes were cast in the election
for
radja held in June, 1955.
34. Cooley,
Ambonese Adat, p.
81.
158
The radja, traditionally,
sat as chief judge in the village
court.
While this function has, at least formally, been withdrawn from village
governments in the Moluccas, the radja
and the kepala soa djaga bulan still
adjudicate
disputes,
pass
judgment on disciplinary
matters, especially
among the youth,
and generally act as justices-of-the-peace.
The radja also performs civil marriage ceremonies, a semi-judicial
function.
The radja is charged with carrying out all functions deleThese
gated to the village
government by the higher authorities.
include assessment and collection
of taxes, issuing travel-passes
to ships, supervision
of public security, attendance in court
in cases where information from the village
is required, holdand entertaining
official
either civil
ing elections,
visitors,
or military.
In pre-war days, the radja from the more prominent
were privileged
to sit on the district-level
court and
villages
advisory council, where they took part in reaching judgments
on difficult
cases of adat law and in making policy-decisions
With the abolition
of village
courts
affecting the villages.
and the change of venue of all civil and criminal cases to the
seat of the district
rulers have been forced
government, village
to leave the villages
more frequently in order to attend court
This represents a general trend toward extending
proceedings.
the duties of the village
ruler outside his village
as a result
of the increasing
centralization
of power and authority in the
units of the civil government. Police
larger administrative
aiid court duties have been completely transferred out of the
At present, the legislative
function is seldom practiced
village.
in the village
because of the widening legislative
scope of
district
and regional government. This trend will undoubtedly
cause pronounced changes in the duties and responsibilities
of
officers individually
and of the Badan Saniri Negeri
village
as a whole.
The soa chief has so far been characterized
as an administrative assistant
to the village
ruler, but this description
focusses primarily on his relation
He is essento the radja.
the headman of the soa, responsible
for knowing what goes
tially
on within it, for leading his soa in completing its assignments
on collective
for compiling vital statistics
each
projects,
taxes. 5 In effect, he governs his
year,, and for collecting
soa in much the same way that the radja governs his village.
He is the channel through which a soa member can bring any concern to the attention of the village
The elected memcouncil.
ber representing each soa can also serve as a channel for
contact between the village
council and the membership of the
The radja holds the kepala soa responsible
soa.
for conditions
35. According to informants in one village,
at the height of
the colonial
the
soa
chief
entitled
was
to keep
period,
8% of the taxes he collected
from the members of his soa.
159
in his soa in the same way that
sible
by the higher authorities
the radja
is himself held responin the village.
for conditions
area of responsibility
extends beyond
Just as the radja's
duties
the village,
so the kepala
soa's
go beyond his own soa.
He is a member of the Badan Saniri
Negeri where he participates
as
and decisions
affairs
in all discussions
village
regarding
And he takes a regular
turn as officer-of-the-month.
a whole.
of
he assumes the day-to-day
In this function,
responsibilities
the village,
with primary reference
to domestic
affairs,
governing
and the ruler is thus freed to attend to his wider responsibilities
the general
and oversee
situation.
The officer-of-the-month
is addressed
as Baqak Djou, bapak meaning father and djou being
a title
for ruler.
to a
of respect
is applied
6 This title
when
he
soa
on
is
as
second-in-command
only
kepala
monthly duty
A nominal stipend
to the radja.
is given by the district
officer
for those months when a particular
as the
soa serves
kepala
assistant
to the radja.37
This description
special
applies
to
the
soa
who
are acknowledged
solely
akte,
kepala
by the higher
and thus have duties
the entire
authorities,
affecting
village.
The kepala
soa masing serve as assistants
to the kepala
soa akte
and the saniri
as a whole, especially
in matters of judicial
and general
counsel
They have no specific
policy.
responsibilities
but act as elder statesmen,
such services
as are requested
rendering
or kepala
soa.
by the radja
The marinjo is the soa messenger,
and minor police
errand-boy
He accompanies
the soa chief on his monthly assignments
officer.
He carries
as the ruler's
assistant.
of his
out the bidding
the
or
confront
to
summoning people
superiors,
carrying messages
new decrees,
instrucgovernment, publicizing
village
delivering
He is not a member of the Badan
and announcing
tions,
meetings.
Saniri
he usually
attends
but, in his official
Negeri,
capacity,
the deliberations
He
of the saniri
and knows what transpires.
no remuneration,
but his taxes,
receives
which amounted in 1960
to about 25 rupiah per year, are covered by the Saniri
Radjapatih.
The kepala
the last major official,
is somewhat difadat,
his responsiofficers
because
ferent from the above-mentioned
the adat.
are limited
to one aspect
of village
bilities
life,
of adat law and ceremony.
He is the expert on all questions
he is a member of the Saniri
Negeri Lengkap, though in
Usually
invited.
he sits with the saniri
some villages
only when specially
on adat matters to
and instructions
He gives information,
advice
36.
Nuku (Bandung:
E. Katoppo,
p. 259, identifies
Kilatmadju,
1957),
meanit as a word from the East Indonesian
vocabulary,
regional
More
the
title
used
when
or
about
to
"a
ing
speaking
sultan."
it was used in Ternate,
in the Northern Moluccas,
precisely,
Chinese influence.
and could well reflect
160
nuclear
families,
soa, or to the
patrilineages,
individuals,
of
he also holds the title
In some villages,
council.
village
adat
He is the village
in others that of mauweng.
tuan tanah,
officer,
by the ruler and approved by the Saniri
appointed
holds office
and
for life
or until he beusually
Radjapatih,
He rethe demands of his position.
comes unable to fulfill
no remuneration,
ceives
may be given him for
though presents
The adat chief generally
his services.
leads
ceremonies,
village
some
in
cases
he
be
the
other
in
may
directing
though
background
such as the radja
or tuan tanah, who are required
officers,
by
the adat to perform certain
ceremonies.
In the most general
is charged with preterms, the saniri
the security
and furthering
and prosperity
of the vilserving
and foremost,
This means, first
lage community.
supervising
the carrying
and guaranteeing
out of the adat,
for only in this
can the favor and assistance
of the ancestral
way, it is believed,
be won and the welfare
The saniri
of the village
assured.
spirits
to be the living
is considered
of the ancestors,
representative
the fulfilment
hence it must oversee
of the adat.
Another responsibility
of village
government is the defense
The
of the community against
dangers from within and without.
take the form of encroachments
former usually
terrion village
and exploitation
of village
or
occupation
tory, unauthorized
land.
Dangers from within most often take the form of
private
friction
and feuding between patrilineages
or other groups over
felt to be
or various
matters of land, marriage,
prerogatives
council
the village
If open conflict
denied or slighted.
erupts,
and wisely to restore
must act speedily
harmony and peace.
to reach this
however, matters are not permitted
Ordinarily,
the explosion
to
forestall
The
will
take
measures
saniri
stage.
The adat frequentthe differences.
and mediating
by intervening
for solving
disputes.
ly provides
special
procedures
to the
The village
attention
government must also pay close
demands and expectations
situation
in order to fulfill
general
and welfare
in all
and press towards progress
of the village
the
of
as
in
This
Soja,
example
provision
includes,
spheres.
in matters of health,
welfare
for the general
public
sanitation,
and wholesome recreawater supply,
discipline
works, education,
tion for the youth.
and
the saniri
must implement the instructions
Finally,
authorities.
and military
issued
by higher civil
regulations
and
The village
by district
government is held responsible
and elecin matters of taxation,
officials
security,
regional
under
The functions
of village
tions.
government which fall
are becoming more numerous and weighty
this general
heading
of the Badan
at the present
time, when the real power and authority
weakened.
are
Saniri
steadily
Negeri
being
161
How the
Functions
are
Performed
of leadership
authoritarian
A noticeably
prevails
pattern
in the realm of village
in Moluccan
governsociety.
Especially
The radja
commands.
are conducted
by issuing
ment, affairs
adat
the kepala
the marinjo,
soa djaga bulan,
summons the kepala
to
an
order
He
issues
drum.
a
or the whole saniri
by beating
the marinjo and commands him to carry
the kepala
soa, who calls
the order and brings back the
The marinjo delivers
it out.
orders come down from
It
is
a
hierarchical
structure;
response.
the next lower level
to
them
on
the top, with each level
passing
In
back up to the top.
the response
or results
and passing
difficult
it was exceedingly
with the saniri,
group interviews
between the members of the group.
to get any free interchange
answered by the ranking official
were almost invariably
Questions
others would make observations,
usually
Occasionally,
present.
in the form of elaborations,
illustrations,
or, very rarely,
a problem among themBut to get them to discuss
corrections.
of a constant
because
was practically
selves
largely
impossible,
of status
differences
awareness
among the members.
and
The saniri
methods to back up its authority
uses strict
For improper
on the part of the villagers.
assure
discipline
rod is
on the part of youth, the rattan
conduct,
especially
orders a
of
the
month
the
officer
or
The
used.
radja
liberally
them in
administers
and the marinjo
number of strokes
certain
of regulafor violations
Cash fines are levied
his presence.
in the village
on the streets,
Forced labor,
tions.
garden-plot
In some
as punishment.
or on the school
may be required
grounds,
where
there are, or have been, detention-buildings,
villages,
of time.
for varying periods
are held in isolation
offenders
the
administered
Traditional
oaths are occasionally
radja
by
misor to investigate
and adat chief to settle
alleged
disputes
Because
of land-boundaries.
or alteration
such as adultery
deeds,
as an extremely
an oath or perjury
many Ambonese regard breaking
in revealing
effective
method
is
this
particularly
grave offense,
be
turned over
must
cases
most
of affairs.
the true state
Today,
but must
in the villages
who are seldom resident
to the police,
within
handled
were
cases
all
in.
be called
Formerly, almost
with minor
but nowadays it only deals
the Badan Saniri
Negeri,
affairs.
to operate
In general,
largely
government continues
village
is applied
Little
within the traditional
imagination
pattern.
of leadership,
with new techniques
toward meeting new conditions
or initiative
of foresight
evidence
little
being
and there appears
allowed
are usually
Affairs
needs and problems.
used in solving
The
to be taken.
force action
circumstances
until
to continue
as
leaders
that
the
is
people,
impression
general
observer's
The village
attitude.
well as led, have a basically
passive
level.
from the district
Villagers
tends to await instructions
from the village
wait for leadership
and, if it is not
council,
162
After they elect
new officials,
they do nothing.
forthcoming,
The colonial
atmothey sit back to watch their performance.
reinforced
such tendencies,
which were already
sphere strongly
in the traditional
of social
and
pattern
present
organization
The younger generation
action.
shows increasing
with
impatience
such an environment and often chooses
to leave
the vileither
or
lage for the more dynamic atmosphere of towns and cities,
to introduce
the
into
which
to
tend
changes
village
aggravate
tensions.
existing
Changes in the Institutions
Government
Village
of
The development
of civil
administration
by the colonial
affected
the
power, especially
during the nineteenth
century,
of village
Local
pattern
government in a number of ways.
rulers
were assiduously
wooed by the colonial
government as
of limiting
and defining
the power and funcpart of a policy
tions
of village
The villages
were autonomous so
government.
far as their ties with one another were concerned,
but they
cannot be said to have been independent.
In the 1920's,
a regulation
was promulgated
that representatives
were to be elected
from each soa to positions
in
the village
council.
It was largely
a formal step towards
for the elected
did not possess
democracy,
representatives
much influence
in the councils
of the village,
but it was
nonetheless
symbolically
significant.
In addition,
contact
with the West brought Christianity,
a new educational
acculturation
to the
system, and a partial
The combined effect
of life.
of these influences
style
European
the
to weaken and eventually
has been progressively
to replace
of this religion
restill
Many vestiges
indigenous
religion.
and institutions
have largely
been remain, but its offices
of Christianity
and Islam.
The tuan
by the institutions
placed
tanah is still
to be found, but he retains
of
only a fraction
his former position
and power.
The kepala
adat is not an
it is rather a composite
office
which has
office;
indigenous
as
the
offices
have
declined.
indigenous
developed
There
adat
in
has
Moluccan
been,
in general,
society.
The
a pronounced
village
weakening
government
system
of the
is
based solidly
on the adat,
and one of its main functions
is
the supervision
of the adat.
If the adat becomes weaker, the
institutions
of village
This
directly.
government are affected
has undeniably
occurred
to a large
already
though it
extent,
is only beginning
or admitted by the Ambonese
to be noticed
themselves.
Some offices
while
altogether,
within
others
village
government
have been weakened
have disappeared
and
substantially
163
There has been
their functional significance
severely limited.
a general loss of power, authority and prestige on the part of
the village
government as a whole, and of each of the offices
A major blow to local government occurred
it.
which constitute
when the 1950 Provisional
Constitution
of the Republic of
Indonesia withdrew from village
functions
government the judicial
which it had performed for centuries.
Informants agreed almost
unanimously that this was an important reason for the impotence
of village
government in the face of rapidly changing conditions,
and a cause of declining respect for the government. They felt
that this state of affairs was symbolized by the pittance the
civil administration
officials
for their services.
gives village
No one wishes to be a radja or kepala soa under such circumstances,
they said; it is all work and trouble, with no joy,
respect or payment. Many of the most able younger leaders
gravitate to the towns and cities,
seeking higher education
and employment in economic, government or other spheres where
substantial
are
status, remuneration, and personal satisfaction
within reach.
Meanwhile, village
government remains in the hands
of people who cling to traditional
ideas and who, until very
at
have
shown
little
or energy to
inclination
recently
least,
cope with new situations.
It would be hazardous to predict in any detail what may
develop in the future, but certain major trends seem clear.
There is no reason whatever to expect a return to the previous
state of affairs,
something the ruling group in the village
would welcome, but recognizes
as unlikely.
It is highly doubtful that the shift away from traditional
patterns of village
and the adat, will
government, based on hereditary prerogatives
On the contrary, it is likely to be strengthened as
cease.
the influence of modern ideas, until now largely limited to the
and regional levels,
national
continues to penetrate into the
It seems quite possible
that the village
as an
villages.
autonomous unit, with the right and power to govern itself
in
traditional
is
the
on
of
eliminated
terms,
verge
through
being
into larger units which will have the real policyconsolidation
This has, in fact, already
functions.
making and adjudicative
occurred to a pronounced degree.
Village government can retain,
at most, an administrative
function, carrying out the laws and
are
of a district
instructions
government in which the villages
the adat
Under such conditions,
to some degree represented.
be separated from government. It will continue
will increasingly
custom than of
to exist, but more in the form of acceptable
a customary
law enforced
by village
government.

Frank Cooley - Village Government in The Central Moluccas

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Frank Cooley - Village Government in The Central Moluccas

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Southeast Asia Program Publications at Cornell University

Village Government in the Central Moluccas

VILLAGE GOVERNMENTIN THE CENTRAL MOLUCCAS*

This paper is a revised

The Seramese terms for negeri

Within the Badan Saniri

The upu, theoretically,

soa seems not to have been a lineage

The Dutch retained

This happened in Allang in the second quarter

that, before the village

The terms patih and bupati,

The Dutch colonial

number of young men, usually

young man from

None of these perquisites

that at a very early

soa may have

The writer personally

Ambonese Adat, A General

that this meaning of the term is derivative

There are various

terms, all of which

tanah is the most exact and most widely applied.

The name of this office

seemed as if every village

with the village

The government of the village

One of these offices

once by the writer,

and the Saniri

that the structure

and Method of Constituting

all the changes which have occurred,

33. Of the total population of Aboru, circa 2,000, there were

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