The Adat Contributions for the Villages to Develop Independently: Cases from the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku Regency

Abstract

Eventhough the district government has somehow acknowledged the failure of its own initiatives to empower its people, there must have been certain creativities or custom-related wisdom which seem to be able to independently respond to any development initiative. Precisely this article is trying to track creative moments when the customs and people writhing on the "bottom" of formal structures to contribute for a self modernization. Data from a short ethnographic study in the Kei Islands in mid 2016 shows the complicated moments of how indigenous communities survive while appropriating opportunities (friction) that is open due to failure of both the government and the market penetration to radically change the identity of indigenous local communities. Hence, modernization does not happen in a vacuum culture. Through their primordial taste, i.e. their identity, traditional leaders, businessmen and ordinary citizens creatively appropriating moments linkage to the world to declare local social differences.

Dimakan Sayang: Turning the Common into the Exclusive, Cassava Bread (Embal) in The Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku, Indonesia

“…13) Ohoi is the traditional term for the smallest unit of settlement prior to the introduction of today's village structure. A more extensive account of the transformation of ohoi is availble in my other article (Laksono 2016).…”

Dynamic Government of Indigenous Village in Southeast Maluku

“…As a consequence of the government policy change on village governance, the Ohoi government structure described above must adjust to formal rules while awaiting the revision of regional regulations on Ohoi and Ratshap, which temporarily discussed between the regional government and the Southeast Maluku Regency People's Representative Council. Following the direction of the discussion, the Ohoi government structure will change by separating the village representative body and the traditional institutions that deal with adat issues (Laksono, 2016). main problem that occurs is Ohoi's position as an autonomous region that has the right to regulate and manage its government following the prevailing traditions and customs, which are ruled out by the supradesa government.…”

“…Ohoi is one of the traditional villages located in the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku in eastern Indonesia that still shows strong ties to their customs (Barraud, 1985;Hooe, 1990: Laksono, 2016: Kudubun, 2017). These traditional customs are institutionalized not only in cultural and social behaviour, but they reflected in their government systems.…”