Is Custom a Tool for Remedying or Reinforcing Social Inequalities? New Strategies for Dialogue and Peace in Maluku, Indonesia

Abstract

Maluku experienced one of Indonesia’s most serious conflicts following the fall of Suharto in 1998. The peaceful reconciliation that eventually occurred is reported to be mainly based on tradition (adat) to rebuild bridges between the religious communities. However, emphasis on processes of peacebuilding through inter religious dialogue and lack of support for interethnic or intergenerational dialogue have enhanced forms of social inequality. This article engages with selected village communities in Ambon and West Seram, where, assisted by a few local representatives, I identified three potential fields for creative peacebuilding that also aim to address emerging inequalities: identity building based on local traditions, protection of the environment and interethnic dialogue. Examples of locally rooted measures with potential for sustained peacebuilding include the Pukul Sapu ceremony in Morela (Ambon), the sasi ritual in Niwelehu (Seram) and building relations between diverse ethnic groups based on religion.

Keywords:

• Internal Migrants
• Environmental Peacebuilding
• Creative Peacebuilding
• Ambon
• Seram
• Eastern Indonesia

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Birgit Bräuchler, Kathryn Robinson and Najib Azca for the valuable comments that helped to shape the final form of the paper.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 All foreign language terms in the article are from the Indonesian language.

2 Traditional elites in Maluku comprise the raja (village leaders), kepala soa (heads of certain clans or certain village segments), members of the saniri (the indigenous village assembly), the kewang (border guards who are also responsible for the environment) and the marinyo (individuals who serve as the point of communication between the leadership and the general community).

3 The strategy that I adopted in my research took account of logistical and time constraints. I was primarily concerned to obtain a broad representation, so the pre-recorded and pre-arranged interviews focused on elites. It does not mean that I completely disregarded the views of non-elites; however, instead of recording them, which caused consternation, I extracted information from daily, informal conversations and supporting fieldnotes.

4 This is based on an argument that separates tradition from religion, whereas in daily life, in Maluku and elsewhere in Indonesia, religion is integral to tradition.

5 ‘BBM’ tends to be a pejorative term, used especially by Indigenous Moluccans to describe internal migrants from Sulawesi. It indicates their lower position in the local society. However, in this paper I use BBM as an abbreviation to avoid repetition of ‘Butonese, Bugis, Makassarese’.

6 The literature is clearly dominated by studies on Ambon, see for example van Klinken (2001) and Al Qurtuby (2016).

7 Pukul Sapu also takes place in the neighbouring village of Mamala but has a different background and history (Andries 2018), influenced by the local history of Islam, which is beyond the scope of this article. However, it is worth mentioning that the organisation of the ceremony and other issues are the subject of disputes between the two villages.

8 During the ceremony in 2018, the incumbent governor, Said Assagaf, used Pukul Sapu as a tool in his political campaign. However, he showed such disrespect to participants and audience—he came late without apology, overran speeches, and left in the middle of flagellation—that the men ceased the performance. His behaviour was negatively received by all present.

9 Pela is a brotherhood bond that binds villages together, irrespective of religion, and is found throughout Maluku. The revival of these alliances emerged after the ethnoreligious conflict, when the heating-up of pela ceremonies (panas pela) became one of the well-known elements of the peacebuilding process based on adat. For more details, see Bartels (1977).

10 Bambu gila is an attraction that derives from local ethnic beliefs. During the ritual, a group of at least seven men try to keep vertical a long piece of bamboo that is believed to be possessed by evil spirits.

11 Spyer (2008) has already explored how visual culture embedded in local contexts gained popularity in Ambon and impacted conflict and post-conflict areas. See also Bräuchler, this issue.

12 In Indonesia, the potential to get into national politics is largely dependent on establishing oneself in local politics, which requires funds and a relevant background (including ethnic origin). It is much harder for internal migrants to gain any political position at the village level because they are pushed out by the members of Indigenous clans, who have far more influence and opportunities. This failure at the village level contrasts recent political success at the district level as described, for instance, by Bräuchler (2017a).

13 Compare with a similar situation in the village of Hila on Ambon (von Benda-Beckmann & Taale 1992).

Additional information

Funding

This research was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland as part of the Diamond Grant Program 2016–2021 (DI2015 027445).This research was supported by the National Science Centre in Poland through ETIUDA 7 (no. 2019/32/T/HS2/00255).