Table of Contents
Seram, the largest island of the Moluccas, lies only a few hours by boat from the regional capital city of Ambon. According to tradition, Seram is referred to as Nusa Ina, the ‘Mother Island’. An Alune narrative, collected by A.D.E. Jensen, recalls that at one time in the past Seram, Ambon and the Uliase Islands (Saparua, Haruku and Nusalaut) formed a single island where warfare was constant. So, the people of Ambon cut off a large parcel of land, tied it with human hair and dragged it to where it lies nowadays. Later, those of Saparua, Haruku and Nusalaut did the same and they have been separated from their Mother Island ever since. However, all know that once upon a time they were part of Seram and this is why they call Seram Nusa Ina and why the members of the same origin groups are spread out over all of these islands. [1]
Seram is now divided administratively into three regions: West, Central and East Seram. This paper focuses on Seram’s western region, which is called ‘Wele Telu’, the ‘Three Large Rivers’, and encompasses roughly one-fifth of the island (about 35,000km2). It examines how West Seramese traditionally envisioned their land at the regional and domain level. The first part of the paper considers the categorical divisions of an ancient inter-domain institution, the Nili Ela (or Saniri Ela, ‘Large Assembly’) of ’Wele Telu Batai (The Three Large River Valleys), now mostly a feature of the past. This ancient league [2] linked the highland domains of the ’Wele Telu area and their coastal allies or ‘rulers’. These loose and changing networks of political and ritual alliances seem to have been in place as far back as the 14th century. The Nili institution was abolished by the Dutch Colonial Government in 1914, but still operated informally and in secret at least until the middle of the 20th century. [3]
The highland valleys of West Seram are settled by two linguistically related groups, the Wemale in the east and the Alune in the west. Their modern desa or villages usually correspond to former traditional territorial units or domains. The second part of the paper focuses on such a traditional Alune domain, or hena. The paper investigates how Hena Ma’saman Uwei (by metathesis, Manusa Manuwe), a semi-autonomous highland domain previously part of ’Wele Telu Batai, conceived of itself in the early 1990s and how particular categories or groups of people were allocated rights and responsibilities for specific divisions of its land.
