REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION ISSN: 2146-0353 ● © RIGEO ● 11(4), WINTER, 2021 www.rigeo.org Research Article Building Maluku in the Character of the Island (A Critical Review) Paulus Koritelu1 Program Study Sosiologi Universitas Pattimura [email protected] Abstract This study aims to explain the influence of Indonesian development which is more continental in nature with the influence of Malay culture on development in Maluku which is characterized by islands with Melanesian culture. By using some of the research results and thoughts of Effendi Ziwar (1987), Cooley (1997), Watloly cs, (2013) about the cultural facts of the islands in Maluku. This study contributes various thoughts about the character of the Maluku islands which are still dominated by the influence of Indonesian development with the influence of Malay culture with a continental approach. This research is qualitative by using interview and observation techniques. The results of the study prove that in the Reformation era which gave birth to the Regional Autonomy Law, it was not enough to realize the development of Maluku with an archipelagic character. Keywords Maluku, Archipelago Character, Dominant Culture To cite this article: Koritelu P. (2021). Building Maluku in the Character of the Island (A Critical Review). Review of International Geographical Education (RIGEO), 11(4), 1706-1720. doi: 10.48047/rigeo.11.04.158 Submitted: 20-03-2021 ● Revised: 15-04-2021 ● Accepted: 25-05-2021 © RIGEO ● Review of International Geographical Education 11(4), WINTER, 2021 Introduction Since the formation of Maluku Province with an archipelagic territory, it began when the RIS was merged into the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1945 and after the rebellion of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS) was crippled in 195. Then the issuance of laws and government regulations governing the formation of regions- autonomous region in Maluku. Where the Central Maluku and Southeast Maluku regions were designated as level II autonomous regions based on government regulation number 35 of 1952. Furthermore, the Ambon area was formed by Law no 15 of 1956 (Lokollo, et al, 2005:33). Furthermore, the formation of other level II regions is carried out based on the preparation of laws and government regulations related to this matter. One interesting note about this history is; when preparing the regulation on the formation of the Maluku province with various level II autonomous regions, it did not take into account the island issue that characterizes the province. The Archipelago issue which actually refers to the context of the Maluku Islands province is not actually seen as a simple discourse, but it should be a national commitment in building identity as an archipelagic country. The principle of the Archipelagic State and Province is not only directed to see the reality of the archipelago as it is, but the existence of the archipelago must be an integrated development movement that comprehensively touches various aspects. The concept of existence here is intended to arouse our humanity's awareness that: Taking sides with the individual and society as an entity that is in diversity, should be touched by a concentration of serious service movements, perhaps it is time to facilitate various policies that are pro-archipelagic communities. The development of the Maluku Islands, according to the results of the study, has a variety of aspects in developing and managing various existing resources for the benefit of the local Maluku community itself. For example, how to build peace based on the Basusudara people, the Maluku people have very representative steps to build peace through local peace mechanisms (Watloly Aholiab et al, 2016:89-92). Likewise with other aspects or fields of development. In the fields of agriculture and fisheries, there is so much wisdom that can be maximized to empower and develop Maluku on an archipelagic basis. Even though according to the results of these studies, these aspects have always received less attention and priorities for their use in developing the Maluku Islands community (Koritelu, Pattinama, et al, 2019). Sociologically, the archipelagic region has implications for the distribution of society with archipelagic characteristic patterns that are not only transcendent but also contained in immanental facts. The character of our Archipelago community is, of course, different from that of the inland people who live on large islands. If in the interior communities who occupy large islands, their nomadic character is incarnated from their ability to explore and gather, adventure from one place to another within the geographical area of the island (Watloly, Aholiab, 2007:9). On the other hand, for the archipelagic people who live on small islands, their strength and the fact of nomadicity are determined by their ability to use the sea as a connecting bridge between islands. When the sea is used as a bridge between islands (Ralahalu, 2012), it is an undeniable sociological fact that: our island communities are always faced with various risks that are potentially dangerous for the safety of their souls when they are able to solve weather challenges amidst the simplicity of various transportation facilities. existing cannot be resolved. This is an ironic fact of the present condition of the island community in Maluku. This condition then encourages the island community in Maluku to only have their guts and courage to overcome the challenges of the saman. That is why the strength of the civilization of the people who always occupy the archipelago is actually collectively also characterized by the strength of their cosmology according to the characteristics of the region and its local potential. This is actually the context of our archipelagic society in Indonesia and particularly in the Maluku archipelago (Koritelu, 2004). That is why academically, the author tries to make a universal profile of the context of the people of the Maluku islands with various aspects that must be considered in the process of developing Maluku in the future. Mapping the profile of the island community is very important because often the weakness of reforming the political structure, the bureaucratic structure of the government in Maluku is constrained by the problem of cultural diversity, social issues result in a wrong approach to the plurality of the archipelago community in Maluku. This becomes important, if we ourselves begin to think about how to build and direct the development of Maluku to achieve a degree of human civilization that we deserve to be proud of, both in the economic, political, power bureaucracy and defense and security sectors. The challenges of the times in the context of the archipelagic community that the author refers to here do not only refer to the problem of limited means of transportation and communication technology at sea, but objectively it is also intended to show that the biggest and most serious 1707 © RIGEO ● Review of International Geographical Education 11(4), WINTER, 2021 problems in the archipelagic community in Maluku are also determined by how prepared the character is. their local communities face a variety of external stimuli which will inevitably bring them together in a dynamic dynamic of unending linkage. Specifically for this last field, in the process of developing the Maluku region it is often constrained by various factors, especially the span of control which is universally a trigger factor for various weaknesses that further distance the government and various other stakeholders' targets to develop Maluku according to the existing character of the archipelago objectively. The complexity of building Maluku is also due to the plurality of local characteristics of each island and region. Therefore, how to build Maluku with an archipelagic character is a very interesting theme to be discussed academically. Theoretical Basis The concept of the inter-island sea in the understanding of the islanders in Maluku is not a chasm that separates their existence, but on the contrary, the sea that separates the island from the island is actually considered as a connecting bridge between islands (Ralahalu, 2012:32). Whereas the main challenge for archipelagic development in Maluku is not the majority of its territory which consists of 92% of the sea but on the contrary the existence of humans and islanders is ignored in the practice of island development in Maluku. This means that for the people of Maluku the Sea itself is their present throughout the ages and at any time. This is further clarified by an idea that relatively shows that: the self-concept of the archipelagic community is not a scientific (academic) concept that is formulated in the form of a scientific document, because it is more shown in the form of a self-reflection with the expression of feelings and their respective language plays. So that it can always be found that the self-expression of the islanders is reflected in the form of character, beliefs and the depth and breadth of a personality that is unique and different from one another. This is the real existence of the people of the Maluku islands (Watloly, 2013:270). The character of the Maluku islands actually rests on a form of difference that enriches the characteristics of social and cultural behavior that differ from one another. Because of this awareness of the differences in various aspects of life, the people of the Maluku islands tend to respect each other's unique forms of their various life systems with their own characteristics. For example, in terms of respect for land ownership. In general, Maluku islanders have 4 land ownership systems, namely: first: village-owned land (state land), second: clan-owned land (fam), third: house-owned land (dati land) and four: private land owned by the head of the family (heritage land). The fourth form is rarely found in rural areas, namely individual property rights, eigendom land, which was purchased from the Dutch government during the Colonial Age (Cooley, 1987:163).