Ogan-Besemah - Sociopolitical Organization



Social Organization. From the precolonial and through the colonial periods, and until recently, the marga, a supravillage territorial unit, was the primary sociopolitical unit in most of the Ogan-Besemah area. The marga had residual rights over land, and the marga head, the pasirah, held high status. More recently the village has assumed many of these rights (including land rights), and the pasirah office has gradually faded away. Within each descent-based unit in a village (the jurai or rogok), men who can trace their descent from an apical ancestor through firstborns (in some villages, through firstborn males) have high status.

Political Organization. In precolonial and early colonial times an independent ruler ( pangeran ) ruled in some parts of the area. Today the village head ( tuo dusun ) is the primary leader in the village, and often is of high status owing to his descent line. He has gradually assumed much of the former role of the pasirah, and by the 1980s reported directly to the government-appointed subdistrict head ( camat ) and not, as before, to the pasirah. In the Indonesia of the 1970s and 1980s the state party, Golkar, also had considerable local power.

Social Control and Conflict. The village head calls meetings of male villagers to resolve most local conflicts, but the Indonesian representatives of the army and police may also intervene. Open physical confrontations are rare here, as elsewhere in Sumatra. Little conflict with other groups is apparent.


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