KEGAGALAN SISTEM BEBAS: KEMUNDURAN EKONOMI PALA DI KEPULAUAN BANDA, 1860 – 1920-an

Umi Barjiyah, Dr, Sri Margana, M.Fhil.

2023 | Disertasi | S3 Ilmu-ilmu Humaniora

Selama lebih dari 200 tahun perbudakan menjadi penopang dari mode of production dalam sistem ekonomi pala di Banda. Pada tahun 1860 pemerintah kolonial menghapus sistem perbudakan di Banda. Para perkenier di Banda harus menyesuaikan diri membangun sistem baru ketenagakerjaan untuk meneruskan eknomi pala di Banda. Fakta-fakta menunjukkan bahwa pada paruh ke dua abad XIX, ekonomi pala di Banda mengalami kemunduran yang berarti. Disertasi ini akan mengaji tentang kemunduran ekonomi pala di Banda ketika ekonomi pala menyentuh titik capaian terendahnya selama periode kolonial. Pertanyaan pokok studi ini mengapa sistem tenaga kerja bebas dalam perkebunan pala di Banda mengalami kegagalan dan sejauh mana hal itu turut menyebabkan kemunduran ekonomi pala.

Sumber utama disertasi ini adalah arsip-arsip kolonial, baik kualitatif maupun kuantitatif. Sumber-sumber itu diolah untuk dapat ditampilkan dalam diagram dan tabel statistik sehingga dapat dengan mudah menunjukan konjungtur dan kecenderungan-kecenderungan lain dalam mendukung argumentasi pokok studi ini. 

Studi ini menemukan fakta-fakta penting yang dapat ditarik sebagai benang merah pasca penghapusan perbudakan di Banda. Pertama, penghapusan perbudakan dalam ekonomi pala di Banda menimbulkan kesulitan berarti bagi para perkenir, para perkenir gagal menerapkan sistem kerja bebas dan masih tetap menerapkan sistem perbudakan secara terselubung dengan memanfaatkan para pesakitan dan orang-orang hukuman dalam sistem produksi pala di Banda. Kedua, ketidakmampuan perkenier menghadapi pasar bebas memiliki andil bagi kemunduran ekonomi pala Ketiga, kemunduran ekonomi pala juga melahirkan bentuk-bentuk usaha baru di Banda yang dipelopori oleh para pedagang Arab dan Tionghoa. 

For more than 200 years, slavery has been the pillar of the mode of production in the nutmeg economic sistem in Banda. In 1860 the kolonial government abolished the youth sistem in Banda, the free work sistem is an alternative that must be taken by perkenirs. The facts show that in the second half of the nineteenth century, the nutmeg economy in Banda experienced a significant decline. This dissertation will examine the economic decline of nutmeg in Banda traced when the nutmeg economy reached its lowest point during the kolonial period. The main question of this study is why the nutmeg economic sistem in Banda is experiencing a decline and how is the impact of this nutmeg economic decline for the people of Banda.

The main sources of this dissertation are kolonial archives on Banda, both qualitative and quantitative. They are processed in such a way that they can be displayed in figures and statistics so that conjuctures and other tendencies can be easily displayed to support the main arguments of this study. 

This study finds important facts that can be drawn as a common thread about the economic decline of Banda after the abolition of slavery in the nutmeg economy in Banda. First, the abolition of slavery in the nutmeg economy in Banda caused significant difficulties for the perkenir who had depended on the sistem for hundreds of years. The perkenir failed to implement the free labor sistem and still apply the slavery sistem covertly by using the prisoners and convicts in the nutmeg production sistem in Banda. Second, the failure to apply the free labor sistem and the inability of the perkeniers to face free trade has contributed to the decline of the nutmeg economy. This was exacerbated by the growth of new nutmeg economic centers outside Banda. This is exacerbated by the growth of new nutmeg economic centers outside Banda. Third, the economic decline of nutmeg gave birth to new forms of business and new social groups of entrepreneurs in Banda which were dominated by Arab and Chinese traders. 

Kata Kunci : Failure of the free system, nutmeg economy, decline of the nutmeg economy, and the Banda islands.