‘Perelek’ in Sunda Region of Purwakarta: The Role of Indigenous

Institution in Community-based Development in Indonesia

Yulistyne Kasumaningrum

and Kurniawan Saefullah

Faculty of Economics, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jalan Dipati Ukur 35 Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Indigenous Institution, ‘Perelek’, Community-based Development, Culture and Development, Sundanese

Cosmology of Tritangtu.

Abstract: Community-based Development has been suggested to support the development at the community level. The

role of indigenous institutions and the Influence of Culture have been considered in the implementation of

Community-based Development approach. An Indigenous Institution of ‘Perelek’ is an institution which has

been implemented the principle of ‘gotong-royong’(communality and mutual assistance) among Sundanese

people at the rura area of Purwakarta. The practice of the institution has shown that a bottom-up approach

development could effectively supports the achievement of development objective – to increase wellbeing- at

the community level.

1 INTRODUCTION

The main objective of development is to achieve

human wellbeing, both individually and socially.

While Allen (2000) seek development encompasses

multidisciplinary branch of social sciences, including

economy and sociology, some development planners

have put their emphasis more on the economic

aspects of development, rather than other aspects of

human being and the society. This particular attention

has been elaborated by Leys (2005).

The work of White (2009) has indicated that

wellbeing should be measured not only by economic

(material) dimension, but also human and social

factors. In this context, wellbeing should be related to

not only individual aspects of measurement, but also

to the social context, which individual human are

living with. While Shaffer, Deller and Marcouiller

(2006) mentioned ‘community’ as the important

factor to be included in the discourse of development,

earlier work by Warren, Slikkerveer & Brokensha

(1995) have underscored the importance to

incorporate cultural dimension in the development.

Similarly, Marsden (1994) has also criticised

development planners who neglected cultural

inclusion in the development at the community level.

Woodley et al (2006) stated that “despite of the fact

that development planners aim to optimise

development and reduce disparity between the rich

and the poor, but they often do that without

acknowledging the indigenous people’s food and

livelihood systems”.

Culture is a way of life and systems of conduct. It

is immaterial in one side, but also contains material

objects, which are related to human activity. Kohls &

Waderspahn (2012) defined culture as ‘integrated

system of learned behaviour patterns that are

characteristic of the members of any given society. It

refers to the total way of life for a particular group of

people. It includes [what] a group of people thinks,

says, does and makes—its customs, language,

material artefacts and shared systems of attitudes and

feelings”.

As a country with thousands of Islands and

hundreds of ethno-cultural groups, Indonesia has

been developed for many years – including pre and

post colonialism times – whereby, culture played an

important role in the development. One of the cultures

which has been contributed for many generations in

various processes of development in Indonesia is

‘Gotong-royong’ : an indigenous institution of

communality and mutual assistance, is one of the

cultural traditions in Indonesia, which has survived

for many generations to provide a strong identity to

Indonesia’s village culture. It is manifested in the

form of individual behaviour or an action to do

something together for the sake of mutual interest for

the community. According to Koentjaraningat

(1961), ‘Gotong Royong’ has been empowered local

508

Kasumaningrum, Y. and Saefullah, K.

‘Perelek’ in Sunda Region of Purwakarta: The Role of Indigenous Institution in Community-based Development in Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0010045605080512

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of Computer, Environment, Agriculture, Social Science, Health Science, Engineering and Technology (ICEST 2018), pages 508-512

ISBN: 978-989-758-496-1

people of Indonesia. Various problems of common

life could be solved easily and cheaply through

community development activities.

The culture of communality and mutual

assistance, in fact, has been also implemented in

many countries which have strong cultural base. For

instance, a local institution of ‘gadugi’ in North

America, which shows a cooperative labour where

men and women work together voluntarily to help the

group of elderly with their housing and health care.

Similarly, the institution of ‘talkoot’ is well known

referring to voluntary social work and gatherings in

Finland and some other Northern European countries.

In the Mediterranean Region, ‘Imece’ refers to the

village-based collaboration in Turkey, such as joining

forces to build a common road, a bridge or a

community center.

This paper elaborates the concept and practice of

indigenous institution of ‘Perelek’, which has been

implemented the culture of ‘gotong-royong’ among

local people in Sundanese Region of West Java,

particularly in Purwakarta district. By using a

descriptive analysis, this paper shows that the

institution has been contributed to the community-

based development in Indonesia.

2 THE CONCEPT AND

PRACTICE OF ‘Perelek’

This section elaborates the concepts and origins of an

indigenous institution of ‘Perelek’. It encompasses

from the literal definition of the institution to the

historical analysis of the institution in Sundanese

rural area of West Java.

2.1 ‘Perelek’ and Its Origins

The indigenous institution of ‘Perelek’ or ‘Beas

Perelek’ is a community empowerment practice,

where people at the community, gathered together in

collecting paddy rice from each household member of

the community. Rusnandar (2016) refers ‘Perelek’ to

a collection process of paddy rice by assigned

members of a community. Every day, each household

of a community – mostly in rural area- collect about

one-spoon of paddy rice and store it into a storage

box, which is made by wooden-bamboo and hung in

front of the house. The assigned members of the

community will collect the paddy-rice from the

bamboo-storage box and put them into a community-

storage (barn). The collected paddy-rice, will be

utilised by the community members for any

community purpose, i.e. helping the poor member of

the community, supporting the community

programmes, etc. Literally, ‘Perelek’ has no meaning.

It was taken from the ‘sound’ of paddy rice when it is

put into the ‘bamboo-storage’ (Setiawan, pers.comm

2017).

Figure 1. The Major of Purwakarta demonstrates the

Installation of Wooden-Storage box of ‘Perelek’

Source: Detik.com (2016)

The historical origins of the institution have various

verses. Sekaningrum (2008) for instance, stated that

the institution has been practiced in the Sundanese

region of West Java since 1940s, while Setiawan

(2017) believes that the tradition has been

implemented in the Sundanese regions since the

Sundanese people work as paddy farmers, due to the

use of paddy-rice in the practice of ‘Perelek’. It has

not only a practical meaning of communality and

mutual assistance, but also as a reflection of

Sundanese cosmovision.

According to Sundanese belief, Paddy has an

important meaning for the people. It is believed that

Paddy was originated from the spirit of Nyi Pohaci,

one of the Gods in Sundanese mythology. Therefore,

people should utilise paddy correctly, following the

Sundanese cosmology of Tritangtu, which suggest to

implement life-balance between human, the God(s)

and the universe. In the utilisation of paddy-rice,

Sundanese has its particular indigenous management:

padaringan, goah, leuit, and lumbung Padaringan is a

paddy-rice storage for short-term purposes, while

‘goah’ is a paddy-rice storage, located in every

indigenous house of Sundanese. The rice in the

‘goah’ could only be consumed for family purposes.

For a long-term purpose, Sundanese family has a

storage-house, named ‘leuit’. The rice in this

indigenous storage-house, will be utilised by the

family during a famine season. Lastly, for a public

purpose, Sundanese has a community-storage named

‘lumbung’ (barn). The indigenous institution of

‘Perelek’ is a mechanism whereby the assigned

‘Perelek’ in Sunda Region of Purwakarta: The Role of Indigenous Institution in Community-based Development in Indonesia

509

community members collect the paddy-rice from

each of community members’ houses. The paddy-rice

in this community storage, will be used to help other

community members who are in need. (Sumardjo

pers.comm 2017).

The practice of ‘Perelek’ is a manifestation of how

human being should treat other human being by

utilisation natural resources, as a reflection to their

Gods who command human being to do good deeds

with other human and the universe. The institution is

also implementing the principle of reciprocity in

social interaction, which is influenced by the

Sundanese wisdom of ‘silih asah’ (mutual support),

‘silih asih’ (mutual love), and ‘silih asuh’ (mutual

care).

2.2 The Practice of ‘Perelek’ in

Purwakarta District of West Java

Purwakarta is one of the districts in West Java

Province, located in the Central-East of the province

and has 17 sub-districts and 192 villages. According

to the Statistics of Purwakarta (2016), the district has

910,007 inhabitants with 463,506 of males and

446,501 of females. The population density of of the

district is 879 people per km2. Majority of the

populations work in Trading and Services (24.63%),

followed by manufacturing industries (22.04%),

Agriculture (17.98%), Individual, Public and Social

Sectors (13.23%) and others (22.12%). The labor

sector has been changed dramatically for the last

decade, which in 2008, Agriculture was the major

occupation of the people of Purwakarta. (Statitistics

of Purwakarta 2016).

With Sundanese as the majority of ethno-cultural

groups in Purwakarta, the district is the only local

government in West Java, which has a formal policy

and regulation that supports the implementation of

Indigenus Institution of ‘Perelek’. The practice of

‘Perelek’ is regulated under the law of Purwakarta

district, through the Major’s decree in 2016, as part of

food-security programmes in the district. According

to the regulation, each of households should

contribute every day a half-glass of paddy rice to be

collected by the community leader and stored in the

community-storage. The collected paddy rice will be

used to help any community members who are in

need. Since the Major supported the practice of

‘Perelek’, the practice of the indigenous institution

became a society movement and has been

implemented by all villages in the district. The

movement has been successfully collected hundreds

of tons of paddy rice in only six months of its

implementation, helped numerous poor people in the

whole villages. The utilisation of its collected rice has

also been transformed into money, which was then

used for building infrastructure in the community,

charity for teachers, orphans, as well as drainage

system at the community.

The Table 1 reveals the collected paddy rice in 17

sub-districts of Purwakarta. The institution has

collected both the paddy rice and the money with the

outreach of hundred of thousand litres and hundreds

of million rupiah. In Benteng village, one of the

villages which the authors did an observation, each

month, the community leader, with the help of

assigned community members, will collect the paddy

rice from every household and stored in the

community-storage. In terms of the utilisation, the

village made a village policy that the usage of paddy

rice will be allocated to five categories: 1) to support

the funeral of community members who passed away;

2) to support the cleanliness program at the village; 3)

to support the life of elderly; 4) to support the

orphans; and 5) to support health-care of community

members.

Table 1: The Outreach of ‘Perelek’ in 17 sub-districts of

Purwakarta.

Kecamatan Beras(liter) Uang(dalam

ribu)

Babakancikao 10462 56358213

Bojong 9036 2548955

Bungursari 21074 53975902

Campaka 12561 32387903

Cibatu 11927 26894548

Darangdan 6883 4385771

Jatiluhur 9777 14116546

Kiarapedes 147918 20782221

Maniis 8086 169977959

Pasawahan 20816 11486202

Plered -25107 50686183

Pondoksalam 6748 443750

Purwakarta 27768 22948679

Sukasari 690 2900678

Sukatani 33510 42184079

Tegalwaru 11412 2782453

Wanayasa 9260 14830566

Source: Purwakarta District Government (2017)

In Cirende village, the practice of ‘Perelek’ has a

slight different in terms of mechanism of collection.

Instead of storing the collected-rice at the

community-storage, the community decides to collect

them in their community leader, who knows all

conditions of the community members. The

utilisation of collected rice, is managed by the

community leader, and distributed to the following

ICEST 2018 - 3rd International Conference of Computer, Environment, Agriculture, Social Science, Health Science, Engineering and

Technology

510

programmes of assistance: 1) to help poor family with

5 litres of rice every month; 2) to support the orphans;

3) to support the funeral of the community members

who passed away; 4) to support financially the

religious teacher at the community; and 5) to help the

community members who are ills by giving them

necessary supports (Kasumaningrum Field Note.

2017).

3 THE ROLE OF ‘Perelek’ IN THE

COMMUNITY-BASED

DEVELOPMENT

Community-based Development has been suggested

by many studies (Uphoff 1992; Marsden 1994;

Warren, Slikkerveer & Brokensha 1995; Shaffer,

Deller and Marcouiller 2006; and Woodley et al.

2006). It has supported not only the development at

the community level, which is subject to various

cultural factors, but also empowering the local people

to participate in the process of development from the

bottom.

The practice of indigenous institution of ‘Perelek’

has shown that the community members have their

initiatives to participate in the development. Through

the collection of paddy rice, the community members

were helping each other in order to increase their

wellbeing. The support of community members have

also demonstrated that the indigenous principle of

‘gotong-royong’ has been effectively implemented to

support the community members. Moreover, the

principle of reciprocity of ‘silih asah’ (mutual

support), ‘silih asih’ (mutual love), and ‘silih asuh’

(mutual care) has also been implemented. It shows

that the Sundanese cosmology of Tritangtu, which

suggest to have a balance-relationship between

Human, the Universe and the God(s), has influenced

the people of Purwakarta in the implementation of

‘Perelek’.

Through the utilisation of ‘Perelek’, i.e. helping

the poor, supports the elderly, and assisting the

orphans, the practice of the programme has shown

that the indigenous institution has supported the

development process to achieve wellbeing of the

community members.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Community-based Development has been suggested

to support the development at the community level,

by incorporating cultural factors in the development.

In this context, the role of indigenous institution and

local participation are highlighted in the development

plan and processes.

The practice of indigenous institution of ‘Perelek’

has been successfully implemented as an example of

bottom-up approach of development. The

implementation, has been influenced by the

Sundanese cosmology of Tritangtu and implemented

Sundanese principel of reciprocity of ‘silih asah’

(mutual support), ‘silih asih’ (mutual love), and ‘silih

asuh’ (mutual care). The practice of ‘Perelek’in

Purwakarta district of West Java has shown that the

institution has supported the achievement of

development objective, to reach wellbeing of the

community, by helping poor family, the elderly, the

orphans, etc.

While there are some doubts on the role of

indigenous institutions in development, the example

of ‘Perelek’ has answered oppositely. As Indonesia

has hundreds of ethno-cultural groups, this paper

suggest that any development planners should

consider to further implement the cultural-based

development at the community level, by considering

their cultural identities and implementing

development approaches, which are suitable for each

of the conditions of the community.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Mr. Dedi Mulyadi,

the Major of Purwakarta district who has been

interviewed for the purpose of this research.

Similarly, the authors would like to thank Mr. Hawe

Setiawan and Mr. Jakob Sumardjo, as Sundanese

experts who also assisted the authors in terms of

Sundanese culture and its influence to the practice of

‘Perelek.

REFERENCES

Allen, T. 2000. Poverty and Development into the 21

Century. Oxford University Press, The Open

University.

Detik.com. 2016. Perelek, Solusi Subsidi Beras Ala

Purwakarta. URL: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-

3132094/perelek-solusi-subsidi-beras-ala-purwakarta

retrieved by 27 February 2017.

Kasumaningrum, Y. 2017. Field Note. Field Research at

Purwakarta District.

Koentjaraningrat.1961.SomeSociological-Anthropological

Observations on Gotong Royong Practices in Two

Villages in Central Java. Ithaca, New York: Cornell

University Modern Indonesia Project.

‘Perelek’ in Sunda Region of Purwakarta: The Role of Indigenous Institution in Community-based Development in Indonesia

511

Kohls, R., & Wederspahn, G. 2012. Culture Matters: The

Peace Corps Cross-Cultural Workbook, Peace Corps

Information and Collection Exchange.

Leys, C. 2005. The Rise and Fall of Development Theory.

In: Edelman & Haugerud et al. (eds). 2005. The

Anthropology of Development and Globalization.

Blackwell Publishing.

Marsden, D. 1994. Indigenous Management: Introduction.

In Wright, S. (ed.). Anthropology of Organizations.

London: Routledge. 35-40.

Purwakarta District Goverment. 2017. Laporan Perelek.

URL: http://daluwang.purwakartakab.go.id/laporan-

eperelek/ retrieved by 7 Nov 2017

Purwakarta District Government. 2016. Kabupaten

Purwakarta dalam Angka 2016. Statistics of Purwakarta

District 2016.

Sekaningrum. 2008. In: Rusnandar, N. 2016. Beas Perelek

Pemberdayaan Masyarakat di Kabupaten Purwakarta.

Bandung : Balai Pelestarian Nilai Budaya Jabar.

Setiawan, H. 2017. Personal Communication with the

Authors. 11 November 2017.

Shaffer, R., Deller, S., & Marcouiller, D. 2006. Rethinking

Community Economic Development, Economic

Development Quarterly, Vol 20 No. 1, February 2006,

59-74.

Sumardjo, J. 2017. Personal Communication with the

Authors. 18 November 2017.

Uphoff, N. T.1992. Local Institutions and Participation for

Sustainable Development. Gatekeeper Series No. 31.

Ithaca, USA: International Institute for Environment

and Development.

Warren, D. M., Slikkerveer, L. J., & Brokensha, D.

(eds.).1995. The Cultural Dimension of Development:

Indigenous Knowledge Systems. IT Studies on

Indigenous Knowledge and Development. London:

Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd.

White, S.C. 2009. Analysing Well-Being: A Framework for

Development Practice, Development in Practice 20(2).

March 2009.

Woodley, E., Crowley, E., Pryck, J.D. de & Carmen, A

.2006. Cultural Indicators of Indigenous Peoples’ Food

and Agro-Ecological Systems, SARD Initiatives, Paper

on the 2nd Global Consultation on the Right to Food

and Food Security for Indigenous Peoples, 7-9

September 2006, Nicaragua

ICEST 2018 - 3rd International Conference of Computer, Environment, Agriculture, Social Science, Health Science, Engineering and

Technology

512