“Tradition”, matriliny and change among the Minangkabau of Indonesia

"TRADITION", MATRILINY AND CHANGE 71 However, although I have mentioned the importance of suku ties in these ceremonies, other people are always present. Since all guests enter the house, eat a meal and usually leave quickly, it is rare that large numbers of guests sit around together for any period of time. The bill of sale must carry the signature of the panghulu, who is thus given the power to block any sale. Because of some genealogical confusion within the lineage, and because some people leave the village for long periods of time, there may be frequent disputes over land which are very difficult to settle. In Java the combination of sugar growing and the cultivation of rice was intended to preserve a separate subsistence sphere. Because sugar was grown on village lands, because lands were set aside for subsistence cultivation by the peasants who provided labour on the sugar fields, and because labour was needed nly at certain times of the year, a land holding peasantry could be forced to work on the plantations while still retaining a relatively complete, although altered involvement in subsistence production. First it should be pointed out that the role of administrator of property rights with respect to rice land which I have suggested was assigned to or retained by the panghulu and other adat leaders would have been directly in accord with the colonial policy on subsistence cultivation of rice.