Under the shadows of coconut trees a man warned the cross metal observes the drops of the nira distillation fluid in Nuruwe village coconut plantation, West Kairatu District, West Part Seram District, Maluku Province.
The man named Salomon, the owner of the garden. She utilizes 30 coconut trees to be processed into coconut nira.
Nira is the main raw material of the creation of traditional Maluku beverage called sopi originating from Dutch language Zoopje which means liquid alcohol.
Salomon has coconut nira processing equipment to be sopi in small husks belonging to the last few years. Every day, she collects coconut nira to dissolved into sopi.
In a month, Sopi’s farmers are able to assemble profits at Rp5 million. With the results of processing the Sopia, the majority of residents are able to finance his children’s school to college.
Sopi has been considered a traditional drink in several areas of Maluku producing it.
Traditional activities and informal meetings are incomplete without the presence of sopi, even a social dispute can be resolved by a glass of sopi.
However, the heritage of Maluku is still the debate of the legality of his circulation.
Salomon stated until today, the obliged party still did razia, because the alcoholic beverage is still an illegal product that is sometimes misused.
The Motivation of the Cultural Value (BPNB) Maluku has stated that sopi has been established as a cultural heritage of Indonesia’s objects since October 2016.
“The cultural heritage should be protected so that it is not not seen from the negative side effects of sopi, but how (sopi) became a custom device in Maluku,— said the Head of the Cultural Value Preservation Hall (BPNB) Maluku Rusli Manorek some time ago.
Behind all the differences in the way of view will be sopi, the presence of traditional processed beverages has enriched the diverse heritage of the sustainable water culture.
Photo & Text : Muhammad Adimaja
Author : Fanny Octavianus
