Local Governance in Timor-Leste - Secretaria de Estado da Arte e ...

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every interviewee as part of their heritage, that for which people fought, suffered anddied.In the same way that lisan and modern law coexist separately, emanating as they dofrom separate worldviews and sources of power, the authority of modern andtraditional leaders is also often explained by local leaders as two separate spheres ofactivity. This was the case in both case study sites. In both Fatulia and Ainaro, thenon-elected traditional liurai was well-respected and elected local leaders maintainedclose relationships with them. However, while they were responsible for lisanfestivities, ceremonies and some dispute resolution, they were not regarded as holdingpolitical power. The liurai mutin 34 of Ainaro was the exception, however, as he wasalso the subdistrict administrator. As the liurai mutin/subdistrict administrator ofAinaro explained, he effectively filled two separate roles that he was responsible formaintaining independently of each other:I am here not as the liurai but as subdistrict administrator… now Timor is in the eraof democracy so there aren't liurai. Now there is a new structure, the structure ofindependence… The liurai can be a representative, but to be responsible or in chargehe cannot anymore.According to this view, there is a strict division that must be maintained—traditionalleaders are important people who hold symbolic and spiritual power, while modernleaders hold political power. Symbolic and spiritual authority is conferred via lisan;political authority is conferred via election. In order for traditional leaders to exercisepolitical power as the liurai mutin/subdistrict administrator of Ainaro does, they mustengage with the modern state structures. Such explanations were common throughoutmy fieldwork in both Venilale and Ainaro. As the xefe suku of Ainaro explained:In Ainaro there were liurai since a long time ago… they were important, according tothe tradition and the culture in Ainaro and it still exists. But now Timor isindependent, the people still respect them but use the democratic system, with the34 Liurai mutin: liurai of the white tais. This is the liurai who is traditionally responsible for thepolitical aspects of rulership. His authority is balanced by the spiritual authority exercised by the liuraimetan (liurai of the black tais) who is traditionally responsible for ‘looking after the rocks and thetrees’.115
ight to freedom, for anyone to occupy the post… They have an influence in thedistrict… [But] if they want to influence the government, they can have a [political]party, they can have the mandate of the government… Almost everything is donethrough elections, according to majority.However, despite this description of neatly separated spheres of authority, it isapparent that in practice there are aspects of traditional and modern authority thatoverlap and interact, drawing on what Scott describes as "the messy reality ofmultiple identities" (1985: 43). This creates a local governance environment thatreflects various forms of political hybridity. For example, the strictcompartmentalisation of modern and traditional leadership that is described by localleaders fails to recognise that the liurai mutin is able to do his work as subdistrictadministrator more effectively and easily because he can command respect throughhis traditional role. Equally, this strict division and compartmentalisation fails toengage with the non-elected liurais' and other traditional authorities' continuing rolein resolving communal disputes—a role that can be highly political. Despite localcompartmentalising of modern and traditional authority, it is clear that politicalhybridity is an ongoing aspect of local governance within both subdistricts. Thisimportant dynamic has also been recognised by other scholars (see for exampleBrown and Gusmão, 2009, Boege et al., 2009a). This political hybridity is not limitedto the subdistricts of Venilale and Ainaro, but is an important aspect of localgovernance across Timor-Leste. It can be most clearly seen by the fact that those fromthe liurai house tend to be elected to the position of xefe suku, a dynamic that wasnoted by the late resistance veteran and son of a liurai house, Virgilio dos Anjos, inan interview in late 2009:When Fretilin talked about bringing down the liurai [during the civil war], there wasa massive reaction from the people. It was clear that there was a very strong feelingagainst the liurai. But during the war against Indonesia, as it became apparent thatmany of the children of liurai were also struggling for independence, the issuebecame more confused. And now, we can see that in the villages, most people areelecting people of liurai families to become the xefe suku [village head]. The traditionof the liurai is still very strong (Grimshaw, 2009).116
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Local Governance in Timor-Leste:The
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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT‘I hereby gran
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are some important points of tensio
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the Canossian sisters in Ainaro—M
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2.6 The Issues of Cross-Cultural Re
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LIST OF FIGURESFigure One: The Deve
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Tara banduUma kainUma lulikXefe Ald
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within, I had failed to recognise t
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anthropology of development (Shephe
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prefer the term 'local' to recognis
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evolve around ideas of traditional
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institution that is considered to b
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the case given the emphasis on cond
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Within these increasingly murky pol
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1.3 Case Study SitesVenilaleVenilal
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The reasons for choosing Venilale a
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and influences can have on the loca
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played out since decolonisation. Th
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geographically 'outwards' from uma
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CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWO
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2.1 FieldworkFieldwork was conducte
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marked differences in people's idea
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interactions between modern and tra
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then asking for advice on who else
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answer specific questions about how
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Every conversation and every experi
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discussions. This took a little tim
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crucial to the research question—
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CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUALISING POST
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epresentation through democratisati
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of coordination between these diffe
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equally problematic, as this succes
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government, and Huntington noted th
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Westernise. Equally, the specificit
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which individuals both shape and ar
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expanded this understanding to incl
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within a society. As Remmer puts it
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is to distribute power to some and
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Page 81 and 82: Gramsci's account of hegemonic powe
Page 83 and 84: From this perspective, Gramsci's id
Page 85 and 86: outcomes. Rather, it structures soc
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Page 89 and 90: The centrality of these kin-based g
Page 91 and 92: 4.1 Formation of Political Hybridit
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Page 101 and 102: governor, but slowly seats were inc
Page 103 and 104: The movement towards decolonisation
Page 105 and 106: As the politics reached gradually b
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Page 111 and 112: outrage across the world. Following
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Page 119 and 120: these other factors reveal a more c
Page 121 and 122: SECTION TWO: EXAMINING LOCAL GOVERN
Page 123 and 124: hold spiritual and ritual responsib
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Page 127: spiritual significance of the ances
Page 131 and 132: The centrality of the liurai house
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Page 135 and 136: order to meet their communal requir
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Page 155 and 156: authority figures in the aldeia, su
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that there is a combination of soci
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SECTION THREE: SHAPING LOCAL GOVERN
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automatically become part of the lo
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ecent Shadow Report to CEDAW, which
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Governance must be for something, a
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power within Timorese communities.
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Such structural constraints, howeve
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Across every suku in Venilale and A
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was built for their most remote ald
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While community members may attempt
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networks that use such animistic ri
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strongman, who operated in Venilale
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the community are captured or diver
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strongman specifically uses institu
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CHAPTER EIGHT: BRINGING IT BACK TO
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communities have created various fo
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However, while incoming resources c
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of fundamental importance in consid
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APPENDIX A: LIST OF INTERVIEWEESVEN
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APPENDIX B: MAP OF TIMOR-LESTESourc
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APPENDIX D: POLITICAL MAP OF SUBDIS
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BINNS, T. (2006) 'Doing Fieldwork i
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CHESTERMAN, S. (2002) 'East Timor i
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DEGNBOL-MARTINUSSEN, J. (2002) 'Dev
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Lincoln, Y. (Eds.) The Landscape of
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GRENFELL, L. (2006) 'Legal Pluralis
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HOWARTH, D. (2000) Discourse, Bucki
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LANDMAN, T. & HAUSERMANN, J. (2003)
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MERRY, S. E. (1988) 'Legal Pluralis
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OSPINA, S. & HOHE, T. (2001) Tradit
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RUDOLPH, L. I. (1965) 'The Modernit
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THAKUR, R. & VAN LANGENHOVE, L. (20
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WORK, R. (2002) 'Overview of Decent
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