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

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party. This was more of an overt and contentious issue in Venilale, an area that isdominated by the Fretilin party and has experienced ongoing party political violencesince the civil war, most recently in 2007. But it is also an extremely importantconsideration in Ainaro where there is a broader mix of political parties.The position of xefe suku is a good example of the impact that the role itself has onthe balance that is found within a hybrid political environment, as the xefe suku isrequired to be more 'worldly' than the xefe aldeia. As well as satisfying traditionalideas of socio-political legitimacy by coming from the 'right' house, s/he must alsoattract projects to the suku and sometimes coordinate those projects, manage accountsand provide statistics on claims for government assistance, and act as a political'contact point' between external actors and the suku. This opens up new networks,potential power bases and interests, and modern influences become equally important.This more 'worldly' role was also reflected in how the xefe suku chose to presenthim/herself: for example, the xefe suku of Ainaro preferred to explain his status withinthe community in terms of his role as nurep during the resistance rather than the factthat he came from the liurai house. It was only on speaking to others in the suku whoexpressed relief that someone so capable also held traditional legitimacy that hisbackground was divulged.As fieldwork progressed, it became clear that these various cross-cutting layers ofidentity and affiliation are all important and often interdependent as strategic alliancesare made as part of everyday local politics. For example, it was explained by anumber of xefe suku that their political party approached them to stand as candidatesin part because they came from the liurai house. Equally, in suku-based researchconducted in another area, it was considered important that the xefe suku belonged tothe same political party as the national government, with the logic that they wouldhave a better chance of bringing government resources into the suku 37 . In this hybridpolitical environment, traditional considerations are routinely balanced against otherconsiderations including membership of political parties, whether and in whatcapacity they were involved in the resistance movement, access to outside networksand resources, as well as their perceived ability to do the job of coordinating activities37 Personal interview, Susana Barnes, 24 August 2009.125
within the suku and to lead the konsellu de suku. These strategic negotiations andinteractions point to an important fact—that there is seldom, if ever, only onelegitimate candidate for a leadership position, regardless of whether legitimacy isgained through modern or traditional means. This fact is an important route throughwhich local politics enters, and is key to understanding interactions within the suku ofTimor-Leste.These such strategic negotiations and interactions typify the everyday politics ofmutual recognition as it is carried out in Timorese communities. While modern andtraditional institutional structures embody very different ideas of what constituteslegitimate local leadership, local people are negotiating the two systems in waysintended to confer legitimacy through both worldviews. This act of negotiation iseminently practical, seeking to find xefe suku who are capable of meeting the variouscommunal needs that encompass the profane and the sacred. The coexistence oftraditional and modern worldviews and notions of legitimacy need not result in a'clash', and should not be viewed as an either/or proposition. Within these dynamics,there is significant space for change within both modern and traditional institutionalspheres, as communities actively work to bring these spheres closer together.Suku Elder/Lia-na'inThe third position on konsellu de suku where modern and traditional ideas of sociopoliticallegitimacy converge is in the position of suku elder. As fieldwork wasconducted while Decree Law 5/2004 was still in place, there was only one position forelder/lia-na'in established on the konsellu de suku. This was described in thelegislation as 'elder', but was interpreted and described in both Fatulia and Ainaro as acombination of elder and suku lia-na'in. In this discussion, I use the term suku elderrather than lia-na'in to avoid confusing this position with other, non-elected lia-na'inwithin the suku. In Ainaro, the suku elder was a former xefe suku who is of the liuraihouse, and in Fatulia the suku elder was a former lia-na'in. As the suku elder forAinaro had been unwell throughout most of his term in office, fieldwork was onlyconducted in Fatulia into the position of suku elder.126
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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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To explain this point, he makes the
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provided by public policy" (Fukuyam
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Gramsci's account of hegemonic powe
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From this perspective, Gramsci's id
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outcomes. Rather, it structures soc
Page 87 and 88: 'shadow side' of the everyday polit
Page 89 and 90: The centrality of these kin-based g
Page 91 and 92: 4.1 Formation of Political Hybridit
Page 93 and 94: While the rule of the liurai was in
Page 95 and 96: to be rejoined. But as local politi
Page 97 and 98: in Europe, this was seen somewhat d
Page 99 and 100: did not make life any easier for th
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
Page 107 and 108: appointed traditionally (Ospina and
Page 109 and 110: esistance to Indonesian rule (Gunn
Page 111 and 112: outrage across the world. Following
Page 113 and 114: f) To assist in the establishment o
Page 115 and 116: egan to return from their hiding pl
Page 117 and 118: for a Constituent Assembly (CA) and
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
Page 125 and 126: Important exchange relationships th
Page 127 and 128: spiritual significance of the ances
Page 129 and 130: ight to freedom, for anyone to occu
Page 131 and 132: The centrality of the liurai house
Page 133 and 134: As discussed previously, one of the
Page 135 and 136: order to meet their communal requir
Page 137: community, or communal expectations
Page 141 and 142: epresentative. These political mech
Page 143 and 144: structural issue: while the old ins
Page 145 and 146: democratisation has been seen to er
Page 147 and 148: Party politics has been one such po
Page 149 and 150: on the leaders' position within the
Page 151 and 152: Within this hybrid political enviro
Page 153 and 154: in the community. While there is a
Page 155 and 156: authority figures in the aldeia, su
Page 157 and 158: As fieldwork progressed, it became
Page 159 and 160: kain), it is taken to the xefe and/
Page 161 and 162: process, they have the right to go
Page 163 and 164: (March, 2008). In the absence of le
Page 165 and 166: explains, he will not engage with a
Page 167 and 168: this distinction. When I asked abou
Page 169 and 170: insufficient attention being paid t
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Page 177 and 178: xefe suku explained that the cost o
Page 179 and 180: that there is a combination of soci
Page 181 and 182: SECTION THREE: SHAPING LOCAL GOVERN
Page 183 and 184: automatically become part of the lo
Page 185 and 186: ecent Shadow Report to CEDAW, which
Page 187 and 188: 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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