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democracy, but when another person says something different, they fight. If you go toa meeting you can't just have one meeting, they fight really a lot."As opposed to these quite divisive impacts of democratisation that lead to localinterpretations tending towards 'democrazy', by recognising and engaging with theeveryday politics of mutual recognition within local politics, new possibilities openup for deepening democracy—for example through engaging with the democraticelements of traditional institutions such as nahe biti boot. Other commentators havemade similar observations (Babo-Soares, 2004). This is not to suggest that theseinstitutions hold all the requirements of a democracy. But as other commentators havealso argued, these conservative aspects of traditional institutions need to be activelyengaged for democratisation and human rights to be meaningfully pursued withincommunities (see for example Brown and Gusmão, 2009: 68). Developing policy tosupport such an approach is a fundamentally political process, but one that is farremoved from the national politics of Dili-based elites. Rather, it requires taking localpolitics seriously, and learnings from the everyday politics of mutual recognition asthey are played out within the suku of Timor-Leste. If one takes as a starting principlethat traditional institutional structures are adaptable, and that people engage withtraditional institutional structures because they are spiritually, ecologically,economically and politically relevant to them in meeting communal needs, then newpossibilities open up in bringing the two worldviews closer together—and forconstructing a democracy that is meaningful for those in the rural areas.Party Politics in Local GovernanceJust as engaging with the politics of mutual recognition can introduce newpossibilities for bringing together the different spheres of governance, so too should itconstrain other choices and possibilities. As has rightly been noted by manycommentators, the local governance environment should not be treated as a tabularasa onto which new institutions can be introduced (Brown and Gusmão, 2009,Chopra and Hohe, 2004, Hohe, 2002a, Hohe, 2002b), and the operation of konsellu desuku and democratisation more broadly has resulted in some points of serious conflictbetween modern and traditional ideas of socio-political legitimacy, which have tendedto indicate a clash in underlying values and ideas of human security.133
Party politics has been one such point of conflict. At all levels of government, theinfluence of party politics tended to be quite divisive, leading to many localperceptions of modern democracy being characterised by conflict, as opposed to lisan,which is aimed at promoting communal cohesion. Political party affiliation for localleaders was first introduced in Decree Law 5/2004. It has since been reversed inDecree Law 3/2009, with local leaders only elected on an individual (not politicalparty) platform. As fieldwork was carried out in 2008, prior to this legislative change,the impact of party politics was still an important issue within local governance. Thisexperience carries with it important lessons for understanding the underlying values atstake around community representation and local legitimacy.Free competition of political parties is a fairly new phenomenon in Timor-Leste.During Indonesian occupation, the only political parties were the three mandated bythe Indonesian government, so it is only since independence that free party politicalcompetition has been a feature of governance within Timor-Leste (Saldanha, 2008:70). Since political parties were first formed preceding the civil war, the experience ofparty politics within Timor-Leste has been quite divisive. The impacts of this conflictbetween political parties continue to reverberate throughout Timorese communities,and continues withing contemporary Timorese politics. A variety of factors, includinglack of experience with party politics and exploitation by political parties of existingfissures within society, has meant that party politics has been experienced as adivisive, intimidating affair. This has also expressed itself within the introduction ofparty politics at the suku level (Brown and Gusmão, 2009).Prior to the introduction of party politics, the most important considerations inselecting local leaders were the candidates' place within the community: whether theycame from the liurai house, their affiliation with family, their experience with localleadership and ability to command respect, and their perceived ability to do the job.The introduction of party politics added an entirely new dimension to communityrepresentation, creating new divisions and threatening community cohesion andstability. Brown and Gusmão (2009: 67) argue that the threat that party politicsrepresented was a direct result of elite-level political conflicts being driven down tothe local level. This perception was reinforced during the political violence of 2006134
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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
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'shadow side' of the everyday polit
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The centrality of these kin-based g
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4.1 Formation of Political Hybridit
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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
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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
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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
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Page 139 and 140: within the suku and to lead the kon
Page 141 and 142: epresentative. These political mech
Page 143 and 144: structural issue: while the old ins
Page 145: democratisation has been seen to er
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
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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
Page 189 and 190: power within Timorese communities.
Page 191 and 192: Such structural constraints, howeve
Page 193 and 194: Across every suku in Venilale and A
Page 195 and 196: 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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