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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

essentially a civil matter naturally led to these matters being resolved via lisan. As axefe aldeia in Fatulia explained, "regarding violence, criminal violence, we cannotadjudicate. That goes to the police. [But] if it is domestic violence, we resolve thatwithin the aldeia, via lisan."Within this schema, a jurisprudential 'loop' has therefore been created where mostdomestic violence cases were defined as civil and therefore resolved via lisan—whileat the same time there was a general understanding that they could not therefore beconsidered criminal because they were resolved via lisan. How domestic violencecases were understood, described and dealt with therefore posed a clear point oftension between modern and traditional institutional spheres. While traditionalauthorities described domestic violence as 'civil violence', a third category that kept itfrom being considered a crime, this understanding did not match with how the policedescribe their mandate where, for example, the chief of the police in Venilale flatlystated that civil violence does not exist—if it is violent, then it is a crime. Even moreimportantly, this official description did not match up with people's lived experiencein many cases. In discussing such sensitive topics, there is a significant gap betweenhow these issues are described—particularly to a malae outsider—and how thesecases are in fact resolved. This gap relates to the broader tension withinunderstandings of how violence fits into lisan and criminal law, often leading tofurther disempowerment of those who are most vulnerable.These circumstances in which traditional authorities have effectively created a thirdcategory to explain why domestic violence is not considered a crime illustrates theimportance of acknowledging and understanding the everyday politics of mutualrecognition in the local governance environment. While the apparent lack ofappreciation for the seriousness of domestic violence has been largely put down toTimorese culture being heavily influenced by patriarchal understandings of the placeof the woman within the family (see for example JSMP, 2009), I argue that this onlytells one side of the story. The other side of the story needs to also be told, where thelack of legislative guidelines, the under-resourced police force and the general lack ofstate 'presence' within the suku of Venilale and Ainaro has meant that the everydaypolitics of mutual recognition is heavily influence by the requirements of lisan. Thereare undoubtedly issues concerning patriarchy and the status of women, and155
insufficient attention being paid to victims' rights within both modern and traditionalspheres of governance. However, in order to successfully address these attitudes, it isimportant to simultaneously recognise what lisan does and does not provide, whilealso strengthening the modern institutional sphere, and providing sufficient resourcesfor the police to carry out their role.6.3 Economic Relationships and Coordination of ProjectsTraditional Institutional StructuresWhile the formality of dispute resolution provides a useful guide to tracking themultiple layers of leadership in a suku, economic relationships can also be analysed interms of these same layers as important economic relationships are regulated firstwithin smaller, family-based structures. While the villages of Venilale and Ainaro arehighly communal, the everyday interactions that most people have most of the timetend to be within and between uma kain, where members hold important obligationsto each other. Out in the more remote villages, this tendency is even morepronounced. These economic relationships are closely linked to the importance ofagriculture in Timor-Leste, as this is the main source of income for 94% of the ruralpopulation (RDTL, 2009: 20). However, unlike dispute resolution which is highlyformalised, these relationships tend to be maintained through a mixture of formaltraditional institutions that dictate the hierarchy of leadership, decision-making,access to resources and mutual obligation within the broader family structure, andeconomic dependencies that flow from this hierarchy of leadership and uneven accessto resources.The impact of hierarchies of leadership and uneven access to resources within familystructures can be seen most clearly when examining the governance of customaryland tenure. Across Venilale and Ainaro, indeed across most of Timor-Leste, theeconomy is predominantly a subsistence agricultural economy, driven by lack ofaccess to local markets, financial services and the low price of agriculturalcommodities (RDTL, 2009: 20). In this context, access to and use of land is ofprimary importance. Unlike much of Southeast Asia where the landlord-tenant modelof land use underpins important power relationships within a village (see for example156
Page 1 and 2:
Local Governance in Timor-Leste:The
Page 3 and 4:
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT‘I hereby gran
Page 5 and 6:
are some important points of tensio
Page 7 and 8:
the Canossian sisters in Ainaro—M
Page 9 and 10:
2.6 The Issues of Cross-Cultural Re
Page 11 and 12:
LIST OF FIGURESFigure One: The Deve
Page 13 and 14:
Tara banduUma kainUma lulikXefe Ald
Page 15 and 16:
within, I had failed to recognise t
Page 17 and 18:
anthropology of development (Shephe
Page 19 and 20:
prefer the term 'local' to recognis
Page 21 and 22:
evolve around ideas of traditional
Page 23 and 24:
institution that is considered to b
Page 25 and 26:
the case given the emphasis on cond
Page 27 and 28:
Within these increasingly murky pol
Page 29 and 30:
1.3 Case Study SitesVenilaleVenilal
Page 31 and 32:
The reasons for choosing Venilale a
Page 33 and 34:
and influences can have on the loca
Page 35 and 36:
played out since decolonisation. Th
Page 37 and 38:
geographically 'outwards' from uma
Page 39 and 40:
CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWO
Page 41 and 42:
2.1 FieldworkFieldwork was conducte
Page 43 and 44:
marked differences in people's idea
Page 45 and 46:
interactions between modern and tra
Page 47 and 48:
then asking for advice on who else
Page 49 and 50:
answer specific questions about how
Page 51 and 52:
Every conversation and every experi
Page 53 and 54:
discussions. This took a little tim
Page 55 and 56:
crucial to the research question—
Page 57 and 58:
CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUALISING POST
Page 59 and 60:
epresentation through democratisati
Page 61 and 62:
of coordination between these diffe
Page 63 and 64:
equally problematic, as this succes
Page 65 and 66:
government, and Huntington noted th
Page 67 and 68:
Westernise. Equally, the specificit
Page 69 and 70:
which individuals both shape and ar
Page 71 and 72:
expanded this understanding to incl
Page 73 and 74:
within a society. As Remmer puts it
Page 75 and 76:
is to distribute power to some and
Page 77 and 78:
To explain this point, he makes the
Page 79 and 80:
provided by public policy" (Fukuyam
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
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 and 138: community, or communal expectations
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 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: this distinction. When I asked abou
Page 171 and 172: of barlake that lay in the alliance
Page 173 and 174: functional, leaving them especially
Page 175 and 176: affiliation with political parties.
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
Page 197 and 198: While community members may attempt
Page 199 and 200: networks that use such animistic ri
Page 201 and 202: strongman, who operated in Venilale
Page 203 and 204: the community are captured or diver
Page 205 and 206: strongman specifically uses institu
Page 207 and 208: CHAPTER EIGHT: BRINGING IT BACK TO
Page 209 and 210: communities have created various fo
Page 211 and 212: However, while incoming resources c
Page 213 and 214: of fundamental importance in consid
Page 215 and 216: APPENDIX A: LIST OF INTERVIEWEESVEN
Page 217 and 218: APPENDIX B: MAP OF TIMOR-LESTESourc
Page 219 and 220:
APPENDIX D: POLITICAL MAP OF SUBDIS
Page 221 and 222:
BINNS, T. (2006) 'Doing Fieldwork i
Page 223 and 224:
CHESTERMAN, S. (2002) 'East Timor i
Page 225 and 226:
DEGNBOL-MARTINUSSEN, J. (2002) 'Dev
Page 227 and 228:
Lincoln, Y. (Eds.) The Landscape of
Page 229 and 230:
GRENFELL, L. (2006) 'Legal Pluralis
Page 231 and 232:
HOWARTH, D. (2000) Discourse, Bucki
Page 233 and 234:
LANDMAN, T. & HAUSERMANN, J. (2003)
Page 235 and 236:
MERRY, S. E. (1988) 'Legal Pluralis
Page 237 and 238:
OSPINA, S. & HOHE, T. (2001) Tradit
Page 239 and 240:
RUDOLPH, L. I. (1965) 'The Modernit
Page 241 and 242:
THAKUR, R. & VAN LANGENHOVE, L. (20
Page 243:
WORK, R. (2002) 'Overview of Decent
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?