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

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struck between values and worldviews, there was general agreement that both lisanand democracy can and should "walk together".An issue that arises in discussing coexisting institutional structures is that ofterminology—and the theoretical assumptions that surround the concepts of traditionand modernity. At one level, it may appear inconsistent to describe the contemporaryindigenous political systems of the Timorese as 'traditional' given the history ofsubversion through indirect rule, discussed in chapter four of this thesis. Throughoutthe different stages of colonisation by the Portuguese, then of post-colonialcolonisation by the Indonesians, the foreign occupiers each recognised and subvertedtraditional governance arrangements in different ways, but they did not leave thesearrangements untouched. Boundaries were changed, populations were moved, somegroups were empowered over other groups. Kings were conquered, and smaller pettykings who were more amenable to control were given leadership in their place. Just asimportantly, Timorese leaders engaged strategically with the state system, being givendifferent political, military and economic resources that empowered them beyond thechecks and balances of the pre-existing traditional governance systems. In addition,there were broader global forces at play that impacted on Timorese society. Thisbecame more pronounced following World War II as Portuguese colonial policychanged yet again, resulting in new power bases for people to source throughchanging economic, educational and vocational opportunities.These historical forces all raise the question: if traditional institutional structures werealtered so significantly by external forces, with some aspects becoming part of thestate apparatus, how can they still be considered traditional? This is an importantquestion to ask, and has been approached by some authors by using the term'customary' (see for example Bennett, 2004, Elias, 1956). However, such attempts toreplace traditional with customary raises equally difficult questions as to what comeswithin the realm of 'custom' and what should be left out. Others prefer the term'informal' to distinguish it from the 'formal' state apparatus (see for example Lauth,2000, Cott, 2006). However, this is only useful terminology if there is no staterecognition of traditional institutions. In addition, this terminology fails to recognisethe importance of non-traditional, informal institutions that are important features ofany society (see for example March and Olsen, 1989, North, 1991). And yet others5
prefer the term 'local' to recognise the inherently localised nature of traditional justicein Timor-Leste (see for example Harrington, 2006, Grenfell, 2006). However, this hassimilar problems to 'informal' as there are also recognisably modern local institutions.I argue that the difficulty in finding the 'right' conceptual categories is because theissue goes well beyond terminology. As Huyse and Salter point out, this discussion"puts a finger on a crucial aspect of traditional instruments today: they are hybrids andmove back and forth between their origin and capture by the state" (2008: 8). It is notthe use of the word 'traditional' that is suspect, but rather the binary of tradition andmodernity and its inability to embrace this hybridity. Customs that fall under theumbrella of 'traditional' need not come from a distant past, but may also be relativelyrecently integrated into the indigenous political and social system (Hobsbawm andRanger, 1992). This is true of all societies as they have changed, adapted, impacted onand been impacted by external forces. As Marcus and Fisher argue, "most localcultures worldwide are products of a history of appropriations, resistances andaccommodations" (1986: 78). The governance history of Timor-Leste, which hasgone through various stages of colonisation by the Portuguese, postcolonialcolonisation by the Indonesians, transition to independent statehood under theauspices of the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET), and nowindependent Timorese government is certainly a good example of this history ofappropriation, resistance and accommodation. Throughout this complicated history,and as discussed in chapter four of this thesis, indigenous Timorese political systemshave adapted to the overarching state structure. It is also clear, however, thattraditional ideas of socio-political legitimacy and political organisation that areindependent of the broader state governance system have contemporary relevance andinform important aspects of people's daily lives (Hohe, 2002a, McWilliam, 2005,Trinidade, 2008).These historical forces have led to a political syncretism at the local level (Hicks,1983), commonly described in contemporary analyses as political hybridity (Brownand Gusmão, 2009, Boege et al., 2009a). Within contemporary Timoresecommunities, while lisan continues to be strong, there are also many international,national and regional influences that reach down to the suku and aldeia levels ofgovernance. In this thesis, I argue that these influences are negotiated in structured6
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: anthropology of development (Shephe
Page 21 and 22: evolve around ideas of traditional
Page 23 and 24: institution that is considered to b
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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
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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
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Page 51 and 52: Every conversation and every experi
Page 53 and 54: discussions. This took a little tim
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Page 57 and 58: CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUALISING POST
Page 59 and 60: epresentation through democratisati
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Page 67 and 68: 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
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to be rejoined. But as local politi
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in Europe, this was seen somewhat d
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did not make life any easier for th
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governor, but slowly seats were inc
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The movement towards decolonisation
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As the politics reached gradually b
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appointed traditionally (Ospina and
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esistance to Indonesian rule (Gunn
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outrage across the world. Following
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f) To assist in the establishment o
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egan to return from their hiding pl
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for a Constituent Assembly (CA) and
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these other factors reveal a more c
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SECTION TWO: EXAMINING LOCAL GOVERN
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hold spiritual and ritual responsib
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Important exchange relationships th
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spiritual significance of the ances
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ight to freedom, for anyone to occu
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The centrality of the liurai house
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As discussed previously, one of the
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order to meet their communal requir
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community, or communal expectations
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within the suku and to lead the kon
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epresentative. These political mech
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structural issue: while the old ins
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democratisation has been seen to er
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Party politics has been one such po
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on the leaders' position within the
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Within this hybrid political enviro
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in the community. While there is a
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authority figures in the aldeia, su
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As fieldwork progressed, it became
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kain), it is taken to the xefe and/
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process, they have the right to go
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(March, 2008). In the absence of le
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explains, he will not engage with a
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this distinction. When I asked abou
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insufficient attention being paid t
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of barlake that lay in the alliance
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functional, leaving them especially
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affiliation with political parties.
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xefe suku explained that the cost o
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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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