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

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areas have had important gendering impacts on konsellu de suku, and have alsocontributed to tensions within the community where gaps have emerged betweentraditional institutional structures that are unable to deal with incoming externalresources, and modern institutions that are too fragile to deal with the competition forresources that emerges. Fieldwork demonstrates that within these institutional gapsthere is the political space for local strongmen to emerge as they strategicallyestablish patron-client relationships and set up shadow networks to entrench theirpower—an aspect of the 'liminal' dimensions of local politics, in which dynamics areneither 'modern' nor 'traditional', but actually constitute a repudiation of both.In chapter eight, I conclude the thesis by noting that these insights into contemporarylocal governance are made in the context of a highly centralised state that is providingvery little to the rural population. While this thesis is premised on the argument thatlocal politics should be taken seriously, the potential role of the Timorese state as adevelopment agency means that the existing balance that is negotiated through localpolitics could change very quickly, creating new challenges and opportunities fordifferent actors at the local level. This means that the relative coherence of localcommunities could change quite rapidly if the broader political environment changes.This is a likely event as decentralisation is implemented, or as the Prime Minister'sproposed National Development Plan is rolled out, or as other development activitiestake place. I argue that this likelihood indicates a pressing need to strengthen thekonsellu de suku so that it is a complement to, rather than a thin layer over, the preexistingtraditional relationships within the suku of Timor-Leste.25
CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK2.0 OverviewInvestigating governance in any setting is challenging due to its complex nature,involving formal and informal institutions of governance, multiple individuals,communities and networks, and overlapping and sometimes competing dimensions.Investigating governance at the local level in Timor-Leste is significantly morechallenging, adding as it does cross-cultural layers of liberal democratic andtraditional governance institutions that interact in various ways. In order to cutthrough this complexity, conceptual categories and definitions need to be made clearat the outset.This thesis proceeds on a conceptual framework that defines 'modern institutionalstructures' as the formal written structures promulgated through legislation by thegovernment of Timor-Leste. 'Traditional institutional structures' are defined as theunwritten but nonetheless formal structures through which obligations within andbetween kin-groups are created and maintained, via lisan. In their discussion of adat,the traditional law and institutional structures that are important in Indonesianvillages, Monk et. al. note that attempting to define it "can become a complexphilosophical question, because its definition overlaps both a moral or ethical codeand a legal system" (1997: 525). Because of its breadth, they suggest that adat shouldbe considered "more an ethical code than a precise legal code as many of itsrequirements pertain to all levels of people's behaviour" (Monk et al., 1997: 525). Thesame can well be said of lisan in Timor-Leste. In keeping with this understanding,this thesis uses the term lisan rather than 'traditional law' or 'customary law' in orderto avoid the possibility of mistranslation. Understood in this framework, 'traditionalinstitutional structures' include, but are not limited to, the important role of traditionalauthorities in resolving local-level disputes—also guiding how communities arestructured (who is in, and who is out), the exchange obligations that underlie aperson's existence from birth to death, the allocation of leadership and decisionmakingpower, the sharing and protection of communal resources, the correct planting26
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: geographically 'outwards' from uma
Page 41 and 42: 2.1 FieldworkFieldwork was conducte
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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
Page 61 and 62: of coordination between these diffe
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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
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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
Page 223 and 224:
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
Page 241 and 242:
THAKUR, R. & VAN LANGENHOVE, L. (20
Page 243:
WORK, R. (2002) 'Overview of Decent
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