This article was downloaded by: [University Of Pittsburgh]On: 15 April 2013, At: 23:40Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Asia Pacific Journal of AnthropologyPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rtap20

Reforming adatLeena Avoniusa Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS),University of LeidenVersion of record first published: 19 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Leena Avonius (2003): Reforming adat , The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology,4:1-2, 123-142

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14442210310001706417

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representationthat the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of anyinstructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primarysources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings,demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

REFORMING ADATIndonesian indigenous people in the era of Reformasi

Leena Avonius

The Indonesian state during the New Order regime (1966-98) viewed adat as 'art',something to be performed or displayed, excluding any references to religiousbeliefs and social norms (Acciaioli 1985:157-8). The state did not allow localunderstandings to interfere with the national definitions of religion and socialorder that were seen as neatly separate from the cultural features classified asadat. The tendency to view local cultures as exotic and visually attractive, butpossibly incompatible with the dominant lifestyle of modern nation-states, was nota feature unique either to the New Order or to Indonesia. Similar ideas had beenpresent in the Indonesian archipelago since the Dutch colonial era (SchulteNordholt 1991; Kahn 1993). In the early 1990s many voices in and outsideIndonesia started to demand a much wider recognition of adat in localcommunities. The argument was specifically backed by the growing internationalconcern about the lack of biodiversity conservation as well as the apparentenvironmental disasters caused by the exploitation of natural resources inIndonesia. The latter was often part of national development programs that wereseen to neglect the well-being of both nature and communities living within thevicinity of resource extraction projects (Li 2001: 657; WALHI 1997).

Since the fall of the New Order and the introduction of the law on regionalautonomy by President Habibie's government in 1999 and with the strong supportof Indonesian and international non-governmental organisations, newrepresentative structures have been created to express the needs and safeguard therights of local communities in Indonesia's socioeconomic and political transition.Amongst these structures are various adat organisations, many of which functionunder the umbrella organisation of AMAN (Alliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara),the Alliance of Adat Communities of the Indonesian Archipelago. AMAN assertsthat adat is more than rituals and dances, it is in fact sistem kehidupan, the localway of living. Furthermore, the administrative and legal self-determination as wellas the right to determine the use of land and natural resources for the groups ofpeople who identify themselves as masyarakat adat (literally, 'adat communities'often translated in English as indigenous people) - are advocated as the mainfocus for social and political reforms under regional autonomy.

The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 4(1 & 2) 2003:123-142

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

124 REFORMING ADAT

The most heated discussion of and about masyarakat adat has centred onthe debates on land reform and the disputes about the land taken from the farmers

with no, or unfair, compensation by the New Order elite. 1 The emphasis on land

rights has been so great that it has triggered some to retort that masyarakat adat

has just been created in order to claim land and receive compensation. Such

criticism is surely short-sighted and unjustified, because it understates the

exploitation of farmers and local communities by the New Order state and because

adat organisations and the supporting non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

have brought issues other than land into public debate. These important issues

include nature preservation, administrative and legal reforms, plans for developing

a more sustainable tourist industry, and educational reforms. 2

The issues that are considered important and presented by adat

organisations in Indonesia vary between regions.3 This article discusses the forms

adat activities have taken in Lombok and how these relate to the national

organisation AMAN. In Lombok, while not absent, land disputes have been a less

central issue during the first stage of the creation of a 'new adat'. Instead, features

that an outsider may relate to as 'adat as art' have received more attention.4 This,

however, should not be interpreted as a failure of adat reformation, but should act

as a reminder of the variety of socio-cultural forms in Indonesia and the

complexity of creating autonomous governmental structures in Indonesia's

culturally diverse regions.I shall start by describing how the visualisation of adat through clothing

gained importance during the launching of adat reforms in North Lombok, and

how people's reactions to this issue are illustrative of the social actors' differences

on the politicisation of adat. I shall then explore the values and meanings that are

found to be significant in various adat organisations, and how these change when

the discourse shifts to encompass the globalised discourse on the rights of

indigenous peoples. It is also necessary to discuss the possible dangers that the

emphasis on the rights of one group inevitably causes to the position of other

groups in the society.

THE CREATION OF AN ADAT DRESS CODE

My fieldwork in North Lombok, beginning in the autumn of 1999, coincided with

the dawn of Reformasi in the village. Less than a year before, the villagers had

elected an NGO activist as the new village chief. His predecessor was generally

described as an autocrat, and had - like his national counterpart Suharto - ruledthe village for over thirty years. The new chief's aspirations, activities and

connections were rather different from those of the previous incumbent, a

steadfast supporter of the New Order. The new chief had been one of the

_��__

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 125

participants in the first national conference of masyarakat adat, held in Jakarta inMay 1999. It was organised by thirteen national NGOs and assembled more than200 representatives of 'adat communities' around the country. This conferenceled to the establishment of AMAN, a forum that advocates the rights ofmasyarakat adat in Indonesia.

After returning from the conference, the new chief and his closest alliesstarted to reform the village administration. They established an adat council thatthey intended would eventually become the highest body in the villagegovernment. This council claims to follow the traditions of sangkep, the meetingof village elders abolished in North Lombok in the early years of the New Orderwhen the uniform village administration was established throughout the country. 5

It was announced that adat clothing was obligatory dress for the meetings of theadat council. At the first such meeting I made some observations about the varietyof clothing worn by the fifty male participants who had been invited by the villagechief:

Most men were wearing adat clothing, sarong, headcloth and shirt, all in a widevariety of colours. There were apparently some differences between religiousgroups, though it was difficult to point out precisely what they were. The Hindusdiffered from the Muslims and Bodas by wearing a sash, often just a towel. 6 Thevillage pemangku7 was also wearing a sash, and when someone asked him why, heexplained that it was Balinese adat clothing. This is an interesting detail as he isIslamic, and during the meeting the 'Balinisation' of Lombok's adat clothing wasrejected. The clothing seemed to be a new issue for most. Even the village chiefhad told me before the meeting that he had been wearing adat clothing for only afew months. People were talking about the clothes, comparing them and discussinghow the headcloth should be knotted. Some had good clothes, while others merelywore their everyday sarong. At the back of the room were at least ten men whowere not wearing adat clothing at all. I had the feeling that they resisted thewhole idea.

In the following meeting, short, black jackets were delivered to the participants. Itwas stressed that all those who had not been lucky or quick enough to get onefree, should buy one. From now on, the official village adat clothing was a kainpanjang (sarong), a short, black jacket and a preferably black ikat kepala(headcloth). Ikat was preferred over batik as the latter was considered to be tooBalinese. This dress code was meant to cover all religious groups, though it wascriticised by the Bodas and the Hindu Balinese who could not understand whythey had to adapt their clothing to something they saw as Islamic. In the end, acompromise obliged the Sasak Muslims to wear a black jacket, while the otherscould wear a white one. However, as the majority of the participants at adatmeetings were Islamic and Sasak, black jackets started to dominate the scene.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

126 REFORMING ADAT

Meeting after meeting, the participants' dress 'improved' towards the new ideal.Interestingly, nobody ever openly questioned the originality of the adat dress that

astonishingly resembles the uniforms of native colonial officials during the Dutch

colonial era. However, some muttered behind the back of the village head that he

had completely ignored the importance of colour symbolism in local adat by

making everything black. 8

During the first meeting, the dress of a high-level administrative civil

servant attending the meeting was harshly criticised. His black trousers and white

shirt were considered absolutely unsuitable for an adat meeting, and he was told

that in future he should wear adat dress. Despite repeated demands, however,

neither he nor other high-level civil servants ever followed the new dress code at

the meetings they occasionally attended. These demands to conform to local rules

were nevertheless remarkable in themselves. Such a display of disrespect towards

high-level civil servants would have been impossible during the New Order. The

new adat clothing was a powerful symbol, indicating that the social order of the

village was going to take a new turn, and that by wearing them one supported

Reformasi a la North Lombok.9

The strict dress code of adat meetings was much criticised, particularly by

the NGO activists from outside North Lombok who attended the meetings as

observers and advisers. They claimed that a person wearing adat dress felt

constrained to participate in public discussion, resulting in ritualistic rather than

democratic meetings. As the purpose of the adat meetings was exactly sosialisasi

(an Indonesian term implying enforcing conformity with rules), the mutual

communication between the people and their leaders, this ritualistic approach was

not efficient. The supporters of the dress code insisted that clothes were not the

problem, and that the meetings would get livelier once masyarakat, the people,

learned freer and more democratic ways of decision-making.The dress code epitomises the division between adat and Islam long present

in North Lombok society and is continuously being negotiated. Devoted Muslims

made a clear distinction between themselves and other villagers by refusing to

wear adat clothes on any occasion: a person who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca

cannot give up the physical signs of his position as haji. Therefore, tokoh agama,

the representatives of religion, were excluded from the dress code. As mentioned

above, religious minorities questioned the uniformity of adat clothing, though did

not reject the dress code as such. Intermingled with the division between adat and

religion is the continuous debate on modernity, which, in the New Order,

manifested itself in the civil servants' uniforms. By wearing office uniforms or

Western-style clothing at adat meetings, civil servants stressed that they

represented the (modern) state in the village. Others who turned down adat dress

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 127

were representatives of NGOs who were concerned about the potential anti-modern features of adat. If the creation of the adat uniform had been meant tobring villagers together, united in their adat against outsiders, this mission was notvery successful: in the end it depicted even more clearly the real and potentialboundaries within the village society. In the village as a whole, the adat uniformbecame a sign that a person was of some importance and had a position in theReformasi government. Within the adat council, then, the predominance of blackjackets underlined that Islamic Sasaks occupied at least two-thirds of the posts,even though half of the village population was non-Muslim. This put unnecessarystress on religious demarcation lines, particularly at a time when inter-religiousconflicts were shaking social life both in Lombok and other parts of Indonesia.

DANGERS OF CLOTHING

Why did the founders of the new social order hold that adat clothing is anessential part of reforms in North Lombok? The creation of the adat uniform canbest be understood as a reaction to specific events in the local history. Those oldenough to remember how the New Order was introduced to the religiouslysyncretic Wetu Telu villages of North Lombok in late 1960s, knew well howimportant correct clothing could be.10 Before that time, the Wetu Telu villageshad lived under a socio-religious system similar to that of Bali. The new militaryrulers made it clear that the syncretic form of Islam, Wetu Telu, would play nopart in the lives of New Order Muslims.

When, in 1968, Indonesians were forced to sign up for one of the fiveofficial religions, the Wetu Telu of the village discussed above, made the mistakeof choosing Buddhism."l In reaction to this mass conversion to Buddhism, themilitary commander of North Lombok, who was a fervently Islamic Javanese,proclaimed that all previous Wetu Telu were to become orthodox Muslims. Toemphasise his point, he marched his forces and some militant followers of WaktuLima - the orthodox Islamic orientation that had been in confrontation withWetu Telu since at least the late nineteenth century - to the village. All WetuTelu customs became forbidden and punishable acts. A spy system allowed thearmy to keep an eye on those who continued to follow the local customs. Theterror the army inflicted on everyday life was so harsh that even today mostpeople prefer to suppress the memories thereof.

Punishable Wetu Telu customs included communal and family rituals thatwere all to be executed in a 'perfect' Islamic way. Simultaneously, however, thevery same rituals were allowed to continue among the Bodas, a non-Islamic groupof Sasaks who had also chosen Buddhism. For the New Order state authorities inNorth Lombok the total separation of the spheres of adat and religion was only

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

128 REFORMING ADAT

applicable to Muslims.1 2 Villagers who disobeyed the new rule by organising orparticipating in Wetu Telu rituals, or even by wearing clothes symbolising suchcustoms, could be arrested. They were taken to the front yard of policeheadquarters and publicly beaten as a warning to others. Open violence stoppedafter a few years, and was replaced by the New Order modernisation propagandathat included development programs and promotion of religious orthodoxy. Thefailure to become modern was punished through labelling the group asmasyarakat terasing (isolated communities), a term that the New Ordergovernment attached to those groups who adhered to local belief systems andsocial norms instead of world religions, government programs and stateadministration. 13 The village of Bayan, the centre of Wetu Telu in North Lombokand the most stubborn follower of Wetu Telu customs, was threatened with themasyarakat terasing label in the 1980s, but managed to negotiate itself out of it.14

Even though adat did return to village life, particularly in family rituals, it wastinged with shame and backwardness.

Through their strong connection with Wetu Telu, adat clothing and adatrituals have far more powerful meanings for the Muslims of North Lombokvillages than they do for other islanders. By wearing adat clothes to the meetingsand by organising communal rituals, the people in North Lombok reclaimimportant parts of their identity. Wearing the symbols and talking about the pastopenly and with pride add to the process of building the feeling of belonging andunity. Adat meetings, both in villages and at inter-village level, become occasionsduring which - perhaps for the first time in public and possibly in the presence ofauthorities - the stories of the abuse and violence Wetu Telu people had sufferedunder the New Order are recalled. At the same time they are transferred to thememory of a younger generation who did not directly experience the horrors ofthe early years of the New Order. These stories remind and explain why adat is soproblematic in North Lombok and why its revival is desirable.

The case of the creation of adat uniform in North Lombok illustrates themultiple meanings attached to adat symbols. While for some they were symbolsof power, of sovereignty that would be regained by the region after the repressiveyears of the New Order, for others they were symbols of repression, stressingsocial hierarchies. 15 Though perhaps unintentionally, adat clothes made thereligious boundaries clearly visible, and caused discomfort for those who found itdifficult to choose between the symbols of adat and those of religion. Thediscussions on modernity also continue through the symbols of adat.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 129

THE NEW ADA T OF THE VILLAGE

It is evident that the inter-Islamic conflict between Wetu Telu and Waktu Limalingers at the core of the new adat-labelled activities in the village. The newvillage leaders want a return to Wetu Telu, but without openly going againstagama (world religions sanctioned by the state). One of the most 'successful'projects of the New Order was to make people in Lombok conscious of worldreligions as part of their identity. In order to avoid conflict, Wetu Telu has beendeclared the adat of North Lombok. The new interpretation holds that Wetu Telumeans 'three laws', referring to adat, agama, and pemerintahan, the latter termreferring to the government and the civil law. The juxtaposition of the two formsof Islam has been now swept aside as a misinterpretation of the situation by aDutch colonial anthropologist. Logical or not, the new interpretation is willinglyaccepted by the Muslims in the new adat movement. The new definition of adatis, however, highly problematic for a village that consists of three religious andtwo ethnic groups. In everyday life, the villagers continue to distinguish adat inreligious and/or ethnic terms: there is adat Wetu Telu, adat Boda, and adat Bali.If the new definition of Wetu Telu as 'village adat', or 'North Lombok adat' wereto be accepted, it would leave non-Muslims outside the 'official' adat. In thevillage in question it would exclude half of the population, and in the whole ofNorth Lombok approximately 13 per cent of the inhabitants. Also those Muslimswho consider themselves non-Wetu Telu would fall outside the definition.

The marginalisation of religious minorities is evident at adat meetingswhere all functionaries are Muslims, and minorities only seem able to get theirman elected as a representative of a hamlet or religion. If the adat councilofficially replaces the village council BPD (Badan Perwakilan Desa) in future, thevillage government will be disproportionately Islamic, just like it was during theNew Order. The Islamic domination becomes clearly visible both in the problemsdiscussed during meetings and in the way projects are launched and executed inthe village. The awig-awig desa, the adat law of the village that was the maintopic of most adat meetings during its first year, is often presented as beingfundamentally Islamic, and the Boda and Hindu Balinese rules are seen asadditions. As in the case of adat clothing, Islamic communal rituals are the onespresented and funded as village rituals. For Bodas it seems that nothing much haschanged since Reformasi: all the money the village receives for developmentprojects is still directed to Muslim hamlets. However, they regard the fact that thecurrent leaders of the village are moderate Muslims as a bright side of thechanges, and assume that the new leaders will support the religious minorities oftheir own village if these were to have problems with the fanatik (devout, strict)Muslims of the neighbouring village.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

130 REFORMINGADAT

It is the fanatik Muslims who are definitely outsiders of the new adat, andwho also state their position clearly. It needs to be remarked that fanatik' inLombok today does not have the same meaning as the English word 'fanatic'. Thefanatik of Lombok are not extremists, but Waktu Lima Muslims who observe theirbelief by five daily prayers and fasting. Although some of the Waktu Lima joinedthe military in violent attacks on the Wetu Telu in the late 1960s, their currentreligious views are less harsh. Many of the.fanatik actually follow adat customs inweddings and funerals, and they see the restoring of banjar (the neighbourhoodassociations) as a benefit. But they would like to keep adat and agama clearlydistinct. They object to adat taking an official and central position in village life.They do not want the adat council to replace the village council, nor do they wantto see awig-awig as the highest law of the village.

THE UNITY OF NORTH LOMBOK ADAT

Perekat Ombara, the Alliance of the Adat Communities of North Lombok, wasalso established a few months after the national forum in Jakarta, and in 2000 itwas still the only organisation representing the province of West Nusa Tenggarain AMAN. Within a year it had incorporated all twenty-five northern villages ofkabupaten (regency) West Lombok as members. Perekat Ombara largelyfunctions according to AMAN outlines for regional organisations, and thusconsiders the administrative villages of North Lombok as 'adat communities'. It is

a forum where villages can exchange information and plan local projects withNGOs, which offer both advice and financial support. However, Perekat

Ombara's political goal of creating a new kabupaten that would consist of the

northern villages clearly differs from AMAN programs. Dreams of the kabupaten

of North Lombok had already been announced in the 1980s, but during the New

Order there was not much hope that the former Wetu Telu villages would receivesovereignty.

The discussions in Perekat Ombara often focus on the marginality of NorthLombok within the island. People living on the northern side of Rinjani Mountainfeel themselves culturally and linguistically distinct from the southerners, and feelthat their culture is not respected by the provincial leaders in Mataram.Considering their history as a target of state violence, the feelings of resentmentand anger as well as the need to search for justification for the local culture arevery understandable. The tension between north and south is often aired at themeetings of Perekat Ombara, which always include southern academics orbureaucrats as speakers. While the presence of such speakers brings desirablemedia visibility and public recognition for the organisation, the northern peoplefrequently point out that these speakers' adat terminology, or descriptions of adat

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 131

customs, are either not part of the northern adat at all, or that they misinterpretlocal culture.

An example is the never-ending debate on alcohol use in the North. TheWetu Telu in Bayan are particularly known for enjoying an occasional drink, andit is certainly not an unfamiliar habit in other northern villages either. There havebeen repeated demands - usually by Mataram representatives - that this anti-Islamic component of the North Lombok adat should be abolished, while thepeople in the North point out in their defence that drinking has nothing to do withadat. It is just perorangan, an individual habit, and that anyone classifying it asadat demonstrates ignorance of local customs. Adat knowledge can thus be usedas a method of exclusion and inclusion. By implication, only the knowledge ofadat gives one the right to speak for North Lombok's adat community. Note thatthis also assumes a unified North Lombok adat. This exclusionary division canfurther justify demands for North Lombok's political sovereignty.

Perekat Ombara promotes adat in many ways: by encouraging people torestore old customs, by organising communal adat rituals and by talking aboutadat at the meetings. The Perekat Ombara meetings are preferably held in placesreminiscent of adat, such as ritualistic places or - interestingly - residences ofold Sasak royal houses. Part of the adat manifestation is that chairs have beenabandoned and the guests sit cross-legged on rugs. One's place in relation to theorganisers and speakers marks one's relative position in North Lombok society:young people, women (very few attend any of the meetings) and people who donot hold any official position, sit further away. At all meetings the guests areentertained by local gamelan music. The appearance of meetings and the symbolsused therein have led to warnings about a return to the feudalism of the oldkingdoms. More so, since many, though not all, active members of PerekatOmbara come from the upper social rankings of Sasak society. The 'return of oldsocial hierarchies' is perhaps not a very accurate expression, as these groups, bycollaborating with all regimes, have held leading positions in Lombok throughouthistory. In fact, Perekat Ombara has challenged some of the traditional elite,particularly by questioning the position of Bayan as the cultural centre of NorthLombok.

Perekat Ombara's organisation and its 'vision and mission' (visi dan misi)show, however, that it is a modern organisation with an interest in adat rather thana restored adat institution. According to a 'strategic planning' document, PerekatOmbara will 'develop a social order that is sovereign, democratic, andtransformative'. 16 Its organisation does not consist of traditional adatfunctionaries, but of a chairman, secretary, treasurer, and various committees. Thecommittees range from security and environmental issues to the relationship

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

132 REFORMING ADAT

between adat and religion, social issues and art. With the help of a Mataram-basedNGO, Perekat Ombara has mapped out the problems and aspirations of theindividual villages, and aims to build a development plan for North Lombok.Revitalising adat traditions also aims to bring economic benefits to NorthLombok, particularly in the form of increased tourism. Reclaiming adat lands thatwere confiscated during the New Order and the preservation of the Rinjanimountain area are also part of its program. Pembangunan, 'development', is still acrucial word for North Lombok villages, but according to Perekat Ombara itshould be accomplished in terms of the villages, rather than by following centralgovernment schemes as was the practice during New Order's five-yeardevelopment plans, REPELITA. 17

Perekat Ombara, and perhaps other local organisations formed duringReformasi, indicate that decentralisation and regional autonomy are impacting atthe local level, even though it is too soon to evaluate its effects. But PerekatOmbara shares many of the problems that the adat movement in the village isexperiencing, particularly in terms of representativeness. For example, it appearsto be very Islamic, and religious minorities have very few representatives in theorganisation. Even some Muslims feel excluded from Perekat Ombara as most ofits meetings are limited to village chiefs and their closest supporters. Even thoughmany village heads have been recently elected, and are reformists, this does notguarantee strong support from the people. Many villagers still feel that they do nothave a role in the reformist process, and that they do not receive enoughinformation about what is being planned. What might seem a grassroots project onthe national level, may appear as an elitist phenomenon for those locals who feelexcluded from the activities. Hybrids, like the local and regional adat

organisations, also reveal the difficulties that occur when NGOs and governmentalrepresentative bodies begin to merge - an approach that at least some Indonesianregions have tried to use to decentralise the government and fight state corruption.

ADAT POLITICS AND ETHNICITY

In order to put AMAN organisations into perspective, it is worthwhile looking atan adat organisation in Lombok that is not part of its network, but has,nevertheless, become active during the last few years. Majelis Adat Sasak (theSasak Adat Council) could best be described as the adat body of the provincialgovernment. It is an organisation that has been around since 1988.18 It has 100members who are elected in the Krame Adat Paer or adat areas of Lombok(75 per cent), or who are appointed as 'functionaries' and 'experts' (25 percent).19 It is mainly visible through its occasional media statements on theimportance of adat, and a few, rather pompous, meetings in which the cream of

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 133

Lombok society participates. Its chairman is the deputy governor of West NusaTenggara, and its leading figures also belong to the political elite of Mataram. Themeetings are formal, and the hierarchies of formal office are strictly followed inthe sequence of speeches, starting with the governor's opening speech. Religious(Islamic) entertainment and boxes of snacks are squeezed in between thespeeches. At these meetings there is no room for discussion of issues such as landrights or state violence against indigenous people. The Majelis Adat Sasak stillsees adat as culture, and culture as art that needs protection, preservation andpromotion.

That Majelis Adat Sasak started seeking more visibility when Lombok, likeother Indonesian regions, prepared itself for political and economic autonomy, isrepresentative of the way in which the provincial elite took the opportunity toadjust their discourse to the changing situation. Despite their New Orderinterpretation of adat as art, they understand its current political value wellenough. In an apparent effort to gain public support they have come to stress themarginalisation of the Sasak in comparison with other groups within theIndonesian nation-state. They are not completely out of tune with these claims assuch sentiments are not unheard of in Lombok. The secretary of Majelis AdatSasak has publicly stated the marginalisation of the Sasak as an ethnic group:

The Sasak ethnic group has until now always been marginalized, has been leftbehind in various ways. For example, its human resources have not been allowed todevelop. The Sasak art and language is not yet widely known. Also their bargainingposition within politics is rather weak. ... [T]here are certain groups outside theSasak ethnic group who do not want to see the Sasak community develop. It couldbe claimed that they are afraid that the Sasak will progress. However ... such fear isnot necessary20 (Lombok Post, 22 May, 2000).

The excerpt mentions marginalisation in at least two ways. There is the feeling,particularly among the Mataram political elite, that Lombok does not receive itsfair share of political positions in Jakarta. Regional autonomy made manyIndonesian mid-level political leaders anxious about their future. Many of thembuilt careers in the New Order state bureaucracy and cannot be certain of positionsin the autonomous regions.

But the statement also hints that Sasak might be marginalised within theirown society, a claim that has often enough been used to instigate violence againstminorities in Indonesia. Some of the members of Majelis Adat Sasak, includingthe secretary who made the above statement, were questioned in connection withanti-Christian riots on Lombok in January 2000. Though the Mataram riots werepublicly proclaimed to be a spill-over of the Muslim-Christian violence in theMoluccas, there were clear linkages to the political power struggles in Mataram.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

134 REFORMING ADAT

All Christians in Lombok are ethnically non-Sasak, and most of them haverecently moved to the island from other parts of Indonesia. The riots, thoughtargeted only against Christians, caused tensions between Islamic Sasaks and theHindu Balinese minority, as the latter protected Christians and their property.Apparently, Majelis Adat Sasak feels a need to embellish its public image after theevents, since it subsequently released statements to the local media eschewing thelinkage it had previously made between adat and ethnicity. It claimed, for

example, that 'a Sasak does not need to be Lombok-born', and that 'the wordSasak refers to all the people living in Lombok and working for its well-being'.

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF INDONESIA

The definition of adat as provided by the national-level institution AMAN omitsany references to ethnic and religious identities that are attached to the term in theregions. Instead, adat acquires alternative meanings from the global discourse onthe rights of indigenous communities. AMAN is apparently the convergence pointwhere the local becomes global. However, this does not happen seamlessly. Since1999, AMAN has grown rapidly and its network covers the whole archipelagofrom Aceh to Papua. The various organisations of masyarakat adat, which formAMAN, choose two representatives each for the national meetings. A nationaladat congress is held every three years, and in the interim the AMAN Jakartaoffice runs meetings with regional representatives and supporting NGOs, duringwhich information on regional activities is exchanged and new strategies are

developed. Although NGOs do not hold an official position in AMAN, their

influence is clearly visible in the way the organisation is presented and managed,

as well as in the emphasis that AMAN puts on environmental and gender issues.The stress on 'gender' is a particularly obvious NGO influence. Although I

do not deny its importance, it is hardly an issue that would be raised by adatrepresentatives themselves, as can be observed from the debate on the AMAN rule

that regional representatives should always be one male and one female. Inpractice this hardly ever happens and, after a Balinese protest, the rule was

amended by adding 'or according to local adat' to the original text, enabling all-male representation. The few female representatives in AMAN protest against themale domination, but are constantly overruled, the usual explanation being thatwomen are not yet able to fulfil these tasks, or that women should concentrate ondomestic duties. Some men even claim that sending an unmarried couple to ameeting would be morally questionable. There is a women's section of AMAN,whose meetings coincide with those of the main organisation, which discusses'women's issues'. Many male representatives regard this as sufficient and feel thatwomen should stay out of the main organisation. 21

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 135

Through its organisational structures AMAN actually appears extremely'Indonesian': it has internalised the division of the country into provinces,regencies and villages, and it acknowledges the existence of a state bureaucracy. Itadvocates reforms strictly within the given framework of the Indonesian nation-state. For example, it prepares suggestions for legislators, but does not questionthe Indonesian legal system or the position of adat law within it.22 The issues ofmulticultural complexity in the regions (as discussed above) are aired at thenational AMAN discussions. Discussion of religion is remarkably absent fromAMAN meetings and statements. The indigenous diversity is seen asunproblematic, and ethnic or religious conflicts are understood in terms of 'localpopulation' versus 'outsiders' or versus 'the state'.

The avoidance of discussions on diversity may have several causes. First,the cultural diversity within AMAN is so great that taking it into account indecision-making might dilute the decisions. Instead, the regional adatorganisations are supposed to adapt national decisions to local circumstances. Onecould ask, however, to what extent this practice guarantees the 'sovereignty' ofadat communities. Do the uniform organisational structures themselves notcontradict the principle of respecting local social systems? On the other hand, thesilence that surrounds the delicate issue of inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations- not only in AMAN but also in Indonesia in general - has its roots in the NewOrder and its SARA23 policy which forbade open discussion of issues that wererelated to ethnic, racial, religious and class differences. It seems as if AMAN'sembedding in the global discourse on indigenous people has in some waysunderpinned the tendency to overlook the horizontal social and culturaldifferences inherent in adat communities.

The national and international organisations that support AMAN'sactivities, or address similar issues, are an important audience for the organisation.AMAN is part of a global network of non-governmental organisations and inter-governmental bodies (the ILO (International Labour Organisation), UnitedNations and World Bank) that has, since the 1970s, tried to agree on the definitionof 'indigenous peoples'. This definition needs to cover simultaneously suchdiverse groupings (all consisting of a variety of subgroups) as the Amerindians,Native Americans, Arctic Peoples, African and Indian tribal peoples, AustralianAborigines, and now also the Indonesian adat communities. Various definitionshave been offered, many of them stressing colonial suppression and territoriality,as well as distinctiveness from other sectors of the society (Kingsbury 1995). ByAMAN's definition, masyarakat adat 'is a group of people located in ageographically specific place that has become its property as an inheritance fromits ancestors. The group has its own normative system, ideology, economy,

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

136 REFORMING ADAT

political system, culture and social system'.2 4 This is similar to internationaldefinitions of indigenous peoples in that it emphasises socioeconomic, legal andpolitical conditions as distinctive characteristics. Ethnicity and religion are quiteunsatisfactorily grouped under the terms 'ideology' and 'culture', even though itmay well be that either of these is the exact crucial element that makes a particulargroup feel itself distinct from the surrounding society. That the internationaldefinitions are biased towards socioeconomic and political conditions certainlyrelates to the fact that the social, economic and political rights - mostly those ofNative Americans - were under discussion when the definitions wereformulated. The more groups there are who are interested in being addressed asindigenous around the world, the more difficult it becomes to stretch the definitionto cover the diversity.

A solution that has been offered to the problem of definition, bothinternationally and within AMAN, has been the stress on self-identification of thegroups of people as indigenous. While self-identification is without a doubt abetter option than such derogatory labels attached to people as masyarakatterasing, it still does not offer any solution to the very real problems culturallydiverse communities encounter in everyday life. By making indigeneity the maincriteria for group membership and by allocating national and internationalagencies' funding, education and positions of power to the groups of people whoidentify themselves as masyarakat adat in their region, AMAN may excludeothers who are possibly just as needy but cannot identify with the existingdemarcation. Though AMAN is open to new groups joining the alliance(Li 2001:649), the discourse of indigeneity may also lead to new and strengthenedboundaries between groups at the local level.

CONCLUSION

This article has raised some elements of the Indonesian discourse on indigeneityduring the post-New Order Reformasi era. Although nationally and internationallymuch attention has been paid to land rights and environmental issues in relation tothe position of masyarakat adat in Indonesia, there is a great variety of othertopics that has been brought into public discourse in the regions. For example, thevisual features of adat - which the New Order raised as the dominant if not theonly character of adat through its definition of 'adat as art' - have gained newpolitical importance in some regions.

Though my intention has in no sense been to disparage the struggle AMANand its regional organisations are waging to improve the living conditions andsocial position of Indonesian masyarakat adat, I have also raised some possiblepitfalls that should be addressed in the process. The generalisations that occur in

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 137

national and international definitions of 'indigenous peoples' are apparentlynecessary in order to discuss the large and extremely diverse collection ofcommunities to which the term refers. However, there is a danger that globaldefinitions miss some essential features of the identities of people belonging tothese communities. World religions and ethnicity are parts of identities that arepreferably hushed up in relation to Indonesian adat communities whichsupposedly possess cultural, socioeconomic and political features clusteredtogether as 'adat'. Yet, in some places, such as North Lombok, world religionsand ethnicity are important elements of adat since adat may be territorially,religiously, or ethnically defined in everyday life - and often it is all of thesesimultaneously. At the local level those who are intrigued by the possibilities ofactivism within the sphere of indigeneity - whether in relation to land rights,access to civil administration and government, development of new means oflivelihood, critical discussions on local history, or preservation of local rituals -are compelled to play down some features of their identity and to presentthemselves as a community that matches the outside definition of masyarakatadat.2 5 Within the communities, the indigenous politics that is based on rigidclassifications of adat, rather than assuming the fluidity of the concept, does notnecessarily benefit all members of the community.

NOTES

This paper is based on fieldwork on Lombok 1999-2000. I wish to thank KathrynRobinson and the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian NationalUniversity, for the four months I spent in Canberra, and during which I wrote a paper onwhich this article is based. The paper was presented at a seminar of the Indonesian StudyGroup at The Australian National University. I am also very grateful to Partricia Spyer andGreg Acciaioli as well as two anonymous readers of The Asia Pacific Journal ofAnthropology for their comments.

I See for example Dadang Juliantara's edited volume on the land issues in the regionalautonomy, Otonomi Daerah dan Sengketa Tanah (2000).

2 For a good overview of the topics under discussion see the volume edited by Kartika andGautama (1999) which summarises the discussions of the forum of masyarakat adat inJakarta during which AMAN was established.3 For adat and decentralisation in Indonesian regions see Acciaioli (2001) on Sulawesi,F. Von Benda-Beckmann and K. Von Benda-Beckmann (2001) on West Sumatra andSakai (2002) on South Sumatra.4 This does not mean that land disputes do not occur. There has been at least one courtcase in which the villagers successfully ousted a logging company from their land byappealing to adat, and this dispute took place in the very village I shall discuss in thisarticle. What I mean is that land disputes were not widely discussed at the adat meetingsin North Lombok, and they were not the main feature of adat activities presented to theaudience. Many land disputes, particularly concerning the land that has been taken for the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

138 REFORMING ADAT

development of the tourist industry are under preparation in Lombok, but NGOs active inthis field explained that they wish to postpone the legal procedures as they do not trust thecurrent judges to be favourable to the claims of adat communities.5 The uniform village administrative structures were introduced by the VillageGovernment Law in 1979. In the New Order administrative system two councils, namelyLembaga Masyarakat Desa (LMD) and Lembaga Ketahanan Masyarakat Desa (LKMD),formed the central elements of village government. Both of them were headed by thevillage chief, kepala desa. According to the law on regional autonomy (UU 22/1999) thatbecame applicable at the beginning of 2001, the village has more freedom to decide whatform its governance will take. The term employed in the law for village councils, BadanPerwakilan Desa (BPD), may be adapted to the local terminology.6 The village consists of two ethnic and three religious groups. Half of the population isethnically Sasak and religiously Muslim, some 40 per cent are ethnically Sasak but adhereto Buddhism (Boda), and the remaining 10 per cent are Hindu Balinese.7 Pemangku is an adat official in North Lombok villages, often with specific duties or aguardian of a sacred place.8 According to tradition, black was the colour of pemangku bumi, the adat functionarywho took care of the funerary rituals, thus forming an important link between the livingand the ancestral spirits. However I heard several versions of the colour symbolism inNorth Lombok adat. For the importance of funerary rituals in Sasak culture, see Cederroth(1988) and Telle (2000).9 It is important to note that the adat dress code was only applicable to the adat villagemeetings and those of the new North Lombok adat organisation Perekat Ombara. Othermeetings would require different clothing, depending on the nature of the meeting.10 Lombok Islam is historically divided into two forms. Wetu Telu refers to the syncreticform of Islam that combines Islamic dogma with animist beliefs. It is particularly presentin the western part of the island and has Balinese cultural features. Waktu Lima is anorthodox form of Islam that has spread the modernist Islamic discourse since thebeginning of the twentieth century. Unlike in many other parts of Indonesia, the state has,since the colonial era, tended to support the orthodox (Waktu Lima) Muslims here. For theconflict between Wetu Telu and Waktu Lima see Cederroth (1981).11 For a description, see Cederroth (1996).12 Bodas of Lombok share many features with Budas in East Java who have been studiedby Robert Hefner (1985). The separation of the spheres of adat and religion among Bodasin Lombok started much later than among the Muslim Sasaks. Unlike Islam it was notadvocated by the state authorities and military, but rather followed the struggle betweenTheravada and Buddhayana Buddhism among the Indonesian Buddhists.13 Masyarakat terasing, sometimes also called suku terasing, was a concept mainly usedby the Department of Social Affairs, which was responsibile for the social development ofvillages in the New Order. The term translates as 'isolated community' but also hasconnotations such as 'primitive' and 'alien'. See Persoon (1998).14 The masyarakat/suku terasing label was highly political, even though it was coveredwith socioeconomic categorisations. Bayan, for example, has a much higher economic andeducational level than eastern Lombok villages. The latter, however, would never havebeen defined as terasing since they adhere to the orthodox form of Islam. Thanks to itsgood connections with Jakarta, Bayan managed to negotiate its way out of the suku

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 139

terasing category. Similarly, Atkinson (1987:177) has pointed out that well-connectedgroups like the Toraja of Sulawesi and the Dayaks in South Kalimantan were able tonegotiate the agama position for their local belief systems.15 Some pointed out that adat clothes signify the Sasak system of social ranking which issometimes seen as similar to that of the Balinese. Social ranking is still recognised inLombok, particularly in the names and forms of address. In the village in question, socialranks are not important as the village has only a very few members of upper social ranking(Raden). In the villages which have both Raden and Datu (the descendants of royalfamilies), the social ranking occasionally causes tensions between the elite and thecommoners (Cederroth 1981, Polak 1978).16 Visi Perekat Ombara: Membangun tatanan masyarakat yang berdaulat, demokratis dantranspormatif (Strategic Planning of Perekat Ombara in May 2000).17 REPELITA (Rencana Pembangunan Lima Tahun) were the Five Year DevelopmentPlans of the New Order government that covered all the development programs inIndonesian villages. The New Order's pembangunan policy was based on a top-downapproach, the state institutions planned and organised the development projects while thepeople were considered a 'floating mass', a passive target group of the development ratherthan participating social actors. Regarding Indonesian development under the New Order,see for example the edited volume by Dirkse, HUsken and Rutten (1993).18 For a similar organisation in South Sulawesi, see Sakai (2002).19 As defined in the Anggaran Dasar (statutes) Majelis Adat Sasak.20 Etnis Sasak selama ini selalu terpinggirkan, dalam berbagai hal selalu tertinggal.Sumber daya manusia (SDM) mislanya tidak diberikan kesempatan untuk berkembang.Apresiasi kesenian dan bahasa Sasak belum banyak dikenal. Demikianjuga dengan posisitawar dalam bidang politik sangat lemah ... ada pihak-pihak tertentu di luar Etnis Sasakyang tidak menginginkan masyarakat Sasak untuk maju. Dikatakannya, ada ketakutanyang dirasakan olen pihak-pihak tersebut jika etnis Sasak mengalami kemajuan. Padahal,kata Johan, ketakutan itu tidak harus ada.21 One could say that the gender issue in AMAN has become Indonesianised through theformation of a separate - and nominally parallel - organisation for women. A similardevelopment has taken place in, for example, the Indonesian Committee for Human Rights(Komnas Ham) which has a sister committee for women's rights, Komnas Perempuan.Some women activists have noted that since the formation of the women's section,Komnas Ham has refused to take up cases where the victim of human rights abuse hasbeen a woman and has stated that they should all be handled by Komnas Perempuan. Thushuman rights have oddly become reserved for men.22 Some of the regional representatives have a different attitude towards the Indonesiannation-state, particularly those from Aceh and West Papua. Though their views aretolerated and even welcomed, as an organisation AMAN does not promote them.

23 SARA refers to suku (ethnic groups), agama (religion), ras (race), and antargolongan(class or other kind of social grouping).24 Masyarakat adat adalah kelompok masyarakat setempat yang memiliki asal usulleluhur secara turun temurun di wilayah geografis tertentu, serta memiliki sistem nilai,ideologi, ekonomi, politik, budaya, dan sosial sendiri (The Statutes of AMANArticle 10/2).

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

140 REFORMING ADAT

25 Conklin (1997) in her article on Brazilian Indians has shown how they have skilfullyused the images of their 'primitiveness' in the First World environmentalist discourse, andby doing so have been able to make their voices heard in the legal and political forum.Nevertheless, it has to be taken into account that these expectations of what 'authenticity'in native life entails are based on Western expectations rather than local ideas about whatis important in their culture. When applied, they may cause new kinds of dependenciesand inequalities in the communities.

REFERENCES

Acciaioli, Greg1985 Culture as art: from practice to spectacle in Indonesia. Canberra Anthropology

8(1-2): 148-72.2001 Grounds of conflict, idioms of harmony: custom, religion, and nationalism in

violence avoidance at the Lindu Plain, Central Sulawesi. Indonesia 72:1-34.

Atkinson, Jane Monning1987 Religions in dialogue: the construction of an Indonesian minority religion. In

Rita Smith Kipp and Susan Rodgers (eds), Indonesian religions in transition.Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 171-86.

Cederroth, Sven1981 The spell of ancestors and the power of Mekkah: a Sasak community on

Lombok. Gothenburgh: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.1988 Pouring water and eating food: on the symbolism of death in a Sasak

community on Lombok, Indonesia. In S. Cederroth, C. Corlin andJ. Lindstr6m (eds), On the meaning of death: essays on mortuary rituals andeschatological beliefs. Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology 8. Uppsala:Almqvist and Wiksell, pp. 39-62.

1996 From ancestor worship to monotheism: politics of religion in Lombok.Temenos 32:7-36.

Conklin, Beth A.1997 Body paint, feathers, and VCRs: aesthetics and authenticity in Amazonian

activism. American Ethnologist 24:4:711-37.

Dirkse, Jan-Paul, Frans Husken and Mario Rutten (eds)1993 Development and social welfare: Indonesia's experiences under the New

Order. Leiden: KITLV Press.

Hefner, Robert1985 Hindu Javanese: Tengger tradition and Islam. New Jersey: Princeton

University Press.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

LEENA AVONIUS 141

Juliantara, Dadang (ed.)2000 Otonomi daerah dan sengketa tanah (Regional autonomy and land disputes).

Yogyakarta: Lapera Pustaka Utama.

Kahn, Joel1993 Constituting the Minangkabau: peasants, culture, and modernity in colonial

Indonesia. Oxford: Berg Publishers.

Kartika, Sandra and Candra Gautama (eds)1999 Menggugat posisi masyarakat adat terhadap negara: prosiding sarasehan

masyarakat adat Nusantara Jakarta 15-16 Maret 1999 (Making claims overthe position of adat comunities towards the state: proceedings from themeeting of Nusantara adat communities in Jakarta 15-16 March 1999).Jakarta: AMAN and Lembaga Studi Pers dan Pembangunan.

Kingsbury, Benedict1995 'Indigenous peoples' as an international legal concept. In R.H. Barnes,

Andrew Gray and Benedict Kingsbury (eds), Indigenous peoples of Asia. AnnArbor: The Association of Asian Studies, pp. 13-34.

Li, Tanya Murray2001 Masyarakat adat, difference, and the limits of recognition in Indonesia's forest

zone. Modern Asian Studies 35(3):645-76.

Persoon, Gerard1998 Isolated groups or indigenous peoples: Indonesia and the international

discourse. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 154(2):281-304.

Polak, Albert1978 Traditie en tweespalt in een Sasakse. boerengemeenschap (Tradition and

dissension in a Sasak peasant community). Unpublished PhD thesis.University of Utrecht.

Sakai, Minako2002 Regional responses to resurgence of adat movements in Indonesia. In Minako

Sakai (ed.), Beyond Jakarta: regional autonomy and local society inIndonesia. Adelaide: Crawford House Publishing, pp. 245-69.

Schulte Nordholt, Henk1991 State, village and ritual in Bali. Comparative Asian Studies 7. Amsterdam:

VU University Press.

Telle, Kari G.2000 Feeding the dead: reformulating Sasak mortuary practices. Bijdragen tot de

Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 156(4):771-805.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13

142 REFORMING ADAT

Von Benda-Beckmann, Franz and Keebet Von Benda-Beckmann2001 Actualising history for binding the future: decentralisation in Minangkabau. In

P. Hebinck and G. Verschoor (eds), Resonances and dissonances indevelopment.: actors, networks and cultural repertoires. Assen: Van Gorcum,

pp. 33-47.

WALHI (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia)1997 Penghancuran secara sistematis sistem-sistem adat oleh kelompok dominan

(Systematic annihilation of adat systems by the dominant group). PositionPaper No. 6.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity O

f Pi

ttsbu

rgh]

at 2

3:40

15

Apr

il 20

13