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Binnen de (internationale) literatuur over kwalitatieve onderzoeksmethoden bestaat inmiddels een substantieel corpus over case studies, wat voor het nieuwe boek van Thomas en Myers meteen de vraag brengt of de auteurs nog nieuwe inzichten kunnen toevoegen. Om met een spoiler te beginnen: het boek is zonder meer een originele en nuttige bijdrage aan de case study literatuur. Diegenen die vooral het werk van Gary Thomas volgen, zullen zonder meer ideeën en elementen uit eerdere artikelen en boekbijdragen herkennen in enkele hoofdstukken, maar bijeengebracht in boekvorm bieden ze een sterke basis aan de auteurs om hun anatomische les op te bouwen en zo nadrukkelijk nieuwe inzichten toe te voegen.

This paper deals with the impact of direct bupati (district head) elections on local politics with regard to land confl icts in the district of Paser, Indonesia. I discuss the position and infl uence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in this process and their usage of adat-based land claims. The paper is concerned with the internal political context of government-NGO power relations as well as with the position and profi ling of these parties in Paserese society at large. The subject is approached through a discussion of two 'land' occupations (one in fact being a sea occupation) by groups claiming adat rights, and of the measures taken by the local government and NGOs alike. The new importance of regional politics and local responsibility of those in power in Paser are reviewed against the background of Indonesian political reform. I argue that results are likely to be determined by a specifi c local context and momentum rather than by nationwide developments.

People need land: to live on, to grow foodstuffs and to obtain the many natural resources required in the global economy. Control over land and its riches hence is a powerful asset. "Who Owns the Land?" is a multidisciplinary study of discourses of land rights and control over land to shed new light on the creation, maintenance and functioning of authority in East Kalimantan. In 1998 the Southeast Asian economic crisis hit Indonesia, and brought an end to more than three decades of authoritative rule by the New Order regime. What followed was Reformasi –reform- a process of reinventing Indonesia. More presidents took and lost office than in all preceding years, democracy arrived with a vengeance and the shape and future of Indonesian society was the subject of serious national debate. Decentralization of legislative power to regional government was seen as a desired solution in the post-authoritarian state. Yet decades of New Order rule left its mark, notably in a widespread social understanding of clientelism and nepotism, rather than democracy and liberalism as characteristic of governance. Decentralization thus created an arena in which reformers, New Order conservatives, local elites and such forces as materialised along ethnic and religious lines, could have it out. "Who Owns the Land?" deals with the effects of decentralization on control over land in the sparsely populated and resource-rich province of East Kalimantan. Laurens Bakker takes a socio-legal perspective in researching the effects of decentralization on access to land, and approaches the issue of land rights and their regulation through official legislation as well as from the perspective of the local population. This study deals with how land rights are argued, with the strategies of obtaining rights. It seeks to find out how rights are formulated, based on which criteria, and by whom. Based on extensive field research among rural and semi-urban population groups, among NGOs and inside the newly empowered regional bureaucracies in East Kalimantan, the focus of the book lies on the argumentation and success of claims rather than on their legal validity; on the discourse rather than the code. This book thus offers a unique insight into the legal situation of land tenure, the ways in which authority functions, regulatory rules are formulated, complied with, and enforced in post-New Order, Reformasi Indonesia.

In diesem Artikel untersuche ich die Auswirkungen der Direktwahlen des bupati (Distriktsvorstehers) auf die politische Lage innerhalb des Bezirks Paser, Indonesien. Dabei diskutiere ich die Einflussnahme diverser Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NGOs) auf den Wahlprozess und auf die Lösung lokaler Landkonfl ikte. Die NGOs unterstützen adat-basierte Forderungen der Bevölkerung auf gesicherte Landbesitzverhältnisse. Sowohl der interne politische Kontext als auch die Position und Selbstdarstellung der Regierungs- und Nichtregierungsakteure innerhalb der Gesellschaft Pasers werden untersucht und anhand der Diskussion zweier Landbesetzungen (eine dieser Besetzungen ist faktisch eine 'Meeresbesetzung') veranschaulicht. Regionalismus und die Haftbarkeit lokaler Regierungsakteure werden im Zuge der derzeitigen politischen Reformen Indonesiens zunehmend wichtiger. Ich argumentiere, dass lokale politische Ereignisse in erster Linie durch lokale Kontexte bzw. Eigendynamiken und nicht etwa durch landesweite politische Trends verursacht werden. ; This paper deals with the impact of direct bupati (district head) elections on local politics with regard to land conflicts in the district of Paser, Indonesia. I discuss the position and influence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in this process and their usage of adat-based land claims. The paper is concerned with the internal political context of government-NGO power relations as well as with the position and profi ling of these parties in Paserese society at large. The subject is approached through a discussion of two 'land' occupations (one in fact being a sea occupation) by groups claiming adat rights, and of the measures taken by the local government and NGOs alike. The new importance of regional politics and local responsibility of those in power in Paser are reviewed against the background of Indonesian political reform. I argue that results are likely to be determined by a specific local context and momentum rather than by nationwide developments.

This paper is a case study into the effects of hak ulayat (indigenous land rights) claims on policies in the local districts of Nunukan and Pasir, East Kalimantan, after the collapse of the New Order regime in Indonesia in 1998. Nunukan has recognised hak ulayat, while Pasir intended to do so but abandoned this plan after popular protest. Whereas Indonesian law has undertaken considerable steps to define hak ulayat, studying district government considerations of ulayat claims through a strictly legal approach is too narrow to be of much actual use. The influence of local conceptions of hak ulayat and the stance of local authorities on the subject can be better understood through the inclusion of social, political and power relations which bring other interests to the fore. Such an analysis shows that not only is the law not the only authority in regulating hak ulayat, it is also caught in an inconvenient split between aspirations to nationwide applicability and the demands of local diversity.

AbstractIn this article we look at rights discourses and law as an arena of struggle in which local people attempt to gain and secure access to localities of value. Following administrative decentralisation in 1999, throughout Indonesia, individuals and communities lodged land claims. To support these claims, multiple sources of legitimation were used. Among others: customary rights; a history of using the land; or official land law. We focus on the interaction between these groups and the government officials whose authority is required to grant access. We look at conflicts, as well as alliances, in nine different settings and discern three basic constellations through which legitimation is sought: (1) national state institutions; (2) regional autonomy opportunities; and (3) extra-legal arrangements. We find that the lowest levels of government offer the best chances of success but that security increases with higher levels of ratification. We show that broad alliances present an efficient strategy to gain rights to land and that it is vital for local communities to include government bodies, or capture official law's agency.

Preliminary Material /Ward Berenschot , Henk Schulte Nordholt and Laurens Bakker -- Introduction: Citizenship and Democratization in Postcolonial Southeast Asia /Ward Berenschot , Henk Schulte Nordholt and Laurens Bakker -- Citizen Participation and Decentralization in the Philippines /Emma Porio -- Everyday Citizenship in Village Java /Takeshi Ito -- Elections and Emerging Citizenship in Cambodia /Astrid Norén-Nilsson -- Sosialisasi, Street Vendors and Citizenship in Yogyakarta /Sheri Lynn Gibbings -- Militias, Security and Citizenship in Indonesia /Laurens Bakker -- Custom and Citizenship in the Philippine Uplands /Oona Paredes -- Citizenship and Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia /David Kloos and Ward Berenschot -- Digital Media and Malaysia's Electoral Reform Movement /Merlyna Lim -- Citizenship, Rights and Adversarial Legalism in Thailand /Wolfram Schaffar -- Defending Indonesia's Migrant Domestic Workers /Mary Austin -- Yellow vs. Red and the Rise of a New Middle Class in Thailand /Apichat Satitniramai -- Index /Ward Berenschot , Henk Schulte Nordholt and Laurens Bakker.

By providing various fascinating first-hand accounts of how citizens negotiate their rights in the context of weak state institutions, Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia offers a unique bottom-up perspective on the evolving character of public life in democratizing Southeast Asia. Readership: All interested in politics and governance in Southeast Asia, as well as scholars concerned with citizenship in postcolonial states.