L.G.H. Bakker

The space between: land claims and the law in Indonesia

In 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.

Illegality for the general good? Vigilantism and social responsibility in contemporary Indonesia:

This article analyses the impact of ormas – mass organizations – as non-state violent actors in the politics and economy of Indonesian regional society. The central element is the question whether threats of violence as well as the actual performance of violence by non-state actors serve the ‘general good’ that the state, and therefore these non-state actors appropriating its authority, stand to protect or rather the particular interests of those in charge of the organizations. The article considers the tainted history of ormas as militias affiliated to the New Order regime and involved in crime in seeking to come to terms with the present claim of regional ormas to being lawful and patriotic defenders of regional interests against predatory national elites. Using heuristic analyses of ormas activities, the article considers discourses of ormas legitimacy in the light of the appropriation of sovereign violent practices as manifestations of democracy.

Between Land Grabbing and Farmers' Benefits: Land Transfers in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Rapid growth of oil palm cultivation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia has increased both the pace and size of land transfers from farmers to big companies and city-based investors. This process has been widely conceptualised as ‘top-down land grabbing’ but this perspective largely neglects the agency of the farmers. This paper seeks to shed light on the agency of farmers with respect to how they respond to land transfer schemes. Through a study of land transfers under nucleus estate schemes (NES), schemes that were introduced by the Indonesian government in which smallholding farms are integrated parts of a modern, large size plantation company, we will show that agrarian dynamics are shaped by notions of what is ‘fair’ and ‘just’.

Smallholder bargaining power in large-scale land deals: a relational perspective

What capacity do smallholders have to influence key decisions in large-scale land deals to their own advantage, in particular in their own localities? Though the cards are stacked against them, micro processes on the ground show great variations. We put the magnifying glass on local power dynamics to explore both opportunities and constraints to the bargaining power of smallholders as they resist land deals or struggle for (better terms of) inclusion. We propose a relational perspective, in the sense that we focus on the social relations through which smallholders may ‘produce’ power, access power resources and profit from leverage vis-à-vis investors – constrained by wider power configurations. Drawing on our research in Indonesia and the Philippines augmented with other case studies on Southeast Asia, we highlight (1) relations of interdependency with investors; (2) ‘horizontal’ relations of shared interests and identity; (3) tactical relations with state officials; (4) relations with specialists in violence; and (5) relations with supra-local civil society groups. Explorative in nature, this contribution suggests an analytical lens to study sources of smallholder bargaining power and vulnerability in large-scale land deals.

Cutting off the King's head: security and normative order beyond the state

Abstract Central to the ‘liberal political tradition’ is the legitimacy of violence enacted by the state. While, since the Cold War, the horizons of security have broadened beyond the national boundaries of states, the sovereign state acting as the principal security agent remains the central tenet of the modern world order. Yet in much of the contemporary world, if the provision of security were ever the sole preserve of states this is no longer the case. This article, and the others gathered here that it acts as a preamble to, argue that there is a pressing need for greater comprehension of the complexities and dynamics of power relations through which security and justice are enacted. It briefly considers other conceptual and theoretical frameworks better suited to model these relations in ways that do not proceed simply from normative, global assumptions as to the forms that these relations should take. It concludes by stressing the necessity for grounded, empirical study of the everyday practices of security arrangements and actors in the contemporary world.

New frontiers: an enriched perspective on extraction frontiers in Indonesia

ABSTRACT Changes in the nature, scale, and speed of natural resource extraction, especially in the last two decades, have resulted in many new resource extraction areas emerging across the world. By zooming in on Indonesia, this article shows that the underlying causes and consequences of current trends are more complex than portrayed by the rancher-squatter model of frontiers that is still frequently used to explain these developments. We argue that a broadened frontier notion is necessary to address the multifaceted nature of the processes underway in contemporary Indonesian extraction areas, as well as beyond. We propose a perspective that pays explicit attention to four new developments that can be described by using the hybridization of space, time, actors, and rules, and are characterized by the fact that these processes create new perimeters in all four mentioned areas. In so doing, we challenge, broaden, and renew the meaning of frontiers.

Militias, Security and Citizenship in Indonesia

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Introduction: Citizenship and Democratization in Postcolonial Southeast Asia

Citation for published version (APA): Berenschot, W., Schulte Nordholt, H., & Bakker, L. (2017). Introduction: Citizenship and Democratization in Postcolonial Southeast Asia. In W. Berenschot, H. Schulte Nordtholt, & L. Bakker (Eds.), Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia (pp. 1-30). (Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia; Vol. 115). Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004329669_002

Foreign images in Mentawai Authenticity and the exotic

Human cultures and groups, when defining themselves, compare themselves with others. Names used to denote other groups often refer to characteristics associated with these groups, frequently in a way that expresses the superiority of the naming group or the strangeness or even danger of the named group. Derogatory terms such as ‘barbarians’, ‘head-cutters’ or simply ‘edible ones’ are examples of names referring to dangerous traits. The number of groups in the world using a name for themselves that translates simply as ‘human’ to differentiate themselves from neighbouring groups is staggering.

Digital media and Malaysia’s electoral reform movement

On the sunny afternoon of April 28, 2012, more than 200,0002 protesters hit the streets for the largest street demonstration in Malaysia in decades. The protest that day was held under the banner of Bersih 3.0, which is the third in a series of rallies that started in 2007 and reoccurred in 2011. Bersih, which is what the movement has been popularly called, comes from a Malay word that literally means ‘clean’. It is a nickname for the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections attempting to reform the existing electoral system in Malaysia by addressing pervasive electoral misconducts to ensure a free, fair and ‘clean’ election. The first Bersih rally in 2007 was commonly attributed to the shift in political landscapes in the 2008 general election where the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (bn)3 failed to obtain two-thirds of the super majority for the first time since 1969. The third and the largest rally, Bersih 3.0 in 2012, was held a year before the 2013 general election. Accordingly, it can be credited not only for mobilizing the highest voter turnout in the Malaysian history, but also for the relative success of an oppositional coalition Pakatan Rakyat (pr).4 Although the ruling