Adat Institutionalisation, the State and the Quest for Self-Determination in West Papua

Abstract

In West Papua, which encompasses the Papua and West Papua provinces of Indonesia, adat has been codified as an integral part of decentralised governance and development policies. Unlike other places where adat has been institutionalised, the institutionalisation of adat governance in West Papua is marked by contestation not only between different forms of adat institutions but also by competing political ideologies of national liberation. By tracing the history of various institutional frameworks in which adat and ‘adat communities’ are accommodated by the state, and elucidating non-state institutionalisation, this article demonstrates how adat remains a political battleground for various political actors in West Papua, including the Indonesian central government and Papuan independence movements. My article argues that the case of West Papua sets the limit for Indonesian adat discourses particularly in addressing Papuan articulations of their indigeneity and in accommodating demands for sovereignty.