Browsing by Author "Thorburn, Craig"

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Long Row to Hoe: Decentralization, Reformasi, and Land Management Policy in Indonesia
(2004) Thorburn, Craig
"The turbulent events in Indonesia during the closing years of the 20th century prompted the reopening of public discussion on many long-standing issues of social and economic reform. Land reform is one of many agendas that have preoccupied policy makers, scholars and activists as the nation attempts to reinvent itself in the wake of the collapse of the 32- year New Order government of ex-President Suharto. This article examines some of the main debates swirling around the issue of land management and policy during the post-Suharto reformasi period, and provides illustrations of current problems and emerging trends. The article begins with a brief overview of land law and policy in Indonesia, followed a discussion of its philosophical and ideological basis. This is followed by a discussion of government reform during the New Order period and beyond, and the social and environmental costs of Indonesia's development. The discussion then turns to efforts to decentralise government, and its implications on land administration and policy. Case study examples are provided to illustrate the complex dynamic unfolding across the country."
Musibah: Entitlements, Violence and Reinventing Tradition in the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku
(2002) Thorburn, Craig
"The Kei Islands of Southeast Maluku are renowned for their strong and vital customary law (adat). Revealed in seven edicts, with several sets of sub-clauses, Hukum Larwul Ngabal ranks among the more fully elaborated, formalized adat law codes of Maluku. It has survived four centuries of sporadic warfare, the conversion of most of the islands population to Islam and Christianity, a half century of colonial rule, the turmoil of the early Republican era, and the order and progress of the New Order period. The former Bupati (District Head) of Southeast Maluku, Haji Hussein Rahayaan, had the words Larvul Ngabal emblazoned in two-meter letters on a concrete wall over a major intersection in the district capital Tual. He was fond of exclaiming, 'When we speak of law in Kei, we mean first and foremost Hukum Larwul Ngabal. After that there is the religious law of the al-Quran and the Bible, and thirdly the formal law of the Republic of Indonesia.' "For three months in early 1999, all law ceased to function in the Kei Islands. Intercommunal violence had broken out in the provincial capital Ambon in January that year, quickly escalating into a bloody civil war that has killed more than 5,000 people and displaced roughly 500,000 more. Once held up as a model of religious and ethnic harmony, communities in Ambon, Ceram, Buru and other islands in Central Maluku have become both perpetrators and victims of savage assaults and vigilante justice. The main dividing line between the two sides is religious identification, though religious issues were not at the core of the fighting when it first erupted. "When it began, few people believed that this conflict would spread to Kei, Tanimbar or the Southernmost Islands. Of the disbursed archipelagos comprising the District (Kabupaten) of Southeast Maluku, only Aru experienced any fighting during the opening months of the conflict."
The Plot Thickens: Decentralisation and Land Administration in Indonesia
(2003) Thorburn, Craig
From p. 1: "The turbulent events in Indonesia during the closing years of the 20th century prompted the reopening of public discussion on many long-standing issues of social and economic reform. Land reform is one of many agendas that has preoccupied policy makers, scholars and activists as the nation attempts to reinvent itself in the wake of the collapse of the 32-year New Order government of ex-President Suharto. Voices from different sectors of society and state question whether Indonesia's 40-year-old agrarian laws and new regional and village autonomy laws are appropriate to address persistent and growing problems of social welfare and justice and stagnating production."
Provincial Government and Local Community Endeavours to Reform Village (Negeri) Government in Maluku, Eastern Indonesia
(2006) Thorburn, Craig
"This paper looks at provincial and district governments efforts to establish appropriate frameworks that revive customary terminologies and sensibilities, while attempting to promote values of democracy, transparency and accountability. The government's legalistic, decree-driven approach contrasts with the more organic, grass-roots approach currently underway in several villages throughout the province."
The REDD Rush in Indonesia
(2011) Thorburn, Craig
"Globally, deforestation accounts for up to 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, or about 5.8 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent released into the atmosphere each year. This is more than the total emissions from the global transport sector. Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is a mechanism that proposes to use market/financial incentives to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation in a measurable and verifiable way. The basic concept is to set a market value for carbon that is not released into the atmosphere, comparing a theoretical baseline set according to historical deforestation trends, to savings achieved through improved forest management (i.e., reductions in conversion to non-forest uses, controlling illegal logging, etc.). ‘REDD-plus’ expands the scope of REDD beyond avoided deforestation and degradation to include forest restoration, rehabilitation, sustainable management and afforestation/reforestation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report proposed that reducing deforestation would have a large and rapid effect on reducing global carbon emissions (ibid)."
Regime Change: Prospects for Community-Based Resource Management in Post-New Order Indonesia
(2002) Thorburn, Craig
"In January 2001, Indonesia embarked on an historic effort to devolve many functions and responsibilities of government from the center to the district level. These changes are being attempted in the midst of the political and economic uncertainty that continue to bedevil Indonesia's government and population years after the 'East Asian crisis' swept through the region in 1997-98. After decades of centralized control of economic and political development, the country's more than 360 district and municipal governments are suddenly placed in charge of managing nearly all affairs of state, excluding foreign policy, monetary policy, religion, and security. This essay examines emergent natural resource and environmental management consequences of this momentous transformation. Long promoted by social scientists and development agencies, it now appears that decentralization brings with it a host of new worries and problems. Indonesia's decentralization effort is still in the initial stages, and many of the problems have roots in previous regimes."
Regime Change: Prospects for Community-Based Resource Management in Post-New Order Indonesia
(2001) Thorburn, Craig
"In January 2001, Indonesia embarked on an historic effort to devolve many functions and responsibilities of government from the center to the district level. These changes are being attempted in the midst of the political and economic uncertainty that continue to bedevil Indonesias government and population years after the 'East Asian crisis' swept through the region in 1997-98. After decades of centralized control of economic and political development, the country's more than 360 district and municipal governments are suddenly placed in charge of managing nearly all affairs of state, excluding foreign policy, monetary policy, religion, and security. This essay examines emergent natural resource and environmental management consequences of this momentous transformation. Long promoted by social scientists and development agencies, it now appears that decentralization brings with it a host of new worries and problems. Indonesia's decentralization effort is still in the initial stages, and many of the problems have roots in previous regimes."
Strategic Engagement and Dynamic Adaption: Customary Forest Management in Kerinci, Central Sumatra, Indonesia
(2008) Hartanto, Herlina; Haripriya, Ragnan; Thorburn, Craig; Christian, Kull
"The ability of communities to use and manage forests and other natural resources in a sustainable manner has received much interest from various scholars, policymakers, donor agencies, and non-government organisations. With regards to the management of forests and natural resources by customary communities in Indonesia, there are two opposing views of the customary institutions, or adat, and management practices. Some perceive adat institutions and management practices as weak, inert, and incapable of responding to changing economic and social conditions. Others see adat institutions as politically dynamic and innovative in their response to changing circumstances. This paper examines the strategies and processes used by adat leaders in Kerinci, Central Sumatra, to adapt and transform their customary forest institutions in response to the national governments policies for increased forest conservation. These policies were instituted by the creation of the Kerinci-Seblat National Park, accompanied by regulations defining forest areas and controlling peoples access to natural resources within the park and the buffer zone. Drawing on key concepts in legal pluralism, institutional change, and theories of power, the paper illustrates the ways in which the adat leaders reshaped adat institutions and engaged with powerful external actors to claim authority and management rights over the forests. The conclusions point to need for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners to move beyond typecasting adat institutions and focus instead on the strategic ways in which adat leaders and communities engage with local governments and external actors to redefine both customary and formal institutions of forest control and management."