The shifting politics of law in the recognition of customary court in Papua following the enactment of of Special Autonomy Act.

Source: (2014) US-China Law Review. 11:367-388.

This research article discusses the historical development of the
politics of law in the recognition of Papua customary court. It also
discusses the motives of the Indonesian government’s politics of law in the
recognition of customary court as reflected in the Papua Special Autonomy
Act.
This study belongs to a doctrinal legal research which incorporates
several approaches including historical, statute, conceptual and
philosophical approach. The legal documents used as the source of data in
this article were gathered through identification techniques and analyzed
using textual analysis method. The analysis was done qualitatively by
employing interpretative methods.
Based on the analysis, this research finds that historically, both
central and local governments have been involved in a power struggle over
Papua. The central government, however, has a greater authority by
exercising its politics of law to recognize Papua indigenous people’s
customary courts. The government, this article argues, undertakes such a
move to gain the natives’ trust and consequently gain more dominance over
Papua. The research also finds that the government recognizes the existence of Papua customary court because of these several following reasons. The
recognition is used as a compromise between the central government and
the native Papuans. The recognition is also given due to the mounting
pressures on the fulfillment of customary rights of the native Papuans. It is
also given as a fulfillment offundamental values inscribed in Papua special
autonomy, which include protection to the natives’ fundamental rights,
protection of human rights and protection of pluralism. (author’s abstract)