Tradition in the Modern State: Narrative of Origin in the Contemporary Political and Economic Contestations of the Kei Islanders, Eastern Indonesia Dedi Supriadi Adhuri (Research Centre for Society and Culture Indonesian Institute of Sciences/LIPI) A prominent criticism directed to the Indonesian New Order Regime was that its centralised policies had put to an end to...Read More

Discourse on Special Autonomy in Papua: The Transition in Traditional Views of Politics and Democracy Frenky Simanjuntak (Centre for East Indonesian Affairs) The implementation of special autonomy status in Papua Province has been problematic. It seems that the government is still reluctant to fully recognize this status, even though it has been declared for some...Read More

 Otonomi Daerah, Suatu Kemajuan atau Kemunduran? Studi Kasus Kecamatan Haharu, Kabupaten Dati II Sumba Timur, Propinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur Eninofa W. Rambe (Wahana Visi Indonesia) Tulisan ini ingin mengulas tentang kebijakan otonomi daerah yang dirancang secara nasional terhadap konteks sosial budaya yang unik di Kabupaten Sumba Timur dengan studi kasus di beberapa desa di Kecamatan...Read More

Great Expectations and the Sobering Reality of Autonomy: The Island of Savu in the Early Years of Decentralizaton Genevieve Duggan (National University of Singapore) The profound changes in Indonesian society since the end of the orde baru, have affected isolated islands like Savu, NTT in ways that the local population had not anticipated. During the...Read More

Asset Based Community Development in Indonesia: Case Studies from Buton and Bajawa Andrew McWilliam and Kathryn Robinson (Australian National University) This paper reports on the progress of a 4 year action research project in Buton (Sulawesi Tenggara) and Bajawa (Ngada District, Flores) directed towards the promotion of people-centred local economic enterprise in the context of...Read More