Tension Between Recognition and Administration in the Arrangement of Customary Villages in Maluku

Natanel Lainsamputty (Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah Mada)
Andy Omara (Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah Mada)

Indonesian State Law Review (ISLRev)
Vol. 8 No. 2 (2025): Indonesian State Law Review, October 2025

This study aims to analyze the arrangement of customary villages within the Indonesian legal system by examining the tension between the recognition approach and the administrative approach, as well as its implications for legal certainty and the legitimacy of customary law communities, particularly in Maluku. This research employs an empirical legal method with a socio-legal approach, integrating normative analysis of laws and regulations with empirical data obtained through interviews and document studies. The findings indicate that, conceptually, the arrangement of customary villages is based on a recognition approach that is declarative in nature, where the state acknowledges the existence of customary law communities as pre-existing legal subjects. However, in practice, the administrative approach tends to dominate, causing recognition to depend on bureaucratic procedures and formal state determination. This condition leads to a shift from declarative recognition to constitutive recognition, resulting in tensions between state law and the social realities of indigenous communities. Furthermore, empirical findings in Maluku reveal diverse conditions of customary law communities, ranging from those that remain substantively strong to those experiencing fragmentation and stagnation, which cannot be fully accommodated by uniform regulatory frameworks. In conclusion, the arrangement of customary villages in Indonesia still faces both conceptual and practical challenges due to the dominance of administrative approaches that are not fully aligned with the principle of recognition. Therefore, a reconstruction of customary village governance is necessary by positioning recognition as the primary foundation, supported by adaptive and context-sensitive administrative mechanisms based on the social realities of customary law communities. This approach is expected to ensure legal certainty while maintaining the social legitimacy and sustainability of indigenous communities within the national legal system.