<![CDATA[Legal recognition of local identity does not necessarily confer an equivalent position within the state. This study examines how state law frames local identity in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and Pattani, Thailand, focusing on forms of recognition, institutionalization, scope of authority, and legal boundaries. The study employs normative legal research using statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches. The analysis examines legal frameworks concerning Yogyakarta’s special status, culture, governmental authorities, and cultural policies, as well as Pattani’s application of Islamic law, language, and education. The findings identify two models of legal framing. Yogyakarta represents institutionalized recognition, in which cultural identity is legitimized through special status, governmental authorities, institutional arrangements, and cultural policies, incorporating local identity into state governance. Pattani represents selective accommodation, in which Malay-Muslim identity receives legal space through sectors, particularly religion, language, and education, without comprehensive institutional recognition. The study concludes that legal recognition is ambivalent: law strengthens local identity through legitimacy and protection while regulating it through categorization, regulation, and constraints on authority. Thus, the position of local identity depends on institutional depth and legal boundaries of recognition.]]>
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