Adat dan Kuasa : Studi Tentang Upaya Penyimbang Adat di Lampung Meraih Kekuasaan di Era Reformasi

Arie Oktara, Amalinda Savirani

2015 | Tesis | Politik dan Pemerintahan

Abstract This study try to answer one main question, that is “How is The Strategies Of ‘Penyimbang Adat’ In Lampung To gain Power In The Era of Reform?” Penyimbang is a term for adat leaders in Lampung. At least until the Dutch Colonial Government, the Penyimbang plays an important role in social and political in Lampung because of its status as an entity who topped the hierarchy of adat. But their role is eroded gradually as the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia and culminated in the New Order era, especially after the implementation of Law Number 5/ 1979 about Village Governance, which is to replace the entire system of traditional governance in Indonesia with the village, led by the village head who directly elected. As from then, the power of the Penyimbang in Lampung practically lost. Since what is called “reformation” took place in 1998, the demand for distribution of power which was centralized in the New Order era, massively waged by many regions in all over Indonesia. Since then, the efforts of Penyimbang in Lampung to gain power by exploiting its symbolic status as a leader in adat communities also took place on massive scale. As happened in other areas in Indonesia, the rise of adat leaders in Lampung more intense especially since of Law 22/ 1999 was issued and then being applied. This law among others contains the recognition of state on adat law communities along with their traditional rights as long as they still “live”. Various strategies then performed by penyimbang to waged for power. This study found that the strategies they have embarked depend primarily on three factors that are interrelated; ownership of capital (economic and cultural); network; and last factor is social and political changes in the region. These three factors, intertwined with political issues then affects the selection of strategies they use to gain power: collaborating, or vis-à-vis with the state, or in Accaioli’s terms that used for this study: officializing strategy or opposing strategy. In some cases, both strategies were waged alternately or even simultaneously. Finally, this study underlines some notes on similar studies that have been done. First, this study agreed that the fundamental issues of power-in the context of adat resurrection-is the problem of legitimacy, or something to justify or rationalize the presence of adat (leader). Secondly, that the strategy undertaken by adat leaders to gain power at the local level in the reform era is closely related to (political) issue, which then influence the strategy to (re) gain power. Third, this study complements previous studies that says the entrance used by the adat leaders in many areas in Indonesia to (re) gain their power in the local sphere is not Law 22/1999 as agreed by many. This study found that in the context of Lampung, the entrance used by indigenous leaders it is the collapse of the New Order itself. (Keywords: Adat, Penyimbang, Power, Officializing Strategy, Opposing Strategy)

Kata Kunci : Kebudayaan; Masyarakat Adat