Discourses of Land Conflicts in Indonesia

This article analyses how rural Indonesians involved in land conflicts articulate their claims vis-à-vis palm oil companies and government. Addressing a long-standing debate about the relative importance of laws and rights in the contentious politics of marginalized citizens in the Global South, the authors examine statements of community spokespersons as published in regional newspapers from four Indonesian provinces. They find that this discourse is characterized by an emphasis on social norms and customary traditions, while laws, regulations and conceptions of justice are rarely invoked. The authors argue that this modest and comparatively ‘rightless’ discourse is a consequence of the character of the marginalization facing rural Indonesians. The combination of relative powerlessness and an unreliable legal system forces rural Indonesians to avoid an assertive claiming of rights and, instead, to adopt a more muted and polite tone to cultivate the goodwill of companies and local authorities.