CASE / 2000–2016
Melayu-clan ulayat governance in Nagari Bonjol
A bounded study of communal-forest access, management, and oil-palm plot distribution in Nagari Bonjol.
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Bonjol ulayat governance, 2000–2016 2000–2016
Observed Melayu-clan rules and practices concerning the claimed ulayat forest and smallholder plots; excludes other Bonjol clans and other Minangkabau communities.
Formal design
observation
The study describes Melayu-clan ulayat as collectively held land to which clan members could seek access.
observation
The Bonjol authors describe harta pusaka as ancestral property transmitted through the female line.
observation
An agreement negotiated by male clan representatives called for 1,000 hectares of oil-palm smallholdings to be divided into two-hectare plots for 500 Bonjol households as compensation for transferred land.
Rules in use
observation
A Datuak, or titled customary leader, and mamak kepala waris, maternal-kin property managers, managed the Melayu clan’s ulayat rather than owning it personally.
observation
The authors report that forest land opened for cultivation became harta pusaka, rendered harato pusako in their article.
observation
In the Bonjol study, women’s inherited claims did not confer the authority held by male officeholders to negotiate forest access.
observation
Key informants reported that male customary officeholders facilitated transactions giving officials and other outsiders access to large areas of Melayu-clan ulayat.
observation
The authors describe the reported outsider transactions as contrary to the customary rule governing Melayu-clan ulayat.
Interactions
observation
The study reports that male signatories controlled the recipient list for the promised smallholdings.
Observed outcomes
observation
The authors report that the recipient list favored signatories’ relatives and associates.
observation
The authors report that the recipient list excluded many Melayu-clan members.