in Indonesien: der Wiederaufbau des Sultanats Jailolo auf Halmahera

Research

This project examines the ways in which the ‘traditional’ political community in Halmahera in the administrative district (kabupaten) of Halmahera Barat is reconstructed through the re-establishment of the Sultanate of Jailolo. It analyses the ideas of social-political legitimacy as well as of the mythical and practical articulation of sovereignty articulated in this reconstruction. The research focuses on the North-Moluccas’ political development, which since 1999 has taken place as a part of the processes of decentralisation and the implementation of regional autonomy. These processes have resulted in an increased responsibility of the single districts and in a newly emerged competition for natural, financial and power-political resources. Special attention is paid to the transformation of concepts of political legitimacy. These transformations follow upon the attempts to democratise the Indonesian State, on the one hand, and upon an growing relevance of regional political models, on the other.