The Noken System and Distorted Political Participation in Lanny Jaya’s 2024 Regional Election
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46507/jclp.v4i2.803Keywords:
Noken System, Political Participation, Local Democracy, Costumary LawAbstract
This study analyzes the implementation of the Noken System in the 2024 Lanny Jaya Regency Head and Deputy Regency Head Elections and its impact on the political participation of indigenous Papuans. The Noken System, as a collective voting practice based on local wisdom, has gained constitutional legitimacy through Constitutional Court Decision Number 47-81/PHPU.A-VII/2009. However, its implementation creates a paradox between the principle of electoral democracy, which emphasizes individual voting rights, and the tradition of communal deliberation among indigenous peoples. This study uses a qualitative approach with a case study method, collecting data through in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and document analysis. The results show that the Noken System in Lanny Jaya Regency has undergone a transformation from a traditional deliberation mechanism to a political mobilization tool that is vulnerable to politicization and elite intervention. The role of the Big Man as the determinant of collective choice has shifted from traditional legitimacy to a transactional patronage-client relationship. This study found three patterns of political participation, such as authentic communal participation based on customary consensus, participation guided by elites, and transactional participation involving material exchanges. This study contributes to the theory of legal pluralism and deliberative democracy by revealing the complexity of negotiations between state law and customary law in the context of Indonesian electoral democracy.
References
Agustine, O. V. (2019). Implementasi Noken Sebagai Hukum Tidak Tertulis Dalam Sistem Hukum Nasional. Jurnal Rechts Vinding: Media Pembinaan Hukum Nasional, 8(1), 69. https://doi.org/10.33331/rechtsvinding.v8i1.302
Aspinall, E., & Berenschot, W. (2019). Democracy for sale: Elections, clientelism, and the state in Indonesia. Cornell University Press.
Aspinall, E., & Mietzner, M. (2019). Indonesia’s Democratic Paradox: Competitive Elections amidst Rising Illiberalism. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 55(3), 295–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2019.1690412
Cornwall, A. (2016). Women’s Empowerment: What Works? Journal of International Development, 28(3), 342–359. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3210
Dalton, R. J. (2017). The participation gap: Social status and political inequality. In The Participation Gap: Social Status and Political Inequality. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198733607.001.0001
Efriandi, T., Couwenberg, O., & Holzhacker, R. L. (2021). The Noken System and the Challenge of Democratic Governance at the Periphery: An Analysis of Free and Fair Elections in Papua, Indonesia. In Challenges of Governance: Development and Regional Integration in Southeast Asia and ASEAN (pp. 65–85). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59054-3_4
Faiz, P. M., Isra, S., Rachman, I. N., Ghoffar, A., & Fahmi, K. (2023a). Big man, bag or ballot box? Upholding legal pluralism through noken as a traditional system of voting in elections in Papua, Indonesia. Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis, 55(3), 339–365. https://doi.org/10.1080/27706869.2023.2274167
Faiz, P. M., Isra, S., Rachman, I. N., Ghoffar, A., & Fahmi, K. (2023b). Big man, bag or ballot box? Upholding legal pluralism through noken as a traditional system of voting in elections in Papua, Indonesia. Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis, 55(3), 339–365. https://doi.org/10.1080/27706869.2023.2274167
Fox, J. A. (2015). Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say? World Development, 72, 346–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.011
Hernawan, B. (2015). Torture as a Mode of Governance: Reflections on the Phenomenon of Torture in Papua, Indonesia. From “Stone-Age” to “Real-Time”: Exploring Papuan Temporalities, Mobilities and Religiosities, 195–220. https://doi.org/10.22459/fsart.04.2015.08
Irnawati, I., Maruapey, A., Ohorella, S., Febriadi, I., & Jeni Maipauw, N. (2023). Social Culture and Localism of Mee Tribe In Knowing Noken At Beko Village Obano District Regency Paniai, Province of Papua. KnE Social Sciences, 45–54. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v8i4.12881
Iversen, V., Krishna, A., & Sen, K. (2019). Beyond Poverty Escapes - Social Mobility in Developing Countries: A Review Article. World Bank Research Observer, 34(2), 239–273. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkz003
Kosec, K., & Wantchekon, L. (2020). Can information improve rural governance and service delivery? World Development, 125, 104376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.07.017
Lightfoot, S. (2016). Global indigenous politics: A subtle revolution. In Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315670669
Marit, E. L. (2018). NOKEN DAN PEREMPUAN PAPUA: Analisis Wacana Gender dan Ideologi. Melanesia : Jurnal Ilmiah Kajian Bahasa Dan Sastra, 1(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.30862/jm.v1i1.736
Mietzner, M. (2015). Indonesia: Democratic consolidation and stagnation under Yudhoyono, 2004–2014. In Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Democratization (pp. 370–383). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315674735-32
Moore, A. (2018). Deliberative Democracy and Science. The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy, 640–654. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198747369.013.16
Muksin, D., Rizqi, S. K., & Pawane, A. R. (2022). Political Clientalism in the Regional Head Election (RHE) Noken System in Jayawijaya Regency, Papua Province. Perspektif, 11(4), 1250–1259. https://doi.org/10.31289/perspektif.v11i4.6503
Nadziri, A., & Mashari. (2024). Reformulation of Handling Violations of Civil Servant Neutrality in Fair and Just Elections. ICCCM Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 3(2), 33–41. https://doi.org/10.53797/icccmjssh.v3i2.7.2024
Noor, F., & Marlina, L. (2023). Establishing Elections With Integrity In Indonesia: Purposes, Problems, and Solutions. Proceedings of the International Conference for Democracy and National Resilience (ICDNR 2023), 795, 223–241. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-148-7_19
Nugraha, I. Y. (2021). Legal pluralism, human rights and the right to vote: The case of the Noken system in Papua. Asia Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law, 22(2), 255–286. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718158-22020003
Oktarina, E., & Agustian, M. Y. (2025). Implementation of Article 28e (3) of The Constitution of The Republic of Indonesia Year 1945 on The Restriction of The Right of Assembly in Law No. 17 of 2013 about Community Organizations. Greenation International Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 3(2), 191–204. https://doi.org/10.38035/gijlss.v3i2.413
Pamungkas, C. (2018). Noken Electoral System in Papua Deliberative Democracy in Papuan Tradition. Jurnal Masyarakat Dan Budaya, 19(2), 219. https://doi.org/10.14203/jmb.v19i2.389
Rüland, J. (2017). Democratizing Foreign-Policy Making in Indonesia and the Democratization of ASEAN: A Role Theory Analysis. TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 5(1), 49–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2016.26
Saiba, Y., Ungirwalu, A., Murdjoko, A., Brearley, F. Q., Peday, M. H., Yowei, R. N., Imburi, C. S., Runtuboi, Y. Y., Djitmau, D. A., & Sa’diyah, S. H. (2023). Ethnobotany and conservation applications in the Noken making by the Sougb Tribe of West Papua, Indonesia. Biodiversitas, 24(8), 4577–4583. https://doi.org/10.13057/biodiv/d240861
Stokes, S. C., Dunning, T., Nazareno, M., & Brusco, V. (2013). Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107324909
Warami, H. (2014). Noken Papua: Cermin, Transformasi, dan Format Negosiasi Damai. Dalam Prosiding Seminar Internasional Tradisi Lisan IX, Manado-Bitung, 21–24.
Yahya, A., Adriantini Sintha Dewi, D., & Trisna Noviasari, D. (2023). Politik Hukum Sistem Noken Pemilihan Kepala Daerah di Papua dalam Konsep Negara Hukum Pancasila. Borobudur Law and Society Journal, 2(2), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.31603/9468
Yuwono, A. T., Sebastian, A., & De, T. M. (2025). Sistem Noken Dalam Pemilihan Umum Di Wilayah Papua (1971-2024). JISIP UNJA (Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Ilmu Politik Universitas Jambi), 184–200.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Antonita Asriani Lensru, Armin Arsyad, Gustiana Kambo, Ratna Istianah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in Journal of Contemporary Local Politics agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
