Provincial Regulations as the Primary Instrument in the Administration of Provincial Government in Maluku

Abstract

This study analyzes the legal construction and normative function of Negeri Regulations as a manifestation of local regulations in customary governance in Maluku. The position of Negeri Regulations is often confronted with a dualism of norms between the national legal framework based on formal hierarchical principles and the autonomous nature of local customary law (adat recht). By applying normative legal research methods based on a statute approach and a conceptual approach, this study reveals that Negeri Regulations not only function as a derivation of local laws but also act as an instrument for transforming legal certainty for customary law communities (negeri). The legal validity of State Regulations arises from the intersection of customary deliberation consensus through the Saniri Negeri and the formal legal guarantees within the framework of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages and its implementing regulations. This local regulation making mechanism serves as a bridge that transforms tradition-bound customary law into written norms with executive power, particularly in the control of land ownership, customary land rights governance, and customary institutional structures. The effectiveness of this instrument's development is largely determined by its vertical synchronization with regional regulations at the district/city level to avoid legal annulment and maintain the integrity of the local socio cultural order.