Reframing decentralisation: the persistence of customary governance in Indonesia

This article examines the transformation of the Dayak Customary Council (DAD) in Central Kalimantan in the post-Reformasi decentralisation era using institutional isomorphism. It argues that DAD’s change is shaped by coercive pressures from regional regulations, mimetic pressures from state bureaucracy and market governance, and normative pressures from Dayak cultural values. Rather than producing uniformity, these pressures generate institutional hybridity that strengthens Dayak political representation. At the same time, this hybridity creates tensions, including elite co-optation, dependence on capital, gender asymmetry and the narrowing of customary values. The study extends institutional isomorphism theory by highlighting hybridity as a negotiated governance outcome.