ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a case study from the rural town of Ainaro located in Ainaro sub-district 110 kilometres southwest of Dili. It focuses on Ainaro town and its hinterland. In order to understand the complexity of current claims to land within Ainaro town and the political sensitivities related to access to land and natural resources within Ainaro sub-district, some historical background is required. The following case study from Ainaro town aims to examine the development of these differing notions of possessory entitlements. The case study also highlights the way in which some claims to alienable ownership under the draft 2012 land law of East Timor, on the basis of long-term possession, will be inconsistent with long-standing customary limits to entitlement based on histories of in-marriage, in-migration and forced resettlement. Portuguese and Indonesian era policies and practices have transformed the relationship between people and land in Ainaro.