ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the importance of studying the institutions responsible for implementing the formal land tenure system. The first section debates the theoretical framework adopted for this institutional analysis. The second section of the chapter focuses primarily on DNTPSC, the main state institution responsible for land administration in Timor-Leste. The final section briefly analyses the role of external institutions in the implementation of the Timorese formal land tenure system, such as land registration programs (i.e., INR and SNC), international organisations and donors, and CSOs working on land-related issues. This chapter shows that DNTPSC’s structure, resources, and procedures are inadequate for its tasks, and its staff has great discretion in their work, both in the different steps of (arbitrary) administrative processes and in the final decision-making. The law functions as a rough guide for their tasks and as a tool for imposing their views when necessary. Although this discretion works at times as a safety valve of the system, more often it is a source of injustice, insecurity, corruption, and rent-seeking. The Indonesian BPN is a major influence on the DNTPSC, while the United Nations Administration left almost no institutional legacy. Moreover, the external institutions that participate in the implementation of the formal land tenure system have limitations regarding the support and guidance that they can give to DNTPSC. More broadly, this chapter shows that without adequate resources, structure, leadership, political guidance, and supervision, state institutions and officials cannot be expected to have people’s land rights as their main concern.
