Governing Archipelagos on Their Terms: a Case Study of the Riau Islands

Abstract

Indonesian geographic archipelago and its small islands’ characteristics or ‘Islandness’ is widely known factor that shape and contour every aspect of the island life, whether it is social, economic, political, or governance. This paper addressed the pursuit of understanding the archipelago way of local government by examining how Indonesian geographic archipelago influences different aspects of island life through the experience of the archipelago governance. This paper compiled based on a 6-month research conducted in 2018 in 4 districts of the Riau Island Province; Bintan, Lingga, Natuna, and Anambas Island. This paper provided interesting findings on how geography, contours and conditions of Riau Island shape different aspects of island life and governance, in both direct and indirect ways. Although Riau Islands’ government responds the situation by requesting more substantial autonomy and resource, which can contribute to more opportunities for the island development, the government misses the point of having a comprehensive way to govern the island that encompasses every aspect of governance; from public administration to political arrangements.