The customary tenure enactment and matrilineal land rights in Negeri Sembilan

In 1909 the british colonial administration in the malay peninsula enacted a customary tenure enactment (cte) to protect communal matrilineal land ownership for the minangkabau community in the states of negeri sembilan and malacca. the law gave rise to numerous family and clan disputes,pitting cognatic against conjugal relatives,group benefits against private financial gain,centralized versus decentralized political authority,and islamic law against matrilineal custom. along with the cte,the colonial administration based decisions on english statutes,customary norms,and islamic doctrines,creating an ambiguous regulatory mechanism. using the 'structure of the conjuncture' approach,this article propounds that the more culture is made to reproduce itself,the more it subjects itself to alteration. land commoditization,political re-alignments,and the individualization of property rights gave new meanings to land ownership and devolution and overwhelmed the protectionist intention and spirit of the law. the more that the cte was used to preserve custom,the more custom was transformed.