Between Repair and Domination: Taʻzīr, Restorative Moderation, and Power in Kitab Simbur Cahaya of Bengkulu, Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31958/juris.v25i2.16651Keywords:
Religious Moderation, Taʻzīr Law, Customary Law, Restorative Justice, Kitab Simbur Cahaya, Legal PluralismAbstract
Indonesian scholarship on religious moderation often treats local wisdom as a natural carrier of moderation, leaving the power dynamics of customary adjudication underexamined. This article asks whether the discretionary punishment (taʻzīr) provisions of Kitab Simbur Cahaya, a codified adat text still referenced in Bengkulu, Indonesia, can be read as moderate and restorative once those dynamics are taken seriously. Rather than assuming that answer, the study treats it as a question to be tested against field data. The research draws on nineteen in-depth interviews, direct observation of seven adjudication sessions and two peace ceremonies across four Bengkulu regencies, and documentary analysis of customary and archival records, analysed through interactive qualitative coding. The findings are deliberately mixed. Five recurring taʻzīr instruments, musyawarah, denda adat, public apology, setawar sedingin, and jamuan perdamaian, prioritise repair over retribution and partly enact the moderation principles of ʻadl, tawazun, and tasamuh. Yet the same forums route women’s voices through male kin and soften sanctions for offenders close to adat elites, exposing where moderation fails on its own terms. The article’s contribution is a Restorative Moderation Framework that reads taʻzīr-based systems critically rather than celebratorily, specifying three testable axes, restorativeness, moderation, and plural accommodation, along which any customary forum can be assessed. It reframes the recognition of living law in Indonesia’s 2023 Criminal Code as an opening that demands scrutiny, not endorsement.References
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