The Effect of Policy of Rural Administration on Customary Villages; Experience of Rural Administration in West Sumatera Indonesia

In nagari, there was a consultative assembly that had existed and had been inherited from generation to generation; this assembly is used to be called as Kerapatan Nagari that holds the highest power. Kerapatan adat Nagari is an institution that has developed for centuries; therefore the people of Minangkabau have orderly lived, organized under the leader of penghulu in the institution of kerapatan adat. Nagari as regulated in the regional regulation no 13 of 1983 its existence did not have function as the lowest government, but as customary-law social entity in the nagari. In the Regional regulation of 1983, regional government wants to develop and enrich national culture. It means that custom of Minangkabau is a manifestation of comprehension and implementation of Pancasila and the Constitution of 1945, it needs to be preserved. To make harmonious relationship between kerapatan adat nagari who implements Regional regulation No 13 of 1983 on one hand and chief of desa based on the act no 5 of 1979 on the other hand, regional government of West Sumatera has prepared counseling to the nagari indirectly, that is in the form of upgrading for the chiefs of desa/kelurahan (village).