Negotiating Rural Harmony: Community-Based Restrictions, Bengkulu Newcomers, and Cross-Cultural Conflict in Nilo Dingin Village, Masurai, Merangin, Jambi, Indonesia

Abstract

This article examines a rural cross cultural conflict in Nilo Dingin Village, Masurai District, Merangin Regency, Jambi, Indonesia, where a community agreement emerged to restrict the settlement of certain newcomers associated with Bengkulu. The study highlights how village moral values, especially musyawarah or deliberation, gotong royong or cooperation, and collective security routines, can be challenged when repeated insecurity is experienced and publicly interpreted as norm violation. Using a qualitative case study design, the article explores how local values, communication practices, and institutional responses intersected with reported incidents involving property loss, land disputes, intimidation, and a public road harassment episode. Data were collected through field observations, semi structured interviews with village stakeholders and residents, and document review of meeting notes and informal community agreements during 2025. Thematic analysis reveals four connected processes: the formation of a security narrative that reframed difference as risk, escalation from interpersonal grievances to collective sanctions, institutionalization of boundaries through community restrictions and intensified monitoring, and legal pluralism in practice where customary mechanisms and formal law enforcement were used at different moments. The findings highlight a key tension: community based order can stabilize daily life and reduce immediate fear, yet it may also normalize stigma and exclusion when group categorization replaces individual accountability. The article proposes culturally grounded and rights sensitive strategies, including restorative forums, transparent land tenure mediation, and procedural collaboration between community leaders and state institutions.