ALSA 2025 meeting

Indonesia, as one of the countries in Asia, boasts a rich cultural diversity, which allows integration between different cultures. Integration between different cultures can happen through intertribal marriages, one of which is conducted by the Batak Toba Community from North Sumatera, Indonesia. The integration that occurs between two cultures allows for a compromise between these cultures, one of which ways is the “Buy Marga” mechanism, a step taken to maintain the Batak Toba tribe's bloodline and the continuation of the Batak Toba and their descendants. Therefore, this research aims to see whether the “Buy Marga” mechanism in intertribal marriages in the Batak Toba community has achieved good integration between tribes and has created substantive justice in the running of marital relations and the continuation of offspring in the Batak Toba community. By using a qualitative approach through field studies, interviews with the Batak Toba leaders and families of the perpetrators of intertribal marriages, as well as normative analysis of national law, this study aims to reveal the "Buy Marga" mechanism's effectiveness in creating unity to maintain identity and social cohesion in the indegenous community. This study contributes to the discourse of legal pluralism in Asia by showing that customary law can be an instrument of social inclusion, but also needs to be continuously evaluated in order to create equality and substantive justice in plural societies, especially the Batak Toba community.
Keywords: “Buy Marga”, legal pluralism, customary law, the Batak Toba tribe, intertribal marriage, Asian culture and diversity