This paper provides a mid-term assessment of externally-led Security Sector Reform (SSR) during the United Nations (UN) led peacebuilding intervention in Timor- Leste. Despite initial difficulties, several core institutions, introduced by the UN, remain effective and were integrated into local practices. These initial security problems of the new-born Timor-Leste state, included the radical reconfiguration of the power balances within elites and an unfamiliarity with new approaches to security governance by the indigenous actors themselves. The lack of contextual knowledge and insensitivity to local political dynamics by external actors exacerbated these issues. Nonetheless, Timor-Leste has found ways to achieve some measure of political stability and physical security, both of which were always overarching goals of SSR.

This article contributes to the discourse on hybridity by reviewing the development of the legal framework related to traditional governance mechanisms in Timor-Leste in the twenty years since independence in 2002. It analyzes how this framework has contributed to nurturing governance in the country and argues that traditional governance mechanisms have had a considerable role in improving governance since independence. It is also argued that with regulation and proper support from stakeholders, a traditional governance system can facilitate democratization, and that the host community can become the driver of positive change.