Photo: Carl Josef Kleingrothe/[National Gallery of Australia](National Gallery of Australia)
Before the arrival of European colonialism which brought modern bureaucracies, the nations of the Indonesian archipelago already had their own customary governance structures. Indonesia was the first country in Asia to implement a modern bureaucracy after the establishment of the Dutch East Indies colonial government after the fall of the VOC.
One of the important positions of customary holders in the ancient archipelago community was the penghulu. In short, the penghulu was a customary head who determines various affairs related to indigenous peoples. When Islam came, the authority of the penghulu also increased to religious matters, especially those related to marriage, inheritance, and so on.
When the modern bureaucracy was adopted, the authority of the penghulu was reduced by the presence of the village head, lurah, and so on. Now, we only know the penghulu to take care of the marriage.