Indonesia's Changing Political Economy: Governing the Roads

Abstract

Indonesia's Changing Political Economy: Governing Roads. By Jamie Davidson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Hardcover: 292pp. When Joko Widodo, aka Jokowi, announced that he would run for president of Indonesia in 2013, he not only promised to weed out corruption and increase transparency, but also that he would pursue a new style of leadership altogether. Focusing on plight of masses, Jokowi pledged that he would no longer be beholden to Indonesia's entrenched political interests. He also promised a mental and set ambitious targets should he win presidency, including construction of 5,000 kilometres of railways, 2,600 kilometres of roads, 1,000 kilometres of toll roads, 49 dams and 24 seaports. Foreign academics and analysts were ecstatic. we're seeing is extraordinary, enthused Douglas Ramage, a consultant based in Jakarta, in a Wall Street Journal article on 9 October 2013, entitled, Indonesia, a New Breed of Politicians is on Rise. Providing an assessment of Widodo's campaign, Ramage went on to say that compelling logic of popularity is what drives Indonesian politics now, and perception of a candidate as clean, transparent and authentic is what most drives popularity. Other scholars were equally optimistic about Jokowi's capacity to tackle Indonesia's myriad pressing problems. Probably carried away by campaign dynamics, several foreign academics donned t-shirts with Jokowi's portrait, and gushed in op-eds and blogs about how former mayor of city of Solo, through sheer intelligence and imagination, had single-handedly cut through red tape and increased efficiency of municipal government. What all these accounts had in common was an almost messianic hope in capacity and capability of an individual to dismantle Indonesia's kleptocracy and initiate long-awaited policy changes. Jamie Davidson's new book on politics of infrastructure investment in Indonesia throws cold water on such an understanding of Indonesian politics. Davidson shows that while there is wide agreement among scholars and politicians that construction of roads, ports and railways is a prerequisite for economic growth--particularly in developing countries such as Indonesia--there is considerable disagreement over how countries should pursue infrastructure development. While in 1950s and 1960s a prominent role for state was deemed important for infrastructure development, this idea was replaced by a belief in potency of private-public partnerships (PPP). In a PPP, government collaborates with a private sector entity to deliver a public service. Gaining prominence in context of Reagan revolution of 1980s, idea of PPP as key to successful infrastructure development subsequently crept onto agendas and programmes of multilateral development agencies around world, and today constitutes mainstream approach towards infrastructure development. After Soeharto was deposed in 1998, PPPs also became main approach to infrastructure development in Indonesia. In his book, Davidson describes in great detail context in which PPPs are embedded in Indonesia and explains why they have failed to develop country's infrastructure. Concretely, the factors bedeviling private sector participation in infrastructure projects include entrenched rent-seeking networks, conflicts between national and local governments, and struggles over land between government and a newly empowered society (p. 230). Examining politics surrounding construction of turnpikes, Davidson first shows how toll road concessions during New Order were driven primarily by pressures on Soeharto to reward as many pribumi business cronies as possible as a reaction to mounting criticism about his favouritism towards Chinese-Indonesian business community, as well as growing prominence of his children in country's economy. …