Riding the Hype: The Role of State-Owned Enterprise Elite Actors in the Promotion of Jatropha in Indonesia

Deasy Simandjuntak

doi:10.3390/su6063780

Abstract

Within a few years following its ambitious promotion in 2006, the development of jatropha in Indonesia came to a halt. Claimed as a potential solution to problems in energy and poverty, the introduction of jatropha in Indonesia’s energy policy had been triggered by the high oil prices in 2005. While studies by biofuel scholars have generally focused on what brought the end of the “miracle crop” hype by underlining various technical problems and the absence of market structure as the cause of its failure, few have examined jatropha as part of a policy-making trajectory, which began with, and was influenced by, the development narratives disseminated by individual actors. This article sheds light on the role of elite actors in the making of biofuel energy policy in Indonesia. Taking the case of the promotion of jatropha in 2005–2007, the article illustrates the role of the director of Indonesia’s leading sugar state-owned enterprise (SOE), Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI), whose decision in promoting jatropha became influential in forwarding its narratives into the national energy and development policy in 2006. In order to discover why a specific elite actor decided to promote jatropha, the article relies on data, including the SOE’s documents and interviews with key actor(s). The analysis is conducted using an actor-oriented approach, which underlines the discrepancy between the ideals and the operational practice of developmental goals.

Highlights

Since the mid-1990s, the world has witnessed an increase in environmental awareness concerning climate change and global warming
The article begins with a discussion on the usage of the actor-oriented approach in analyzing the role of elite actors in Indonesian jatropha development
This is followed by a brief description of Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) as a historically prominent sugar company, the introduction of its leadership and the chronological account of RNI’s jatropha development from the introduction of the crops until its eventual demise

Summary

Introduction

Since the mid-1990s, the world has witnessed an increase in environmental awareness concerning climate change and global warming. The article seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What was the role of RNI’s director, as the SOE elite actor, in the promotion of the jatropha biofuel crop in Indonesia? The article begins with a discussion on the usage of the actor-oriented approach in analyzing the role of elite actors in Indonesian jatropha development This is followed by a brief description of Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) as a historically prominent sugar company, the introduction of its leadership and the chronological account of RNI’s jatropha development from the introduction of the crops until its eventual demise. The jatropha campaign of RNI influenced the national policy on jatropha development

Descendant of the Sugar King

Inflating the Hype

Getting Center Stage

The Role of Actors in the Introduction of Jatropha

Findings

Conclusions