post-Soeharto Indonesia Research Articles

Dilemmas of democratic consolidation in Indonesia

This article grapples with the tricky issue of democratic consolidation in post-Soeharto Indonesia. It recognizes the great strides the country has made toward establishing a rights-based democracy. This includes attempts to tackle the legacies of decades-long authoritarianism – for instance, those times when state elites have put self-interestedness aside to cooperate in the establishment of new institutions that promote genuine democratization. This article argues, however, that democratic consolidation in Indonesia will continue to be bedeviled due to the poor institutionalization of a democratic rule of law. Until state elites and government officials predictably can be relied upon to enforce democratic institutions, and are subject to the law themselves, then a meaningful deepening of Indonesia's elitist/electoral democracy will be unobtainable.

THE FORMALISATION OF ISLAMIC ATTIRE IN PADANG, WEST SUMATRA

This study examines the formalisation of Islamic attire among Minangkabau people – particularly among school students in Padang, West Sumatra – in the spirit of the regional autonomy of post-Soeharto Indonesia. It focuses on the conceptualisation and enforcement of the Mayor’s policy concerning Islamic attire for students in the Mayoral Decree (No. 451.422/2005) in line with the rampant Shari>`ah-influenced by-laws throughout West Sumatra. I argue that the formalisation of Islamic attire has been unproductive in terms of promoting Islamic precepts because veiling is an ever-contested concept within the complex Muslim social structure. The imposition of this ‘contested concept’ has led to veiling becoming an ‘imposed choice’ that has assumed a formal meaning as proper religious attire for the wearer. Instead of enhancing religious awareness, the imposition of Islamic attire on students in public schools has failed to encourage a personal awareness of religious and cultural identity in them.

Democratization and Decentralization in Post-Soeharto Indonesia: Understanding Transition Dynamics

In 1998, following Soeharto's demise, Indonesia underwent a transition from authoritarian rule amidst much anticipation but no small amoun of concern.1 Thankfully, in the intervening years, it has now become th world's third largest democracy.2 Yet, how and why the archipelago's democratic institutions became established and accepted remain difficu questions to answer. Indeed, some influential commentators voice legitimate concern about oligarchic reorganization within the new framework of democratic institutions.3 They see the ability of Soeharto-era predato interests to secure new political allies as, effectively, emasculating institution and policy reform.4 From this perspective, there has been a hijacking of the consolidation process. Highlighting these trends is an undoubtedly important task. But is it accurate to conclude that the kind of democracy establishing itself is more akin to a re-instatement of powerful constellations of state and politico-business oligarchs through new institutions? Arriving at such a conclusion would seem to rely too heavily on understanding transition dynamics as a causally contingent struggle between salient socio-economic forces.

Literacy in English and the Transformation of Self and Society in Post-Soeharto Indonesia

Among several hundred indigenous languages, Bahasa Indonesia gained pre-eminence as the national language of Indonesia during the country's first 50 years of independence. The fall of Soeharto in 1998 and the subsequent devolution of power to the regions might have been expected to lead to a resurgence in use of local languages but instead it appears to be English which is filling the ecological spaces. Propagated by government, demanded by employers, broadcast by the media, imposed by schools and encouraged by parents, the language not surprisingly occupies an important space in the developing mindset of many young Indonesians, going far beyond its actual practical value in daily life. Drawing on two empirical studies in Sumatra, one a large-scale evaluation of educational provision, the other a case study of English learning at school, the paper shows how the degree of investment which young Indonesians make in the language is not solely a matter of personal agency but is constrained by inequalities in the distribution of cultural, social and economic capital. Unless radical curriculum changes are introduced, the spread of English may in the long-term only serve to deepen these inequalities.

IMPUNITY RESURGENT: THE POLITICS OF MILITARY ACCOUNTABILITY IN INDONESIA, 1998–2001

IMPUNITY RESURGENT: THE POLITICS OF MILITARY ACCOUNTABILITY IN INDONESIA, 1998–2001

Islamisme et démocratie en Indonésie : quand la tradition se rapproche de la cause des femmes

Islamism has found a political expression in Post-Soeharto Indonesia with at least two Islamic political parties advocating an Islamization of the law. In this new democratic setting, secular and Islamic-pluralist parties have had to learn to defend their positions with a new energy and strategy. Women have been at the forefront of the battle, and they have received essential support from a political party close to Traditionalist Islam. This article takes a look at three components of the new Islamic politics : How does the Partai Keadilan-Sejahtera (PKS) act at the grass-roots level ? Its innovative dakwah activities show a strong commitment and strict organization. How does interaction take place in Parliament between secular and Islamist factions ? The stakes are high but the weak point of secularism may be the ambiguity of pluralist political parties who often dare not oppose Islamism. Traditionalist Islam under the leadership of Abdurrahman Wahid has emerged as a key political actor in this battle. But its fragility is undeniable, and is best seen on the ground, in the 2004 electoral results, presented here through a short analysis for the region of Central Java. Could a so-called pillar of "civil-pluralist" Islam, the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama, be weaker than imagined ? A larger question is asked which touches Muslim countries in general, from Turkey to Algeria : what place do "moderate Islamist" parties take in democracies ?

Party Financing in Post-Soeharto Indonesia: Between State Subsidies and Political Corruption

This article discusses party financing in Indonesia after the fall of Soeharto in 1998. It shows that the cut in state subsidies for parties in 2005 has contributed to a significant increase in their illicit fund-raising efforts. Most importantly, parties have intensified their endeavours to exploit legislative and executive institutions as alternative sources of income. This trend has not only reinforced the public image of parties as rent-seeking and self-serving, but has also undermined their internal coherence and their ability to carry out basic democratic functions. Building on recent comparative research on party financing, this article points out that most consolidated democracies provide substantial state subsidies for parties in order to counter the kind of tendencies that have emerged in Indonesia. Consequently, while it certainly has its own problems, public party financing appears to be the most effective way to contain the spread of corruption in party politics.

Javanese Women and the Veil in Post-Soeharto Indonesia

This article examines the practice and meanings of the new veiling and of Islamization more generally for young Muslim Javanese women in the new middle class. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic research in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta in 1999 and three subsequent one-month visits during 2001, 2002, and 2003, I explore the social and religious attitudes of female students at two of Yogyakarta's leading centers of higher education: Gadjah Mada University, a nondenominational state university, and the nearby Sunan Kalijaga National Islamic University. The ethnographic and life-historical materials discussed here underscore that the new veiling is neither a traditionalist survival nor an antimodernist reaction but rather a complex and sometimes ambiguous effort by young Muslim women to reconcile the opportunities for autonomy and choice offered by modern education with a heightened commitment to the profession of Islam.

Community-Based Agencies as the Entrepreneur's Instruments of Control in Post-Soeharto's Indonesia

The shift of power in Indonesia, marked by the fall of the Soeharto regime in 1998, has brought changes to state industrial relations policies. One of these changes has been at the level of military involvement in dispute settlement, which has considerably declined since 1998. Eight years on, the liberty of factory owners to employ military personnel to contain labour activism has been considerably constrained. As a result, entrepreneurs have turned to civilian, community-based institutions and local personalities as an alternative avenue of labour control. Examination is made of evolving structures of extra-firm labour control in Tangerang, an industrial centre in the greater Jakarta area, where many local power-holders also own the lodgings rented by migrant manufacturing workers. It describes how their father–child relationship (a special extension of the patron–client relation in the Indonesian context) with their tenants gives them the persuasive capacity to appease discontented workers. This persuasive quality has proven to be even more effective than the coercive approach exercised by the military in the past. Examination is also made of the implications of these developments for industrial relations in the manufacturing sector.

Between state and society: Local governance of forests in Malinau, Indonesia

Decentralization in post-Soeharto Indonesia has not only changed state and society relations at the local level, but brought increased control over forests at the district level. Local social forces gained more influence because of their close relations with local government and acted to limit the local government. In this article we use the case of Malinau, East Kalimantan Indonesia to show how the new local autonomy over forests played a role in the rise of new local political orders.

Local Elections and Party Politics in Post‑ Reformasi Indonesia: A View from Yogyakarta

This article examines elections for local executive heads in post-Soeharto Indonesia, particularly in relation to the reactivated and decentralized political corruption in democratic political institutions. Money politics ? a term preferred by many Indonesians, including scholars and even ordinary citizens, to differentiate from the corruption of the

Renegotiating boundaries; Access, agency and identity in post-Soeharto Indonesia

After the monetary and political crisis of 1997 and 1998, which was followed by a period labelled /reformasi// Indonesia is viewed by some observers as having entered a transitional phase from authoritarian rule by a strong state towards a new democratic system of government in which civil society will play a more prominent role.1 This transition is, moreover, accompanied by a process of decentralization that emphasizes regional autonomy and brings democracy to the people while making government more transparent. Others contest this optimistic view and see, instead, a negative transi tion from 'order to disorder'. After decades of authoritarian centralist rule, attempts to introduce political and economic change seem doomed, in the face of bureaucratic sabotage, corrupt power politics, short-term opportun ism, and the absence of a widely shared vision of the future. In the light of recent outbursts of ethnic and religious violence in various regions of the archipelago, regional resistance movements, the inability to restructure both the army and the economy, and the failure to curb collusion, nepotism, and corruption, pessimists are inclined to classify Indonesia in the category of

Caught between National and Human Security: Knowledge and Power in Post-crisis Asia

Since the Asian political and economic crisis, traditional concepts and practices of security have come under increasing question. However, there is substantial political and institutional resistance to rethinking national security in favour of human security. This essay addresses recent proposals for a 'reconciliation' of traditional and human security and, though it sees some value in doing so, it also argues that there are important political and conceptual reasons why this may not be possible, or desirable. Crucial here is the way both Asian and Western security policies have combined external defence with repressive approaches to internal security and national integrity. By way of an analysis of the difficulties in transforming security practices in post-Soeharto Indonesia, the essay concludes that operationalizing human security will require a serious commitment to reforming security doctrines, pursuing long-term conflict resolution, and people-centred change in the rules and structure of the global economic system.

ASEAN as a “Neighbourhood Watch Group”

The Secretary-General of A SEAN, Rodolfo Severino, had said that the organization to be measured against the purposes that it has set for itself and the limitation that it has imposed upon itself. This article argues that A SEAN'S core purpose is that of an intergovernmental watch group, its primary function being that of ensuring political and economic stability. The watch (NWG) idea borrows from the police-community crime prevention concept. When applied to ASEAN, this idea draws attention to its members' self-interest and mutual stake in stability. With the end of the Cold War, ASEAN embarked on expansion and consolidation, and seemed to have co-opted the newer members into this idea. Since 1997, however, ASEAN's fundamental purpose has been severely tested and it remains to be seen if the grouping can meet the challenge. Introduction Imagine a genie appearing suddenly before a gathering of ASEAN foreign ministers, with the grant of one wish. The assembled wise men -- well aware than ASEAN's image has been tarnished since 1997 -- are allowed to confer among themselves for five minutes. The argument of this article, in revisiting ASEAN's purpose, is that the appointed spokesman will approach the waiting genie and profess that the consensus is a wish for regional political stabilization [1] rather than regional security, for which corporate agreement may be more difficult to establish. In making such a request, the ministers would be acutely aware of Southeast Asia's conflictual history since 1945, of the region's geopolitics and links to external powers, and of recent events such as the Asian economic crisis and the turmoil in postSoeharto Indonesia which inform the region's interdependence. In short, ASEAN should be best viewed as a neighbourhood watch group in which bilateral diplomacy -- not always smooth -- is critical to regiona l political and corporate initiatives are both limited and yet hold promise for the grouping if it seeks to become more vibrant. Cold War ASEAN A neighbourhood watch group is an apt way to describe ASEAN. The watch (NWG) idea borrows from the municipal crime prevention concept in which the residents of a locality claim an active role in assisting the police to eliminate crime from their neighbourhood, in looking out for each other, and in improving safety in their neighbourhood. The appeal of an NWG derives from the assumption that residents of a best their own specific problems, strengths, resources and needs. They know best the people that live in the neighbourhood... Neighbourhoods are made up of people who have the power to protect each other's safety. [2] Of course, applied to ASEAN in the intergovernmental sense, the residents and police are the same state actors. Embedded in this idea is self-interest reinforcing a mutual stake in stability. It embodies several ideas associated with the grouping's emphasis on political stabilization, that is, the mutuallyagreed premium placed on poli tical stability embodied in central power and regardless of each state's political processes. These ideas include: good neighbourliness, a hallmark of which is the prerequisite of getting to know each other; non-interference and respect for sovereignty; territorial integrity; national and resilience; and consensus and consultation. Strongly suggestive of these ideas are the notions that trouble-makers could come from within the or from elsewhere, and that member households would cultivate goodwill towards each other. Given each member state's domestic concerns with religious, ethnic and other sectarian fault lines, none is expected to be his brother's keeper. In the event that quarrels break out between affected households, these are no business of other households, although discreet mediation is not precluded. …

Representations of Development in 19th and 20th Century indonesia: A Transport History Perspective

Contemporary debate in Indonesia over ‘people's economy’ and ‘globalisation’ recalls the vigorous 1950s debate over ‘dualism’. Taking as a case study the rise and eclipse of railways, this paper argues that the colonial phenomenon of dualism can with hindsight be reinterpreted as a phase in a previous cycle of globalisation. However, economic history has overlooked the remarkable vitality of the small-scale transport sector. Focus on the small-scale sector highlights the inadequacies of familiar paradigms and suggests the need to reconceptualise long-term socioeconomic change. This analysis has important implications for responses to the current wave of globalisation and how they may be manifest in a more democratic post-Soeharto Indonesia.

Hegemonic Relations and Gender Resistance: The New Veiling as Accommodating Protest in Cairo

H E P E R SI S T E N CE OF women's subordination throughout history and across many cultures presents a difficult puzzle; although women are clearly assertive actors who struggle for better conditions for themselves and for their families, their efforts often seem to produce limited or ephemeral results. The recent widening of opportunities for some women is unusual, and when placed in historical and cross-cultural perspective, its future seems uncertain.2 In

Communism Debated Again: The Muslim Response to the Idea of Revoking the 1966 anti-Communism in Post-Soeharto Indonesia

This article analyses the responses of the Muslim political elite to President Abdurrahman Wahid's proposal of revoking MPRS Decree No. XXV/1966, which sought to stifle the spread of Communism and the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). The proposal provoked controversy which divided the Muslim political elite into two groups; those who supported the President's proposal and those who opposed it.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v13i1.574