Indonesia’s Changing Economic Geography

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic state, and one of the most spatially diverse nations on earth in its resource endowments, population settlements, location of economic activity, ecology and ethnicity. The regional socio-economic data base now extends over 30 years, and so it is possible to draw conclusions about the country’s regional development dynamics since the 1970s. In this paper, we examine economic growth, inequality, convergence, structural change and social indicators for a consolidated group of 26 provinces, ie, the 27 of the late Soeharto period excluding East Timor. Our major conclusions include the following: (a) There continues to be great diversity in economic and social outcomes, but growth and social progress have been remarkably even. The poorest regions, mainly located in Eastern Indonesia, have generally performed about as well as the national average. (b) The better performing regions are typically those that are the most ‘connected’ to the global economy. In this respect, Jakarta stands out as a special case, growing richer than the rest of the country over time. (c) As expected, conflict is particularly harmful to economic development, as illustrated in the case of Maluku and to a lesser extent Aceh. (d) There is no clear natural resource story, in that the performance of the resource-rich provinces has varied considerably.Economic Geography, economic growth, convergence, Indonesia

A structural model for the Java Margin Subduction Zone, Indonesia, from multi-channel and wide-angle seismic data

The plate margin offshore Java and the Lesser Sunda islands are located in the eastern portion of the Sunda plate margin, which starts from Burma in the northwest to the Banda arc in the southeast. Different geological configurations in the Sunda plate margin vary enormously from the west to the east due to the variations in sediment supply and the different nature of the oceanic plates along the convergent plate boundary. The Sunda arc hosts earthquakes spanning from moderate magnitude ones to some of the largest earthquakes on Earth. In order to understand the current tectonic structure, the oceanic crust relief, and the temporal evolution of the large volume accretionary mass of the eastern Java and Lesser Sunda margins, we use MCS streamer data and OBS data collected by BGR and GEOMAR to image the plate interface reflection, the upper plate tectonic structure, and velocity attributes of the convergent plates. In this study, we incorporate an innovative seismic processing approach called the Non-Rigid Matching technique applied to the reflection tomography and the pre-stack depth migration and retrieve the structural image of the forearc wedge and the geometry of the plate interface. The depth migrated seismic sections and the bathymetry reveal different scales and shapes of the oceanic relief. By comparing the observed subducting seamount location with the 1994 tsunami earthquake epicentre, the co-seismic slip model, and the aftershock focal mechanisms, we conclude that the seamount acts as an earthquake barrier in the 1994 rupture's propagation process and is weakly coupled in the inter-seismic period before the co-seismic rupture

National Integration in Indonesia: Patterns and Policies

Humanities Open Book Program, a joint initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon FoundationIndonesia's great size and diversity and its history of regional dissension have made its struggle for national integration particularly complex. Christine Drake presents an informed and balanced picture of past and present developments in this struggle, offering readers a realistic assessment of the current status and future prospects of national integration in Indonesia. By addressing historical, political, social, and economic issues in conjunction with statistical analysis, Professor Drake argues that the spatial pattern of integration is far more complex than the commonly accepted core-periphery model of Indonesian integration and development. The author examines the effectiveness of Indonesian government policies in promoting national integration and concludes that in general they have led to greater national unity, although many serious problems remain

Traditionaly utilization of Selaginella; field research and literature review

Setyawan AD. 2009. Traditionaly utilization of Selaginella; field research and literature review. Nusantara Bioscience 1: 146-154. The aims of this research were to find out traditional usage of Selaginella in medication and its other usages, especially in Java and other Indonesian Archipelago. About 200 of 700-750 world species of Selaginella was found in Indonesian Archipelago. Field research and literature review indicated that Selaginella is used traditionally to heal wound, bloody stools, internal hemorrhoid bleeding, menstrual and uterine discomfiture, blood expediting, enhancing body endurance and longevity of live, headache, etc. Besides that some of Selaginellas are also used as raw dishes vegetable, ornamental pants, base materials and crafts. The utilization of Selaginella is very little against its amount of species and medicinal potency, so it is needed an advance study on ethnobotany and phytochemistry to improve its uses. Key word: traditional medicines, herbal, ethnobotany, Selaginella

Modeling Mackerel Tuna (Euthynnus affinis) Habitat in Southern Coast of Java: Influence of Seasonal Upwelling and Negative IOD

We used fishery catch data from Cilacap Fishing Port and Copernicus data set in July 2016-December 2017 to investigate the impacts of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on upwelling and mackerel tuna distribution in the southern coast of Java. This study implemented a Generalized Additive Model (GAM) for habitat prediction of mackerel tuna in the waters. The present study showed that the extreme negative IOD in 2016 caused a weaker southeasterly wind and even a reversal to the northwesterly wind, as seen off Sumatra in September 2016. The situation produced vertically mixed layer thickening and no upwelling during the southeast monsoon event 2016, consequently resulted in warmer temperature and fewer Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) compared to the southeast monsoon event 2017. The mackerel tuna production significantly dropped in 2016 and rose in 2017, particularly during the upwelling event. The high Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) was found in southern Central Java in July 2017, expanded bigger in August 2017, and decreased in September 2017. During July and August 2016, the high HSI covered only a less area in the region and disappeared in September 2017. The high HSI indicates that the oceanographic factor is consistent with the catch probability of mackerel tuna

Urbanization and Regional Imbalances in Indonesia

The level of urbanization that occurred in Indonesia at this time is remarkable that causes the growth of cities very rapidly. The growth of cities is mainly due to various reasons such as the capitalization process, regional enlargement/reclassification, as well as migration from rural to urban. The growth of cities leads a lot of problems like environmental degradation, traffic congestion, poverty, crime and other social conflicts. Such a rapid rate of urbanization is a reflection of the inequity between rural and urban development. Lack of employment opportunities in the village causes the population to go into town to find work. The imbalance of development that occurs is a result of implementing a liberal economic system that only emphasizes growth, while on the other side of the agricultural sector is not paid any appropriate attention. The farmers are at a very weak and do not have a good bargaining position, with the exchange rate is very lame. Even regarding with the foodstuffs such as rice, wheat, sugar, salt, etc., Indonesia has to import from abroad. The imbalances of development do not only occur between rural and urban, but also between Java and the outside of Java, and between western and eastern Indonesia regions. This imbalance should be found a solution, with good management and equitable development, including the political will to reform the economic system in favor of the Indonesian people