Critical connections : Islamic politics and political economy in Indonesia and Malaysia

This article explores Islamic politics in two Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia, by linking their trajectories, from late colonial emergence to recent upsurge, to broad concerns of political economy, including changing social bases, capitalist transformation, state policies, and economic crises. The Indonesian and Malaysian trajectories of Islamic politics are tracked in a comparative exercise that goes beyond the case studies to suggest that much of contemporary Islamic politics cannot be explained by reference to Islam alone, but to how Islamic identities and agendas are forged in contexts of modern and profane social contestation.Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Internal politics, Islam, Islamization, State, Economic transformation, Economic crises, Populism

Critical connections : Islamic politics and political economy in Indonesia and Malaysia

This article explores Islamic politics in two Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia, by linking their trajectories, from late colonial emergence to recent upsurge, to broad concerns of political economy, including changing social bases, capitalist transformation, state policies, and economic crises.The Indonesian and Malaysian trajectories of Islamic politics are tracked in a comparative exercise that goes beyond the case studies to suggest that much of contemporary Islamic politics cannot be explained by reference to Islam alone, but tohow Islamic identities and agendas are forged in contexts of modern and profane social contestation

Capitalism, primitive accumulation and the 1960s' massacres: Revisiting the New Order and its violent genesis

This article offers a critique of Hilmar Farid's (and to a lesser extent, Colm McNaughton's) contribution in this journal about the 1960s' anti-communist massacres, primitive accumulation and capitalist development in Indonesia. While agreeing that the massacres can be usefully tied to primitive accumulation it is argued that Farid's work displays some serious conceptual misunderstandings about the workings of capitalist development in Indonesia under the New Order as well as the social, political and economic underpinnings of that regime. As such, this paper finds that there are some major faults as well in his presentation of the logic of capitalist accumulation, the way it has been manifest historically in the Indonesian case and its role in the emergence of the New Order. Furthermore, the article suggests that a fundamental misreading may have been committed by Farid due to a fetish for New Order violence that hinders understanding of its political economy

PERAN GENDER DALAM KEBIJAKAN-KEBIJAKAN DI INDONESIA

Pembakuan peran gender di dalam berbagai kebijakan-kebijakan di Indonesia merupakan fokus penelitian ini. Berawal dari perhatian LBH APIK yang besar pada perempuan idi bidang hukum maka LBH APIK merencanakan penelitian pembakuan peran gender dalam kebijakan-kebijakan di Indonesia dan pengaruhnya terhadap kehidupan perempuan di Indonesia. Tujuannya adalah untuk mengumpulkan bahan-bahan yang dapat digunakan untuk mengadvokasi perubahan kebijakan-kebijakan yang mempunyai pengaruh negatif pada perempuan di Indonesia. Penelitian ini juga bertujuan untuk menambah referensi kajian gender dalam bidang hukum yang masih langka di Indonesia. Peran gender yang memilah-milah perempuan sebagai pekerja domestik: pengurus rumah tangga dan laki-laki berada pada areal publik; sebagai kepala keluarga dan pencari nafkah utama, diperkirakan dibakukan oleh negara dalam berbagai kebijakan yang dilahirkan oleh pemerintah orde baru. Diperkirakan pula pembakuan peran gender ini membawa pengaruh terhadap kehidupan perempuan. Ada berbagai kebijakan yang kemudian di telaah berkaitan dengan pembakuan peran gender terse but. Telaah terhadap berbagai kebijakan terse but menggunakan berbagai perangkat teoritis, antara lain pendekatan hukum kritis, pandangan perspektif feminis terhadap hukum, gender dan negara dalam konteks Indonesia. Metode yang dipakai adalah pengumpulan dokumen-dokumen tertulis (kebijakan-kebijakan ngara, hasil penelitian, kliping koran, kasus-kasus). Data yang ada kemudian dianalisis dengan metodologi feminis yang menentang bahwa ilmu pengetahuan itu netral, objektif, dan bebas nilai, serta lepas dari struktur kekuasaan. Metodologi ini antara lain memperhatikan signifikansi gender dan hubungan gender yang asimetris dalam semua bidang kehidupan, termasuk bidang hukum. Metodologi ini selain menolak asumsi bahwa subjek dan objek penelitian dapat dipisahkan dan anggapan bahwa melibatkan pengalaman pribadi adalah tindakan yang tidak ilmiah, juga merancang penelitian dengan sebuah visi untuk perubahan so sial. Ditemukan bahwa memang terjadi upaya domestikasi perempuan secara sistematis oleh negara berdasarkan ideologi gender dalam hukum dan kebijakan-kebijakan negara, Ideologisasi nilai-nilai yang didasarkan pada perbedaan gender di dalam kebijakan negara tersebut berdampak pada marginalisasi baik secara ekonomi dan politik, eksploitasi , subordinasi, privatisasi kekerasan terhadap perempuan. Dianalisis bahwa pembakuan peran gender itu erat kaitannya dengan berbagai kepentingan dati berbagai kelompok. Kelompok-kelompok tersebut mempunyai kepentingan terhadap domestikasi perempuan, untuk mempertahankan struktur patriarkal yang berarti; perta.rna, dominasi laki-laki di bidang kehidupan masyarakat yang penting dapat dipertahankan (Status Quo). Kedua, demi kepentingan efisiensi ekonomi dan akumulasi modal. Dengan demikian maka melalui hukum, negara melakukan pembakuan peran gender, khususnya dengan menggunakan nilai-nilai tentang gender yang hidup dalam masyarakat

The ‘integrative approach’ and labour regulation and Indonesia: prospects and challenges

In contrast to theories of regulation which bypass the state and cede regulatory authority to private regimes, the scholar Kevin Kolben makes a cogent argument for the state to be brought back to centre stage in labour regulation, but envisages that private actors can develop and strengthen its capacity. This article considers the utility of what he terms an integrative approach for Indonesia. In line with what the approach advocates, the article examines the relationships between private actors and the state and considers the extent to which the former can communicate, interact with and incentivise the latter in ways which strengthen its regulatory capacity. Several challenges are identified. Finally, the potential of the Better Work Programme in Indonesia to further the goals of the approach is assessed

The Political Economy of Myanmar's Transition

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, has been published in the JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ASIA, 07 Feb 2013, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00472336.2013.764143.Since holding elections in 2010, Myanmar has transitioned from a direct military dictatorship to a formally democratic system and has embarked on a period of rapid economic reform. After two decades of military rule, the pace of change has startled almost everyone and led to a great deal of cautious optimism. To make sense of the transition and assess the case for optimism, this article explores the political economy of Myanmar's dual transition from state socialism to capitalism and from dictatorship to democracy. It analyses changes within Myanmar society from a critical political economy perspective in order to both situate these developments within broader regional trends and to evaluate the country's current trajectory. In particular, the emergence of state-mediated capitalism and politico-business complexes in Myanmar's borderlands are emphasised. These dynamics, which have empowered a narrow oligarchy, are less likely to be undone by the reform process than to fundamentally shape the contours of reform. Consequently, Myanmar's future may not be unlike those of other Southeast Asian states that have experienced similar developmental trajectories

A Victor's History: A Comparative Analysis of the Labour Historiography of Indonesia's New Order

Some observers have identified a common pattern in developing countries whereby unions are transformed from a political force valued for their contribution to the struggle for independence to a state-sponsored ‘tool of development’. A less well-explored question concerns the harnessing of labour historiography to justify such transitions. As this article shows, Suharto’s New Order (1966–98) undertook a conscious and purposeful rewriting of Indonesian labour history in support of a single vehicle of labour representation organized around a narrative of the dangers of political unionism and designed to control and harness the industrial workforce in the name of economic development

Global Agendas, Local Norms: Mobilising around Unpaid Care Work in Asia

This article explores the articulation and framing of unpaid care work and the mobilization around it at two spatial scales, the global and national. For the latter it focuses on three of the largest and most diverse countries in Asia — India, China and Indonesia. While the concept of unpaid care work has received considerable attention in international development discourse, it is rarely found in feminist mobilization and advocacy across these countries. The article asks why this issue remains largely excluded from women's political agendas. It also explores how it is framed when it is included. While most organizations recognize women's double burden and the importance of domestic labour, they do not consider ‘unpaid care work’ as a legitimate political issue around which to mobilize. Rather, it is framed, if at all, as part of other political agendas, such as the rights of the elderly (in China), the rights to social protection, especially childcare and maternity entitlements (in India), or the right to equal opportunities within marriage (in Indonesia). The study analyses the differences in framing, the conceptualization of gender equality embedded therein, and the implications for policy

The Political Economy of Non-Traditional Security: Explaining the Governance of Avian Influenza in Indonesia

Given the common association of non-traditional security (NTS) problems with globalisation, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how the political economy context of given NTS issues shape how they are securitised and managed in practice. We argue that security and its governance are always highly contested because different modes of security governance invariably privilege particular interests and normative agendas in state and society, which relate directly to the political economy. Drawing on critical political geography, we argue that, because NTS issues are perceived as at least potentially transnational, their securitisation often involves strategic attempts by actors and coalitions to ‘rescale’ their governance beyond the national political and institutional arenas, into new, expert-dominated modes of governance. Such efforts are often resisted by other coalitions, for which this rescaling is deleterious. As evidenced by a case study of avian influenza in Indonesia, particular governance outcomes depend upon the nature of the coalitions assembled for and against rescaling in specific situations, while these coalitions’ make-up and relative strength is shaped by the political economy of the industries that rescaling would affect, viewed against the broader backdrop of state-society relations