The Construction of Grievance: Natural Resources and Identity in a Separatist Conflict

This article makes a case for extending social constructivist approaches to the study of grievance in natural resource conflicts. It does this by analyzing the separatist conflict in Aceh, Indonesia, which is often portrayed as a paradigmatic resource conflict due to the importance of the natural gas industry there. It is argued here, however, that natural resource exploitation promoted conflict in Aceh only because it became entangled in wider processes of identity construction and was reinterpreted back to the population by ethnic political entrepreneurs in a way that legitimated violence. Rather than any intrinsic qualities of natural resource extraction, the key factor was the presence of an appropriate identity-based collective action frame. The argument is strengthened by comparison with two other resource-rich Indonesian provinces where resource extraction patterns were similar to Aceh but where no protracted violence occurred because similar identity resources were not available to local actors

Political Opposition and the Transition from Authoritarian Rule: The Case of Indonesia

This thesis presents a study of political opposition in the decade leading to the end of President Suharto's New Order regime in Indonesia. In particular it focuses on the contribution of opposition forces to the process of political democratisation and the interplay in that process between societal/opposition initiative and disunity within the governing elite. ¶ Following the literature on authoritarian regimes, the study proposes a typology of opposition: illegal, semi‚ alegal and proto-opposition. Each of these are responses to the combination of repression and pluralism typical of authoritarianism. Although a mood of discontent was apparently ubiquitous in the later years of Suharto's rule, opposition remained dispersed through a wide range of institutions and was structurally weak. Much of it was located along the blurred boundary between state and society. ¶ The study focuses on the period of limited liberalisation (keterbukaan, 'openness') between approximately 1989 and 1994. Following the mainstream democratisation literature, the thesis concludes that conflict within the governing elite (in this case between a substantial section of the Armed Forces leadership and the President and his camp) was an important pre-condition for the limited loosening of political controls from 1989. From the outset, however, societal agency played an important role in conditioning the emergence of nascent 'soft-line' reform groups within the regime. ¶ In a series of case studies (elite dissident groups, Non-Governmental Organisations, student dissent and the Indonesian Democracy Party, PDI) I examine the methods by which opposition groups responded to divisions within the governing elite and made use of the opportunities thus afforded them to expand the scope of political action. In a process typical of authoritarian regimes which initiate liberalisation, in the years after 1989 an escalation of opposition mobilisation took place. ¶ However, by the mid-1990s, President Suharto was able to reassert control over the ruling elite, especially the army, facilitating a retreat from liberalisation policies. Increasing 'sultanisation' of the regime undermined its legitimacy and precluded a resolution of its political problems, especially the succession issue, from within the ruling elite. After the economic collapse of 1997-98, in a 'sequence of disaffection' typical of regimes where the hard-line element is strong, a society-initiated process of regime change began. Mobilisation, pioneered by the most politicised groups (notably university students), propelled other social and political forces into action, and stimulated the final fracturing of the ruling elite and the abandonment of Suharto by a substantial part of it. The legacy of authoritarian rule, however, meant that opposition remained structurally weak and divided, allowing for the replacement of Suharto's government by a reconstituted version of it

Indonesian politics in 2014: democracy’s close call

Indonesian democracy experienced a near miss in 2014, when Jakarta governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) defeated former general Prabowo Subianto by a margin of 6.3% in the presidential election. Both candidates were populists who rose to prominence in the context of public disillusionment with incumbent president Yudhoyono; Prabowo, however, condemned Indonesia’s democratic system and promised to take Indonesia in a more authoritarian direction. We trace democracy’s close call through five phases: the dying months of Yudhoyono’s presidency, the rise of populist alternatives, the parliamentary elections of April 2014, the July presidential campaign, and the aftermath. We attribute the strength of Prabowo’s campaign to superior organisational and financial support, while Jokowi’s victory rested upon strong identification with him among poor and rural voters. Also determining the outcome was the fact that public satisfaction with democracy remained strong, undermining the effectiveness of Prabowo’s authoritarian-populist message. Nevertheless, democracy’s future remains uncertain, given that Prabowo and his supporters now control a sufficiently large number of parliamentary seats to continue promoting a rollback of democratic reforms

Australia's Asia Education Imperative: Trends in the study of Asia and pathways for the future

For about half a century, Australia has been a global leader in the study of Asia. The Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) is the peak academic association for the study of Asia in Australia. This ASAA report is the fifth report since the 1970s. The report focuses on trends in the promotion of Asia literacy in Australian universities from 2000 to 2022, outlining both achievements and challenges. The report identifies a decline in government and, in many cases, university support, pointing to growing challenges in Australia’s efforts to promote Asia literacy among Australian graduates at a time that Asia’s global prominence and influence is more obvious than ever. The report proposes a set of recommendations to the government and to universities in order to renew and strengthen national commitment to Asia literacy

Soeharto's New Order and its Legacy

Indonesia’s President Soeharto led one of the most durable and effective authoritarian regimes of the second half of the twentieth century. Yet his rule ended in ignominy, and much of the turbulence and corruption of the subsequent years was blamed on his legacy. More than a decade after Soeharto’s resignation, Indonesia is a consolidating democracy and the time has come to reconsider the place of his regime in modern Indonesian history, and its lasting impact. This book begins this task by bringing together a collection of leading experts on Indonesia to examine Soeharto and his legacy from diverse perspectives. In presenting their analyses, these authors pay tribute to Harold Crouch, an Australian political scientist who remains one of the greatest chroniclers of the Soeharto regime and its aftermath

Adversarial Linkages: The Urban Poor and Electoral Politics in Jakarta

This article examines how social movements based in poor communities make electoral alliances with politicians in contemporary Indonesia. Drawing on case studies of the urban poor in two elections in Jakarta, we point to a pattern of adversarial linkages by which movements present candidates with demands - in this case about housing and livelihood security - which are then distilled in formal 'political contracts'. Unlike institutionalised relationships between parties and social constituencies in many democracies, these linkages are ad hoc, pragmatic and characterised by mistrust. In Jakarta, they involved disaggregation rather than aggregation of interests, with movement actors in the second election in 2017 seeking concrete gains relating to land and livelihoods in particular neighbourhoods, rather than a broad programme of urban reform, as had been their goal in 2012. We suggest that such adversarial linkages are a feature of contemporary Indonesian politics. They allow marginal groups to make contingent political gains but are compatible with prevailing clientelistic patterns, which limit their potential to promote systemic change

The state and illegality in Indonesia

In July 2007, at the height of a government military operation against separatist rebels in the Indonesian province of Aceh, a short but curious article appeared in the local newspaper. It quoted the Aceh military commander, Major General Endang Suwarya, warning members of the public not to be hoodwinked if they received a telephone call from someone claiming to be him and asking for money. Apparently, a group of swindlers had been telephoning rich people in the province, with one first pretending to be Endang’s adjutant. After ascertaining the identity of the person being called, the ‘adjutant’ would hand over the telephone to ‘the commander’ who would then ask for hundreds of millions of rupiah in order to help pay for the military operation. A number of local officials and businesspeople had apparently already fallen for the trick, and transferred large sums to the bank accounts in Jakarta nominated by the swindlers. Endang was angry: ‘For as long as I’ve been serving here, I have never telephoned anyone to borrow or ask for money.’ Yet this was not the first time, nor the last, that confidence tricksters had pretended to be members of the security forces in order to extort money from people in Aceh; on the contrary, there have been repeated reports of individuals pretending to be police officers, army soldiers or agents of the State Intelligence Agency (Badan Intelijen Negara, BIN) for this purpose. [Extract from introduction

The patronage patchwork: Village brokerage networks and the power of the state in an Indonesian election

This article analyses the roles played by patronage and brokerage in an Indonesian district election by focusing on variation in village-level results. Through interviews with village elites, we found that highly uneven village voting patterns were strongly influenced by varying patterns of patronage distribution. The winning candidate (the son of the incumbent) used a state-centred form of patronage involving pork barrel and club goods that proved more effective than gifts distributed through social, specifically religious, networks. Also critical were effective and trustworthy community-level brokers to deliver patronage, with retail vote-buying especially vulnerable to broker predation. Among the four categories of brokers we identified, state brokers-notably village heads-were especially effective at marshalling votes. Our findings underline the importance of patronage in Indonesian elections and the centrality of brokers in clientelistic systems generally. They also help explain the domination of former bureaucrats in electoral contests in regional Indonesia

The state and illegality in Indonesia

The popular 1998 reformasi movement that brought down President Suharto’s regime demanded an end to illegal practices by state officials, from human rights abuse to nepotistic investments. Yet today, such practices have proven more resistant to reform than people had hoped. Many have said corruption in Indonesia is “entrenched”. We argue it is precisely this entrenched character that requires attention. What is state illegality entrenched in and how does it become entrenched? This involves The state and illegality in Indonesia studying actual cases. Our observations led us to rethink fundamental ideas about the nature of the state in Indonesia, especially regarding its socially embedded character. We conclude that illegal practices by state officials are not just aberrations to the state, they are the state. Almost invariably, illegality occurs as part of collective, patterned, organized and collaborative acts, linked to the competition for political power and access to state resources. While obviously excluding many without connections, corrupt behaviour also plays integrative and stabilizing functions. Especially at the lower end of the social ladder, it gets a lot of things done and is often considered legitimate. This book may be read as a defence of area studies approaches. Without the insights that grew from applying our area studies skills, we would still be constrained by highly stylised notions of the state, which bear little resemblance to the state’s actual workings. The struggle against corruption is a long-term political process. Instead of trying to depoliticize it, we believe the key to progress is greater popular participation. With contributions from Simon Butt, Robert Cribb, Howard Dick, Michele Ford, Jun Honna, Tim Lindsey, Lenore Lyons, John McCarthy, Ross McLeod, Marcus Mietzner, Jeremy Mulholland, Gerben Nooteboom, J Danang Widoyoko and Ian Wilson. This book is the result of a series of workshops supported, among others, by the Australian-Netherlands Research Collaboration (ANRC). “An intriguing [...] and thought-provoking volume on the nexus between the state and illegality. It treats illegality not as an abnormality, but as an integral aspect of statecraft and social life. The book advances theoretical discussions, embedding them in rich empirical material that sheds light on the ways in which people in different localities and sectors in Indonesia use, make sense of, and negotiate illegality. It will benefit students and scholars from various disciplines, seeking to explore the social meanings and functions of illegality in the everyday life of the nation.” Barak Kalir, University of Amsterda