Since the fall of Suharto’s New Order, Indonesia’s central government has substantially strengthened the legal and financial basis of universal free basic education (UFBE). Yet sub-national governments have varied considerably in their responses to the issue with some supporting UFBE and others not. Why has this happened? What are the implications for the future of UFBE in Indonesia? And what does Indonesia’s sub-national experience tell us about the political preconditions for UFBE in developing countries? We try to shed some light on these questions by examining the politics of UFBE in Bantul and Sleman, two districts in the Special Region of Yogyakarta.
We argue (i) that these districts’ different responses to UFBE have reflected the extent to which their bupati have pursued populist strategies for mobilising votes at election time and there has been resistance to UFBE from groups such as business, the middle classes, and teachers; (ii) that Indonesia’s sub-national experience suggests that there is an alternative pathway to UFBE besides organisation of the poor by political entrepreneurs; and (iii) that the future of UFBE in Indonesia thus rests on the nature of bupatis’ strategies for advancing their careers and the strength of local groups opposed to UFBE.
權力分散後的印尼全民免費基礎教育政治：來自日惹的啟示
自從蘇哈托的新秩序體制瓦解後，印尼中央政府大大增強了全民免費基礎教育（UFBE）的法律和財務基礎。然而，地方政府對UFBE的反應卻大相庭徑，有的支持，有的反對。為什麼會發生這種情況？而這對印度尼西亞UFBE的未來發展又將產生甚麼樣的影響？印度尼西亞地方層面的的經驗為我們思考在發展中國家實施UFBE的政治前提提供了什麼樣的啓發？通過考察日惹特區的班圖爾和斯莱曼兩個區的UFBE政治，本文嘗試對這些問題提出我們的看法。 我們認為，首先，這些地區對UFBE的的不同反應在一定程度上與其縣長在選舉時為拉選票而奉行民粹主義策略的程度相關聯，因為各地一直存在著反對UFBE的力量，如商界、中產階級和教師等。其二，印尼的地方經驗表明，除了由政治企業家組織窮人的方式之外，還存在實現UFBE的替代途徑。最後，印尼UFBE的未來將取決與縣長們推進其職業生涯所用的策略和地方反對UFBE團體力量的強弱。
Translated from English by Xin Huang
