Elements in Politics and Society in Southeast Asia. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2018. 76 pp. US$18.00, paper. ISBN 978-1-108-45908-2.
Indonesia: Twenty Years of Democracy evaluates the democratization process in Indonesia after the downfall of the authoritarian New Order regime in 1998. It is a wide-ranging and nuanced analysis of the vicissitudes after the reformation era that goes beyond common comparative perspectives of assessing multiple states and their democratization processes. Instead, this book utilizes a locally specific standpoint to offer distinctive perspectives on the successes and failures of democracy in Indonesia. The result is an analysis that observes the “tensions, inconsistencies, and contradictory puzzles of Indonesia’s democracy” (4). It paints a picture of democracy as a fraught process that demands constant reworking and is contingent upon the power dynamics at play.
Structuring his book in a clear and articulate manner, Jamie Davidson employs democracy as the key framework to examine different but interconnected political, economic, and societal developments in post-Soeharto Indonesia. This book strategically utilizes the temporal period of twenty years since the reformation era. It situates itself within the debate by knitting together politics, political economy, and identity-based mobilizations to speak against the common practice of valuing democracy and its processes through the use of modifying adjectives. Through such intervention, Davidson successfully achieves his purpose of succinctly analyzing the disproportionate impact of democracy in the archipelago and how it is experienced across different temporal and thematic spectrums.
Indonesia: Twenty Years of Democracy is organized into three sections: “Innovation,” “Stagnation,” and “Polarization.” These three sections are the author’s way of dividing the post-New Order era into different periods to illustrate the dynamic processes of democracy. Each section is further divided into three subsections that focus on politics, political economy, and identity politics respectively.
In “Innovation,” the author discusses the early transitory period (1998–2004) from three decades of authoritarian rule. This discussion aptly captures the different modalities brought by the reformation era by highlighting both the anticipations and the dejections of a changing regime. The author illustrates the institutional reforms introduced in the political and economic realms, and complicates that further with the uncertainties following the reforms which were felt in particular by the minority populations. While electoral reforms and a constitutional court helped shepherd democracy in Indonesia, the discussion on decentralization truly sheds light on the contentiousness of democratic reforms. Regional autonomy transforms the highly centralized bureaucracy to give more administrative and fiscal power to districts and municipalities. This reform makes possible both the implementation of good governance and the rise of regional elites, the little kings, who largely benefitted from the reforms, and not the people. The author also demonstrates the emergent visibility of conservative Islam that would in later periods highly influence power dynamics in Indonesia.
“Stagnation” introduces readers to the receding euphoric high of the early period of reformation. It addresses the state of the Indonesian electorate that was “fed up with politics-as-usual and was seeking alternatives elsewhere” (26). Some sought alternatives to newer political parties (most notably the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party) and some others sought refuge in foregoing their voting rights altogether, resulting in a more than 20 percent dip in the 2004 election. Adding to the complexity of the situation is a collapsing infrastructure. While this section is organized under the framework of stagnation, the economic conditions seemed to have undergone more fallbacks instead. Furthermore, minority populations (LGBTQ, religious minorities, etc.) also experienced targeted discrimination and violence. Given that, however, identity politics have given way to interethnic or cross-religion cooperation in local elections which, even when causing societal segregation and violence, have made possible a different permutation of political possibilities in Indonesia.
The last section on “Polarization” interrogates the rise of Jokowi and spotlights Jokowi’s subtle mimicry of New Order repressive practices. This section illuminates the current polarized political condition in Indonesia, foregrounded by the Jakarta gubernatorial election in late 2016 and early 2017 that would continue to colour the dynamics of power at both regional and national levels. The rise of Jokowi brought a breath of fresh air to the state of politics in Indonesia. However, being an outsider in the web of political power also made him vulnerable to the influence of the oligarchy and party politics. His tendency towards state capitalism in particular has drawn much concern. While such moves have managed to expand national assets, this move to statism also spilled into the realm of strong state policy as reflected in the banning of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) for supposedly challenging the ideals of Pancasila.
Still, one cannot but wonder if analytical categories such as gender and age were introduced would make polarization look any different. The generation that was born around the time of reformations has been actively involved in the processes of democracy, through different practices and by taking different stances. Young women have also been more visible in the realm of politics. Some enter formal politics through newer political parties such as Tsamara Amany with PSI (Partai Solidaritas Indonesia). Others, notably young Muslim women, choose hijabers community and online dakwah to actualize their quotidian political projects. Twenty years of democracy in Indonesia has allowed this to materialize, and this has definitely changed the politics and the economic and societal make up of Indonesia. As these analytical categories might be an important feature for Indonesian democracy in the future (as well as the present), including them would prove useful to bring more nuance to the processes of democracy in Indonesia.
The critique should not be inflated, however, since this book successfully pinpoints the strengths and weaknesses of the processes of democratization in the vast archipelago with much brevity. The way the author structures the book also helps readers to understand the interlocking aspects that influence the state of democracy in Indonesia. Easily readable, Indonesia: Twenty Years of Democracy will be much appreciated by students or early career researchers wanting to have an overview of the processes of democracy in post-authoritarian Indonesia.
Nila Ayu Utami
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver