(Un) Civil Society and Political Change in Indonesia: A Contested Arena

320 Pages·2009·1.49 MB·English

by  Verena Beittinger-Lee

(Un)Civil Society and Political Change
in Indonesia
(Un)Civil Society and Political Change in Indonesia provides a critical ana-
lysis of Indonesia’s civil society and its impact on the country’s democratiza-
tion efforts that not only takes the classical, pro-democratic actors of civil
society into account but also portrays uncivil groups and their growing influ-
ence on political processes.
Beittinger-Lee offers a revised categorization of civil society, including a
model to define the sphere of ‘uncivil society’ more closely and to identify
severalsubcategoriesofuncivilsociety.Thisisthefirstbooktoportrayvarious
uncivil groups in Indonesia, ranging from vigilantes, militias, paramilitaries,
youth groups, civil security task forces and militant Islamic (and other reli-
gious) groups, ethnonationalist groups to terrorist organizations and groups
belonging to organized crime. Moreover, it provides the reader with an over-
view of Indonesia’s history, its political developments after the democratic
opening,mainimprovementsunderthevariouspresidentssinceSuharto’sfall,
constitutional amendments and key reforms in human rights legislation.
This book will be of interest to upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates
and academics in political science and Southeast Asian studies.
Verena Beittinger-Lee obtained her PhD from the Department of Southeast
Asian Studies at the Alexander von Humboldt University in Berlin in 2007
and now works at a law firm in New York.
Routledge Studies on Civil Society in Asia
Series Editor: Mark Sidel, University of Iowa, USA.
RoutledgeStudiesonCivilSocietyinAsiaaddressestheroleofcivilsociety,
nonprofit, philanthropic, NGO, religious and other organizations in their
social context both in individual countries and in comparative perspective
across East, Southeast, and South Asia. Themes include defining the role and
scope of civil society; relations between civil society and the state; NGOs in
regional and country contexts; governance and accountability in civil society;
civil society and religion; the political role of civil society; the role of founda-
tions, religious philanthropy, and other philanthropic organizations; business,
philanthropy and civil society; ethnography of particular civil society, NGO,
community-basedorotherorganizations;transnationalcivilsocietyorganizations
inAsia;thelegalregulationofcivilsociety;self-regulationandaccountability;
Asian diasporas and civil society; and resources and fundraising for civil
society.
TheseriesiseditedbyMarkSidel,ProfessorofLawandFacultyScholarat
the University of Iowa, who has served in program positions with the Ford
Foundation in Beijing, Hanoi, Bangkok and New Delhi working on strength-
ening the nonprofit sector, philanthropy, and civil society and has consulted
widely in the region.
1 Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia
Straddling state and society
Edited by Benjamin L. Read with Robert Pekkanen
2 (Un)Civil Society and Political Change in Indonesia
AContested Arena
Verena Beittinger-Lee
(Un)Civil Society and Political
Change in Indonesia
A contested arena
Verena Beittinger-Lee
Firstpublished2009byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
270MadisonAve,NewYork,NY10016
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2010VerenaBeittinger-Lee
TypesetinTimesNewRomanby
Taylor&FrancisBooks
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby
CPIAntonyRowe,Chippenham,Wiltshire
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
fromthepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Beittinger-Lee,Verena.
(Un)civilsocietyandpoliticalchangeinIndonesia:acontestedarena/
VerenaBeittinger-Lee.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
1.Civilsociety–Indonesia.2.Democracy–Indonesia.3.Indonesia–Politics
andgovernment–1998-I.Title.
JQ776.B452009
320.9598–dc22
2009014487
ISBN:978-0-415-54741-3(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-86879-9(ebk)
For Herta, Raimund, Hyun and Gila
Contents
List of illustrations viii
Foreword by Goenawan Mohamad ix
Acknowledgements x
List of abbreviations xi
1 Introduction 1
2 An uneasy correlation: (un)civil society and democracy 10
3 Historical and political framework for civil society formation in
Indonesia 35
4 Walking a tightrope: civil society under Suharto 57
5 Between reform and regression: post-Suharto state and politics 71
6 A contested arena: civil society in post-Suharto Indonesia 115
7 The rise of uncivil society 158
8 Summary and conclusion: (un)civil society and the future of
democracy in Indonesia 208
Appendix 218
Notes 236
Bibliography 266
Index 294
Illustrations
Figure
6.1 Increase in selected civil society organizations from the New
Order to post-Suharto 117
Tables
6.1 New civil society model 118
7.1 Categorization of uncivil societygroups in Indonesia 162
A.1 Subjective well-being rankings of 82 societies 221
A.2 Indonesia on the Failed States Index 222
A.3 Types of international human rights instruments 223
A.4 Indonesia’s commitment to UN conventions 224
A.5 Pro-integration militias in East Timor 225
A.6 USOs in Indonesia 227
A.7 Sub-categories of uncivil society 234
Foreword
Toidentifyistoriskmisapprehension.Conceptsareslipperyand“civilsociety”
is notoriously so. Since the 1980s the phrase has been used to denote every-
thing from erratic social activists’ associations to well-organized foundations.
Hegel would find it baffling to learn that his “bürgerliche Gesellschaft” is no
longerasingleentity;today’scapitalismhasgenerateddiversesocialidentities
and conflicts. In countries where the notion of “middle class” occupies no
distinct economic and cultural space, “civil society” is less a social formation
than an articulation of engagements in which the social betrays the force of
the political.
Verena Beittinger-Lee’s is a laudable attempt to go through this irregular
terrain and find patterns in the shifting paths and hedges of democratization,
using Indonesia as a case study.
Needless to say that the story is far from over. Living through different
stages of Indonesian history, I am persuaded to view democracy not as a
political format but as the sound and fury of the practice of politics itself—
especially when it is marked by the taking-part of those who have no part.
It is about time for an introduction to this often-confusing chronicle of
Indonesia. Beittinger-Lee’s work is one of the few readings on this largest
Muslim country in the world, with its desire and drive to meet the perpetual
demand for adil dan merdeka, or what a political thinker calls “egaliberté”.
Goenawan Mohamad
Acknowledgements
This book is dedicated to the Indonesian people and those who ignited my
passion for this country in the first place. Only the ceaseless support and love
of many allowed me to conduct my research andwrite this study.
I gratefully acknowledge Ronald Inglehart and the Fund for Peace for
permission to reproduce their copyrighted material.
I would like to thank all my interview partners, friends, and colleagues in
Indonesia for sharing their insights and information so generously. Without
you, this book could not have been written. I am particularly indebted to
Goenawan Mohamad for his extensive support of my research, as well as
Nike Rompas from Tempo Magazine, and the staff at ISAI Jakarta. I also
want to express mygratitude to my supervisors, Prof. Ingrid Wessel and Prof.
Vincent Houben, for their continuous helpfulness and patience.
Furthermore,Iwouldliketo thank RainerAdam, DavidBourchier,Steffen
Möritz, and AndreasUfen for their comments and suggestions, which greatly
helped me in finishing this study. Finally, I am deeply indebted to my native-
speaker friends all around the world, who helped proofreading this book:
Belinda Cassidy, Adam Groves, Jon Elliott, Don and Sarah Jones, Jerry
Kragt, Yann Ledu, and Peter Snowdon.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends for never
losing faith in me and for all the love, support, and encouragement offered
throughout this project, above all my parents Herta and Raimund Beittinger
and my beloved husband Hyun Lee.