ABSTRACTS
Urban Poor Movement, Community Power, and Informality Governance in Jakarta’s Democratic Setting
Why do some informal neighborhoods get evicted, and others get improved? This study examines the reasons behind the patterned variation and inconsistent governmental responses to urban informal settlements based on the case of Jakarta, Indonesia. Urban informality governances vary based on their exclusionary consequences and the state’s involvement with the informal community. These two dimensions constitute different government actions, ranging from violent evictions, permissive by the forbearance of eviction rules, and accommodative through community-based distributive interventions. These parallel operations of coercion, neglect, and care logics toward informal settlements suggested a more heterogeneous state’s impulses in governing marginality than what is often portrayed in the literature. The study challenges dominant theories that attribute urban poor expulsion solely to global capitalism and colonial legacy.
The research compares five informal settlements using field observations, interviews, and government policy reviews. The findings reveal that apart from the functionality or dysfunctionality of the settlements to local leaders’ interests, government interventions are also influenced by the urban poor movement and the informal community power. The urban poor movement was able to mobilize grassroots support and advocated for settlement improvements through a political contract strategy. However, the successful implementation of these policies depended on the community’s power, involving strong community leadership, a cohesive community, high strategic capacity, and political networks. This study contributes to the scholarship on urban governance and inequality by emphasizing the role of informal communities in contesting government response, creating negotiated fields with their resources and strategies, and diverting exclusionary outcomes.
The Power of Worker Movement under Oligarchy in Indonesia
The Indonesian worker movement had an intriguing decade after the fall of authoritarianism: winning their demand for universal healthcare called National Healthcare (Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional, JKN) in 2011, while losing their rights for labor safety with the legalization of the Omnibus Law for Job Creation in 2020. Although these outcomes seem to contradict each other, both occurred under similar political-economic conditions: the strengthening power of oligarchs, a group of extremely wealthy few (Winters, 2011). The contradictory outcome of the Indonesian worker movement begs the question of why, under this oligarchic domination, pro-worker welfare policies can pass while other anti-worker legislation can be produced. What condition under oligarchy explains such variety?
This research posits that the variance in the political outcomes of worker movements stems from differing levels of political tension among oligarchs. A high level of political tension prompts dominant factions to utilize state power for repression, hindering effective worker mobilization, while low-intensity conflict allows for greater power of workers as dominant oligarchs refrain from using state power for their interests. When oligarchs abstain from instrumentalizing the state, non-oligarchic actors like worker movements have increased opportunities to influence state power. Political ramifications occur when worker demands align with certain factions within the state dominated by oligarchy.
Skill Formation and Technological Learning in Late-Industrializing Countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea in Comparative Perspective
Technological capacities are necessary for late-industrializing countries to upgrade their industrial development and catch up with industrial nations. Different from the first and second industrializers, like the United Kingdom for the former and Germany and the United States for the latter, which had to rely on technological invention and innovation, respectively, late-industrializing countries can learn and imitate the technological inventions and innovations of the first and second industrializes. Yet, how developing nations learn technology and utilize it to enhance their industrial capabilities remains under-explored. What are the mechanisms by which late-industrializing nations enhance their skills and technological capacities? Discussion about the development of technological capacities in late-industrializing countries has been rather limited and dispersed in many different research areas, ranging from the development of vocational training to technology transfer and the provision of on-the-job training for workers. Without neglecting the insights and contribution of these works to advancing our understanding of the complexity of the problem faced by developing nations in building their technological capacities, more efforts are needed to assess the linkages between these issues more systematically. To address this problem, the proposed study will compare the political economy of skill formation and technological learning in Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea. While they started their industrialization roughly at the same time, they had different trajectories in building their skills and technological capacities as well as industrial outcomes.
Behind the Digital Boom: The Rise and Consequence of Platform Capitalism in Indonesia
My dissertation examines the socio-political dynamics underpinning Indonesia’s rapid rise as the world’s fastest-growing and Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy despite missing many supportive factors. Existing data suggest that platform companies are key drivers of this transformation, ushering the rise of platform capitalism in the country. Yet, the literature has not adequately explained how a few platform companies have come to expand and dominate the Indonesian online market and the implications of their dominance.
I develop a theory of proprietary market to help answer these questions. It argues that the expansion of platform capitalism is fundamentally tied to the socio-political construction of privatized market ecosystems based on the ownership and control of digital exchange infrastructures. The transformation of these infrastructures into private property allows platform companies to expand their marketplace while centralize control over market activities in it. My argument shifts the dominant narrative that attributes the rise of platform capitalism primarily to technological, structural, or institutional changes at a global level—focusing instead on the changing nature of market situated in local contexts.
Utilizing case studies of Gojek and Grab, I explore how these platform companies deploy various power resources and political strategies to establish a social order of proprietary markets in Indonesia. This includes employing solutionist discourse to construct market valuation, mobilizing regulatory institutions to organize competition, and engaging social networks to enforce cooperation. My findings reveal that, beyond just leveraging new technology and venture capital investment, platform companies extensively rely on existing cultures, laws, and social networks to create their markets. Additionally, the dissertation explores the distributive outcomes of proprietary markets in exacerbating labor exploitation and wealth concentration, thereby challenging the conception of platform companies as benign engines of growth.
Instagram Stories: The Role of Social Media Influencers in Indonesia’s Stunting Interventions
This paper investigates the role of social media in communicating development interventions by examining how government ideas and stereotypes about child stunting influence the lives of Indonesian women. It utilizes ethnographic research methods, including interviews and observations, to analyze Instagram accounts managed by healthcare professionals, such as pediatricians, physicians, and nutritionists. These professionals disseminate what is perceived as “expert” knowledge about stunting. Here, the term “expert” is used illustratively, with these accounts referred to as “professional intellectuals.” This designation allows for an exploration of the tension between the practical, hands-on dimensions and the broader societal or organizational recognition of skilled knowledge on specific issues, such as children’s health and growth. Data were collected through online interviews with World Bank experts and an influencer, participation in Facebook groups, and active engagement with Instagram posts to interact with other users. This paper argues that these professional intellectuals play a unique mediating role by translating complex health information into accessible knowledge for the public. However, their role extends beyond merely communicating about stunting; they also contribute to shaping a culturally specific ideal of motherhood in Indonesia. By analyzing the content and engagement strategies of selected Instagram accounts, the study demonstrates the pivotal role these professionals play in disseminating authoritative knowledge and shaping the national conversation around childhood care and stunting prevention.
From Cannabis to Methamphetamine: Drugs Landscape in Aceh, Indonesia
The traditional use of cannabis in Aceh communities is deeply rooted in Acehnese culture and has been used for medicinal purposes, as a food seasoning, preservative, and even as an offering in traditional rituals. Cannabis has been grown in Aceh Provinces and other parts of Sumatra Island for many centuries. During the Dutch colonial era, drug policy, particularly opium policy, regulated the production of opium in Indonesia. The colonial government gained revenue from a regulated drug market model through the monopolization of the opium market. The Dutch colonialists designed the market to fulfil the demand of both the local users and the global market. In cannabis policy, it became a commodity until the influence of international drug control agreements began and started imposing restrictions on cannabis cultivation and use in the early 1900s. During the Japanese and Indonesian governments until the 1950s, there were no significant changes in drug policy, particularly on cannabis. However, criminalization occurred throughout the globe and Indonesia, led by the US Administration on the war on drugs narratives in the 20th century. The approaches have negatively impacted all people who use drugs and cultivate cannabis regardless of their historical background. The calls for reform on drug policy embark around the globe due to the overpopulation in the prisons, human rights violations, irregular illicit market and uncontrolled substances in the illicit market, as well as limited access to controlled drugs for medical and scientific purposes. In Aceh, the pattern of use and distribution of drugs has also changed. Recently, the pattern of drug use and trafficking is mostly methamphetamine instead of cannabis. The ICDR (2023) reported that the cases regarding cannabis reduced from 38% in 2013, and in 2023 there were 13% of cases in the District and Appealed Courts, compared to methamphetamine which saw 62% of cases in 2013 and reached 86% of cases in 2014. Aceh has the second-highest number of people on death row in Indonesia after North Sumatra. Ninety percent of those people on the death row are related to methamphetamine cases, and most of the drugs are from outside Indonesia. This number shows how the pattern of the drug illicit market and use are changing, yet the policy does not. The research finds that the drug policy in Indonesia does not consider the trends and patterns of drug changes in use or consumption. The issue of cannabis in Aceh remains complex, with ongoing debates about its potential benefits and the impact of its criminalization.
Marriage, Family, and the State: Shaping the Citizenship Experiences of Women Heads of Households and the LGBT Community in Indonesia
How the family and marriage are constituted shape the citizenship experiences of women heads of households and the LGBT community in Indonesia. Despite the principle of equality enshrined in the Constitution, not all citizens can marry and form a family. The Marriage Law of 1974 issued during the authoritarian New Order specifies who can get married to whom and how. The law not only prescribes gender roles but also disciplines sexual desires, privileging the heterosexual nuclear family model. The idea that marriage is the only proper site for enacting sexual desires is present in both the Civil and Penal Codes, including laws on adultery and contraception. Other laws emphasizing monogamous marriage also indicate the state’s involvement in enforcing specific family patterns. Such laws continue to exist despite Indonesia’s vibrant rights discourse and claims to universal citizenship. The lack of recognition for certain types of marriage, especially same-sex unions, forces some individuals to “pass” as heterosexual for marriage, leading to legal and societal repercussions. There is a notable absence of political discourse on same-sex marriage, reflecting broader societal and legal resistance. Furthermore, census and national statistics data have historically defined economic measurements in relation to particular ideas about family and household status, emphasizing the significance of marriage on social and economic policy. This study demonstrates how state regulations on marriage become boundary markers between the ‘proper’ and ‘deserving’ and those who do not.
Sink or Swim: Testing the Roles of Science and Religion in Raising Environmental Awareness in Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia, is the world’s fastest-sinking city, with some parts predicted to be underwater by 2050. However, many residents remain largely unaware of this looming environmental disaster. This paper studies the effect of different video messages and presenters on environmental awareness among individuals in the Jakarta metropolitan area through an online experiment. We specifically compare the impacts of religious and scientific narratives, delivered by an actor portraying either an academic or a religious leader. The treatment significantly increases beliefs on the causes and consequences of land subsidence and trust in the capacity to address the issue, leading to increased willingness to take actions to reduce groundwater extraction. The largest positive impacts arise when a scientist utilizes a religious narrative to convey an environmental message, suggesting that information can be more effective when it is backed by scientific evidence and uses narratives tailored to local customs, such as Islamic values. Heterogeneity analyses suggest that the treatment is stronger on several outcomes among those who are less dependent on groundwater for drinking, those with low initial knowledge of the issue, Muslims, and women. Overall, these results highlight that communication strategies aimed at addressing environmental crises need to carefully weigh both the presenter of the message and the narrative style employed.