Fifty Years of Indonesian Development: "One Nation," Under Capitalism ...

Abstract

In Indonesia much uncertainty remains in the wake of the dramatic changes that unfolded in the latter half of the l990's. By the end of the 20th century, the Indonesian economy was in ruins. The concept of democracy remained contested. The transportation and communication system that once at least minimally linked the diverse and at times disparate areas and peoples of the Indonesian archipelago into an Andersonian imagined national community collapsed, making more likely movements for regional autonomy, in turn, making the status of an Indonesian nation itself uncertain. One thing that is certain, however, is that Socharto, the "Father of Development," is history. As political and economic policy makers in Indonesia, the United States, and around the world, and more importantly, Indonesia's men, women, and children pick up the pieces, it is our responsibility to look back and consider the past fifty years.

Extractive Regimes: Toward a Better Understanding of Indonesian Development

“…The universal guiding myth of developmentalism (Loriaux 1999) was Indonesia's collective project (Evans 1995) espoused by state elites. Suharto fostered an image of himself as the Father of Development both through unceasing use of the state‐owned media and by bringing material benefits to particular groups—the burgeoning but small middle class, Chinese‐Indonesian capitalists, state bureaucrats, and the military (Heryanto 1988; McCormack 1999).…”

Indonesia's “Accelerated Modernization” and the Global Discourse of Development, 1960-1975

“…Most technocrats, however, did not take U.S-style liberal capitalism as their model, even thought they depended utterly on American and Western aid and political backing for survival, but looked to Asian developmental states, India, and the social democracies of Western Europe for inspiration. 40 Though Suharto's government claimed domestic legitimacy upon coming to power in March 1966 from its commitment to modernization and the promise of stability and rapid economic growth, the Indonesian people were far from his only audience. Donor governments, multilateral institutions, NGOs, and foreign investors would, through the provision of capital, aid, training, and expertise, help to define what development and stability meant by structuring the government's options and strengthening the capacity of the New Order state to achieve its goals.…”