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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Politically Speaking: Ethnic Language And Audience Opinion In Southeast Asia, Jacob I. Ricks
Politically Speaking: Ethnic Language And Audience Opinion In Southeast Asia, Jacob I. Ricks
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Language is one of the quintessential markers of ethnicity. It allows co-ethnics to easily identify one another and underscores in-group and out-group boundaries. Recognizing this, politicians frequently employ ethnic tongues to enhance their political appeal. To what extent does this shape the opinions of their audiences? Utilizing a survey experiment, I test the impact of an ethnic tongue against that of the common political language among the Javanese in Indonesia, the Tagalog in the Philippines, and the Isan people in Thailand. The experiment demonstrates that the ethnic language has a significant impact in both Thailand and Indonesia, but there appears …
Visualizing Politics In Indonesia: The Design And Distribution Of Election Posters, Colm A. Fox
Visualizing Politics In Indonesia: The Design And Distribution Of Election Posters, Colm A. Fox
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Where studies have shown that visuals are the primary means of political communication, research continues to focus largely on text-based information. To add to our understanding of visual-political communications, this article analyses Indonesian election posters since the 1950s. Drawing on historical materials and on a content analysis of 4,000 election posters, it asks why election posters have been designed and distributed in particular ways. Findings indicate that in the past, posters used singular, though powerful, social symbols to mobilize demographic groups behind political parties. However, contemporary posters are more visually complex and more candidate-centered, making arguments as to what the …
The Pandemic As Political Opportunity: Jokowi’S Indonesia In The Time Of Covid-19, Charlotte Setijadi
The Pandemic As Political Opportunity: Jokowi’S Indonesia In The Time Of Covid-19, Charlotte Setijadi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In mid-2021, the Delta strain of the Covid-19 virus caused a second wave of transmissions and deaths in Indonesia at a scale much greater than what was seen in 2020. In this paper, I examine what the Indonesian government’s handling of the Covid crisis in 2021 reveals about the priorities of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), as well as his political agenda and attitude towards the country’s democracy, as he strives to cement his legacy. I argue that, while devastating, the Covid-19 pandemic has given Jokowi the opportunity to push through long-planned economic and political reforms. Furthermore, I contend that, under …
Why Have Candidates In Indonesian Elections Increasingly Been Rallying Ethnic And Religious Support?, Colm A. Fox
Why Have Candidates In Indonesian Elections Increasingly Been Rallying Ethnic And Religious Support?, Colm A. Fox
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Ethnicity and religion often become politicised in elections. Research has found that this is particularly true during a transition to democracy. During these times, fragile democratic rules and practices, coupled with strong ethnic bonds, often motivate aspiring politicians to bolster their support by appealing to voters’ emotional allegiances to their tribe, ethnicity, or religion. But, Indonesia’s case is puzzling.
Indonesia: Twenty Years Of Democracy By Jamie S. Davidson [Book Review], Colm A. Fox
Indonesia: Twenty Years Of Democracy By Jamie S. Davidson [Book Review], Colm A. Fox
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In Indonesia: Twenty years of democracy, Jamie S. Davidson looks back over the two decades since Soeharto’s fall, focusing on the ‘tensions, inconsistencies, and contradictory puzzles of Indonesia’s democracy’ (p. 4). Refreshingly, the book moves beyond the common approach of studying the similarities and differences between the contemporary democratic period and the Soeharto era. Davidson identifies, labels and skilfully guides the reader through three separate eras in Indonesia’s recent democratic history: the innovation period (1998–2004), the stagnation period (2004–14) and the period of polarisation (2014–18). Each era is analysed in parallel fashion, with subsections on politics, political economy and identity-based …
Book Review: Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority And Ethical Improvement In Aceh, Indonesia (By David Kloos) & Chinese Ways Of Being Muslim: Negotiating Ethnicity And Religiosity In Indonesia (By Hew Wai Weng), Charlotte Setijadi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Indonesian Islam has earnedsomething of a bad reputation in recent times. Amid reports of risingintolerance against religious minorities, terrorism attacks, high-profileblasphemy cases and the growing political influence of hard-line Muslim groups,it is easy to take an alarmist stance and assume that Indonesia’s approximately225 million Muslims are heading down the path of puritanism. Indeed, evenseasoned analysts of Indonesia often forget that Indonesian Islam isheterogeneous, and that the everyday experiences of Muslims from differentsocio-cultural backgrounds are extremely diverse. This is why Hew Wai Weng’sand David Kloos’ respective books are much-needed additions to contemporaryscholarship on Islam in Indonesia.
Candidate-Centric Systems And The Politicization Of Ethnicity: Evidence From Indonesia, Colm A. Fox
Candidate-Centric Systems And The Politicization Of Ethnicity: Evidence From Indonesia, Colm A. Fox
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
When and why do electoral candidates politicize ethnicity? From the literature, we might expect this behaviour to occur during democratic transitions or under proportional rules. However, empirical support for these arguments is mixed. This article presents a new approach, arguing that candidate-centric rules offer candidates incentives to politicize ethnicity. The argument is tested in Indonesia with empirical evidence drawn from coding newspaper reports on campaign events, endorsements and group appeals. Indonesia used party-centric rules from 1997 to 2004, and even though the country democratized during this period, the politicization of ethnicity actually declined. I show how party-centric rules, coupled with …
Jailangkung: Indonesian Spirit-Basket Divination, Margaret Chan
Jailangkung: Indonesian Spirit-Basket Divination, Margaret Chan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Chinese spirit-basket divination, which dates to the fifth century, would have been lost to the world had it not been reincarnated as Indonesian jailangkung. The term is the homophonic rendition of the Chinese cai lan gong [菜篮公, vegetable basket deity] and unambiguously links the Indonesian practice with the Chinese. Contemporary Chinese divinatory methods have replaced the clumsy basket planchette with the handier tri-forked branch or a pen held in the medium’s hand, but a spirit-basket still features in jailangkung and remains the key element in involutions of the prototype. For example, Nini Thowong’s spirit-possessed doll, is essentially an anthropomorphic effigy …
Inherent Multiculturalism: An Ancient Chinese Practice Becomes A Part Of The Indonesian Everyday, Margaret Chan
Inherent Multiculturalism: An Ancient Chinese Practice Becomes A Part Of The Indonesian Everyday, Margaret Chan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Several methods are used to trace cultural transfer between countries. The time-honoured methods are chronicles of early travellers and archaeology. We can also look to epigraphs and loan words. Present-day ethnic communities also suggest earlier settlements. Edward B. Tylor proposed the world distribution of games as anthropological evidence. Tylor's method combined with an archaeology into the Everyday provides evidence of earlier cultural transfer and present-day applications of the game enables analysis to draw socio-cultural knowledge of inter-ethnic, inter-cultural reception to foreign influences in host societies.
New Forms Of Political Activism In Indonesia: Redefining The Nexus Between Electoral And Movement Politics, Dirk Tomsa, Charlotte Setijadi
New Forms Of Political Activism In Indonesia: Redefining The Nexus Between Electoral And Movement Politics, Dirk Tomsa, Charlotte Setijadi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This article argues that new personality-centric movements have redefined the nexus between activism and electoral politics in Indonesia. It illustrates how these movements have challenged the role of political parties and consultants in electoral campaigning, and how their growing prominence may affect the future trajectory of Indonesian politics.
Incumbency Advantage And Candidate Characteristics In Open-List Proportional Representation Systems: Evidence From Indonesia, Sebastian Carl Dettman, Thomas B. Pepinsky, Jan H. Pierskalla
Incumbency Advantage And Candidate Characteristics In Open-List Proportional Representation Systems: Evidence From Indonesia, Sebastian Carl Dettman, Thomas B. Pepinsky, Jan H. Pierskalla
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
We use evidence from Indonesia's April 2014 legislative elections to study the relationship between incumbency, list position, candidate characteristics, and electoral success in open-list PR systems. Contrary to a recent literature identifying an incumbency disadvantage in other large developing democracies, we identify a consistent personal incumbency advantage in Indonesia. However, we argue that this advantage is mediated by party choices over how incumbents and newcomers are ranked on party lists, a key heuristic for voters in low-information electoral environments such as Indonesia.
Policy Learning And Policy Networks In Theory And Practice: The Role Of Policy Brokers In The Indonesian Biodiesel Policy Network, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee, Joop Koppenjan
Policy Learning And Policy Networks In Theory And Practice: The Role Of Policy Brokers In The Indonesian Biodiesel Policy Network, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee, Joop Koppenjan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This paper examines how learning has been treated, generally, in policy network theories and what questions have been posed, and answered, about this phenomenon to date. We examine to what extent network characteristics and especially the presence of various types of brokers impede or facilitate policy learning. Next, a case study of the policy network surrounding the sustainability of palm oil biodiesel in Indonesia over the past two decades is presented using social network analysis. This case study focuses on sustainability-oriented policy learning in the Indonesian biodiesel governance network and illustrates how network features and especially forms of brokerage influence …
’A Beautiful Bridge’: Chinese Indonesian Associations, Social Capital And Strategic Identification In A New Era Of China Indonesia Relations, Charlotte Setijadi
’A Beautiful Bridge’: Chinese Indonesian Associations, Social Capital And Strategic Identification In A New Era Of China Indonesia Relations, Charlotte Setijadi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In Indonesia, Chinese voluntary associations took on a new level of importance after the fall of Suharto’s New Order regime in 1998 that ushered in a revival of Chinese identity politics. At the same time, Sino-Indonesian relations are blossoming, and the rise of China as a global power means that Indonesia can only benefit from stronger ties with China in the future. In this new atmosphere of cooperation, I argue that Chinese Indonesian individuals and voluntary organizations play a crucial function as trade and cultural intermediaries. Drawing on both empirical and qualitative fieldwork data, in this paper, I examine how …
Religious Aspirations Among Urban Christians In Contemporary Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Religious Aspirations Among Urban Christians In Contemporary Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Recognizing that the Christians in Indonesia are not a homogeneous group, this article examines the various contested spiritual, social, and political aspirations of urban Christians in the contexts of the historical trajectory of Indonesian modernity, forces of globalization and urbanization, the role of capital, and the development of Islam - the indispensable religious 'Other' to this minority religion in contemporary Indonesia. It sheds light on the ways in which this minority exercises agency in using political participation and social activism as a counterbalance to the growing Islamization of Indonesia, and how they strategically utilize their extensive economic, social, and political …
Mapping Chineseness On The Landscape Of Christian Churches In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Mapping Chineseness On The Landscape Of Christian Churches In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Scholarship on the Chinese Indonesian community has largely been concerned with the tensions between the community and the majority non-Chinese (or pribumi). The fault lines were usually examined against the background of Suharto’s assimilation policy, the 1998 anti-Chinese riots, the stark imbalance of the nation’s wealth within this minority group, and Chinese loyalty – or chauvinism – in the time of nation-building, and in the face of the rise of modern China. Little attention has been given to Christianity as offering a shelter for the inconspicuous propagation of Chineseness; particularly in terms of the conduct of services in Chinese, the …
Building Participatory Organizations For Common Pool Resource Management: Water User Group Promotion In Indonesia, Jacob I. Ricks
Building Participatory Organizations For Common Pool Resource Management: Water User Group Promotion In Indonesia, Jacob I. Ricks
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
States are increasingly striving to create participatory local organizations for joint management of common pool resources. What local conditions determine success of such state efforts? What effect do these efforts have? Drawing on controlled comparisons between three districts in Indonesia and an original survey of 92 water user groups, I demonstrate that local political contexts condition the effectiveness of participatory irrigation policies. When irrigation is politically salient, local politicians pressure bureaucrats to better engage with farmers. The data also show that training programs are not as effective at increasing water user organization activity as frequent contact between bureaucrats and farmers.
An Asian Perspective On Policy Instruments: Policy Styles, Governance Modes And Critical Capacity Challenges, Ishani Mukherjee, Michael Howlett
An Asian Perspective On Policy Instruments: Policy Styles, Governance Modes And Critical Capacity Challenges, Ishani Mukherjee, Michael Howlett
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Does Asia have a distinct policy style? If so, what does it look like, and why does it take the shape it does? This article argues that in the newly reinvigorated emphasis of policy studies on policy instruments and their design lies the basis of an analysis of a dominant policy style in the Asian region, with significant implications for understanding the roles played by specific kinds of policy capacities. There is a distinctly Asian policy style based on a specific pattern of policy capacities and governance modes. In this style, a failure to garner initial policy legitimacy in the …
God And Discipline: Religious Education And Character Building In A Christian School In Jakarta, Chang Yau Hoon
God And Discipline: Religious Education And Character Building In A Christian School In Jakarta, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
A school is an institution in which student subjectivity is constituted and reinscribed through various 'disciplinary technologies'. The interplay between discipline and discipleship in the practice of Christian education is mutually constitutive. Through the study of a Protestant Christian school in Jakarta, this article explains the disciplinary technologies deployed by the school in its inculcation of discipline and character building. By examining the school's religious education practices the study provides insight into the perceptions of the school management, teachers and students with regard to various ethical, moral and religious issues. The author considers how Christian schools can develop critical reflective …
Young People's Attitudes Towards Inter-Ethnic And Inter-Religious Socializing, Courtship And Marriage In Indonesia, Lyn Parker, Chang Yau Hoon, Raihani Raihani
Young People's Attitudes Towards Inter-Ethnic And Inter-Religious Socializing, Courtship And Marriage In Indonesia, Lyn Parker, Chang Yau Hoon, Raihani Raihani
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This paper presents the attitudes of high school students in Indonesia towards inter-ethnic and inter-religious socializing, courtship and marriage. It also explores how different personal characteristics and social conditions such as gender, ethnicity, type of school and community affect these attitudes. The basic findings come from a survey of more than 3,000 students in senior high schools in five provinces of Indonesia: Jakarta, Yogyakarta, West Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and Bali. Survey data were supplemented with data from interviews and focus group discussions with students and from participant observation in and around the same schools. The authors found that most students …
Appealing To The Masses Understanding Ethnic Politics And Elections In Indonesia (Doctoral Dissertation), Colm A. Fox
Appealing To The Masses Understanding Ethnic Politics And Elections In Indonesia (Doctoral Dissertation), Colm A. Fox
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
The mobilization of ethnic groups during elections is seen by many as one of the greatest threats to democracy in ethnically diverse societies. Two important questions are: Why does ethnicity become politicized in some elections, but not in others? and Why do particular ethnic categories become politicized, while others do not? Two arguments in the literature offer explanations. The first argument posits that groups are mobilized along ethnic lines when voters have strong emotional allegiances to their ethnic group; in effect, the ethnic politicization of elections is viewed as a reflection of societal ethnic cleavages. A second argument focuses on …
Between Evangelism And Multiculturalism: The Dynamics Of Christianity In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Between Evangelism And Multiculturalism: The Dynamics Of Christianity In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Christianity has experienced rapid growth in Indonesia, particularly the Evangelical and Pentecostal/Charismatic movements, which find fertile ground among the urban middle class. This phenomenon has given rise to fears of Christianisation among the Muslim majority, who perceive the Christian growth as a moral threat. Tensions between Christians and Muslims have been part and parcel of religious developments in Indonesia. The author addresses the ways in which Protestant churches in Indonesia negotiate between evangelism (to fulfil the ‘Great Commission’) on the one hand, and multiculturalism (peaceful coexistence with difference) on the other. The article will examine how Christians in Indonesia navigate …
Multicultural Citizenship Education In Indonesia: The Case Of A Chinese Christian School, Chang Yau Hoon
Multicultural Citizenship Education In Indonesia: The Case Of A Chinese Christian School, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This study investigates how multicultural citizenship education is taught in a Chinese Christian school in Jakarta, where multiculturalism is not a natural experience. Schoolyard ethnographic research was deployed to explore the reality of a ‘double minority’ — Chinese Christians — and how the citizenship of this marginal group is constructed and contested in national, school, and familial discourses. The article argues that it is necessary for schools to actively implement multicultural citizenship education in order to create a new generation of young adults who are empowered, tolerant, active, participatory citizens of Indonesia. As schools are a microcosm of the nation-state, …
Evolving Chineseness, Ethnicity And Business: The Making Of The Ethnic Chinese As A ‘Market-Dominant Minority’ In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Evolving Chineseness, Ethnicity And Business: The Making Of The Ethnic Chinese As A ‘Market-Dominant Minority’ In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
The ethnic Chinese in Indonesia play a very significant role in the nation’s economy. Their dominance in the Indonesian economy is often seen as disproportionate to their numbers, as reflected in the popular assertion that “the Chinese constitute only 3.5 percent of the population but control 70 percent of Indonesia’s economy”. In the New York Times bestseller, World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, Amy Chua (2004) identified Chinese Indonesians as one of the “ market-dominant minorities” in the world. Her book highlights the double bind of free market democracy: it privileges certain …
Secularity, Religion And The Possibilities For Religious Citizenship, Lyn Parker, Chang Yau Hoon
Secularity, Religion And The Possibilities For Religious Citizenship, Lyn Parker, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Scholarly predictions of the secularization of the world have proven premature. We see a heterogeneous world in which religion remains a significant and vital social and political force. This paper reflects critically upon secularization theory in order to see how scholars can productively respond to the, at least partly, religious condition of the world at the beginning of the twenty first century. We note that conventional multiculturalism theory and policy neglects religion, and argue the need for a reconceptualization of understanding of religion and secularity, particularly in a context of multicultural citizenship — such as in Australia and Indonesia. We …
The Spirit-Mediums Of Singkawang: Performing Peoplehood Of West Kalimantan, Margaret Chan
The Spirit-Mediums Of Singkawang: Performing Peoplehood Of West Kalimantan, Margaret Chan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Chinese New Year in the West Kalimantan town of Singkawang is marked by a parade featuring hundreds of possessed spirit-mediums performing self-mortification and blood sacrifice. The event is a huge tourist draw, but beyond the spectacle, deeper meanings are enacted. The spirit-medium procession stages a fraternity of Dayak, Malay and Chinese earth gods united in the purpose of exorcising demons from the neighborhood. The self-conscious presentation of the Chinese as brethren among pribumi [sons-of-the-soil] Dayak and Malay, proposes the Chinese as belonging to the ‘peoplehood’ of West Kalimantan.
Local Successes In Encouraging Participatory Irrigation Management: Policy Lessons From Indonesia, Jacob I. Ricks, Sigit Supadmo Arif
Local Successes In Encouraging Participatory Irrigation Management: Policy Lessons From Indonesia, Jacob I. Ricks, Sigit Supadmo Arif
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Despite decades of promotion, efforts to encourage participatory irrigation management often falter. Nowhere is this more true that on the island of Java, Indonesia where multiple programmes and millions of dollars have resulted in few effective water user associations. Even so, pockets of participatory success exist. We present findings from one locally developed water user association training programme found in Yogyakarta, Indonesia that has experienced relative success in encouraging farmer participation. We then derive policy lessons from this case.
Learning To Belong, Lyn Parker, Raihani Raihani, Chang Yau Hoon
Learning To Belong, Lyn Parker, Raihani Raihani, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Educational efforts are being made around the country to enable minorities to feel they belong and to teach majorities that they should value the diversity of Indonesia. The cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity of Indonesia is famed around the world and accepted within Indonesia. The national motto of ‘Unity in Diversity’ places diversity at the centre of the nation-state. But despite significant progress in democratisation, decentralisation and regional autonomy in post-Suharto Indonesia, old fears of federalism, separatism and disunity remain. Multiculturalism and pluralism are still often viewed with suspicion and paranoia is spread by extremists for their own ends.
Affirming Difference, Chang Yau Hoon
Affirming Difference, Chang Yau Hoon
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Elite Christian schools in Indonesia can become places where religious, ethnic and class identities are heightened, particularly in relation to the nation’s ethnic Chinese. Exceptional academic performance, faith education, strict discipline and a safe environment are some of the factors that attract ethnic Chinese to enrol their children into elite Christian schools in Indonesia. In fact, these schools have become a thriving business across major cities, generating handsome profits from the provision of high quality education. They are generally attended by Chinese Indonesian students from a middle and upper class background. The schools are equipped with much better facilities than …
Stories For Today: A Contemporary Artist Brings New Life To A Moribund Indonesian Theatre Genre, Margaret Chan
Stories For Today: A Contemporary Artist Brings New Life To A Moribund Indonesian Theatre Genre, Margaret Chan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Dani Iswardana is single-minded about his mission to inject new life into wayang beber, perhaps the oldest form of Indonesian narrative theatre, but now described as a dying art. The intensity of his purpose buoys Dani through long stretches of painting when food is forgotten and his work, fuelled by coffee and cigarettes, is all that he cares for. However Dani has gone for years without producing anything, because he will work only when the creative spirit possesses him. Painting for money means nothing to him, and the everyday demands of making a living have no place in his creative …
Imagining “Indonesia”: Ethnic Chinese Film Producers In Pre-Independence Cinema, Charlotte Setijadi, Thomas Barker
Imagining “Indonesia”: Ethnic Chinese Film Producers In Pre-Independence Cinema, Charlotte Setijadi, Thomas Barker
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In this paper, we aim to re-examine the roles of ethnic Chinese filmmakers in Indonesian cinematic history as a preliminary study in the reconsideration of the early years of the film industry. Here, we regard the simplification of history in the film industry as part of a broader attempt by nationalist and New Order ideologues to “appropriate” the origins of cinema and “ ” in Indonesia. On the same note, we argue that the narrative tradition that privileges “indigenous” filmmakers as the originators of asli (authentic ortrue) Indonesian culture on screen reflects the dominant yet narrow definition of nationalism as …