23. The Criminal State: Premanisme and the New Indonesia

Lindsey, Tim

doi:10.1355/9789812305114-028

Cited by 33 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…During the New Order period, militias were routinely utilised as part of the coercive apparatus of Suharto's regime-a pattern that supported and deepened the presence of these organisations in Indonesian political life, laying the foundations for their contemporary presence. One further result is that the state and militias are in some respects joined in the Indonesian political imaginary, not least because the state has at times behaved very much like a criminal gang(s), and vice versa (Lindsey 2001). Democratic transition has not seen the demise of these groups.…”

Section: Conflict Civilian Militias and Democratic Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to understand this phenomenon, it is helpful to draw on Ian Wilson's (2015) work, which extends Lindsey's (2001) analysis of links between militias and the state during the New Order. Wilson (2015, 170) suggests that the Indonesian state can be usefully understood in terms of the 'politics of protection rackets'.…”

Section: Conflict Civilian Militias and Democratic Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diversity, democratisation and Indonesian leadership

Brigg

Wilson

Jalong

et al. 2016

Australian Journal of International Affairs

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Indonesia's normative leadership at the 1955 Asian-African Conference was grounded in anti-colonialism that became part of the 'Bandung spirit'. However, the shape of Indonesia's recent leadership, following its remarkable democratisation, is harder to fathom. In response, this article suggests that Indonesia's regional and international engagements can be usefully understood through the lens of shifting domestic efforts to navigate unity with diversity, including as this is reflected in long-standing foreign policy commitments. Empirical reference points include the management of conflict in the Indonesian democratic transition, the place of civilian militias in Indonesian political life, and the Bali Democracy Forum. The case is made that Indonesia exhibits a remarkable embrace of diversity alongside substantial illiberality-a pattern that generates a flexible form of liberalism which presents difficulties, but also suggests particular opportunities for Indonesian leadership. Considering Indonesian navigation of unity with diversity enables a better understanding of the current and potential future shape of Indonesian leadership than analyses that rely on macro-level expectations of democratisation drawn from dominant liberal understandings of democracy and political order. This is in part because of the continuing salience of commitments to diversity, independence and cooperation that were articulated at Bandung in 1955.

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Section: Conflict Civilian Militias and Democratic Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conflict Civilian Militias and Democratic Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity, democratisation and Indonesian leadership

Brigg

Wilson

Jalong

et al. 2016

Australian Journal of International Affairs

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“…At the same time, the regime used civilian proxies and gangs to conduct some of its dirty business. Some argue that the state operated in ways analogous to a criminal gang, normalizing violence and extortion as state practice (Lindsey 2001;Schulte Nordholt 2002). With the transition to Reformasi, the police achieved more autonomy, while the military lost its former near-monopoly on the securitization of society.…”

Section: The Politics Of (In)securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dharma Power: Searching for Security in Postâ€“New Order Indonesia

Telle¹

2009

Social Analysis

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Security concerns are creeping into new aspects of everyday life in Indonesia, resulting in new organizational forms and ways of perceiving self and society. Stressing the cultural shaping of all security discourses, this article examines how members of the Balinese minority on the island Lombok have formed a Hindu-inspired civilian security force known as Dharma Wisesa. I argue that the appeal of this movement is located in its attempts to fuse domains of power that the modern state has prised apart. Having appropriated the magic of the state, the Dharma Wisesa movement also maintains relations with a 'spirit army' that provides supernatural support. Such practices draw into question the notion of secular modernity and suggest that authority is constituted by allying oneself with different forms of power, both visible and invisible.

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“…As a consequence, the state had to maintain constant vigilance (waspadai) on behalf of the people against the 'subversive forces' from 'certain quarters of society' that threatened the safety and order of the state (see Barker, 2001;Bourchier, 1990). These imagined forces -which were often equated with crime or communism but remained vaguely defined as 'certain quarters' (pihak tertentu) -served an important political function as legitimization for the maintenance of a rationalist form of 'political paranoia' (Bubandt, forthcoming;Lindsey, 2001).…”

Section: The History Of the 'Safe Nation' In Indonesiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I am thinking in particular of the 'privatization' of crime prevention through the rise of security providers, such as traditional guards and security groups (satgas), as well as criminal militias, formerly controlled by the military(Barker, 2001;Lindsey, 2001). The imaginaries and practices related to the private provision of security are, however, part of the general trend I have discussed here.at Selcuk Universitesi on February 3, 2015 sdi.sagepub.com Downloaded from…”

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confidence: 99%

Vernacular Security: The Politics of Feeling Safe in Global, National and Local Worlds

Bubandt

2005

Security Dialogue

177

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Tracing the political history of the concept of ‘security’ through a variety of global, national and regional inflections, this article argues for the analytical usefulness of the concept of ‘vernacular security’. Entailed by this concept is a proposal to treat ‘security’ as a socially situated and discursively defined practice open to comparison and politically contextualized explication, rather than merely an analytical category that needs refined definition and consistent use. While the ideas and politics of security associated with the rise of global governance are built on late-modern ideas about what it means to be safe, global governance is not seamless in its extension. The apparent universalism of the ontology and politics of global security therefore breaks down into a more complex pattern upon closer inspection. Based on material from Indonesia, the article suggests that the ‘onto-politics’ of security have global, national and local inflections, the interplay of which requires re-examination.

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23. The Criminal State: Premanisme and the New Indonesia

Cited by 33 publications

References 0 publications

Diversity, democratisation and Indonesian leadership

Diversity, democratisation and Indonesian leadership

Dharma Power: Searching for Security in Postâ€“New Order Indonesia

Vernacular Security: The Politics of Feeling Safe in Global, National and Local Worlds

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