The Politics of Citizenship in Indonesia

This book highlights the gains that a citizenship approach offers to the study of democracy in Indonesia, demonstrating that the struggle for citizenship and the historical development of democracy in the country are closely interwoven. The book arises from a research agenda aiming to help Indonesia’s democracy activists by unpacking citizenship as it is produced and practiced through movements against injustice, taking the shape of struggles by people at grassroots levels for cultural recognition, social and economic injustice, and popular representation. Such struggles in Indonesia have engaged with the state through both discursive and non-discursive processes. The authors show that while the state is the common focal point, these struggles are fragmented across different sectors and subject positions. The authors thus propose that developing chains of solidarity is highly important to motivating a democracy that not only has sovereign control over public affairs, but also robust channels and organisations for political representation. In advocating the development of transformative agendas, organisations, and strategies as an important need, and an enduring challenge, for the realization of citizenship, this book is timely and relevant to the study of contemporary Indonesia's socio-political landscape. It is relevant to students and scholars in political science, anthropology, sociology, human geography and development studies. Foreword: Weaving Citizenship, Creating Democracy from Its Core Contents About the Editors 1 Introduction: Politics of Citizenship in Indonesia 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Methodology 1.3 Case Studies 1.4 Analytical Arguments References 2 Politics of Citizenship: Towards an Analytical Framework 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Dimensions of Citizenship 2.2.1 Citizenship as Membership 2.2.2 Citizenship as Legal Status 2.2.3 Citizenship as Rights 2.2.4 Citizenship as Participation 2.2.5 Mutuality Between Membership, Legal Status, Rights and Participation 2.3 Contemporary Transformations in Citizenship 2.3.1 The Cultural Turn in Citizenship Studies 2.3.2 The Global Turn in Citizenship Studies 2.4 Politics of Citizenship 2.4.1 Different Forms of Injustice and Struggles for Justice 2.4.2 Identity Politics and Politics of Difference 2.4.3 Affirmative and Transformative Remedies for Injustice 2.4.4 Politics of Representation 2.5 Conclusion References 3 Indonesian Politics and Citizenship in Historical Perspective 3.1 Indonesia’s Six Politics of Citizenship Regimes 3.2 Struggles for Citizenship 3.2.1 Nationalism and the Politics of Recognition 3.2.2 The Struggles for Social Justice 3.2.3 Democracy and the Politics of Representation 3.3 Conclusion References 4 Stagnated Democracy: The Rise of Formal Democracy in the Wake of Oligarchy Rules and Weak Pro-Democracy Movements 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Democratisation Debate in Indonesia 4.2.1 Democratisation and the Politics of Citizenship 4.3 The Rise of Formal Democracy and Its Problems 4.4 Oligarchy Domination and the Rise of New Elite 4.4.1 The Continuing Grip of Oligarchy 4.4.2 The New Elite: “Politik Pencitraan”, Populism, and Post-clientelism 4.5 Weak Civil Society- and Popular Sector-Based Movements 4.5.1 The Rise of Civil Society and Popular Sector Activism 4.5.2 Fragmentation, Elitism and Weak Political Representation 4.5.3 Weak Representation and Bypassing the Problems of Democracy 4.6 Conclusion References 5 Stalemated Populism and the Case for Citizenship-Driven Social Democracy 5.1 The Challenge 5.1.1 Openings 5.1.2 Prime Questions and Design 5.2 The Solo-Jokowi Model 5.3 The KAJS Labour Alliance, and the Attempts to Follow Up 5.3.1 Weaker Civil and Sectoral Partners in Jakarta 5.3.2 Lack of Civic- and Sectoral-Based Policies Paves the Way for Elitism 5.3.3 Anti-corruption Movements Can Make a Difference 5.3.4 Weak Civil and Popular Based Policies Open Up for Right-Wing Populism 5.3.5 Dilemmas of Combining Sectoral Interests 5.3.6 The Need for Transformative Policies 5.3.7 Populist Transactionalism Prevents the Scaling Up of the KAJS Alliance 5.3.8 Populist Transactionalism Constrains the Jokowi Regime to Elitism 5.4 The Way Ahead References 6 Domestic Workers and Their Struggle for Citizenship and Collective Identity in Indonesia 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Researching Domestic Workers in Indonesia 6.3 ‘The One Who Helps Us’: Devaluation through Social Identity 6.4 Claiming Membership through Collective Identity Construction 6.5 Organising as Domestic Workers 6.6 Exclusion from Industrial Citizenship 6.7 Alliance-Building in Civil Society 6.8 Political Mobilisation for Legal Protection of Domestic Workers 6.9 Concluding Discussion References 7 Juggling While Claiming Rights: The Urban Poor Community in North Jakarta 7.1 Urban Citizenship: Debate in the Literature 7.2 “Plasticity” of Identity and Social Roles Among Urban Poor Citizens: A Research Framework 7.3 Jakarta, Urban Poor and Social Rights: Research Context 7.3.1 Eviction and Housing 7.3.2 Healthcare Rights 7.4 Case Studies: Housing and Health Care 7.4.1 Case 1: Claiming Housing Rights 7.4.2 Case 2: Accessing Healthcare Rights 7.5 Conclusion References 8 Constructing Palm Oil Justice Movements in Indonesia: Citizenship and Collective Identity 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Movements, Citizenship and Collective Identity 8.3 Oil Palms, Monoculture Projects and the Seeds of Resistance 8.4 Contending Discourse and Fragmented Claims 8.5 Political Mobilisation and Solidarity Formation 8.6 Forming Collective Identity: Between Distancing and Engagement 8.7 Conclusions References 9 The Politics of Citizenship and Welfare: Countering “Extractivism” in Resource-Rich Regions in Indonesia 9.1 The Regime of Welfare Production/Distribution and the Constitution of Citizens as Subjects: Background and Rationale 9.2 Extractivism and the Dislocation of Citizenship: Access to Welfare as Citizens and as Market Actors 9.3 Extractivism and the Constitution of Subjects in Four Resource-Rich Regions 9.4 Countering Extractivism and the Rise of “Welfare Justice Movements” 9.4.1 Countering Extractivism 9.4.2 The Rise of Welfare Justice Movements 9.5 The Politics of Citizenship 9.6 Conclusion Appendix References 10 Youth Movements and the Politics of Recognition and Redistribution 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Youth Movement, Citizenship and the New Order 10.3 Tattoos, Waria and Chinese Muslims: Doing the Research 10.4 Chinese Muslim Youth and Cultural Identity 10.4.1 Becoming Chinese Muslim 10.4.2 Social Cultural Reproduction of Chinese Muslim Identity 10.4.3 Membership and Participation 10.5 Young Waria and Political Action 10.5.1 Identity Construction in Generational Analysis 10.5.2 Political Action: Citizen Movement of Waria Community 10.6 Young Men with Tattoos: Identity and Political Action 10.6.1 The Young, the Tattooed: Youth Identity Construction in Bali 10.6.2 Community Organisation: The New Formula of Politics of Citizenship 10.6.3 Generational Relations in Community Youth Organisation 10.7 Conclusions References 11 Post-fundamentalist Islamism and the Politics of Citizenship in Indonesia 11.1 Introduction 11.2 The Transformation of Fundamentalist Movements 11.3 The Problem of Exclusion 11.3.1 Contentious Relations: Islam and Nationalism 11.3.2 Global War on Terror and Disposable Terrorists 11.3.3 Multiculturalism as a Mode of Exclusion 11.4 Deradicalisation and the Rise of Transformed Radicalism 11.4.1 Deradicalisation and the Exclusion of Fundamentalist’s Lives 11.4.2 Transformed Radicalism and the Modified Muslim Identity 11.5 Overcoming Exclusion 11.6 Conclusion References 12 Conclusion: The Continued Need for Transformative Politics of Citizenship References Index