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Demokrasi: Indonesia in the 21st Century
Indonesia, a nation of thousands of islands and almost 250 million people, straddles the junction of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The world's biggest Muslim nation has long been one of Australia's important strategic partners, and the relationship has become closer – if occasionally fraught – under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
As Indonesia approaches its 2014 parliamentary and presidential elections, its future direction is open. It is a force in the world – but for what? Award-winning Asia-Pacific journalist Hamish McDonald's Demokrasi is an accessible and authoritative introduction to the modern history and politics of this fascinating country.
As Indonesia approaches its 2014 parliamentary and presidential elections, its future direction is open. It is a force in the world – but for what? Award-winning Asia-Pacific journalist Hamish McDonald's Demokrasi is an accessible and authoritative introduction to the modern history and politics of this fascinating country.
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2014
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347 people want to read
About the author
Hamish McDonald
14 books39 followersHamish McDonald is an Australian journalist and author of several books. He held a fellowship at the American think tank the Woodrow Wilson Centre in 2014.
McDonald has worked as a journalist in mostly Asian countries like India, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China, where he was a correspondent based in Beijing from 2002 to 2005. He was in India between 1990 and 1997, covering the time immediately after the economic reforms. He was the political editor for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the foreign editor for the Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2005, he won the Walkley Award for newspaper feature writing for his article "What's Wrong With Falun Gong", which is about the brutal suppression of the Falun Gong religious movement in China.
McDonald has worked as a journalist in mostly Asian countries like India, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China, where he was a correspondent based in Beijing from 2002 to 2005. He was in India between 1990 and 1997, covering the time immediately after the economic reforms. He was the political editor for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the foreign editor for the Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2005, he won the Walkley Award for newspaper feature writing for his article "What's Wrong With Falun Gong", which is about the brutal suppression of the Falun Gong religious movement in China.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 14, 2018
Hamish McDonald's Demokrasi (2014) is a good overview of Indonesia today. It is a well researched look at the island nation of more than 250 million. The book starts with "Nusantrara" in which the Suharto regime is discussed. Then "The Crocodile Hole" discusses the events surrounding the 1965 takeover by Suharto. "The New Order" looks at Suharto's rule. "Reformasi" is an analysis of the 1998 fall of Suharto and the rise of his second in command Habibie. "Tsunami" discusses the problems associated with the massive tsunami that hit SE Asia in 2004. "Beyond Dwifungsi" discusses the reforms of the military after reforms of the post Suarto period. "Supreme Commodity" looks at the natural resources of Indonesia and their importance to other countries. "Capital" is a look at the banking system of Indonesia. "Between Mecca and the South Sea" looks at religion in the country. "Korupsi" looks at the government under Yudoyono. "The Eastern Margin" looks at the role of Paupa New Guinea as a region in Indonesia. "The Burning Question" looks at the management of Indonesia's natural resources. "From Sby to Jokowi" is a look at contemporary politics of Indonesia. "Indonesia in the World" is a look at Indonesia's place in the world today. This book is a well-researched overview of Indonesia.
May 17, 2015
We arrived in Indonesia amid much turmoil as President Abdurrahman Wahid (aka Gus Dur) struggled to avoid impeachment, and we departed a few months before the close of his successor Megawati Sukarnoputri's short and lacklustre presidency. Interesting times! I took a lively interest in Indonesia's history and politics, keeping myself as well informed as I could from English-language sources (though I spoke passable Indonesian, the language of the Indonesian media was always beyond my competence). I took up this book because I was conscious of the deficiency of my knowledge of Indonesian politics and public affairs for the whole term of the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), and unsure what to make of the new president Joko Widodo.
The opening chapters were straightforward revision of history that I already knew: the old civilisations of Sriwijaya and Majapahit, the arrival of Islam, the Mataram sultanate, Portuguese traders and missionaries, Dutch (VOC) colonisation, Sir Stamford Raffles, Dutch (post-VOC) colonialism, the Japanese invasion, post-war independence, Sukarno, the Crocodile Hole and the purging of the PKI, Suharto and the New Order, the Global Financial Crisis, Reformasi. The whole history of the archipelago which we now know as Indonesia is told concisely and economically in just four chapters, but with emphasis on events that succeeded the expulsion of the Dutch from their last stronghold, New Guinea, in 1963.
For me the real meat of the book was in the succeeding chapters. There are chapters on the role of the army in politics and commerce, which will appear very peculiar to most Westerners; coal in the economy (I was surprised to learn that RI has pipped Australia as the world's largest exporter), and other commodities too; big business, Indonesian style, and how it has fared under Suharto and since; Islam, which enjoys only middling support at elections; corruption; Papua; the environment; the SBY presidency; and RI in foreign affairs .
In Australia we tend to think of SBY as a "good" Indonesian president because he was outward-looking and friendly to Australia. I now have a more nuanced view of him, and a better idea of the failings of his presidency. McDonald accuses SBY of fostering a "creeping orthodoxy", of kowtowing to conservative religious parties to the detriment of groups such as the Ahmadiyah, a form of Islam which the majority Sunnis regard as heretical, and of Christians. SBY is a former military man, and when he took office military reform halted. Following a 3 year enquiry by the government's Human Rights Commission, SBY toyed with the idea of an apology to the victims of the 1965 massacres, but his army colleagues and the the Moslem parties opposed it and it was quietly dropped. Passivity was a mark of his presidency.
The present incumbent, Joko Widodo, is a former mayor of Solo who has a reputation as a reformer and a fighter of corruption, and has made a virtue of being an outsider in the world of Jakarta politics. He has few friends in high places and may find himself hamstrung by that fact. At the time McDonald was writing the result of the presidential election was still unknown. He expresses the fear that Megawati, as president of his party, may end up pulling his strings. I have heard nothing of this in the media since the election, so perhaps there is nothing in it, but it is a suspicion to keep in mind as we watch his performance into the future.
The opening chapters were straightforward revision of history that I already knew: the old civilisations of Sriwijaya and Majapahit, the arrival of Islam, the Mataram sultanate, Portuguese traders and missionaries, Dutch (VOC) colonisation, Sir Stamford Raffles, Dutch (post-VOC) colonialism, the Japanese invasion, post-war independence, Sukarno, the Crocodile Hole and the purging of the PKI, Suharto and the New Order, the Global Financial Crisis, Reformasi. The whole history of the archipelago which we now know as Indonesia is told concisely and economically in just four chapters, but with emphasis on events that succeeded the expulsion of the Dutch from their last stronghold, New Guinea, in 1963.
For me the real meat of the book was in the succeeding chapters. There are chapters on the role of the army in politics and commerce, which will appear very peculiar to most Westerners; coal in the economy (I was surprised to learn that RI has pipped Australia as the world's largest exporter), and other commodities too; big business, Indonesian style, and how it has fared under Suharto and since; Islam, which enjoys only middling support at elections; corruption; Papua; the environment; the SBY presidency; and RI in foreign affairs .
In Australia we tend to think of SBY as a "good" Indonesian president because he was outward-looking and friendly to Australia. I now have a more nuanced view of him, and a better idea of the failings of his presidency. McDonald accuses SBY of fostering a "creeping orthodoxy", of kowtowing to conservative religious parties to the detriment of groups such as the Ahmadiyah, a form of Islam which the majority Sunnis regard as heretical, and of Christians. SBY is a former military man, and when he took office military reform halted. Following a 3 year enquiry by the government's Human Rights Commission, SBY toyed with the idea of an apology to the victims of the 1965 massacres, but his army colleagues and the the Moslem parties opposed it and it was quietly dropped. Passivity was a mark of his presidency.
The present incumbent, Joko Widodo, is a former mayor of Solo who has a reputation as a reformer and a fighter of corruption, and has made a virtue of being an outsider in the world of Jakarta politics. He has few friends in high places and may find himself hamstrung by that fact. At the time McDonald was writing the result of the presidential election was still unknown. He expresses the fear that Megawati, as president of his party, may end up pulling his strings. I have heard nothing of this in the media since the election, so perhaps there is nothing in it, but it is a suspicion to keep in mind as we watch his performance into the future.
December 8, 2016
When I worked in Jakarta, a senior civil servant told me many people were not happy with having to vote - he said that from colonisation then two strong-willed pseudo-dictators, the people were not good at choosing leaders or determining priorities. Rather the people would prefer to be told what to do. So I was very keen to see what Hamish McDonald had observed.
This books provides a very detailed coverage of Indonesia challenges - leading figures, politics, the difficulties of passing laws, corruption, environmental damage, palm oil, religion tolerance, Islamic influence, Papua, economy and overpopulation. It is a journalistic view so there are few conclusions but it is gives a lot of information for the reader to mull over.
This books provides a very detailed coverage of Indonesia challenges - leading figures, politics, the difficulties of passing laws, corruption, environmental damage, palm oil, religion tolerance, Islamic influence, Papua, economy and overpopulation. It is a journalistic view so there are few conclusions but it is gives a lot of information for the reader to mull over.
March 5, 2017
A worthwhile overview, but a tough slog admittedly. I found this very insightful and thorough book to read more like a collection of oddly assembled long-form journalism essays, not as a history or a cohesive work on its own. Worth reading, but this could have used more editing. And with McDonald's stellar reputation as a writer, I was a bit surprised that the book wasn't more readable and enjoyable. Still, I learned a lot, so I suppose there's that.
February 10, 2018
Worth reading / Very insightful
September 23, 2023
The final third of this is sooo interesting a decade on.
January 8, 2024
Great overview. Probably worth a re read later down the line in more depth. A bit dated though now.
February 13, 2017
It certainly did get a lot better once it reached more recent events. I feel like I learned something.
November 13, 2014
Goodreads win. Will read and review once received.
I thought this book was wonderful. I will admit I really don't know too much if anything about Indonesia. But this book was a good stepping stone. I was happy to find myself having a hard time putting the book down. I can see myself after reading this book to go on and look for others about Indonesia. I found myself to really enjoy reading about a place I knew not very much about.
I thought this book was wonderful. I will admit I really don't know too much if anything about Indonesia. But this book was a good stepping stone. I was happy to find myself having a hard time putting the book down. I can see myself after reading this book to go on and look for others about Indonesia. I found myself to really enjoy reading about a place I knew not very much about.
December 25, 2014
Excellent. More importantly, made me care about military territoriality, Papua, palm oil plantations and a falling water table.
July 29, 2016
It was an okayish book.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews