https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0184-7396
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ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the political legacies of transmigration in local elections in Indonesia. Lampung province has an unusual ethnic make-up because in the past 100 years both the Dutch colonial administration and Indonesian Government have been implementing a transmigration programme. Transmigration has therefore changed the demographic pattern of Lampung. Since 2005, the mode of local election has been changed from indirect to direct. As a consequence of this, there is a revival of ethnic identity politics in local elections. In this paper, we focus on a transmigration affected area where the descendants of Javanese transmigrants are numerically dominant and correspondingly powerful in local politics. This research leads us to argue that ethnicity has become an important factor in local elections and that in transmigration affected areas it has led to the political domination of Javanese transmigrant descendants in local politics. We further to show how, in response to this, native Lampungese elites have adopted a number of strategies to help them retain a role in local politics. Our argument runs contrary to that of some scholars who have claimed that ethnicity is playing a diminishing role in Indonesian local elections.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Elmhirst, “Space, Identity Politics and Resource Control in Indonesia’s Transmigration Programme”
2. Hefner, “Civil Islam.”
3. Choi, “Local elections and democracy in Indonesia.”
4. Chandra, “Constructivist theories of ethnic politics.”
5. Tajima, “Mobilizing for Violence: The Escalation and Limitation of Identity Conflicts (the Case of Lampung, Indonesia),” 3
6. Goebel, “The Idea of Ethnicity in Indonesia.”
7. Ananta et al., “Demography of Indonesia’s Ethnicity”; and Central Statistical Bureau of Indonesia, “Penduduk Provinsi Lampung hasil Sensus Penduduk 2010”
8. Côté, “Internal Migration and the Politics of Place: a Comparative Analysis of China and Indonesia,” 116
9. Aspinall, “Democratization and Ethnic Politics in Indonesia: Nine Theses.”
10. Aspinall et al., “When Religion Trumps Ethnicity: A Regional Election case Study from Indonesia.”
11. Brokers are the persons or groups who mediate the interests of candidates and voters in an election especially in relation to vote-buying activities.
12. Aspinall and Sukmajati, “Electoral Dynamics in Indonesia.”
13. Tanasaldy, “Regime change and ethnic politics in Indonesia: Dayak politics of West Kalimantan.”
14. Sjaf, “Politik Etnik: Dinamika Lokal di Kendari.”
15. See note 9 above.
16. Van Klinken, “The limits of ethnic clientelism in Indonesia.”
17. Ibid., 57.
18. Davidson and Henley, “The revival of tradition in Indonesian politics.”
19. Côté and Mitchell, “Elections and “Sons of the Soil” Conflict Dynamics in Africa and Asia.”
20. Van Klinken, “Communal Violence and Democratization in Indonesia.”
21. Brown and Diprose, “Bare-chested Politics in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia,” 1.
22. Buehler and Tan, “Party-Candidate Relationships in Indonesian Local Politics.”
23. Aspinall and As’ad, “Understanding Family Politics.”
24. Ibid.
25. Tomsa, “Party Politics and Democratization in Indonesia,” 34.
26. Allen, “Clientelism and the personal vote in Indonesia.”
27. Aspinall and Rohman, “Village Head Elections in Java.”
28. Blunt et al, “Patronage, Service Delivery, and Social Justice in Indonesia.”
29. Sidel, “Bossism and Democracy in the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia: Towards an Alternative Framework for the Study of “Local Strongmen”.”
30. See note 27 above.
31. Peluso and Harwell, “Territory, custom, and the cultural politics of ethnic war in West Kalimantan, Indonesia”; Tanasaldy, “Regime change and ethnic politics in Indonesia: Dayak politics of West Kalimantan”; Kristianus, “Politik dan Strategi Budaya Etnik dalam Pilkada Serentak di Kalimantan Barat”; and Tanasaldy, “Ethnic identity politics in West Kalimantan.”
32. Central Statistical Bureau of Indonesia, “Penduduk Provinsi Lampung hasil Sensus Penduduk 2010.”
33. Central Statistical Bureau of Indonesia, “Jumlah Penduduk Provinsi Lampung Menurut Kabupaten Kota 2015.”
34. See note 32, 33 above.
35. Ibid.
36. Central Statistical Bureau of Indonesia, “Persentase Penduduk Miskin Menurut Kabupaten/Kota 2005–2019.”
37. Central Statistical Bureau of Indonesia, “Indeks Komponen IPM (Indeks Pembangunan Manusia) Kota Metro Tahun 2010–2016”; and Central Statistical Bureau of Indonesia, “Tabel Indeks Pembangunan Manusia.”
38. Sub-National Level Development Planning, “East Lampung District in Figure.”
39. Levang, “Ayo ke Tanah Sabrang,” 10–11.
40. See note 32 above.
41. See note 4 above.
42. See note 10 above.
43. Huber, “Measuring Ethnic Voting.”
44. Ibid.
45. See note 8 above.
46. Interview with the leader of transmigrant descendant organisation, Bandar Lampung, 7 October 2015.
47. Tirtosudarmo, “The Javanese in Lampung, Stranger or Locals? With The Reference of Chinese Experience.”
48. See note 19 above.
49. Interview with a politician and campaign manager, 22 October 2015.
50. Interview with a politician and campaign manager, 21 December 2015.
51. See note 13 above.
52. See note 51 above.
53. Interview with unsuccessful Lampungese candidate, 28 January 2016.
54. Horowitz, “Ethnic power sharing: Three big problems.”
55. See note 25 above.
56. See note 51 above.
57. See note 25 above.
58. Dettman et.al. “Incumbency advantage and candidate characteristics in open-list proportional representation systems: Evidence from Indonesia,” 114.
59. See above 25.
60. See note 53 above.
61. See above 4.
62. Watch the video on YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbCnCE-pjKc
63. See note 49 above.
64. Interview with a campaign manager, 27 October 2015.
65. Interview with former provincial governor, 26 October 2015.
66. See note 18 above.
67. Interview with third generation, 6 March 2016.
68. Interview with third generation of transmigrant, 24 January 2016 similar with second generation of transmigrant, 6 March 2016, third generation of transmigrant, 6 March 2016 and second generation of transmigrant, 13 January 2016.
69. Interview with second generation of transmigrant, 6 March 2016 similar with first generation of transmigrant, 6 March 2016.
70. Interview with secretary of the Lampungese organisation, 24 February 2016.
71. See note 9 and 16 above.
72. See above, 310.
73. Ibid., 311.
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Notes on contributors
Arizka Warganegara
Arizka Warganegara is a lecturer at Department of Government Studies, Lampung University, Indonesia. His research focuses on the issue related to the study of political geography, the intersection study between the politics and geography in Indonesia. He is among the limited person who holds PhD majoring Political Geography in Indonesia.
Paul Waley
Paul Waley is Senior Research Fellow at School of Geography, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. His research grows out of a strong focus on specific geographical settings in East Asia. Tokyo has provided the context for much of his research, but more recently he has been involved in research projects in Nanjing, Shanghai and Kunming. He has a specific interest in the role of urban investment and development companies in urbanisation projects in China, and a broader interest in regional patterns of gentrification in East Asia.