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Abstract
The spread of democratic ideas from the late 1980s, along with the development of the democratisation movement, contributed to the quantitative growth of environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) in Indonesia. In addition, the democratisation of formal institutions after the late 1990s facilitated ENGO activities. Importantly, democratisation has also contributed to the qualitative development of ENGOs. Democratic ideas “re-framed” environmental issues, politicising ENGO activities, even before the end of the Suharto regime. Since the late 1990s, democratic ideas have further shifted ENGO strategies to conform more with democratic values and institutions, while stimulating efforts to enhance accountability and representation within ENGOs. It is argued that these developments may enhance the quality of democracy.
Acknowledgement
The author wishes to thank Professor Wyn Grant and Dr Peter Ferdinand for their advice, and all the interviewees for their support in his research. Thanks go to JCA's editors and referees for their comments and assistance.
Notes
1 See Jancar-Webster (Citation1998) and OECD (Citation1999) for the cases of ENGOs in Eastern Europe.
2 According to Petras (Citation1999), some Southern NGOs are “in the service of imperialism” because they avoid denouncing the neo-liberal policies of international funding agencies and financial institutions like the World Bank. They also de-politicise the poor by directing energy toward pragmatic self-help projects (for a case study of this, see Weekley, Citation2004).
3 These interrelated perspectives are used because of their capacity to look at how democratisation impacted ENGOs with reference to the changes of institutions and ideas, which is the theme of this article. This is not to deny that other perspectives such as the new social movements literature can be appropriate when focusing on why ENGOs develop. See Melucci (Citation1984) and Canel (1997) for related arguments.
4 A similar case can be found in Hong Kong (Chiu et al., Citation1999).
5 Historically, the dominance of Javanese culture in Indonesian politics started in the Dutch era, as the Dutch utilised its hierarchical nature to unify the archipelago under their hegemony (see Geertz, Citation1995). See Anderson (Citation1972), Crouch (Citation1979) and Kawamura (Citation2002) for the impact of Javanese culture on Indonesian politics.
6 This article uses the term “middle class” according to some indicators popularly used in empirical Weberian studies such as “occupation” and “income.”
7 The position was then called State Minister for the Development Supervision and the Environment. The name was then changed to the State Minister of Population and the Environment in 1983 and the State Minister of the Environment in 1993.
8 This was held with Kelompok Sepuluh Pengembangan Lingkungan Hidup or “Group of Ten for Developing the Environment” (G10), which was also formed as a result of a nationwide meeting Salim hosted in 1978. G10 was active in addressing environmental issues, such as the pollution in Jakarta Bay. See Parlan and Adi (Citation2004) for the full members of G10.
9 LBH became the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (Yayasan LBH Indonesia) in 1980 with the establishment of several regional offices. This article uses only LBH to refer to both.
10 Interview, former WALHI staff member Jakarta, 1 August 2003.
11 In 1978, the state issued the Campus Normalisation Act (Normalisasi Kehidupan Kampus) and banned political activities on campus. This increased human resources for civil society movements as this made student activists become NGO activists (Naipospos, Citation1996).
12 Interviews, anonymous former SKEPHI members.
13 Interview, Jakarta, 4 August 2003.
14 Ibid.
15 Interview, Emmy Hafild, former executive director of WALHI, Jakarta, 7 February 2005.
16 Interview, Tjahjono, Jakarta, 4 August 2003.
17 The data are compiled by the author from LP3ES's NGO directory (n = 203). The JANNI directory also shows that 61.7% of ENGOs are engaged in human rights issues (JANNI, Citation2001; data compiled by author; n = 204).
18 Interview, Soekirman, Medan, 25 July 2003.
19 SKEPHI started a study group on Participatory Action Research in 1987 and Participatory Rural Appraisal later on (interview, Tjahjono, Jakarta, 4 August 2003).
20 Interview, Jakarta, 1 August 2003.
21 Interview, Tjahjono, Jakarta, 4 August 2003.
22 Ibid.
23 A survey showed that only 16% of the students were from the middle to low classes of society and that 2.43% were from among farmers or workers, who constitute the majority of Indonesians (Tempo, 22 April 1989: 31; 20 October 1990: 25).
24 Information on the networks (FKKM, KpSHK, JKPP and FWI) was obtained from interviews with their leading figures in the organisations. The interviews were conducted between 2002 and2005.
25 Starting with less than 30 members, JPL has grown rapidly and currently has around 200 members.
26 Interview, WALHI Staff, Jakarta, 31 October 2002.
27 Interview, former SKEPHI members, Jakarta, 11 August 2003.
28 Interview, former WALHI leader, Jakarta, 17 December 2003.
29 Ginting was the executive director of WALHI from 2002 to 2005. Interview in Bogor, 21 October 2002.
30 Interview, ibid.
31 Interview, Emmy Hafild, Jakarta, 7 February 2005.
32 Interview, Longgena Ginting, Bogor, 21 October 2002.
33 Information about the membership and fund raising by WALHI, WWF and Profauna was obtained by interviews in January 2005 with the staff members in charge at each group (unless otherwise mentioned).
34 Interview, WALHI staff, Jakarta, 31 October 2002.
35 Interview, Longgena Ginting, Bogor, 21 October 2002.
36 Information about the funding agencies in this section was obtained by interviews in January 2005 with the staff members in charge at each agency.