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Abstract
This article examines how the decentralisation and fragmentation of the Indonesian state and resultant central–local dynamics affect cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery. It argues that cross-border regionalism projects are best understood as sites for scalar contestation over regulatory control between central and local government. Moreover, scalar contestation around cross-border regional projects is characterised by the struggles to control relationships with transnational capital between elites operating at different tiers of the state. When elites at different scales have conflicting interests and strategies, this can cause policy incoherence, inhibiting the development of cross-border regionalism. Conversely, when they align, and intersect with the interests of transnational business, cross-border regionalism can succeed. To illustrate the argument, this article utilises the comparative case studies of the Batam free trade zone and West Kalimantan–Sarawak cross-border cooperation.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the journal’s anonymous reviewers. I would also like to thank Lee Jones who provided tremendous feedback and comments which greatly improved the article. This paper has been presented in the workshop on Rising Powers and State Transformation at Queen Mary University of London, November 2017.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Chandra, “Regional Economic Building.”
2 J. Smith et al., “Illegal Logging, Collusive Corruption”; Aspinall, “A Nation in Fragments”; Aritenang, Impact of State Restructuring.
3 Cf. Hameiri, “Theorising Regions through Changes in Statehood.”
4 Hameiri and Jones, “Rising Powers and State Transformation.”
5 Grundy-Warr, Peachey, and Perry, “Fragmented Integration in the Singapore–Indonesian Border Zone”; Dosch and Hensengerth, “Sub-Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia”; Nadalutti, “To What Extent Does Governance Change.”
6 Hameiri and Jones, “Rising Powers and State Transformation.”
7 Buehler, “Decentralisation and Local Democracy in Indonesia.”
8 Eilenberg, “Negotiating Autonomy at the Margins of the State.”
9 Wangke, Kerja Sama Indonesia-Malaysia.
10 Aspinall, “A Nation in Fragments,” 31.
11 Slater, “Party Cartelization, Indonesian-Style.”
12 Eilenberg, “Negotiating Autonomy at the Margins of the State.”
13 Aritenang, Impact of State Restructuring, 68.
14 Kementerian Dalam Negeri, “Pembentukan Daerah-Daerah Otonom Di Indonesia.”
15 Kimura, Political Change and Territoriality in Indonesia; Firman, “Territorial Splits (Pemekaran Daerah) in Decentralising Indonesia, 2000–2012.”
16 Karim, “Institutional Dynamics of Regulatory Actors.”
17 Karim, “Local–Central Dynamics and Limitations of Micro-Regionalism.”
18 Hadiz and Robison, Reorganising Power in Indonesia.
19 Aspinall, “A Nation in Fragments.”
20 Pangsapa and Smith, “Political Economy of Southeast Asian Borderlands.”
21 Delaney and Leitner, “The Political Construction of Scale,” 93.
22 Neil Smith, “Homeless/Global: Scaling Places,” 96.
23 Marston, “The Social Construction of Scale,” 221.
24 Brenner, “The Limits to Scale?,” 599.
25 Eilenberg and Wadley, “Borderland Livelihood Strategies.”
26 Gualini, “The Rescaling of Governance in Europe.”
27 Brenner, “Urban Governance and the Production of New State Spaces.”
28 Demirović, “Materialist State Theory,” 44.
29 Eilenberg, “State of Fragmentation,” 1350.
30 Jones, “Explaining the Failure of the ASEAN Economic Community”; Nshimbi, “Networks of Cross-Border Non-State Actors.”
31 See Brenner, “Urban Governance and the Production of New State Spaces”; Sparke et al., “Triangulating the Borderless World”; and Grundy-Warr, Peachey, and Perry, “Fragmented Integration in the Singapore–Indonesian Border Zone.”
32 Varkkey, “Oil Palm Plantations and Transboundary Haze.”
33 Eaton, Territory and Ideology in Latin America.
34 Grundy-Warr, Peachey, and Perry, “Fragmented Integration in the Singapore-Indonesian Border Zone”; Sparke et al., “Triangulating the Borderless World.”
35 At the beginning, BP Batam was officially named Otorita Batam (Batam Authority).
36 Grundy-Warr, Peachey, and Perry, “Fragmented Integration in the Singapore-Indonesian Border Zone.”
37 Sparke et al., “Triangulating the Borderless World,” 490.
38 Interview with officials from Batam local government, June 15, 2014.
39 Interview with KADIN Batam, June 16, 2014.
40 Hameiri and Jones, Governing Borderless Threats, 107.
41 Bapenas, “Seri Analisis Pembangunan Wilayah Provinsi.”
42 Interview with official from West Kalimantan local government, January 24, 2013.
43 Karim, “Local–Central Dynamics and Limitations of Micro-Regionalism.”
44 Eilenberg and Wadley, “Borderland Livelihood Strategies.”
45 Varkkey, Tyson, and Choiruzzad, “Palm Oil Intensification and Expansion.”
46 Brockhaus et al., “Overview of Forest and Land Allocation Policies.”
47 The Star, “Malaysia, Indonesia Seek New Ways.”
48 McCarthy, Gillespie, and Zen, “Swimming Upstream.”
49 Priscilla, “Pemprov Perjuangkan Dana Bagi.”
50 Brad et al., “Contested Territorialization and Biophysical Expansion.”
51 Adinugraha, Hadijah, and Siahaan, “Tata Kelola Perkebunan Sawit Di Indonesia.”
52 McCarthy, Gillespie, and Zen, “Swimming Upstream.”
53 Brad et al., “Contested Territorialization and Biophysical Expansion.”
54 Varkkey, “Patronage Politics as a Driver of Economic Regionalisation.”
55 Wilson, “Understanding Resource Nationalism.”
56 JPNN, “Dusun Camar Bulan Dicaplok Malaysia.”
57 Interview with West Kalimantan regional MP, Pontianak, January 24, 2013.
58 Ibid.
59 Carroll and Sovacool, “Pipelines, Crisis and Capital.”
60 Hameiri and Jones, Governing Borderless Threats, chap. 3–4; Jones, “Explaining the Failure of the ASEAN Economic Community.”
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Moch Faisal Karim
Moch Faisal Karim is a lecturer in the International Relations Department at Bina Nusantara University. His research has been published in the Australian Journal of International Affairs, Pacific Review, Asian Journal of Social Science, European Journal of East Asian Studies and Journal of International Migration and Integration. He holds a PhD from the University of Warwick and was previously a Global Challenges Junior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study and the School of Public Policy at the Central European University, Budapest, and the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin.