MANAGING SOCIO-ECONOMIC CRISIS IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Indonesia experienced considerable ethnic violence during the 1998 Asian economic crisis. The response of Yogyakarta society became a positive example of how civil society actors manage socio-economic crises. Despite the potentially explosive ethnic mix and the impoverished economic condition, the people of Yogyakarta cooperated with each other to prevent ethnic and religious violence. Some observers attributed this ethnic peace to the leadership role of local traditional leaders. On closer examination, however, interfaith civic actors were found to have played a crucial role in preventing ethnic violence. The members of these organisations inspired local business associations to form the Association of the Fellowship of Yogyakarta Society to facilitate the provision of food packages and financial aid. They also initiated the establishment of the Yogyakarta Humanitarian Committee to coordinate the activities of civil society actors and formed the Yogyakarta Volunteer Team to check any provocation during the period. This vigorous civic engagement was a distinctive feature in Yogyakarta unlike other conflicted cities such as Jakarta or Solo and helped to prevent anti-Chinese violence in Yogyakarta during the 1998 economic crisis.1

¹An earlier version of this article was presented at the Asia-Pacific Seminar Series of the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy on 20 March 2008. I thank James Cotton, David Lovell, Minako Sakai, Paul Tickell, Edwin Jürriens, Taufiq Tanasaldy and the anonymous IMW referees for their invaluable suggestions and comments.

Notes

¹An earlier version of this article was presented at the Asia-Pacific Seminar Series of the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy on 20 March 2008. I thank James Cotton, David Lovell, Minako Sakai, Paul Tickell, Edwin Jürriens, Taufiq Tanasaldy and the anonymous IMW referees for their invaluable suggestions and comments.

²The Asian economic crisis is often labelled the Asian financial crisis which began in Thailand in July 1997, but soon spread to neighbouring Asian countries hitting Indonesian hardest.

³There are various terms used to describe the Chinese population in Indonesia such as ‘Chinese Indonesian’, ‘ethnic Chinese’ and ‘Indonesian Chinese’. For the sake of consistency, I use ‘Chinese Indonesian’ in this article. It carries no negative connotations. The term ‘Chinese Indonesians’ is defined as those Chinese descendants, who migrated to, or were born and grew up in Indonesia. See Suryadinata et al. (2003: 73) for a fuller discussion regarding the definition of Chinese Indonesians.

⁴General Faisal Tanjung, Prabowo Subianto and some radical Islamic leaders criticised Chinese Indonesian entrepreneurs as traitors to the country (see Purdey 2006: 93-100; Schwartz 1999: 345-8).

⁵According to Yang (2001), anti-Chinese riots broke out during every regime change throughout Indonesian history such as the Japanese occupation in 1942–1945, the Indonesian revolution against the Dutch in 1945–1949, the Communist coup in 1965 and the May 1998 riots.

⁶During January–March 1998, a series of anti-Chinese riots took place in Java including Bandung, Brebes, Cirebon, Kragan, Pasuruan, Probolingo, Pekalongan, and Purwokerto (see Purdey 2006: 219–20).

⁷Besides Jakarta and Solo, anti-Chinese riots broke out in Surabaya, Medan, Lampung, and Palembang in May 1998.

⁸Yogyakarta refers to the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta) and ‘Yogyakartan’ refers to the people living in the Special Region of Yogyakarta.

⁹The term ‘civil society’ is defined as a sphere of associational life that exists between the family, the state and the market. Civil society should be voluntary, non-profit seeking and independent from the state. Civil society organisations refer to groups of non-governmental, voluntary, autonomous and non-profit organisations or movements that can contribute to address community problems and devise alternative ideas and values (see Feuler 2001: 9; Hefner 2000: 23). Civil society organisations thus include non-governmental organisations (NGOs), interfaith organisations, labour unions, student organisations, business associations, charitable organisations, sports clubs and social movements.

¹⁰The term ‘ethnic peace’ refers to an ethnic relationship which is devoid of group violence, while ‘ethnic violence’ refers to violent conflict that occurs among ordinary citizens by which members of one ethnic or religious groups specifically targets the members of another ethnic or religious group. To follow Horowitz (1985), religious violence will be included in ethnic violence. I will use the terms ‘ethnic’ and ‘religious’ concurrently if deemed necessary.

¹¹The Solo case represented the most serious riots outside Jakarta. During the Solo riots, 21 people lost their lives, and 196 shops and 50 bank branches, mostly owned by Chinese Indonesians, were looted and destroyed (see Eklof 1999; Purdey 2006).

¹²Solo is located in Central Java and just 60 km from Yogyakarta. The two cities are regarded as the centre of Javanese culture and arts and have some similar historical, ethnic, religious, and cultural characteristics.

¹³Yogyakartans tend to believe that Sultan Hamengku Buwono X played a dominant role in managing the socio-economic crisis of 1998 based on the Javanese myth that, as Anderson (1990) argues, it is the Javanese King's pervasive and singular power that brings about unity and prosperity in society. But this explanation was criticised by civil society leaders who participated in and led the reform movement of 1998 in Yogyakarta.

¹⁴‘Pancasila’ means five principles including belief in the one and only God, a just and civilised humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy guided by consensus arising out of deliberations amongst representatives and social justice for the whole of the people of Indonesia.

¹⁵The Indonesian government used the term ‘inter-religious’ rather than ‘interfaith’ because the latter includes non-official faiths in Indonesia such as Kebatinan and Confucianism. In this article, the two terms will be used interchangeably.

¹⁶The PKI coup is also labelled as the Gerakan 30 September (G30S). After the coup, military and religious youth organisations killed some hundreds of thousands of alleged communists.

¹⁷Endah Setyowati, interview, 7 May 2005.

¹⁸FPUB officially uses ‘brotherhood’ as their English name. It does not connote any gender discrimination.

¹⁹More detailed information on the cooperation between interfaith civic organisations and other NGOs in Yogyakarta can be obtained from Park (2008), particularly Chapter 5.

²⁰‘Inter-religious’ is used here to mean the recognised official religions whilst ‘interfaith’ includes local beliefs that have no official religious status.

²¹Elga Sarapung, interview, 1 May 2005.

²²Ibid.

²³According to the Interfidei website, 13 full-time staff members (pengurus harian) work for this NGO between 2009 and 2014 but their religious background is unknown.

²⁴ Kebatinan (or Kejawen) is a Javanese faith that has principles embodying a search for the inner self but at the core is the concept of peace of mind. Although Kebatinan is not strictly a religion, it addresses ethical and spiritual values as inspired by Javanese tradition.

²⁵For example, Abdurrahman Wahid, Onghokham, Dr Sumartana, Father Mangunwijaya, Dr Eka Darmaputra, Professor Loekman Soetrisno, Dr Arief Budiman, Dr A. Munir Mulkhan, Zuli Qodir and Dr Machasin were frequent participants in Interfidei seminars and workshops

²⁶KTP was also known as Forum Agamawan Muda (Young Religious Followers) and was a college student's interfaith forum in Yogyakarta.

²⁷Interview with K.H. Abdul Muhaimin, the Muslim representative of FPUB, 23 July 2005.

²⁸Ibid.

²⁹Interview, 15 June 2005.

³⁰ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 8 January 1998, a Yogyakarta newspaper.

³¹ Berita Nasional, 10 January 1998.

³² Kedaulatan Rakyat, 19 January 1998.

³³Interview, 27 June 2005.

³⁴The names of some PAMITRA participants were known such as Herry Zubianto, Tun Yulianto, Djawadi, Tjia Eddy Susanto and Antonius Simon.

³⁵Other participants were Father Suyatno (Catholic), I. Nyoman Sudarsana (Hindu), Dharmapala Supomo (Buddhist), Supriyadi (Kejawen), Pastor Bambang Subagyo (Protestant), Haksu Tjie Tjai Ing (Confucian) and Zuli Qodir (Muhammadiyah).

³⁶ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 15 February 1998.

³⁷ Jakarta Post, 19 February 1998.

³⁸ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 15 March 1998.

³⁹ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 17 March 1998.

⁴⁰A student of the Institute of Science and Technology (AKPRINDO) in Yogyakarta, he was a bystander at the anti-government demonstration, and a victim of the security forces' violent reactions (see Elkof 1999: 181). His religion was not known.

⁴¹ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 6 May 1998.

⁴²Luifi Rahman, former IAIN Yogyakarta student activist, interview, 7 January 2006.

⁴³ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 17 May 1998.

⁴⁴ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 18 May 1998.

⁴⁵ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 26 April 1998.

⁴⁶ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 26 April 1998.

⁴⁷ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 9 May 1998.

⁴⁸ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 15 May 1998.

⁴⁹ Berita Nasional, 16 May 1998.

⁵⁰Interview, 28 December 2005.

⁵¹The number of TRY members varied. One interviewee recalled that there were almost 500 young volunteers who were TRY members.

⁵²Interview, 11 January 2006.

⁵³ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 21 May 1998.

⁵⁴Ibid.

⁵⁵ Berita Nasional, 21 May 1998.

⁵⁶ Berita Nasional, 21 May 1998.