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Continuities

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The Social Evolution of Indonesia

Part of the book series: Studies in Social History ((SISH,volume 5))

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Abstract

Java’s 20th century society and, to some extent, all of Indonesia, exhibits effects of a number of fairly permanent factors. A complex of stagnation-prone continuities, stemming from a distant past, within which change occurs and contrasts gradually intensify. Part adaptations repeatedly take place following traditional patterns; but also tendencies that indicate the possibility of escape from paralysing, more or less traditional, structures. These tendencies occur in particular within the framework of the development of international contrasts; they seem to have an ever increasing effect on Indonesia.

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Notes

  1. Benda, ‘Decolonization’, in: Continuity, pp. 209 ff; Geertz, Islam, pp. 86–87. Compare: Castles, Religion, Ch. I and Jay, Religion, Ch. I.

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  2. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, p. 62. See for Boeke’s dualism: Indonesian Economics and Boeke, Economie van Indonesie. For an opposite view see: Legge, Indonesia, p. 103: ‘Insofar as duality existed it was artificially imposed’.

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  3. Tichelman, ‘Transitie in niet-Westerse maatschappijen’, in: De doorbraak, pp. 116 ff.

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  4. For a number of negative effects of the dualist relationship: Boeke, Economie, pp. 84 ff, 97, 99, 101–102, 112, 114, 125–126, 212–213, 227, 235 ff, 247–248, 259–260, 283–284. For a recent interpretation of dualism: Paauw and Fei, Transition in Open Dualistic Societies. Sievers is strikingly positive in his opinion of Boeke’s dualism: Sievers, Mystical World of Indonesia, pp. 125 ff, 279 ff. For ethical views: Colenbrander and Stokvis, Leven en arbeid van mr. C.Th. van Deventer, III; Indonesian Economics, pp. 195–213, 217–250, 255–262, 333–343; van Kol, De ontwikkeling der grootindustrie in Japan, I, Chs III, VI and VII; van Gelderen, Recent Development, pp. 77 ff. Stokvis, Van wingewest naar zelfbestuur; van Hall, Insulinde. For take-off speculations: Higgins, Introduction’, in: Entrepreneurship, p. 5; Geertz, Agricultural Involution, p. 113. For a moderate optimistic view vis-à-vis the period since 1965: Hong Lan Oei, ‘Indonesia’s Economic Stabilization’, in: Indonesia, 5, April 1968, p. 174.

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  5. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, p. 48 n. 2; Id., Peddlers, p. 147. On the other hand, Geertz doubts whether Modjokuto’s entrepreneurs could develop themselves above the present local level. Peddlers, p. 79.

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  6. Furnivall, Netherlands India, Ch. II; Id., Colonial Policy, pp. 303 ff. For a critique of Furnivall’s concept: De plurale samenleving, pp. 68 ff, 91 ff.

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  7. The strength of the village ties and landownership is indicated by the relatively high percentage (14.7%) of very poor beca drivers in Surabaya who owned land (varying from 0.05 ha. to 0.25 ha.) in 1960. Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, p. 150.

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  8. Legge, Indonesia, p. 102.

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  9. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 36–37. Lagendijk (Gegesik Wetan) points out that involutionary tendencies occurred in parts of the Javanese Pasisir also. The stagnatory effects of the sugar industry in colonial times (emphasized by Geertz) also hold true for the present. Sajogyo, Modernization, p. 67. Sajogyo, however, does not accept all of Geertz’s theses.

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  10. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, Ch. 3.

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  11. Benda, ‘Colonial Political Elites’, in: Continuity, pp. 191,193.

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  12. Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, pp. 163 ff.

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  13. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 103–123. Compare: Entrepreneurship, pp. 17 ff, concerning the Bataks.

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  14. Zeilinger, Kapitaal, pp. 47 ff. Unfortunately industry and trade are not dealt with adequately by Zeilinger. See also Seavoy, ‘Social Restraints’ in: JSEAS, VIII, 1 March 1977, pp. 15–30.

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  15. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, pp. 148 ff. Sutter’s view of the economic development in the early years of independence is far too flattering; inevitably this leads to conclusions (by authors like Geertz) that the stagnation under Guided Democracy was mainly caused by politics. In the Suharto period there was no strong resurgence of a Sumatran bourgeoisie.

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  16. Many elements are dealt with by Boeke. Boeke, Economie, passim. Sutter states (Sutter, Indonesianisasi, p. 786) ‘There was virtually no private domestic capital investment in major industries’; that is for the years 1949–54, under governments which were more or less favourably inclined towards private capital. Productive investment rose substantially after 1966, however, it was still directed largely to non-manufacturing projects: mining (oil, tin), timber, tourism, building, agriculture. Knowles, Indonesia Today, p. 142; Showcase State, p. 55. The capital flow into foreign, mixed or various types of state enterprises did not alter the ‘enclave’ character of the small modern capitalist sectors in the Indonesian economy. Id., pp. 32 ff. Economic growth only strengthened the traditional axis of state and foreign capital preponderance in favour of the bureaucratic comprador class and to the detriment of the autochthonous (largely Muslim) entrepreneurs. BIES, XIII, 3, Nov. 1977, p. 13; Palmer, Indonesian Economy, pp. 182–183. The Javanese batik-industry remained weak and dependent on Chinese brokers (Matsuo Hiroshi, Development of Javanese Cotton Industry); many private asli firms had difficulty in withstanding foreign competition or succumbed altogether. Utrecht, Indonesia’s Nieuwe Orde, pp. 98–100; Hetandere Indonesie, pp. 79–80; BIES, VIII, Oct. 1967, p. 81; IFM, 1, 2, April 1974; BIES, XI, 2, July 1975, p. 21. Tax pressure also worked against private Indonesian business (Palmer, Indonesian Economy, p. 93). Many entrepreneurs persisted in their non-productive orientation. Van Gelder, Voor-lezingen, p. 60; Zeilinger, Kapitaal, Ch. 5 and passim; BIES, XIII, 1, March 1977, p. 28; Palmer, Id., pp. 180, 182. For the limitations of traditional Javanese entrepreneurship see also: Castles, Religion, and Kuntowidjojo, ‘Economic and Religious Attitudes’, in: Indonesia, 12, Oct. 1971, pp. 47–56.

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  17. Castles, Religion, pp. 4 ff. See also: Booth, ‘Ipeda’, in: BIES, X, 1, March 1974, p. 55; BIES, XIII, 2, July 1977, p. 11.

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  18. Geertz, Islam, pp. 26 ff, 35 ff, 82 ff. Geertz should have drawn this line further to the present time. The New Order proved to have even stronger Javanist tendencies (drawing its inspiration also from the glorious Majapait and Mataram past). See: Anderson, ‘Notes’, in: Indonesia, pp. 65 ff. For these Javanist tendencies appearing in pre-war nationalist literature, see in particular: Soekamo’s MentjapaiIndonesia Merdeka.

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  19. For pre-colonial absolutism and centralism: Anderson, ‘The Idea of Power’, in: Culture and Politics, pp. 1; Moertono, State. For later times: Fisher, Southeast Asia, pp. 123, 273, 380; Schiller, Formation, pp. 14 ff, 337 ff; Legge, Central Authority, pp. 5 ff, 201 ff. Schiller’s remark: ‘The suggestion might be hazarded that the Indies was slowly but surely evolving into a federal state under the Dutch policy in effect during the twentieth century’, is rejected by Legge. Legge, Id., pp. 5,14. See also: Benda, ‘Pattern’, in: Continuity, pp. 244 ff; Feith, Decline, p. 567 (little development of regional autonomy in the whole of the 1949–1957 period’); van Naerssen, ‘Search for Central Power’, in: Sukarno’s Guided Indonesia, pp. 3–6. During the New Order authoritarian centralism grew to new heights. Ward, 1971 Election, pp. 180 ff, and passim. Hering and Willis, Indonesian General Election, pp. 23 ff.

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  20. Castles, Religion, pp. 5, 12–18, 21; Feith, Decline, pp. 101 ff. Van Doom (Orde, p. 23) mentions the recent phenomena of ‘traditionalism’ and ‘Javanisation’ (Resink) without discerning the permanent silent process of neo-priyayization. For bureaucratic continuity in various periods: Anderson, ‘Idea of Power’, in: Culture and Politics, p. 37; Benda, ‘Pattern’, in: Continuity, pp. 238–239 (about the colonial bureaucratic state (‘beambtenstaat’)); Palmer, Social Status; Feith, Decline, pp. 101 ff, 596; Id., ‘Dynamics’, in: Indonesia, p. 332; McVey, ‘Indonesian Communism and the Transition’, in: Communist Strategies, p. 174; Walker and Tinker, ‘Development and Changing Bureaucratic Styles’, in: PA, 48, 1, Spring 1975, pp. 60 ff. The traditional respect and deference of the abangan mass vis-à-vis the neo-priyayi elite and the taboo on openly stating the class contradictions (product of prolonged societal stagnation) also constitute a check on the clarification of social relations. Geertz, ‘Indonesian Cultures’, in: Indonesia, p. 45; Jay, Javanese Villagers, Ch. 9 (‘social rank’). McVey, in: Soekarno, Nationalism, pp. 15–17; van Doom, Orde, pp. 55–57. The term ‘gentry’ (used by Geertz, Benda and other authors) to designate the priyayi’s should be avoided because it is too much associated with landlordism.

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  21. Feith, Decline, Ch. II; Legge, Central Authority, Ch. 2 ff. For the Javano-centric tendencies see also Ch. 13. For the concentration and consolidation of power after 1965: Ward, 1971 Election, pp. 180 ff.

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  22. Anderson, Pemuda Revolution, pp. 605 ff; Castles, Religion, pp. 11–12; Id., ‘Fate of the Private Entrepreneur’, in: Sukarno’s Guided Indonesia, pp. 73–88; Polomka, Indonesia, pp. 13 ff, 127 ff, 203 ff; van Doom, Orde. Heinzlmeir, ‘From Sukarno to Suharto’, in: Politics, Society and Economy, p. 91. See also: Gregory, ‘New Order Indonesia’, in: KS, 2, June 1977, pp. 13 ff.

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  23. Anderson, Java, p. 108. This dependence has found its complement in the army’s policy since ± 1957 to support the pamongpradja. Lev, Transition, p. 62.

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  24. Anderson, Java, pp. 232 ff; Pauker, ‘Role of the Military’, in: The Role of the Military in Underdeveloped Countries, pp. 186 ff: Lev. Transition, pp. 59 ff, 182 ff; Polomka, Indonesia, pp. 79 ff; McVey, ‘Post-revolutionary Transformation’, in: Indonesia, 11, April 1971, pp. 131–176; Id., 13, April 1972, pp. 147–181; Nobel, Heer, pp. 126 ff, 162 ff; Crouch Army, pp. 34 ff, 221 ff.

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  25. McVev. Id.: Anderson, Pemuda Revolution, pp. 342 ff; van Doom, Orde, pp. 59, 69–70; Lev, Transition, pp. 73–74; Ward, ‘Indonesia’s Modernization’, in: Showcase State, pp. 74–75. See also: Crouch, Army, pp. 36–37, 345. The cultural process of the emergence of a new ruling class through assimilation and interaction around the civilian and military elite strata cannot be dealt with purely in Javanist terms. Neo-priyayization was part of a broader process: the development of a ‘metropolitan superculture’ (Geertz, ‘Indonesian Cultures’, in: Indonesia, pp. 35–36), a hybrid type of mestizo culture to be found in many Third World cities, borne by a relatively broad Western educated middle class. Anderson, ‘Notes’, in: Indonesia, 16, Oct. 1973, p. 79.

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  26. Mortimer, ‘Growth’, in: Showcase State, p. 58; Robison, ‘Toward a Class Analysis’, in: Indonesia, 25, April 1978, pp. 17 ff; Palmer, Indonesian Economy, pp. 166–170. The relationship between political rulers, indigenous entrepreneurs and Chinese capital has many aspects, including the use of the Chinese as scapegoats in chauvinist-diversionary campaigns, and economic blackmail. More important, however, is the continuity in the co-operation between the rulers and Chinese capital. See also: Britton, ‘Indonesian Army’, in: Showcase State, pp. 88–89; Crouch, ‘Military Polities’, in: PA, 45, 2, Summer 1972, p. 217.

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  27. Geertz, Agricultural Involution, passim; H. Geertz, ‘Indonesian Cultures’, in: Indonesia, p. 46; Wertheim, ‘Social Change’, in: East-West Parallels, p. 221; Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, pp. 223, 246; Palmer, Indonesian Economy, p. 185.

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  28. Boeke, Economie, pp. 34 ff; Lette, Proeve, pp. 99 ff; Boeke, Dorp; Burger, De ontsluiting, passim; Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, pp. 60 ff, 132 ff. For the specific social relations in an East Javanese village see: Jay, Javanese Villagers, Chs 8, 10, 11 and 12. The burden of economic exploitation sometimes evoked re-communalizing effects (as a kind of self-defence mechanism), during the VOC period and the Cultivation system but also in the 20th century in Javanese sugar areas. Lette, Proeve, pp. 161, 162; Burger, De ontsluiting, pp. 145–147, 247 ff; Verslag van de suiker enquete commissie, pp. 99 ff; Utrecht, De onderbroken revolu tie, p. 18 2.

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  29. For patronTclient relations: Wertheim, Elite, pp. 100 ff, 182–183; Wertheim, Dawning, pp. 62 ff; Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, pp. 146 ff, 200; Sartono, ‘Agrarian Radicalism’, in: Culture and Politics, pp. 83–85; Hering, ‘Alirans’, in: Hering and Willis, Indonesian General Elections, pp. 47 ff.

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  30. Boeke, Economie, p. 133; Cramer, Het volkscredietwezen, pp. 231–242; Djojohadikoe-soemo, Het volkscredietwezen, pp. 187 ff and Hatta, Co-operative Movement are both too flattering in their evaluation. Mortimer, Ideology, Ch. 6, p. 53; Hansen, ‘Rural Administration’, in: PA, 44, 3, Fall 1971, p. 399.

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  31. For the agrarian legislation of 1960: Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, pp. 223 ff; Penny, ‘Economies’, in: BIES, V, Oct. 1966, p. 41. Paauw (Political Consequences, pp. 14 ff) is right in stating that Java has insufficient arable land to provide plots for all poor peasants. This would hold good even if one would not accept the legal ceilings of landowner-ship (as Paauw does). Utrecht tends to overestimate the significance of the land reform. Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, pp. 233–273. See also: Id., ‘Land Reform’, in: BIES, V, 1969, pp. 71 ff.

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  32. Lagendyk, Gegesik Wetan, p. 86. See also for the general agrarian stagnation: Penny, ‘economies’, in: BIES, V, Oct. 1966, pp. 2244.

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  33. For the 30s see Ch. 8. Further: Utrecht, De onderbroken revolutie, p. 211; IMM, Oct–Nov. 1971, pp. 17–18; Ward, 1971 Election, p. 192.

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  34. Penny, ‘Economies’, in: BIES, V, Oct. 1966, p. 40; H. Geertz, ‘Indonesian Culture’, in: Indonesia, p. 47; Jay, Javanese Villagers, p. 344; Wertheim, Elite, pp. 129–130; Polomka, Indonesia, pp. 16–17, 27–28; Ward, 1971 Election, pp. 193 ff; Penny, ‘A Case Study’, in: BIES, VIII, March 1972, pp. 79 ff.

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  35. Geertz, Religion of Java; Id., Social History; Id., Islam; Id., Religious Belief; Jay, Religion, pp. 1–30.

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  36. Koentjaraningrat, ‘Tjelapar’, in: Villages, pp. 244 ff; Id., Review of Geertz, ‘Religion of Java’, in: Madjallah ilmu-ilmu sastra Indonesia, Sept. 1963, pp. 188–191; Cruikshank, ‘Abangan, santri, and prijaji’, in: JSEAS, III, 1, March 1972, pp. 3943. For the intermediary zones, see: Geertz, Religion, p. 372; Castles, Religion, p. 44.

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  37. Utrecht (De onderbroken revolutie, pp. 190, 205) points out that many share-croppers in the Kabupaten Lumadjang, Djember, Bondowoso, Situbondo and Malang (being dependent clients) had become members of NU together with their santri landlord patrons. For this region in colonial times see: De Vries, Landbouw en Welvaart. For abangan/neo-priyayi landlord resistance against land reform in Central and East Java see: Rocamora, ‘Partai Nasional Indonesia’, in: Indonesia, 10, Oct. 1970, pp. 162 ff.

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  38. In Thailand and Vietnam indigenous minorities constitute a marginal problem in relation to the Burmese situation. Fisher, Southeast Asia, pp. 432, 447, 467 ff. Bastin and Benda, A History, pp. 161,488,521, 534. See also: Hunter, Southeast Asia.

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  39. For the Java-Outer Islands opposition: Paauw, ‘From Colonial to Guided Economy’, in: Indonesia, pp. 159 ff. For Java as a geopolitical centre: Fisher, Southeast Asia, pp. 123–124, 379–380.

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  1. Fritjof Tichelman
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© 1980 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers bv, The Hague

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Tichelman, F. (1980). Continuities. In: The Social Evolution of Indonesia. Studies in Social History, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8896-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8896-5_10

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