Indonesia and Malaysia: The Persistence of a Domestic Politico-Business Class

Abstract

The Asian financial crisis triggered significant changes in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, these changes are not well-characterized as a whole-scale take-over of domestic assets by foreign corporations or a dramatic re-working of domestic regulations to create a paradise for foreign investment. My main focus in this chapter is to draw out the resilience of domestic systems of political economy. However, I also argue that debates about ‘globalisation’ often obscure more than they illuminate when they are conducted at a very general level that paints false dichotomies between national and international, state and market.