This book analyzes policy-making and implementation in Indonesia. Conducted at the School of Government and Public Policy (Indonesia), the research presented here provides original insights into the country’s public policy processes by exploring the conditions on the ground that shape implementation. The studies brought together in this volume are based on fieldwork involving interviews with various stakeholders, first-hand observations, and the collection of original documents and data. They address policy issues ranging from health insurance, district recruitment, community empowerment, and solid waste management, to tourism and the status of refugees. The result is a wealth of case-study data on policy implementation experiences in Indonesia that will benefit students, academics and practitioners alike.

This edited volume examines key questions about evidence-informed policymaking in Indonesia. It draws on insights and evidence acquired through the implementation of the Knowledge Sector Initiative, a donor-funded programme that aims to increase the demand for and use of evidence in policymaking in Indonesia. Featuring contributions from academics, policy researchers, policymakers and development practitioners, the volume will deepen readers’ understanding of how knowledge and politics shape the policymaking process in Indonesia. As such, it will be of interest to Indonesian and international researchers, academics, students, practitioners and policymakers concerned with various aspects of evidence-informed policymaking research and processes. In particular, regional and international development practitioners and development partners interested in learning from Indonesia’s efforts to improve how evidence is used to address key development challenges will find this volume valuable.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book explores the critical role that local knowledge plays in public policy processes as well as its role in the co-production of policy relevant knowledge with the scientific and professional communities. The authors consider the mechanisms used by local organisations and the constraints and opportunities they face, exploring what the knowledge-to-policy process means, who is involved and how different communities can engage in the policy process. Ten diverse case studies are used from around Indonesia, addressing issues such as forest management, water resources, maritime resource management and financial services. By making extensive use of quotes from the field, the book allows the reader to ‘hear’ the perspectives and beliefs of community members around local knowledge and its effects on individual and community life.

Indonesia's Constitution makes it clear that the government should act to improve the welfare of the people, but there is little indication as to how it should go about doing so. Economic science gives plenty of guidance on this, and there are two basic lines of argument used to justify a role for government in economic affairs: efficiency and equity. Casual observation suggests that the policies of successive Indonesian governments have done little to improve efficiency, falling well short of dealing adequately with clear cases of market failure. At the same time, the government frequently intervenes in the economy when it appears it should not-driven mainly by political motives rather than economic logic. Poor policy choices hold back national development, and harm the interests of Indonesia's most disadvantaged citizens. This study examines the hypothesis that economic policy making in Indonesia generally has been strongly inclined toward redistribution of income at the expense of the poor, and has shown little concern for overcoming instances of market failure for the benefit of the general public. It bases its contributions on case studies in three important areas of government intervention in the economy: provision of electricity and road infrastructure, and redistribution income by various means. The author attempts to look beyond the immediate, visible effects of a number of key economic policies so as to highlight their ultimate consequences: in other words, to distinguish between those consequences that are seen, and those that are not. The basic finding is that these policies have done little to increase general prosperity, since their main-albeit hidden-objective typically has been to redistribute income and wealth in favour of those already better off, rather than to improve economic efficiency. It is argued that there are two main reasons why the task of correcting market failures is largely neglected: first, a lack of understanding of economic science on the part of many policy makers and the general public; and second, the fact that political considerations dictate that the objective of policy making is to favour particular interest groups rather than to maximise the material well-being of the population as a whole. The thesis is motivated by the belief that it is important to engage with the general public in order to demonstrate that the actual objectives of economic policy are often quite different from its nominal objectives. The important task of those with expertise in the field of economic science, in particular, is to strive continuously to explain and justify sound economic policies and the economic principles underlying them. This dissertation is an attempt to do just that.

Indonesia's foreign policy has been the topic of all too few scholarly works. This condition is, however, rapidly changing, and we can now look forward during the next few years to the publication of several important studies. Among the highly qualified authors presently engaged in completing books on various aspects of this subject are: Indonesia's former Vice-President, Mohammad Hatta; a former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Mohamad Roem, and a former Foreign Minister, Anak Agung Gde Agung. Currently major studies are also well under way by Ambassador Howard Jones, Professor Frederick Bunnell, and Professor David Mozingo. None of these ongoing studies, however, focuses on the very recent period described by Mr. Franklin Weinstein in the Interim Report which the Indonesia Project is here publishing. His report is concerned with one of the most significant, but at the same time one of the most confusing, watersheds of Indonesian foreign policy. This is the process whereby Indonesia's confrontation against Malaysia was brought to an end. A development of this significance, we feel, merits careful study now, even though the relevant data are as yet only partially available. It is our belief that a sufficient amount of pertinent material is on hand at this point to warrant the avowedly provisional account which Mr. Weinstein has undertaken with the encouragement of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. He, himself, wishes to emphasize the tentative character of his report and would appreciate it if those who read it, Indonesians in particular, would be kind enough to send him their criticisms and suggestions for the study's improvement. It is his hope, and ours, that a substantial amount of such commentary will be sent him so that following his current sojourn and research in Indonesia, he will be in a position to publish a study of recent Indonesian foreign policy which will be more comprehensive and definitive in character. - George McT. Kahin, October 1968

Understanding and managing inter-religious relations, particularly between Muslims and Christians, presents a challenge for states around the world. This book investigates legal disputes between religious communities in the world’s largest majority-Muslim, democratic country, Indonesia. It considers how the interaction between state and religion has influenced relations between religious communities in the transition to democracy. The book presents original case studies based on empirical field research of court disputes in West Java, a majority-Muslim province with a history of radical Islam. These include criminal court cases, as well as cases of judicial review, relating to disputes concerning religious education, permits for religious buildings and the crime of blasphemy. The book argues that the democratic law reform process has been influenced by radical Islamists because of the politicization of religion under democracy and the persistence of fears of Christianization. It finds that disputes have been localized through the decentralization of power and exacerbated by the central government’s ambivalent attitude towards radical Islamists who disregard the rule of law. Examining the challenge facing governments to accommodate minorities and manage religious pluralism, the book furthers understanding of state-religion relations in the Muslim world. This accessible and engaging book is of interest to students and scholars of law and society in Southeast Asia, was well as Islam and the state, and the legal regulation of religious diversity.

The book features an analysis of teacher reform in Indonesia, which entailed a doubling of teacher salaries upon certification. It describes the political economy context in which the reform was developed and implemented, and analyzes the impact of the reform on teacher knowledge, skills, and student outcomes.

In Politics in Contemporary Indonesia, Ken M.P. Setiawan and Dirk Tomsa analyse the most prominent political ideas, institutions, interests and issues that shape Indonesian politics today. Guided by the overarching question whether Indonesia still deserves its famous label as a ‘model Muslim democracy’, the book argues that the most serious threats to Indonesian democracy emanate from the fading appeal of democracy as a compelling narrative, the increasingly brazen capture of democratic institutions by predatory interests, and the narrowing public space for those who seek to defend the values of democracy. In so doing, the book answers the following key questions: What are the dominant political narratives that underpin Indonesian politics? How has Indonesia’s institutional framework evolved since the onset of democratisation in 1998? How do competing political interests weaken or strengthen Indonesian democracy? How does declining democracy affect Indonesia’s prospects for dealing with its main policy challenges? How does Indonesia compare to other Muslim-majority states and to its regional neighbours? Up-to-date, comprehensive and written in an accessible style, this book will be of interest for both students and scholars of Indonesian politics, Asian Studies, Comparative Politics and International Relations.