Book chapter
Nusantara and the Spatial Implications for the Practice of Indonesian Democracy
The Road to Nusantara: Process, Challenges and Opportunities
ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute / National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
2023
Abstract
Democracy is spatial by nature. Cities make possible, inhibit, or prevent different types of democratic practice, representation, and change. Street-based politics in Jakarta, such as for example, have driven some of the most significant changes of modern Indonesian history, from the student-led demonstrations of 1998 to the mass protests of the 212 movement. Similarly, proximity to state power has been crucial to civil society’s ability to provide advocacy and governmental oversight. The stark socio-economic contradictions of Jakarta and its perennial woes such as flooding, and congestion generate political tensions that challenge elite-preferred images of the nation and the veracity of narratives of development and modernisation. As such the capital has not just been the nations symbolic centre, but also a crucial spatial setting for Indonesian democratic praxis; a heterogenous and often chaotic space of mobilisation, contestation, conflict and advocacy. Nusantara represents, in this respect, more than a symbolic repositioning of the nation’s centre but a potentially significant shift in the spatial practice of democracy itself as an outcome of the disentangling of national government from a ‘nation in microcosm’ megacity. This poses important questions regarding how the new capital will re-spatialise relationships between institutional and non-institutional democracy, particularly within a broader context of democratic regression. Technocratic ‘smart cities’, for example, have been argued as inherently exclusionary and anti-democratic, whereas isolated purpose-built capital cities are often associated with increased corruption. Drawing on theories of cities as spaces of democratic practice and reflecting on the experiences of purpose-built capitals Brasillia, Putrajaya and Naypyidaw, this paper will consider the impacts, challenges and outcomes the moving of the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara may have for the spatial practice of democracy.
Details
- Title
- Nusantara and the Spatial Implications for the Practice of Indonesian Democracy
- Authors/Creators
- Ian Douglas Wilson (Author) - Murdoch University, School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
- Contributors
- J. M. Lau (Editor)A. N. Alami (Editor)S. D. Negara (Editor)Y. Nugroho (Editor)
- Publication Details
- The Road to Nusantara: Process, Challenges and Opportunities
- Publisher
- ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute / National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
- Identifiers
- 991005593468307891
- Copyright
- © 2023 ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Indo-Pacific Research Centre; School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
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