Book review: Decentralization and Discontents: An Essay on Class, Political Agency and National Perspective in Indonesian Politics

Abstract

Max Lane’s monograph is a welcoming addition to the literature on decentralisation in postSuharto Indonesia. Since decentralisation was implemented in Indonesia in 2001, there have been several published scholarly works that deal with the strengths and weaknesses as well as the impact of decentralisation upon Indonesian society. However, as Lane notes in his monograph (xiii-xv), most of these works either emphasise the capture of decentralisation by predatory politico-business interests due to the absence of a strong, effective civil society, or impose solutions that neglect the real conflict between politico-business interests. In this monograph, Lane proposes a different perspective. He argues that decentralisation in post-Suharto Indonesia is a manifestation of the changed balance of power between the former crony capital nurtured under the Suharto regime and local, smaller capital. This change took place after the cronies lost their patron, Suharto, who resigned on 21 May 1998 amid the Asian financial crisis. Lane also rightly points out that the rise of local capital after the diminishment of crony capital is due to the absence of a large and strong national capitalist class