Indonesia`s Middle Class: A Force or Liability for

Indonesia’s Middle Class: A Force or Liability for Democracy?
Ulla Fionna, PhD, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, ufionna@iseas.edu.sg
There is an emerging agreement on the importance of the growing middle class in Indonesia’s
institutionalising democracy. This trend is in line with existing theories on the middle class as
a key agency of liberal values and democracy (e.g.: Lipset 1959). Beyond the divisive
connotation of the word ‘class’ that was avoided during Suharto’s New Order (1966-1998)
however, determining who belongs to this group remains a conundrum and investigating them
as a political entity, problematic. Although an individual’s consumption power is the main
element in their identification as part of this group, it hardly suffices in explaining the
assumed political behaviour of the group as a whole.
The middle class vote was key in the 2014 election in shifting support for different
presidential candidates and arguably determining the eventual winner. The various campaign
tactics aimed at affecting their vote, including smear campaigns, suggest that they are a
conservative political group. For a clearer understanding of Indonesian democracy today and
its future, analysing the nature of the middle class as a political group is essential. Which
political issues mobilise them, and to what extent they would choose to participate in politics
are crucial in understanding the extent of their potential as a reliable force for Indonesian
democracy.
This panel aims to put together assessments of the middle class as a political force in
Indonesia. One paper being prepared will assess the nature and origins of their current
political aspirations. Those interested in participating in this panel, could consider looking at
their intertwined economic and political interests, their contemporary political culture, and
perhaps the changing role of gender in their political expression among this class.
Single session
The Political Aspiration of Muslim Middle-Class
Ulla Fionna, ISEAS-Singapore
While the middle class vote was key in the 2014 election in shifting support for different
presidential candidates and arguably determining the eventual winner, the issues that trigger,
shift, or mould their political aspiration are unclear. The rampant use of campaign tactics with
religious nuances indicated their sensitivity and potency. Still, an earlier project on cadres of
Islamic political parties indicates that there has been a strong secularisation of their political
aspirations. Partly due to the dysfunctions of the parties, but also because of the drive to be
catch-all parties, cadres confused and then had to conform with the reality that it is very
difficult for their parties to compete with the overall more successful secular parties. With the
realisation that a greater role of political Islam in Indonesia in general is not desirable, cadres
have somewhat adjusted and to an extent given up their more Islamic aspirations.
Juxtaposing the importance of middle-class and the trend of secularisation; this paper seeks to
find out which political issues mobilise the middle-class muslims, whether they have any class
awareness among them, and to what extent they would choose to participate in politics. Using
focus group discussions, this paper aims to encourage open exchanges among the middle-class
muslims, and capture the nuances in their discussion as groups.
Urban Middle Class Chinese Indonesians and Political Participation
Charlotte Setijadi, Nanyang Technological University
Throughout the New Order, Chinese Indonesians practically did not have a political voice. The
banning of Chinese organisations during the assimilation period, along with the political
trauma of anti-Communist and anti-Chinese killings in 1965-66, meant that many Chinese
Indonesians chose to be apolitical rather than risk potential persecution. This situation changed
dramatically after the fall of the New Order in 1998 that saw the revival of Chinese identity
politics and mainstream political participation. Since then, Chinese Indonesian socio-political
organisations have flourished, and there are now more ethnic Chinese Ministers, candidates,
elected Members of Parliament and public officials than ever before, most notably in the
popular figure of Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok). However, despite
considerable media attention on ethnic Chinese political participation and figures, little is
actually known about the political motivations and expectations of urban, middle class Chinese
Indonesians who form the majority of Chinese voters in Indonesia. Based on fieldwork data
collected in the months leading up to the 2014 legislative and Presidential elections, I will
examine what the voting patterns and political activities (or lack thereof) of Chinese
Indonesians may reveal about the underlying insecurities that still linger for this small yet
influential ethnic minority.
Contesting Power from the Middle in Indonesia
Nankyung Choi, City University of Hong Kong
Electoral democracy and decentralized governance in Indonesia have dramatically increased
the significance of local elected office in the country’s politics and governance. As one of its
outcomes, Indonesia’s local societies have observed their local elite circles broaden and
diversify as entering local political institutions has gained popularity among the local middle
classes in Indonesia. Running for a local assembly seat is now widely regarded as a good way
of moving upward, by which both status and material rewards can be achieved at once.
However, whether the entry of new power-seekers – increasingly from the educated and
professional middle-classes – has brought about any meaningful changes to exercise of a
political office is another question. This paper aims to examine the political representation of
the middle classes in Indonesia's local units of governance - i.e., provincial and provincial
towns' governments and legislative assemblies. While recent scholarship has advanced our
understanding of Indonesia's local politics, our knowledge of who Indonesia's local political
elites are and why and how they pursue office and power remains seriously underdeveloped.
Few studies have examined the modalities by which political hopefuls from the middle class
backgrounds run for elections and obtain office and power in the context of Indonesia's
decentralized electoral politics. This paper will examine the motivations, opportunities and
strategies for achieving power across diverse middle-class social groupings. By using a lifestory approach, the paper will focus on the interplay among individuals' class backgrounds (as
intersected with education, family, ethnicity, religion, gender and age), motivations (public
recognition, material reward, social prestige or service to the community) and political
strategies (religion and ethnicity, civil society agendas or communal interests). The primary
data have been collected from Pontianak (West Kalimantan) and Yogyakarta (Central Java)
and will be compared with the additional data from Surabaya (East Java).
Middle class formation from the perspective of housing development in Jabodetabek
ARAI Kenichiro & MIMURA Yutaka
This paper examine the relation between the built environment (especially, housing) and
middle class, and several issues that can be deduced from this theme. First part presents a brief
theoretical background of why housing is relevant and important to the issue of middle class.
The importance of living environment (for example, housing estate) is to bind people and make
their collectiveness physically visible (while the similarity of income or profession alone is too
abstract or varied), and produce social “ideal-type” or “typical image” of middle-class. The
second part will outline the development of large-scale satellite-city (or new town)
developments around Jabodetabek. From the aerial pictures, authors try to give an rough
estimate of the number of middle-class “core” living in these satellite cities. The third part will
show that there are many line of social distinction both between kampung and planned housing
estates, and among the various housing estates. This suggests the layered divisions among
“klass menengah” in Jabodetabek in terms of the place of living. The forth part shows a few
negative external effects of the past urban development propelled by private property
developers; primarily, unaffordable housing price, heavy traffic congestion, and the
discrepancy between the public service and privatized service. Fifth part will make a
suggestion of the relationship between these externalities and political dynamics by showing
how these negative effects are framed as major issues in the election and the governorship of
Jokowi and Ahok. This paper will suggest that, rather than the middle-class core living in
expensive housing estates, semi-middle class living in urban kamupung are larger in number,
positioned between middle-class core and lower class, thus their aspirations and grievances can
give greater impact to the politics of the region.