Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
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Income inequality in Indonesia increased rapidly between 2003 and 2011. The Gini coefficient increased 28 percent, from 0.32 to 0.41 over the period. My dissertation aims to identify the underlying...Show moreIncome inequality in Indonesia increased rapidly between 2003 and 2011. The Gini coefficient increased 28 percent, from 0.32 to 0.41 over the period. My dissertation aims to identify the underlying driving factors behind the drastic increase. The dissertation deals with the three potential driving factors for the rising income inequality in Indonesia: The commodity boom in 2003-2011, the changes in the structure of Indonesian growth, labour market and wages in the 2000s, and the impact of fiscal policy. I find that the commodity boom between 2003 and 2011 had a strong distributional consequence by substantially altering the distribution and relative returns of capital and labour through two channels: Firstly, through generating prominent capital-incomes for the capital-owners. And secondly, the commodity boom was associated with the adverse development in Indonesian labour market in the 2000s via Dutch Disease effects. The labour market development, for the lower income quintiles, was characterized by increased shifts from higher productivity and formal employment to low productivity, low pay, and informal employment in the service sector and small manufacturing firms. While simultaneously the formality rate and skill premium increased in the highest income quintile relative to the rest. I also find that the use of fiscal policy to mitigate the distributional consequences of the commodity boom has been inadequate. The fiscal policy between 2003 and 2011 has, to a large extent, neglected pro-poor and pro-growth measures, strongly reflecting the lack of political will to balance out the increasingly unequal income distribution in Indonesia.Show less
Indonesia is named the second biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans and the third largest polluter in the world. Rapid industrialisation, urbanisation, population growth, economic...Show moreIndonesia is named the second biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans and the third largest polluter in the world. Rapid industrialisation, urbanisation, population growth, economic growth and a consumption boom resulted in an increase in waste. It is said that municipal solid waste increased with 162,5% in the last decade. In 2009, 81% of this waste was disposed of in open dumping landfills, which are often badly managed. Only 7% of it was recycled. Open dumping landfills is causing both health-and environment-related problems, and caused many deaths in 2005, marking the failure of traditional waste management. The necessity of proper waste management led to the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Act on May 8, 2008. The international and more sustainable concept of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) began to be used, thus replacing the traditional End-of-Pipe treatment. In this sociological research, I hope to answer the question of what the significance is of 3R for waste management in Indonesia, with a main focus on policies, developments, and citizen involvement.Show less
This paper examines the impact of democratization on the social spending behavior of Indonesia and the Philippines. Comparing social spending as a percentage of central government spending and as a...Show moreThis paper examines the impact of democratization on the social spending behavior of Indonesia and the Philippines. Comparing social spending as a percentage of central government spending and as a share of GDP over a period of approximately ten years before and after democratization, one can’t observe a significant change in the social policy priorities of politicians. Although theory would suggest that democratization would increase the awareness of politicians to focus more on the social well-being of its citizen, investments in human capital remained largely unchanged. This paper argues that the persistence of elites, both at national and local level, prevents a substantial change in social spending to materialize. Drawn from several empirical studies and secondary literature, this paper shows how the rent-seeking attitudes of elites translates into a major burden for lower-class groups to enter the political domain and to change social policy (spending) to their favor.Show less
Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
closed access
High public support for anticorruption campaigns exists already for a long time in Indonesia. However, since the establishment of a celebrated anticorruption body during democratic times, all three...Show moreHigh public support for anticorruption campaigns exists already for a long time in Indonesia. However, since the establishment of a celebrated anticorruption body during democratic times, all three government branches have shown members to make attempts to weaken the anticorruption body after they became suspects in corruption cases. Elitists in the Indonesian government openly fight the morally supported KPK anticorruption body.Show less
The Japanese population and its healthcare system is under pressure. The population is declining drastically; the amount of elderly is increasing heavily and with the costs to take care of them...Show moreThe Japanese population and its healthcare system is under pressure. The population is declining drastically; the amount of elderly is increasing heavily and with the costs to take care of them will be heavy. Their increasingly chasing population structure is a major concern for politicians and companies alike. Too often Japanese politicians keep this status quo alive, on one hand they agree that Japan needs to introduce pro-immigration policies but on the other hand, when it comes to implement real and viable policies they ignore it. Japanese politicians are hesitant to call for increased immigration, due to fear from the public. These fears often stem from some underbelly feeling, which also fueled by the Media. The introduction of the Foreign nurses and caretakers was a first step into the right direction. Sadly, the outcome was insignificant and had practically no influence. This program shows the weakness of the Japanese immigration policies. It lacks flexibility, practicality and long-term vision.Show less
Islamic banking can be considered as a ‘hot topic’ throughout the world’s banking sector. Not only in some Middle Eastern countries Islamic banking became one of the most important forms of banking...Show moreIslamic banking can be considered as a ‘hot topic’ throughout the world’s banking sector. Not only in some Middle Eastern countries Islamic banking became one of the most important forms of banking next to conventional banking, but also in Southeast Asia there was a genesis of Islamic finance. Since the Islamic banking sector in Indonesia is still relatively small compared to the conventional banking system in the country, this thesis aims at discovering the growth of the Islamic banking sector in Indonesia since the emergence of the first Islamic banks. What was the cause of this growth of the Islamic banking sector in Indonesia and what was the role of the government in this? How did the banking sector itself contribute to the growth of Islamic banking and what role had Islam in this whole story? The research question that this thesis thus aims to answer is: how did the Islamic banking sector in Indonesia evolve within the spheres of religion, business and politics since the 1990s?Show less
The central theme of this master thesis is how in Indonesia the relationship between the idea of democracy and the resulting political change that can be drawn from the 1900 to 1960. By means of a...Show moreThe central theme of this master thesis is how in Indonesia the relationship between the idea of democracy and the resulting political change that can be drawn from the 1900 to 1960. By means of a definition of constitutional democracy and the models of “constitutive localization” of Amitav Acharya (2009), this research has been carried out. This showed that with constitutive localization, the idea of democracy generates indigenous political change. It is necessary to take into account how particular local actors, or “idea entrepreneurs”, adopt foreign ideas to bring about political change. Their role is viewed as an effort to reconstruct foreign ideas to ensure the ideas fit with their cognitive priors and identities, which is identified as “congruence building”. Thus, a dynamic congruence building process, or “localization”, provides opportunity for foreign ideas, which may not initially cohere with local belief and practices, to be incorporated into the local norms. In Indonesian case, “Indonesian-Javanese paradigm” serves as the platform to appropriate and adapted the idea of democracy to local conditions. This analysis can serve as a diagnostic tool to help policy makers understand where and how consolidation of democratic forces could be harmonized in Indonesia. Through gaining a better understanding of the agency role of idea entrepreneur in spreading and defending democracy, this study will hopefully become an interesting case for study of political change in world politics.Show less
Public opinions, political visions and international interference were important aspects of the duration of the decolonisation wars in Indonesia and Algeria after the Second World War. These three...Show morePublic opinions, political visions and international interference were important aspects of the duration of the decolonisation wars in Indonesia and Algeria after the Second World War. These three factors influenced together the events that formed the wars. This thesis concentrates on these three aspects and shows how they are combined and explain the duration of the wars.Show less
Abstract: In Asia skin tone and whitening techniques were desirable and well described throughout the history. Indonesia is not an exception. The traces of whitening methods, portraits of ideal...Show moreAbstract: In Asia skin tone and whitening techniques were desirable and well described throughout the history. Indonesia is not an exception. The traces of whitening methods, portraits of ideal woman could be found in Indonesian literary works, legends as early as in ninth century as well as in modern literature and women’s magazines. Given the obsession of being white priority, the number of TV advertisements for skin-lightening products flooded the market and the need for them is intensely growing. The Indonesian beauty market is one of the fastest-growing beauty markets in Asia. Indonesian women follow the trend of being white shown in TV ads, but what can the content of these ads teach us about the reasons why people want to be whiter, or about the advertisers’ assumptions about those reasons, is still not well researched. This current study will try to contribute to the scientific knowledge in this field. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible ways of explaining the desire for whiteness by looking at the various positive associations which whiteness has for Indonesians. These positive associations include genetic excellence, hygiene and health, wealth and status, race, cosmopolitanism, the power of looks - “lookism” (discrimination or prejudice on the grounds of a person’s appearance), culture, social conformism, tradition (old cultural ideas in written and oral literature), modernity and try to trace them in four selected (two local brands and two international ones) contemporary TV whitening advertisements in Indonesia. The majority of these positive associations have their roots in antiquity and are not products of colonialism or modernity. Nevertheless, most of the TV skin whitening commercials in Indonesia (here, based on four examined ones) are constructed around modern ways of reasoning.Show less
This thesis deals with the Dutch governmental plans for re-establishment of the Dutch colonial army in the Netherlands East Indies, the Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (KNIL) after the Second...Show moreThis thesis deals with the Dutch governmental plans for re-establishment of the Dutch colonial army in the Netherlands East Indies, the Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (KNIL) after the Second World War would have ended. These plans were made between 1942 and 1945, when Japan occupied the Netherlands East Indies. After the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, Dutch preparations turned out to be insufficient, because of the different expectations the Dutch government had about the possibilities of the colonial soldiers than what they were capable of in reality. These colonial soldiers, both Dutch, Indo-Dutch and Indonesian, had been captured and used as forced labourers by the Japanese during the war years. They were unable to fight against Indonesian nationalists and therefore the Dutch government was forced to also call other armed forces from the Netherlands to Asia. Several plans that were made during the Second World War were the establishment of the Mariniersbrigade (Marine Corps), recruitment of war volunteers and from 1946, a call for Dutch conscript soldiers was also made. Especially the period between 15 August 1945 and March 1946, when the British occupational forces allowed Dutch forces to re-enter the colony for the first time, is rarely investigated in historiography. This thesis fills in that gap, both in time and in topic.Show less
In this thesis I will research how young Indonesians express their identities or how they create new identities in the period from the 1990s until today and I will examine this through forms of...Show moreIn this thesis I will research how young Indonesians express their identities or how they create new identities in the period from the 1990s until today and I will examine this through forms of Indonesian popular music. Popular music is an important site of cultural struggle and can reveal much about class, gender and other social divisions. That is why I want to zoom in on these social divisions by dividing them in class, religion and gender, to see how each of them relates to popular music and identity formation. I choose to focus on class, religion and gender because these have undergone drastic and interesting transformations during the period I want to examine, allowing people to reconsider their place or someone else’s in the social ladder, as a religious person or as a woman or man in society. Popular music and the way people consume it can reveal a lot about people’s thoughts and conceptions on class, religion and gender in contemporary Indonesia. The period from the 1990s until the present knew for example a remarkable growth of the Indonesian middle class who adopted a consumerist lifestyle and wanted to set themselves apart from the lower class, using popular music among other things. Concerning religion, I will focus on the developments of Islam in Indonesia, the religion of roughly 90% of the country's population. The fall of Suharto has been a significant turning-point for religious expression, because for much of the New Order, Islam was marginalized especially in the political sphere and Islamic organizations were restricted. After 1998, Indonesian Muslims could express themselves more freely, leading to an amplified process of Islamization which includes the creation of new Islamic political parties, the rise of radical Islam and the expression of religious identities in public that could not be expressed before, particularly extremist ones. Moreover, in the 21st century Muslim pop culture has flourished immensely and popular music has helped in the process of articulating religious identity. Finally, issues of gender, including for example femininity, masculinity and the role of women in the family have become a more prominent subject of discussions and debates in the past two decades. Women's rights groups and opinions about feminism have more political support than before, but so has (conservative) Islam. This leads to diverse opinions about popular female artists who are regarded as a role model to some and an actor of immorality to others. Popular music is a strong medium to spur debates about gender and to introduce new images of how young men and women can, or should, dress and behave. Consequently, this makes young Indonesians rethink and possibly reshape their gender identities.Show less
Climate change is becoming an increasingly important topic on the international stage and is one of today’s top priorities on the global agenda. Indonesia is of importance in any discussion about...Show moreClimate change is becoming an increasingly important topic on the international stage and is one of today’s top priorities on the global agenda. Indonesia is of importance in any discussion about climate change because of two reasons: (1) Indonesia is a country extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and (2) Indonesia contributes significantly to the problems of climate change. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that the Indonesian government has played an important role in the international debate on climate change. This thesis analyzes Indonesia’s contribution in the movement towards international cooperation to combat climate change.Show less
Chinezen in Indonesië worden vandaag de dag bekeken als een niet-inheemse minderheid. Deze scriptie gaat over de ontwikkeling van Chinese identiteit in Indonesië vanuit emancipatie. Dat wil zeggen,...Show moreChinezen in Indonesië worden vandaag de dag bekeken als een niet-inheemse minderheid. Deze scriptie gaat over de ontwikkeling van Chinese identiteit in Indonesië vanuit emancipatie. Dat wil zeggen, hun integratie in de Indonesische en Nederlands-Indische maatschappij. Er wordt gekeken naar de keuzes die zij maakten zoals de manier waarop zij zich kleedden, woonden, spraken en uiteindelijk welke nationaliteit zij aannamen. Her wordt vanuit autobiografieën en ander biografisch materiaal gewerkt.Show less
This thesis examines the impact of the transfer of Bencoolen (Bengkulu) from British colonial authority to the Dutch East Indies in March 1825, under the terms of the 1824 Treaty of London (Anglo...Show moreThis thesis examines the impact of the transfer of Bencoolen (Bengkulu) from British colonial authority to the Dutch East Indies in March 1825, under the terms of the 1824 Treaty of London (Anglo-Dutch Treaty), on the people who were resident there at the time. Taking a subaltern studies approach, and using the life histories of four individuals/groups of people, it demonstrates that the transfer of power did not involve a discrete rupture between British and Dutch periods, but involved a long-drawn process whose impact lasted well into the 19th century. Likewise, it shows that the impact of the transfer was not spatially circumscribed to Bencoolen or the Dutch East Indies, but led to a reshaping of networks of commerce and migration (including penal transportation) within the broader Indian Ocean. By challenging these divisions of time and space and situating Bencoolen within the broader Indian Ocean world, the thesis demonstrates the potential of examining other 19th century transfers of power within a wider context: Cape Town, Malacca and Mauritius, among others.Show less
