RITUAL AND POLITICS IN NEW ORDER INDONESIA: A Study of Discourse and Counter-Discourse in Indonesia ARIS ARIF MUNDAYAT Thesis presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Social and Life Sciences Swinburne University of Technology February 2005 Signed Declaration This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. Signed: Dated: 12 february 2005 ABSTRACT This thesis will examine the more active role played in Java by the urban wong cilik (the underclass; literally, the ‘little people’) in contesting the state’s authority, particularly during the later years of the New Order regime, and following its demise in 1998. I will provide examples of social practices employed by the wong cilik in their everyday lives and in their adaptation to periods of significant social and political upheaval. These demonstrate the ways in which they are able to contest the state’s efforts to impose its authority. These practices also develop and employ a variety of subversive discourses, whose categories and values diverge significantly from the official language of government. The examination of the relative linguistic, cultural and normative autonomy of the seemingly powerless underclass reveals an extremely contested political terrain in which the wong cilik are active rather than passive agents in urban society. These ideas have developed out of urban field research sited around warungs (sidewalk food stalls), urban kampongs and in the city streets of the three Javanese cities of Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Jakarta. These urban social spaces will be shown to be significant for the underclass because they constitute sites through which they constantly interact with diverse social groups, thereby sharpening their knowledge of the contradictions and feelings of otherness manifest between the classes in Java’s large cities. It will be shown how, in these spaces, the underclass also experience the state’s attempts at control through various officially sanctioned projects and how the underclass are able to subvert those projects through expressive means such as songs, poems and forms of mockery which combine to make the state’s dominant discourses lose much of their efficacy. Acknowledgments I realize that without the help and support of many people and number of institutions this thesis will never have finished. However, I am alone responsible for the whole content of this dissertation. Accordingly, first of all, I am indebted many thanks to my supervisor, guru and friend, Professor Ken Young, who really gave me lessons and critiques to help me finish my thesis. Without his hard critiques I would not be able to finish it. Besides him, I would also like to thank number of people who helped bring this thesis to fruition. Firstly, to my co-supervisor Professor Alastair Davidson at the Asia Australia Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology especially for his comment on one of the thesis chapters before he moved to Institute for Advance Studies Princeton University. Secondly, to Kelvin Rowley, who became my co-supervisor after Prof. Alastair Davidson moved to Princeton University. Thirdly, to Keith Foulcher from Sydney University and Professor Arief Budiman from the University of Melbourne who generously give their time to read one of the thesis chapters. Their comments on that specific chapter I gave to them was very significant in building the substantiation and abstraction of this thesis. I also thanks to a number of institutions which bring the thesis to completion. Firstly, AusAID which gave me a scholarships for 2 years for the MA leading PhD program then continued by the generosity of Swinburne University of Technology scholarships for 1 years and 9 months to finish my dissertation for the PhD program. I also thanks to the head of the School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Prof. David de Vauss for inviting me to La Trobe University as visiting fellow to finish my thesis. Without his helped this thesis would never have finished. Indeed my gratitude also addressed to La Trobe university people for providing me office and academic facilities during my visit to Melbourne in August - October 2004. Thanks Professor Bambang Purwanto as the Director of the Centre for Southeast Asia Social Studies- Gadjah Mada University who always supported me to finish my dissertation. I also extend thanks for prompt responses to Fachry Ali, the director of LSPEUI, who involved me as LSPEUI researcher during my research in Indonesia in 1998. Without his help at that time I would faced a lot of financial difficulties in doing research for this dissertation. This was because Indonesian banks would not permit my ATM (Automatic Telling Machine) from an Australian bank to withdraw money from Indonesian local bank during the monetary crisis. I also particularly thanks to Robbie Peters who really encouraged me to finish this thesis and helped me in editing almost every chapter from the beginning until the final stage. I also thank his partner, Diem. My gratitude is also addressed to Max Richter who edited my chapters and gave me some comments to my thesis, also to his wife, Tina. Their attention during the process of writing relieved my stress in writing up this thesis. Thanks to Kusyuniati as my ‘older sister’ who supported me and my family during my study in Hawthorn, Ann Loveband and David Stuart who gave some significant comments and helped with some of my weaker points in English. More than that, their help in editing my chapters also contributed significantly to finishing my thesis. Thanks also to Wendy Mee Ph.D from department of Sociology Anthropology, La Trobe University who also gave her generosity to edit one of my chapters, while she was very busy. Thanks to Prof. Nasikun as my informal teacher who always give me inspiration and support. He was the one who always asked about the “destiny” of my dissertation. I also thank all staff of CESASS- ii UGM (Centre for Southeast Asia Social Studies- Universitas Gadjah Mada) as another kind of family who always supported me in dealing with the problems of this dissertation. I also appreciate to Irwan Abdullah, and Pande Made Kutanegara, my colleagues in the department of Anthropology, Gadjah Mada University who encouraged me to finish this thesis. Thanks also for Jim from Walailak University who encouraged in writing up this thesis. In each trajectory of this dissertation and beyond, I have learned to understand the character of the members of my family. My wife, Swety Firmanti whose patience and understanding has been a genuine support and which always kept the work progressing. Tama and Iko my sons have also put up with the agony of writing the dissertation. My gratitude also addressed deeply to my mother who died in the year 1999, when I was writing up this dissertation. She always prayed for me to finish this work as one of her hopes --in continuing my father’s hope who died in 1985. I hope my absence from her burial will substituted by this thesis, as her hope for my future. I also thank the husband and wife who died before this dissertation finished; Pak Ban and Mbok Ban who took care of me since I was a baby and gave yet more attention during my research in 1998-1999 in Indonesia. They were very kind old persons who always prayed for my success. Last but not least, I also thanks to my assistants, Nyarwi and Rohman and all my informants -- I can not mention all of them-- who gave me a lot of lessons and ideas which were very useful for this dissertation. Without their help this work would never have finished. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………..…..i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................................ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................iv LIST OF MAPS…………………………………………………………………………vi LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………vi LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………. vi. GLOSSARY.....................................................................................................................vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...............................................................................1 SECTION ONE: THE URBAN SOCIAL CONDITION CHAPTER TWO: INTERSECTING WORLDS, INTERSECTING DISCOURSES A. Prologue: wong cilik and wong gede................................................................................49 B. Yogyakarta: The Arena ...................................................................................................52 C. The Social Geography of Yogyakarta..............................................................................57 C.1. The Area for Tradition.....................................................................................60 C.2. The Wong Gede Area.......................................................................................65 C.3. The Wong Cilik Area.......................................................................................66 C.4. Business District and Its Cosmopolitanization................................................68 D. The Production of Space and Power Relations Among Subjects....................................70 D.1.Wong Cilik and the Construction of Space ......................................................71