Democratization and Indonesia’s Anticorruption Movement

This chapter illustrates how the corrupt activities of Suharto, his cronies, and his family fueled antigovernment sentiment, even though the movement itself did not take form until after 1998. The new freedoms of Indonesia's reformasi era, combined with the backing of foreign donors, created space for the formation of new nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with the explicit mandate to oppose corruption. As this chapter explains, these NGOs played a central role in the formation of the Commission for the Eradication of Corruption (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, KPK) in 2003 and the defense of it against attacks from 2009. The movement also developed a presence at a local level, in response to the proliferation of corruption as a result of decentralization. These local movements have had mixed success, struggling with a lack of resources. Ultimately, however, the most significant obstacle the anticorruption movement faces is the lack of support from the elite level, because without it the movement remains constrained by a political system that fosters corruption.

Introduction: Social Movements and Democratization in Indonesia

This introductory chapter focuses on the collective contribution of progressive social movements to Indonesia's transition to democracy and their collective fate in the decades since. This sets the scene for the case studies to follow. It also explains how the relationship between social movements and democratization is understood in this context. Social movements consist of networks involving a diverse range of actors, including individuals, groups, or organizations that may be loosely connected or tightly clustered. Democratization, meanwhile, is a process through which a polity moves toward “a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives.”