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Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies
ISSN: 0007-4918 (Print) 1472-7234 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cbie20
The Indonesian Economy: Entering a New Era
Abuzar Asra
To cite this article: Abuzar Asra (2013) The Indonesian Economy: Entering a New Era, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 49:3, 389-390, DOI: 10.1080/00074918.2013.850642
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2013.850642
Published online: 05 Dec 2013.
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Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Vol. 49, No. 3, 2013: 389–99
ISSN 0007-4918 print/ISSN 1472-7234 online/13/030389-11
BOOK REVIEWS
Aris Ananta, Muljana Soekarni and Sjamsul Ariin (eds) (2011)
The Indonesian Economy: Entering a New Era, Bank Indonesia, Jakarta, and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. xxvi + 406. Paper: $44.90.
Surveys in English of Indonesia’s economy have tended to be by non-Indonesians – such as Anne Booth’s The Indonesian Economy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A History of Missed Opportunities (1998) or Hal Hill’s The Indonesian Economy (2000) – or they are now out of date. Most prominent surveys by Indo-nesian authors are in Bahasa Indonesia, except for Thee Kian Wie’s Indonesia’s Economy since Independence (2012). Others have a narrower focus, such as Dhanani, Islam and Chowdhury’s The Indonesian Labor Market: Changes and Challenges (2009) and Islam and Chowdhury’s Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction in Indone-sia (2009). So this collection of essays, written by researchers with experience of Indonesian economic management, and edited by three Indonesian economists, deserves special appreciation.
The irst of its four parts opens with a brief history of Indonesia’s economic policies, from those of the New Order to President Yudhoyono’s ‘development for all’ paradigm. It then discusses the new global era and Indonesia’s democratisa-tion, before summarising the remaining parts of the book, which in turn examine monetary and iscal policy, the domestic market, and new development priorities. Readers short of time would do well to absorb the messages of part 1.
Part 2 provides a comprehensive account of monetary and iscal policies in Indonesia, particularly those implemented after the 1997–98 Asian inancial crisis. Its contributions, by Ascarya, Suhaedi and Pungky Wibowo, Silvia Mila Arlini and Yohanes Eko Riyanto, and Haris Munandar and Iskandar Simorangkir, seek to clarify for readers the complexities of the Indonesian monetary and iscal poli-cies after independence, as well as the role of the inancial system in Indonesia’s development during globalisation.
In part 3, Evi Nurvidya Ariin links decentralisation with changes to the hetero-geneity of Indonesia’s population, assessing variations in size, family planning, provincial migration, age and sex structure, ethnicity, and education. Indrasari Tjandraningsih considers decentralisation’s impact on industrial relations, yield-ing much for those interested in the labour market and Indonesia’s current invest-ment climate. Siti Astiyah, Salomo P. Matondang and Guruh Suryani Rokhimah examine how decentralisation relates to domestic and regional trade interdepend-ence. Policymakers should note the authors’ observation that large economic disparities still exist between Indonesia’s western and eastern regions, despite decentralisation.
390 Book reviews
Part 4 is perhaps the most engaging. Rather than repeating the conclusions of its previous chapters, as such surveys often do, it widens the discussion to take in the dificulties faced by ASEAN. Its three chapters discuss the organisation’s goal of economic integration, the relationship between governance and economic per-formance across the region, and the search for a shared development paradigm.
Yet none of the book’s parts gives any attention to poverty and inequality – topics intrinsic to development, especially in Indonesia. Any such detail would have complemented Tjandraningsih’s chapter on employment, in part 3. On the whole, however, the book gives readers updated and comprehensive information, and new analysis, on many critical elements of the Indonesian economy, and it presents a new way of thinking about the country’s future development.
Abuzar Asra
Badan Pusat Statistik (Statistics Indonesia), Jakarta
© 2013 Abuzar Asra
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2013.850642
Biswa Nath Bhattacharyay, Masahiro Kawai and Rajat M. Nag (eds) (2012) Infra-structure for Asian Connectivity, Asian Development Bank Institute, Asian Devel-opment Bank and Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. xviii + 498. Cloth: £108.00.
Connectivity is a central concept in Indonesia’s current development strategy. The long-term Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Eco-nomic Development 2011–2025, locally referred to as MP3EI, includes an action plan to strengthen domestic and international connectivity. This would reduce Indonesia’s logistics costs and increase its competitiveness. Connectivity is also high on ASEAN’s agenda: since late 2010 an ASEAN connectivity master plan has supported the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community. Bolstering infrastructure, by better maintenance and greater investment, is considered criti-cal to improving connectivity.
This book is the second publication coordinated by the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank Institute to focus on infrastructure and connectivity in Asia, following Infrastructure for a Seamless Asia (2009). In a robust analysis, it looks at the regional (cross-border) infrastructure needed to facilitate growth and development through better connectivity and integration. It also explores the demand for infrastructure in Asia, with a focus on ASEAN, and makes a bold attempt to estimate future demand, under various growth scenarios.
A number of chapters discuss the policies needed at the national and regional level to generate the required level of investment, as well as the potential role of public-private partnerships in meeting the infrastructure needs for regional connectivity. It also refers to the experiences of Latin America and the European Union. It is a pity that maritime nations such as Indonesia and the Philippines receive only limited attention, although there is a chapter on the development and socio-economic effect of regional transport infrastructure in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
