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Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies
ISSN: 0007-4918 (Print) 1472-7234 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cbie20
East Asia and the Global Crisis
Eric D. Ramstetter
To cite this article: Eric D. Ramstetter (2013) East Asia and the Global Crisis, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 49:2, 247-248, DOI: 10.1080/00074918.2013.809854 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2013.809854
Published online: 26 Jul 2013.
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Book reviews 247
In the book’s inal category, authors discuss the institutionalisation of GCG
practices by the government and by private- and state-owned commercial corporations in Indonesia. Peter Verhezen and Natalia Soebagio, in chapter 4,
emphasise that good governance in a country’s public sector inluences GCG
practices in its private sector. This has yet to occur in Indonesia, however, owing
to a very limited amount of publicly available inancial information and a lack of leadership in ighting corruption. In chapter 6, Arief T. Surawidjojo suggests that conlicts of interest breed corruption in Indonesia’s public and private sec -tors, while Kemal Stamboel (chapter 5) reminds readers that although numer-ous strategies have been developed to improve corporate governance practices in state-owned corporations, shifting ‘the culture of state management from what was previously authoritarian to one that is based on principles of transparency is
admittedly dificult’ (p. 128).
Other contributions ensure that the book’s inal category gives readers a broad
view of GCG practices. Manggi Habir (p. 145), for example, praises Indonesia’s
banks for their organisational restructuring following the 1997–98 inancial crisis,
which increased their resilience to the 2008 crisis; Piers Gillespie (chapter 8) and Noke Kiroyan (chapter 9) suggest that the oil-palm and mining industries need to connect their corporate social responsibilities (such as protecting the environ-ment) with their GCG practices, as a means of protecting their long-term interest;
and Verhezen and Notowidigdo argue that Indonesia would beneit from using a
balance of short- and long-term performance indicators in compensating but not
overpaying top corporate oficials. Finally, in chapter 11, Verhezen discusses the
prevalence of networking (guanxi) among many listed companies in Indonesia. He argues that family-controlled entities often lack external oversight control and therefore disclose limited accounting information, which allows them to shelter from public scrutiny (p. 247) and avoid implementing GCG practices.
This insightful book not only enriches our understanding of GCG in Indonesia but also illustrates how it interacts with the country’s economic, political and his-torical contexts. Some potential readers may interpret the book’s title as relating
only to proit-seeking organisations, but it is clear that the public sector also has
much to gain from implementing GCG practices.
Harun Harun
University of Canberra
© 2013 Harun Harun
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2013.809848
Shaun Breslin (ed.) (2012) East Asia and the Global Crisis, Routledge, Abingdon, pp. v + 114. Cloth: £85.00.
This book replicates a special 2011 issue (17 (2)) of Contemporary Politics on political
responses to crises, including the 1997–98 Asian crisis and the 2008 global inan -cial crisis. Several of its chapters emphasise that policy responses often relate to the ‘developmental state’ or similar concepts. As an economist, I want to
empha-sise that inancial crises often relate to well-known causes of market failure.
248 Book reviews
First, problems of ‘too big to fail’ illustrate that several inancial institu -tions have become large enough to wield market power internationally and domestically. Policy responses to limit such power are often warranted
economically. Second, eficient inancial markets are an important public good, and so the mismanagement of inancial risk by large irms can hurt many. Thus,
governments have strong incentives to minimise the extent of such negative externalities. It is less clear, however, whether government intervention usually alleviates or exacerbates these problems.
Moreover, large inancial institutions are often politically astute and success
-ful at lobbying for support or lax regulation, whether warranted or not. I ind it
surprising that these chapters generally ignore how politicians (in East Asia and
elsewhere) are often inluenced by irms that lobby effectively in a variety of polit
-ical settings. In short, these analyses could have beneited from more emphasis on how political power often emanates from large irms, both private and
state-owned, and not from governments.
Eric D. Ramstetter
International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development, and Kyushu University
© 2013 Eric D. Ramstetter
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2013.809854
Christopher B. Roberts (2012) ASEAN Regionalism: Cooperation, Values and Institutionalisation, Routledge Security in Asia Paciic
Series, Routledge, Abingdon, pp. xviii + 257. Cloth: £95.00.
In the four decades since its formation, in 1967, ASEAN has expanded rapidly: from its membership, to its economic growth, to its engagement with foreign pow-ers. Born of a mutual desire for regime survival in the face of common challenges, both domestic and transnational, ASEAN has sought to increase domestic stabil-ity in Southeast Asia through economic development and regional cooperation.
The ‘ASEAN way’ – the association’s ideals of non-interference, consultation, consensus and the non-use of force – has contributed to its durability and longev-ity. Yet its cohesion has been tried on many occasions, by, among others, territorial disputes among its members and with its neighbours (in the South China Sea, for
example), terrorism and insurgency, and inancial crises. Given these considera -tions, a growing proportion of the region’s political elites have viewed it neces-sary to grant ASEAN the power to respond not only to economic shocks but also to both traditional and non-traditional threats to security.
Christopher B. Roberts’s comprehensive and informative book draws on various components of major international-relations paradigms – particularly constructivism – to provide a theoretical perspective on ASEAN’s complex inte-gration process. It begins by setting a framework for understanding the variables, processes and complications in ASEAN’s realising its regionalist goals, and then focuses on concrete historical settings. Perhaps of most interest to BIES readers is the book’s argument that Indonesia has seen ASEAN as an opportunity for regional reconciliation, as a chance to exercise regional leadership, and as a way of reducing the ability of external powers to interfere in regional affairs.
