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Book reviews

To cite this article: (2006) Book reviews, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 42:1, 113-130, DOI: 10.1080/00074910600632427

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BOOK REVIEWS

Tim Lindsey and Helen Pausacker (eds) (2005) Chinese Indonesians: Remembering, Distorting, Forgetting, Institute of Southeast Asian

Studies, Singapore, and Monash Asia Institute, Melbourne, pp. xxvii + 215. Paper: S$39.90/US$25.90; Cloth: S$69.90/US$49.90.

Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority is so crucial to the country’s economy that a reli-able grasp of its complex political and socio-cultural status is essential for any social scientist aiming to comprehend its strengths and vulnerabilities. For such persons, several essays in this book would be extremely valuable—and others intrinsically interesting. It is not only the most up-to-date but also the best informed and most discerning set of studies on the subject to have appeared in recent years. It consists of nine articles contributed by Australian and other specialists on the Chinese Indo-nesians—note which is the noun and which the adjective there: they are nearly all now Indonesian nationals, but ‘ethnic Chinese’; my own preference would be to call them Indonesians’, by analogy with the now widely accepted term ‘Sino-Thai’. The articles were prepared for a festschrift to honour the retirement in 2002 of Charles Coppel, the doyen of Australian scholars in this ﬁ_{eld. The book is edited by}

two of his former students, of whom one, Tim Lindsey, is now Australia’s leading specialist in Indonesian law and legal procedures.

Let me summarise brieﬂ_{y what is in the book. Its most contemporary pieces}

are the account by Lindsey of ‘the uneven trajectory of reform of Indonesia’s racially discriminatory legal management of the ethnic Chinese since 1998’; a use-ful survey of some episodes of anti-Chinese violence in 1998–99 by Jemma Purdey (another of Coppel’s former graduate students, who has written a wider-ranging PhD on that subject); an intriguing account by Leo Suryadinata of recent ofﬁ_cial

policies towards Confucianism and Buddhism; and a brief but challenging ‘Por-trait of the Chinese in post-Soeharto Indonesia’ by Arief Budiman. (Of the latter, I can only say that I hope he is right in his very conﬁ_{dent generalisations about how}

the attitudes of pribumi towards ethnic Chinese have changed for the better, as also the attitudes of ethnic Chinese towards pribumi, since 1998; but I feel we need much stronger evidence to that effect than he provides.) The other ﬁ_{ve chapters}

are more historical and recondite in approach, some by eminent scholars in this

ﬁ_{eld: Mary Somers-Heidhues, Claudine Salmon and Jean Gelman Taylor.}

Tim Lindsey’s piece on ‘Reconstituting the ethnic Chinese in post-Soeharto Indonesia: law, racial discrimination and reform’ is a major contribution on the administrative and legal bases of anti-Chinese discrimination there. He explains well how the Soeharto-era policy of urging ‘assimilation’ of the ethnic Chinese into the majority population was pursued ‘through a series of interlocking and sometimes overlapping bureaucratic subordinate regulations, often issued in the

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form of “circular letters” and “decisions” by a range of ministries … These are ambiguous and … are intended as codes, often signalling ofﬁ_{cial approval and}

encouragement for institutionalised discrimination rather than expressly author-ising it in detail. The effect, however, was the same’, as seen in regulations dealing with identity bar codes on ofﬁ_{cial identity documents—the most insidious and}

direct mode of discrimination, still operating regardless of claims to have aban-doned it; the pressure on ethnic Chinese to adopt ‘Indonesian’ names; the limit-ing of public use of the Chinese language; the restrictions on educational access; and the limiting of commercial opportunities for the ethnic Chinese. The changes to these since May 1998 have been largely symbolic, despite ofﬁ_{cial declarations}

of intent to abolish all discriminatory regulations and international pressure to do so. Discrimination has become ‘ﬁ_rmlyﬁ_{xed in a web of ambiguous regulations}

and less ambiguous policy’.

Lindsey makes the interesting suggestion that what would be most effective in the current reformasi era would be steps by the ethnic Chinese to ‘enforce their rights through court action’ in the Human Rights Commission (KomnasHAM), which has already identiﬁ_{ed 60 regulations that discriminate against them. But}

that ‘would require great courage indeed’ in the light of such a long history of overt and covert discrimination.

In her article on ‘Anti-Chinese violence and transitions in Indonesia: June 1998 – October 1999’ (but with only passing reference to the far more serious and politi-cally motivated May 1998 riots in Jakarta which helped to precipitate Soeharto’s downfall), Jemma Purdey contrasts the extent and nature of the outbreaks that occurred then with the much worse violence that followed the overthrow of Presi-dent Sukarno in 1965–66. Her essay, which usefully links the anti-Chinese violence of the late 1990s with other forms of state terrorism and premanisme (gangsterism) as well, examines in detail the social dynamics of two localised episodes in Cen-tral Java and Bandung to show their diversities and complexities. In the former case, in Kebumen, ‘the processes of assimilation and harmony between groups that had been present for so long were all but destroyed following the violence’, and the Kebumen Chinese ‘shifted from a position of making pronounced efforts to assimilate and to assist the indigenous urban poor to questioning whether there was a place for them in that community at all’. In the Bandung case (in Holis) deteriorating economic conditions in 1997–99 had created conditions ‘so tense that they were almost at breaking point’. And the new post-Soeharto politi-cal climate of reformasi was interpreted by many Indonesians as meaning ‘a new freedom to resolve injustices, perceived or real, by means of mass mobilisation’.

Expectations that the end of the New Order would deliver ‘greater equality for the ethnic Chinese’—or, conversely, better conditions for pribumi Indonesians— were not realised. Purdey concludes that: ‘[though these episodes were] set off by various different sets of conditions, the association of Chinese with economic stress, marginalisation and injustice has been deeply entrenched in Indonesians’. Unfortunately space limitations precluded her from exploring that very impor-tant aspect of the entire problem as fully as it deserves. But as a ﬁ_{rst step towards}

the analysis of the dynamics of anti-Chinese violence, her paper is both valuable and almost unique.

Jamie Mackie

ANU

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Terence H. Hull (ed.) (2005) People, Population, and Policy in Indonesia, Equinox Publishing, Jakarta, pp. 185. Cloth: S$35.90/US$19.95

(Indonesian version published by Equinox in 2006 as

Masyarakat, Kependudukan, dan Kebijakan di Indonesia).

The story of Indonesia’s post-independence demographic transition and repro-ductive revolution is recounted in People, Population and Policy in Indonesia, edited by Terence Hull. This publication is part of a series offering ‘critical perspectives’ on development issues addressed by the Ford Foundation during its 50 years of involvement in Indonesia.

Terence and Valerie Hull provide an overview of Indonesia’s efforts to reduce fertility and provide universal access to reproductive health care. Their account begins with the early efforts of Indonesia’s family planning pioneers, such as Dr Julie Sulianti Saroso and Dr H.M. Judono, to promote women’s health during the Sukarno years, when family planning was discouraged as national policy. The com-ing of the New Order government in 1965 saw growcom-ing alarm about Indonesia’s rapid rate of population growth. Population control became a major element of Pres-ident Soeharto’s development armamentarium, and the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (Badan Koordinasi Keluarga Berencana Nasional, BKKBN) emerged as an energetic bureaucratic entity. However, with the onset of Indonesia’s economic crisis in 1997–98 and the fall of President Soeharto in 1998, critics of New Order population policies were more widely heard, and they gained political power following the election of President Abdurrahman Wahid in 1999.

A central tenet of the Hulls’ account is that much of Indonesia’s success in fam-ily planning can be attributed to the authoritarian bureaucratic culture of the New Order government. They observe that ‘these successes need to be seen as segments of a larger socio-political transformation characterized by patrimonial authoritari-anism and broad institutions of social control and governance’ (p. 47). While the governance culture of the Soeharto era was critical in mobilising enthusiasm for family planning among government ofﬁ_{cials and community leaders, it is debatable}

how much this factored into the reproductive decisions of families and individual women. Many Indonesian women came to see modern contraception as offering a miraculous escape from unwanted fertility and pregnancy- related ill health. Strong contraceptive demand coupled with the growth of private sector distribution may largely explain why contraceptive use did not falter during the crisis years.

While Indonesia’s family planning program has been successful in providing access to contraceptive services, the country has been slow to implement the sex-uality, reproductive health and rights agendas espoused at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The Hulls consider this issue, beginning with BKKBN’s early resistance to addressing quality of care questions. They note that ‘the demand to improve service quality, including elements such as informed choice and better follow-up services, represented a threat to existing pat-rimonial approaches’ (p. 49). They also argue that BKKBN’s championing of family welfare (keluarga sejahtera) served to deﬂ_{ect attention from the reproductive health and}

welfare of individual women. A more charitable rendering of events might also allow for the fact that the ICPD Programme of Action was a formidably ambitious blueprint for action that perplexed as much as inspired BKKBN’s senior management.

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Iwu Dwisetyani Utomo’s chapter provides an appraisal of attitudinal and behavioural changes affecting marriage, reproduction and women’s roles in post-independence Indonesia. She notes that gains in women’s educational attainment over the past 50 years, combined with the country’s enriched division of labour, have opened new opportunities for women that compete with traditional child-rearing and familial responsibilities. The chapter also provides an informative dis-cussion of the country’s current reproductive health challenges, for example high rates of maternal mortality; the risk of HIV infection; unsafe abortion and inad-equate post-abortion care; and continued reliance on harmful traditional practices such as the use of jamu (traditional medicines) as vaginal drying agents.

Utomo concludes that a new ‘gender order’ offering women greater autonomy and empowerment is taking root in Indonesia. While gains in women’s educa-tional attainment and economic status, and growing respect for reproductive and human rights, certainly bode well for the future, one fears the author has overly discounted the possibility of conservative retrenchment (fed in part by growing anti-Western sentiment and resurgent Islamic belief).

Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo presents an overview of major demographic changes that have occurred in post-independence Indonesia. Of particular note is the chapter’s account of Indonesia’s growing statistical capacity, as the Cen-tral Bureau of Statistics (Biro [later Badan] Pusat Statistik) ﬂ_{owered into a}

world-class statistical agency, and university-based survey research grew in professional accomplishment. It is startling how little demographic information was available during the Sukarno years to inform the development plans of ‘long gone bureau-crats’. The ﬁ_{rst post-independence population census in 1961 was a revelation,}

and early population projections prepared by Widjojo Nitisastro and Nathanael Iskanadar were pored over with fascination and growing alarm. As Adioetomo notes, these projections did not foresee the rapid decline in fertility that ensued, but they did galvanise ofﬁ_{cial concern about rapid population growth and the}

advisability of instituting a national family planning program.

Fifty years on, Indonesia’s demographic transition is nearly complete. Fertility is approaching the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman, and infant and child mortality are well below levels prevailing at the time of independence. And while Indonesia was slow to urbanise compared with neighbouring countries in South-east Asia, it has now done so with a vengeance. As Adioetomo demonstrates, this altered demographic landscape has major implications for Indonesia’s develop-ment prospects. For example, the country is currently attempting to accommo-date large numbers of young adults who are marrying later, becoming sexually active earlier, and entering the labour force in unprecedented numbers. Whether this ‘demographic bonus’ will translate into more rapid economic growth (as fore-cast by some economists easily lulled onto the treacherous shoals of demographic determinism) remains to be seen. Indonesia will also be a rapidly aging society over the coming half-century, and this will have major implications for health and social services, as well as household budgets and living arrangements.

In conclusion, People, Population and Policy in Indonesia is an essential resource for anyone interested in Indonesia’s demographic past and future prospects. It also provides one of the most thorough historical accounts of the country’s family planning and reproductive health efforts. The volume’s only shortcoming is that the reader emerges with little sense of the contributions of international donors

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other than the Ford Foundation—and that is inadequately rendered, especially in recounting the impact of Ford’s shift from technical capacity-building in gov-ernment and university programs during the 1960s and 1970s to an emphasis on ‘gender’, ‘enabling environments’, ‘empowerment’ and NGO advocacy in the late eighties and nineties.

Andrew Kantner

Pennsylvania State University

Jamie Mackie (2005) Bandung 1955: Non-Alignment and Afro-Asian Solidarity, Editions Didier Millet, Singapore, pp. 120. Paper: US$25.00.

This is a little gem of book, to mark the 50th anniversary of what to an earlier generation was an iconic event. For that generation—those who were young pro-fessionals or students in the 1950s and 1960s—the book is a nostalgic reminder of a world of ideas about development and international relations that has long been forgotten. For younger people, it is a chance for brief immersion in ideas and names that helped shape today’s world in ways that none of the leaders of that time would have imagined.

The Bandung Conference of 1955 brought together leaders of 29 developing countries in Africa and Asia, all but a couple of them newly released from colo-nialism. These included most of the countries of Asia (but not Malaysia or Sin-gapore, and two Vietnams where now there is one, and only one Pakistan where now there are two countries). It covered the few independent countries of Africa on the eve of the ‘winds of change’ that soon after brought an end to colonialism in almost the whole of that continent.

Mackie describes the varied hopes for the conference, with the most ambitious being an aspiration of some for Asian and African developing countries to inter act cooperatively outside the great divide between the Soviet Union–oriented com-munist countries and the United States–led West. He explains as well the deliber-ate avoidance of that hope by leaders of a number of countries that were already thoroughly aligned with one or the other side of that divide. The Cold War was more important in Africa and Asia than notions of Afro-Asian solidarity.

One ﬁ_{ne feature of the book is the wonderful set of photographs of participants}

in the meeting, and providing historical and geographic context for it: Sukarno as a boy and in his prime; various images reminding us of the distorted perspectives of colonialism and the post-colonial succession; a chubby-faced Sihanouk, then less than a quarter of the way into what was to become a 63-year ‘sort of’ reign; and Zhou Enlai and Jawaharlal Nehru at high points of their inﬂ_{uence and charm.}

Indira Gandhi is a young, well-groomed assistant to her father.

The text recounts the background to the feelings that brought the post-colonial countries together, in an illustrated brief history of the ‘Vasco da Gama Era’—that short half millennium when the North Atlantic countries became inﬂ_{uential as}

traders in, and then, late in the period, as rulers of, most of Africa and Asia. This background explains why it seemed relevant then for Sukarno to speak of ‘col-oured peoples’. We receive a glimpse of why the large failures and successes of

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development that immediately succeeded the Vasco da Gama story leave no-one seeking common themes among the diverse group of countries and communities represented at Bandung.

Reading the book reminds us of the blind development alley down which post-colonial rhetoric took most of the countries represented at Bandung—and also of the failure of those countries at Bandung that even then avoided alignment with the ‘non-aligned’. Many, perhaps most, of the great leaders of the post-colonial era were at Bandung, but none of these is remembered now for what each would most have wanted—leadership in successful economic development that could provide a sustainable basis for political inﬂ_{uence and genuine independence. The}

Bandung doubts about integration into an international economy had to be dis-pelled by later leaders before the successful development stories of Asia began, which over recent decades have widened the contrast between Asian and African development experiences.

There are intriguing sketches of great national leaders brought together in inter-national context for the only time. Unsurprisingly, Zhou, Nehru and Sukarno are most prominent among them. Mackie shows that Zhou was the diplomatic star of the show—a glimpse of the personal quality that caused the great convulsions in his own country a decade or so after Bandung to be less permanently damag-ing to long-term unity and development than they might have been. Sukarno’s charisma and energy made Bandung important—but was he really able ‘to fasci-nate and enthral the audience for a whole hour, despite speaking in English’? And Mackie’s commendable feminism outweighs judgment when he says of Indira Gandhi that she later rose to greater heights than ‘all the women and men attend-ing the conference’: among those who were not already in high ofﬁ_{ce, perhaps.}

This book, by an Australian, reminds us of the participation at the Bandung conference of Australians John Burton and ANU professor C.P. Fitzgerald, and the expression of their views at that early time that Australia should be involved ofﬁ

-cially in any conference of Asian countries. More remarkably, it records Nehru’s welcoming of this theme in his concluding speech to this conference of ‘coloured people’, a decade before the beginnings of dismantlement of the White Australia Policy.

The book tells us of a couple of lasting achievements of the interactions at and around the conference. None was as important to the future political and eco-nomic development of Asia and the Paciﬁ_{c as the Chinese prime minister’s}

dec-laration that ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia could adopt the nationality of the country in which they resided, and that it would be best if they complied with the laws and customs of their adopted country. Mackie notes the historic importance in the articulation of the Nehru–Zhou understanding on the ‘Five Principles’ of peaceful coexistence, which included respect for all religious beliefs (alongside Zhou’s declaration of his own atheism and the participation of a Chinese Muslim in his delegation), and a statement that differences in ideology need not lead to exclusion.

There is nothing left today of aspirations for Afro-Asian solidarity. But it is val-uable to be reminded of why these aspirations once existed, and why the failure of their realisation was inherent in the view of the world of which they were a part.

Ross Garnaut

ANU

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Jeffrey Sachs (2005) The End of Poverty: How We Can Make It Happen in Our Lifetime, Penguin Books, London, pp. 320. A$24.95.1*

The End of Poverty is a lively book that relies heavily on Sachs’s advisory adven-tures in developing countries. The ﬁ_{rst four chapters give an un}ﬂ_{attering view of}

the role of economics and economic policy in development. Although Sachs nods to the usefulness of mainstream economics in the growth of the world economy, he sees formal economics and the policies to which it leads as bearing the principal responsibility for the failure of developing and transitional (former communist) countries to rid themselves of poverty. In Asia he claims that the technology of the ‘green revolution’, not the policies that led to its widespread adoption, was the principal driver of growth. This is a curious conclusion for a poverty alleviation program. It ignores the considerable analytical economic literature on the waves of economic reform that started with the ‘Four Tigers’ and moved to Southeast Asia and then to China and India, to make key contributions to the reduction of absolute poverty in the world from a peak of some 1.5 billion people in 1980 to less than 650 million people, with more than half in sub-Saharan Africa, in 2000 (Bhalla 2002: 148).

The next three chapters are a travelogue of Sachs’s principal activities as ‘advisor to developing countries’. Bolivia, where inﬂ_{ation did fall after Sachs’s visit, takes}

pride of place, although sustained economic development did not follow. The Altiplano remains mired in poverty and the consequent populist revolt threatens such minimal growth as has been achieved in the lowlands. The country is again destabilised. Sachs also claims credit for freeing the Polish economy from commu-nism, but Poland is one of the slowest growing of the former European communist economies. History is being even less kind to Sachs’s ‘advisory’ activities in Rus-sia. He was head of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) when it became embroiled in a scandal involving the dubious use of United States Agency for International Development funds in Russia’s privatisation program (Wedel 2000; The National Interest 2000). HIID had previously made considerable inputs into rapid Indonesian growth and supported Indonesian economists who played a key role in maintaining their country’s stability and forward impetus (Stern 2000). Regrettably, Harvard University had to close HIID down following this episode. Sachs moved to the Earth Institute at Columbia University and to a leading role in the UN Millennium Development Goals program.

The second half of The End of Poverty is a manifesto of support for wealthy industrial countries to contribute 0.7% of their national income to aid to develop-ing countries to end poverty in our lifetime. Like Marx’s Communist Manifesto,

The End of Poverty does not lack conviction or popular appeal, but it is short on economic analysis and common sense.

Sachs passionately believes that aid transfers of taxpayers’ funds from wealthy industrial to poor countries are the key to ending poverty, but his book ignores the debate about the absorptive capacity and effectiveness of aid. However meas-ured, aid to Africa has been far higher than aid to Asia, notably during the last 25

*1 A different review by Profesor Hughes of this book has been previously published in

Policy 21 (4), Summer 2005–06: 58–9.

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years, when poverty increased in Africa and declined markedly in Asia because of the latter’s growth. Peter Bauer already argued in the 1950s that aid has ‘Dutch disease’ economic effects that make growth difﬁ_{cult, and that it maintains in place}

inept and corrupt governments that grow poverty. Although forgiving debt to African countries plays a considerable role in Sachs’s manifesto, the debate about the effectiveness of this form of aid is also not reﬂ_{ected in his book. Sachs claims}

credit for the campaign that forgave the Heavily Indebted (mostly African) Poor Countries (HIPCs) their ofﬁ_{cial debt. These countries have also not been}

servic-ing their debt to the international ﬁ_{nancial organisations for the last two decades}

under the International Monetary Fund–World Bank HIPC scheme. Part of the cost of this scheme in terms of aid funds forgone has been borne by countries such as Indonesia that have not been proﬂ_{igate, but have serviced their debt.}

Perhaps aware that his proposals for welfare handouts rather than for growth processes do not resonate in countries where domestic welfare has led to social and economic problems, Sachs calls his proposals ‘investments in sustained economic growth’ (p. 42). But handouts do not create competitive markets, employment, rising productivity, savings and investment. Sachs maintains that the analysts who see internal and inter-country ﬁ_{ghting, counter-productive economic}

poli-cies that appropriate the beneﬁ_{ts of growth to small elites, and egregious}

cor-ruption as principal causes of African poverty are exaggerating. But he does not explain why Botswana and Mauritius (which are not on his list of advisees) have been able to nearly double their GDP almost every 10 years since 1970 by pursu-ing mainstream economics. Nor does he discuss the hard evidence that nowhere in the world has poverty been reduced without growth. As poverty ambassador for the UN, Sachs follows the ‘rockenomics’ of Bono, the rock star who has writ-ten a preface to this book. The Communist Manifesto won wide support but led to enormous costs in the socialist economies that followed its ﬂ_{awed economic}

analysis. The End of Poverty similarly threatens millions of lives because it is not soundly based on evidence and economic analysis.

Helen Hughes

ANU, Canberra, and Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney

References

Bhalla, S.S. (2002) Imagine There’s No Country: Poverty, Inequality, and Growth in the Era of Globalization, Institute for International Economics, Washington DC.

Stern, Joseph J. (2000) ‘Indonesia–Harvard University: lessons from a long-term technical assistance project’, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 36 (3): 113–25.

The National Interest (2000) ‘Tainted transactions: an exchange, The National Interest 60, Sum-mer: 98.

Wedel, Janine R. (2000) ‘Tainted transactions: Harvard, the Chubais Clan and Russia’s ruin’, The National Interest 59, Spring: 23–34.

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Andrew Rosser (2002) The Politics of Economic Liberalisation in Indonesia: State, Market and Power, Curzon Press, Richmond, Surrey,pp. xv + 232. Cloth: £75.00.

The process by which economic policy is formulated is a subject that has both fascinated and perplexed close observers of Indonesia for many years. The topic has recently assumed particular signiﬁ_{cance, however, in view of the economic}

collapse that succeeded the boom years of the 1980s and 1990s. As this study asks, will policies encouraging liberalisation continue to integrate Indonesia more closely into the international economy? Or is there likely to be a shift towards policies favouring populism and economic nationalism? This empirically rich account puts the question into an historical context, suggesting that the outcome will depend upon the struggle between opposing socio-political forces.

The book’s thesis is quite straightforward, and can be summarised brieﬂ_y.

Writ-ing within the tradition of Indonesian political economy represented by Richard Robison and Jeffrey Winters, Rosser suggests that economic policy is ultimately determined by struggles within society. Thus, the liberalising reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were not simply due to policy makers responding rationally to structural economic changes and ‘market-friendly’ policy choices. Rather, they were made possible because the business and bureaucratic forces that beneﬁ_{ted previously}

from state patronage had less political inﬂ_{uence, such that the reform-minded}

tech-nocrats were able to implement their economic policy preferences. In short, eco-nomic liberalisation was made possible by a shift in social and political power.

After a general introduction, chapter 2 describes various approaches to analysis of the New Order. None of the analysis here is new, but it provides a useful survey of behavouralist, statist and class-based perspectives on the Indonesian political economy. Rosser is critical of the ‘neo-Weberian’ and public choice perspectives, and proposes instead a model of the state as a ‘multi-dimensional’ entity, respond-ing at different times to class, state-centred or structural pressures, dependrespond-ing on the circumstances (p. 30). The following chapter provides a summary of economic policies since the advent of the New Order, and develops the analytical framework used throughout the book. Focusing on the period between the early 1980s and 1997, Rosser suggests that structural economic pressures for reform were mediated by socio-political forces. Speciﬁ_{cally, economic liberalisation involved a struggle}

between ‘politico-bureaucrats’ allied to large capitalist conglomerates and market-oriented technocrats, often supported by what Rosser calls ‘mobile capitalists’. ‘The extent of liberalisation in Indonesia has been a function of the extent to which eco-nomic shocks have shifted power and inﬂ_{uence away from the politico-bureaucrats}

and the conglomerates and towards mobile capitalists’ (p. 32). And because the conglomerates retained considerable political inﬂ_{uence, the deregulation measures}

implemented prior to 1998 only ever resulted in partial liberalisation.

The four chapters in part II of the book are perhaps the most useful, describ-ing in detail the outcome of this struggle in four arenas of policy formulation. The author shows how the banking industry was successfully deregulated because the reformist objectives of the technocrats were supported by the conglomerates: deregulation allowed them to expand into newly privatised areas. By contrast, the conglomerates strongly resisted reforms that would have allowed closer state scrutiny of their business dealings. As a result, the banking sector remained largely

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disorganised prior to the 1997 crash. Similarly, chapter 5 shows how deregulation of the capital market in the 1980s was welcomed by domestic conglomerates, for it provided them with easier access to new sources of credit. Better company report-ing, greater control of share tradreport-ing, and more protection for minority sharehold-ers indicate important improvements. Large national corporations successfully resisted other regulatory pressures, however, with the result that by mid-1997 lit-tle progress had been made towards the regulation of share allocation practices and privatisation of the Jakarta stock exchange. As a result, Rosser suggests, the depth of the 1997–98 collapse needs also to be considered in terms of the weak-ness of state controls in the capital market sector.

Chapter 6 shows that the entrenched interests of the conglomerates made the deregulation of trade and industry especially difﬁ_{cult. Liberalisation of the}

tele-vision and electricity sectors did proceed, but only because it opened up new investment opportunities to conglomerates linked to the Soeharto family. By con-trast, the technocrats were generally unable to overcome business opposition to rationalisation of other major trade and industry sectors. This policy failure

con-ﬁ_{rmed fears that the government could not protect the interests of mobile}

capital-ists, and ‘helped lay the foundations for the dramatic collapse of the Indonesian economy’ (p. 146). As chapter 7 describes, reform of the laws on intellectual prop-erty presents a different case entirely, for liberalisation in this sector proceeded relatively unhindered. Once again, the reason is to be found in the political inﬂ

u-ence of business. Intense international pressure to reduce counterfeiting encoun-tered little domestic opposition, for few Indonesian capitalists had substantial interests in this sector.

Rosser has thus produced a well-researched and well-supported argument. The book’s strength lies in the four case studies, which provide an important record of a crucial period in Indonesia’s recent development experience. This study of Indo-nesia’s recent economic history is also useful for those who seek a better under-standing of how policy making under the New Order contributed to the severity of the subsequent economic collapse.

The description of the period 1997–99 (part III) is less convincing, however. We are left uncertain, for example, about the forces now acting on the dimensional state’ mentioned in chapter 2. Presumably, structural economic pres-sures made the state less ‘multi-dimensional’. But the loss of relative inﬂ_{uence by}

state and class-based forces is not made explicit—or dealt with theoretically. The book would also have beneﬁ_{ted from more careful editing. In particular,}

precise deﬁ_{nitions of key organisational concepts at an early stage would have}

helped the reader. As it is, we are left to infer the meaning from the context of terms such as ‘neo-Weberian’ and ‘mobile capitalists’. By the end of the book the reader is conﬁ_{dent of what is intended, but questions are raised that are not}

answered. We are left wondering, for example, how the mobile capitalists who emerged after 1997 differed from those of earlier periods.

This is nevertheless an important study of a crucial period in Indonesia’s politi-cal economy. It provides a valuable description of domestic socio-politipoliti-cal forces underpinning the recent boom—and a compelling account of why so many oppor-tunities were wasted.

Ian Chalmers

Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia

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Ho Khai Leong (ed.) (2005) Reforming Corporate Governance in Southeast Asia: Economics, Politics, and Regulations, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. 387. Paper: S$49.90/US$29.90; Cloth: S$69.90/US$46.90.

This book provides an excellent sampler of corporate governance reforms in the Southeast Asian countries, reaching similar conclusions for each country. Most writers agree that it is not that the regulations and laws do not offer good guidance on corporate governance in Southeast Asia, but that the business infra structure does not provide a supportive environment for implementing these rules. For example, a patriarchal culture, which embraces respect at all costs for one’s sen-iors, has to some degree inhibited the punishment mechanism and prevented fair competition. Further, corruption and bribery have become the plague of Asian

ﬁ_{nancial markets. All these issues pose challenges for Southeast Asian}ﬁ_nancial

market participants in practising good corporate governance.

In chapter 1, Madhav Mehra provides a summary of issues that may either encourage market participants to practise good corporate governance or dissuade them from doing so. In chapter 2, Wu Xun argues that political institutions play an important role in shaping the structure of corporate governance in Asia. More importantly, he suggests that in formulating a reform agenda, policy makers in this region should incorporate necessary adjustments that take into account the unique political system of each country. He also suggests that forces outside the corporate boardrooms, such as unfamiliarity with procedures of disclosure, and the widespread practice of obtaining favours from corrupt government ofﬁ_cers,

must be carefully controlled in the laws of governance. In chapter 3, Low Chee Keong proposes that empowering shareholders with legal infrastructure for class and derivative action lawsuits may make enforcement of good corporate govern-ance more effective. Chapter 4, by Dipinder S. Randhawa, provides an explana-tion of how the governance of ﬁ_{nancial institutions in Southeast Asia differs from}

that of other industries. Unfortunately, he becomes diverted by a discussion of the impact and causes of the Asian crisis, and his conclusion strays from the main purpose of the chapter.

Chapters 5 and 6 of the book contain discussion of corporate governance reforms in Malaysia. Cheah Kooi Guan (chapter 5) examines the practical impli-cations of various governance reforms implemented in Malaysia since the Asian crisis of 1997. He concludes that while there is still room for improvement, ﬁ

nan-cial participants in Malaysia have taken the right path by actively participating in the promotion of effective corporate governance practices. Philip Koh Tong Ngee (chapter 6) provides a more in-depth discussion of regulations and actions taken in Malaysia in respect of the laws on disclosure and transparency, shareholder rights, management oversight, other internal mechanisms, governance in relation to large creditors, and creditor rights.

Djisman S. Simandjuntak (chapter 7) describes Indonesia’s corporate governance reform as low-speed and difﬁ_{cult to achieve while legal uncertainties persist in the}

country. Unfortunately, although the chapter is ﬁ_{lled with important information}

and interesting lines of reasoning, Simandjuntak does not offer clear recommenda-tions for Indonesian regulators as to how best to manage the reform of the coun-try’s corporate governance. Chapter 8 contains an investigation by Andrew Rosser

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of why Indonesia has failed to develop an effective system of corporate govern-ance. Having analysed this issue from the political economy perspective, he arrives at a similar conclusion to that of Simandjuntak: that it will be impossible to impose good corporate governance if enforcement of the rule of law is weak.

In chapter 9, Deunden Nikomborirak examines the approaches and meas-ures that can be taken by Thailand’s ﬁ_{nancial market participants to build}

cor-porate governance after the Asian crisis. He concludes that although a ‘non-legal’ approach is helpful, public disclosure of violators is necessary and the law needs to be implemented more forcefully. Saravuth Pitiyasak (chapter 10) suggests that a combination of ‘self’, ‘market’, and ‘regulatory’ disciplines is the key to efﬁ_cient

governance implementation.

Chapter 11, by Kala Anandarajah, provides a success story about corporate governance practices in Singapore that may inspire other countries in the region. Ho Khai Leong (chapter 12) investigates a speciﬁ_{c niche in the Singaporean}

busi-ness environment, composed of government-linked companies (GLCs). He dis-cusses major controversies on the existence of GLCs and their contribution to the economy and political accountability in Singapore, concluding that GLCs are a special case that needs an exclusive set of rules of corporate governance.

Felipe B. Alfonso, Branka A. Jikich and René G. Bañez (chapter 13) provide a broad picture of corporate governance reform in the Philippines. They end with the remark that basic reforms must allow companies to thrive and compete in the global market in a ‘distinctly Filipino way’, but unfortunately offer no explana-tion of what this means. In chapter 14, Mario A. Lamberte and Ma. Chelo V. Man-lagñit provide empirical evidence that market conditions, corporate governance and agency costs explain variations in profi_{t ef}fi_{ciencies across}fi_nancial

institu-tions in the Philippines.

Nick J. Freeman (chapter 15) tries to illustrate the ironies of introducing corpo-rate governance in Vietnam. The country began secondary stock trading only in mid-2000, the state owns most large companies, and regulations for small com-panies have not been established because they are considered too small to matter. Nonetheless, Freeman offers suggestions on how best to approach good corporate governance in the country. The book’s last chapter (16), by Nguyen Van Thang, provides an interesting discussion of how Vietnam equitises state-owned enter-prises based on socialist ideology, and of current corporate governance practices in the country, concluding with an optimistic view of Vietnam’s future.

This book offers strong and comprehensive analysis of one of the most intrigu-ing subjects in ﬁ_{nancial economics (despite the}ﬂ_{owery greenish cover’s}

sug-gestion of insubstantial content). Ho Khai Leong deserves applause for having succeeded in his aim of providing readers with a compilation of cross- disciplinary studies of corporate governance in Southeast Asia.

Elisa Muresan

Long Island University, New York

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Sukardi Rinakit (2005) The Indonesian Military after the New Order, NIAS Press, Copenhagen, and Institute of Southeast Asian

Studies, Singapore, pp. 278. Paper: S$39.90/US$22.95.

With the return of democracy in 1998, Indonesians could resume writing about their military history analytically, rather than through the lens of some Orwellian ideology. Sukardi Rinakit had the advantage of working within the state bureaucracy as a ministerial speech writer in the key ministries of defence and home affairs. In researching the book he was able to interview some of the key actors in Indonesia’s democratic transition, as well as former President Soeharto.

The book focuses on the Indonesian military’s role in securing the Soeharto regime and in the transition to democracy. It covers a lot of familiar ground for those who follow Indonesian affairs, and attempts to answer two fundamental questions. First, why did the Indonesian National Army (TNI) not seize power when Soeharto stepped down and, secondly, is a resurgence of military political power likely? There is also a lengthy exposition on military ﬁ_{nances, but it does}

not signiﬁ_{cantly extend the boundaries of knowledge on this topic. For example,}

while it contains a list of military companies, it does not discuss ownership or management structures or their particular signiﬁ_{cance to the military.}

Inadequate space and analysis is devoted to the key questions. This is the result partly of not making the best use of the interviews conducted, and partly of not interviewing, or not exploring the motivations of, the various actors in the drama, namely members of the two principal factions of the TNI, and the Soeharto and Habibie camps. Those looking for fresh insights from interviews with Soeharto or other key ﬁ_{gures will be disappointed.}

The author attributes General Wiranto’s failure to seize power when offered it by Soeharto, and when urged to do so by some anti-Habibie generals, to his awareness of popular opposition to the military. Although this factor cannot be ignored, Sukardi does not explore the possible consequences had Wiranto seized power. For example, would he have been able to unite the TNI behind him, or would General Prabowo have launched a counter-coup either on his own behalf or as the defender of Habibie? Unfortunately, the research does not shed any new light on such questions.

On the second question, the response is more of an afterthought than a central part of the study. Sukardi comes to the rather gloomy conclusion that a resurgence of military political power is likely, using either the doctrinal bridges to authori-tarianism left in Indonesian law and military doctrine—for example, the recent reactivation of the territorial structure for counter-terrorism purposes—or raw military power, or some combination thereof.

Sukardi attributes the propensity of the new generation of ofﬁ_{cers to reclaim}

their lost power to a decline in the collective IQ of the ofﬁ_{cer corps in recent years,}

and to their motivation for enlisting in the military being political power rather than a desire for a professional career.

The ﬁ_{rst characteristic is measured from a decline in the average}

scholas-tic achievement of recent generations of ofﬁ_{cers. The author fails to analyse}

whether this is based on a valid comparison of the two groups; for example, it

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might be a consequence of internal or external variation in the statistics. If the decline is real, what does it mean in practice; will it impact on professional com-petence and, if so, in what way? It must also be borne in mind that the ﬁ_gures

represent averages and that there may still be suffi_{cient bright of}fi_{cers to}fi_{ll the}

higher ranks.

No account is taken of what a reformed military might look like and what its requirement for ofﬁ_{cers might be. Even if the}ﬁ_{gures Sukardi has are correct and}

valid, it might not be a problem for a reformed military, which should theoretically be far less top-heavy than the current one. The contention that an ofﬁ_{cer corps of}

lower IQ than previous generations is more likely to resort to brute force to defeat its intellectual superiors in the other institutions of state is also spurious.

The question of motivation for enlisting in the military relies on even more subjective assessments, although it cannot be ignored. There is no measure of motivation to rely on other than anecdotal observation. Certainly, it is unlikely that aspiring navy and air force ofﬁ_{cer cadets would have seen a military career}

as an assured stepping stone to a political career. Moreover, the rhetoric, if not the reality, of the military during the 1990s was towards a declining political role for the military. If such political motivations remain, they are unlikely to surface unless the government fails to revive the economy and national unity is seri-ously threatened, or unless the government fails to take the initiative in security sector reform, and allows the military to brood directionless on the sidelines about lost glory.

Much has been done in relation to security sector reform since 1998, but one area that has remained relatively untouched is military reform. Until now no gov-ernment has had the political capital to seize the initiative and formulate a new defence policy—one more appropriate to a democracy in a dynamic region—as a basis for fundamental military reform. Instead, we are seeing a drift that allows fashions such as counter-terrorism, rather than sound analysis, to dictate policy and structure.

The government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has the potential to address this challenge. The resolution of the Aceh conﬂ_{ict, and learning to manage Papua}

with minimum force, are essential elements of state consolidation and security sector reform. Well-managed government-directed military reform could help achieve these objectives and reduce the potential for authoritarian ambitions to resurface in the TNI.

The publishers of this book can take little pride in their product. There has been virtually no editing of the content, grammar or spelling, and several clusters of pages are misplaced and upside down. The index is also incomplete.

Overall, the book fails to live up to its promise, but I hope it stimulates primary research and debate in Indonesia, and encourages more writing on the subject by Indonesian scholars.

Bob Lowry

Canberra

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Greg Barton (2004) Indonesia’s Struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the Soul of Islam, UNSW Press, Sydney, pp. 118. Paper: A$16.95.

In the three years since the 12 October 2002 terrorist attack in Denpasar, Bali, there has been a surge in the number of books on radical Islam in Southeast Asia. The nature and quality of this literature varies markedly. Journalists have written three of the recent monographs: Mike Millard’s Jihad in Paradise is facile and ridden; Maria Ressa’s Seeds of Terror is uneven but useful in parts; and Sally Neigh-bour’s Shadows in the Sand is thorough and very informative. The main book with scholarly pretensions on Southeast Asian radicalism is Zachary Abuza’s ﬂ_awed

Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror. None of these authors has exper-tise in Islam or a deep knowledge of Muslim Southeast Asia, and in most of the above-mentioned works this lack of background is very evident.

The publication of Indonesia’s Struggle by Greg Barton was thus welcome, as he is an academic specialist on Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia. He makes clear early in the book that he is seeking to give a broader perspective on regional ter-rorism by drawing on his long experience of Islamic movements in Southeast Asia, thereby avoiding some of the superﬁ_{cial analysis found in other works. It}

is an aim in which he only partly succeeds, and the book ﬁ_{lls less of a gap in the}

literature than one might have hoped.

Indonesia’s Struggle splices chapters speciﬁ_{cally about Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)}

with chapters dealing more generally with radical Islam in Indonesia and else-where. Chapters 1 and 3 contain narrative accounts of JI and police investigations, chapter 2 looks at the history and ideological content of radical Islamism, and chapter 4 deals with the broader political struggle of Islam in Indonesia. The book closes with a discussion of possible responses to extreme radicalism. It also has a glossary and brief biographical data on people mentioned in the text. There is no index or detailed referencing, which somewhat reduces the book’s utility.

The narrative sections on JI and the police ‘breakthroughs’ are succinct and readable, and anyone seeking a general account of this subject would ﬁ_{nd this a}

good starting point. There is, however, a derivative, almost précis, feel about these chapters. Most of chapter 1 is drawn from media reporting on the 2002 Bali bomb-ing case, and chapter 3 is based principally on the numerous ground- breakbomb-ing International Crisis Group reports on JI. Indeed, a weakness of the text is the lack of primary source material on JI. Material such as JI’s ‘General Guide’ (the so-called PUPJI) and the ‘Istimata’ website which claimed responsibility for the Bali bombing are fairly widely available and often quoted in other terrorism texts. Barton’s text would have been richer and more insightful had such material been included.

The contextualising chapters on radical Islam are similarly useful, though not as effective as they might have been. Chapter 2 offers a good account of the ori-gins of Islamic radicalism going back to the early Wahhabist movement. It is lucid and demonstrates the depth of Barton’s expertise on Islamic doctrine and his-tory. The emphasis upon Wahhabism is misplaced, though, and Barton would have served his readers better if he had placed contemporary terrorist groups in a jihadi salaﬁ_{st framework from the outset (mention of sala}ﬁ_{sm comes only at}

the end of the chapter). After all, JI declares itself to be a ‘salaﬁ_{’ organisation, and}

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its leaders regard Wahhabism as the tainted state doctrine of the despised Saudi regime. Chapter 4 is given over largely to a discussion of the history of political Islam in Indonesia. Again, this is ably rendered, for the most part, but the details of parties and election results do not add greatly to our understanding of Islamic radicalism: Barton may have done better to have devoted this space to a deeper examination of speciﬁ_{c radical groups.}

Perhaps the least satisfactory aspect of the book is its failure to elaborate upon its central theme: the struggle for ‘the soul of Islam’. This has been a much used expression in recent times, and to my mind it is highly problematic for two rea-sons. First, it carries with it an assumption that Islam has a single ‘soul’ or essence, that one particular interpretation of the faith is privileged over others. In the West, for example, it is fashionable to assert that Islam is a ‘moderate’ and ‘peaceful’ religion, which indeed it is for a great many of its adherents. But like all great religions, it is subject to a wide variety of interpretations, which can range from the irenic to the bellicose. Is a fervent Islamist less of a Muslim than a liberal or a moderate? Second, it implies that there is a serious prospect of radical elements coming to dominate the Islamic community. The weight of evidence, however, suggests that the great majority of Indonesian Muslims reject terrorist acts in the name of Islam and, judging by election results, most also object to Islamist pre-scriptions. In short, the radical Muslims remain a small minority with only tenu-ous links to those in power.

Barton does not explicitly discuss the assumptions underlying this discourse on the ‘struggle for Islam’s soul’. Indeed, he does not deﬁ_{ne what he means by the}

‘soul of Islam’. But he does, somewhat indirectly, show that he believes Islam’s soul to be ‘progressive’ and ‘tolerant’. This is a reasonable stance, but Barton should have expressed this openly and fully rather than ‘slipping’ his views into the text. He also makes clear his disdain for many of the radical ﬁ_{gures and groups}

he is discussing. He refers repeatedly to ‘worrying’ developments within radical Islam, but rarely are these set out systematically. At one point, he accuses ‘jihadi Islamism’ of having a ‘profoundly materialistic, anti-spiritual understanding of religion’ (p. 84). No evidence is adduced to support this sweeping statement.

Finally, one might also cavil at the number of errors in the text. For example, Barton writes that the two largest Islamic organisations—Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah—have 70 million members and represent ‘the major portion of all Indonesian Muslims’. We know from census data, however, that there are more than 180 million Muslims in Indonesia, which means that NU and Muhammadi-yah represent less than 40% of the total. He incorrectly states that Hizbut Tahrir in Indonesia was founded by ‘visitors’ from Australia; in fact, the founding ﬁ

g-ure was a Lebanese teacher, Abdurrahman al-Baghdadi, who has been resident in Indonesia since his recruitment from Sydney in the early 1980s. There are also plenty of misspellings and historical inaccuracies. ‘Hispran’ is consistently mis-spelt ‘Hispan’; Nasir Abas’s name is given as ‘Abbas’; Mukhlas’s real name is ‘Ghufron’, not ‘Gufron’; Kahar Muzakkar’s birthplace is Luwu, not Lulu, and he was shot dead, not arrested, in 1965; and Abdullah Sungkar was not a member of Darul Islam’s military wing, Tentara Islam Indonesia (p. 49). In one sentence, two Islamic boarding schools are mentioned—al-Mukmin and Sukohardjo—when in fact they are one institution (Ba’asyir’s school is called al-Mukmin and it is in the subdistrict of Sukoharjo) (p. 57).

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Indonesia’s Struggle is a better book than numerous others on Indonesian terror-ism, but it is not as valuable a contribution to our understanding of this problem as it might have been, given Barton’s scholarly background.

Greg Fealy

ANU

Linda Rae Bennett (2005) Women, Islam and Modernity: Single Women, Sexuality and Reproductive Health in Contemporary

Indonesia, RoutledgeCurzon, London, pp. 208. Cloth: £60.00.

This comprehensive book is essential reading for those interested in how sin-gle Indonesian women negotiate their sexual and reproductive lives within the conﬁ_{nes of a conservative Islamic upbringing and a patriarchal society. Its value}

derives from the author’s in-depth understanding of the lives of women in the research area and from the extensive references used. The book deals with cultural constructions of sexuality and gender, femininity and desire, premarital relation-ships, courtship practices, women’s health and reproductive rights. While much of the content relates to the cultural and social dimensions of single women’s lives, the problems raised have clear health and economic policy implications.

The author, a medical anthropologist, conducted the research over nine years in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Methods used included participant observa-tion, in-depth interviews, life histories, focus groups and workshops. Although the focus is on single women, the demographic characteristics of respondents used in the study varied widely: their ages ranged from 11 to 32 years, and their ethnicity, residential location, marital status, education level and employment sta-tus were not restricted.

Chapter 1 discusses the inﬂ_{uence of Islam, patriarchy and government}

ideol-ogy on gender roles and gender inequality, maternal health and family planning. The author explores attitudes to chastity, the stigma attached to single women who engage in premarital sex, and the notion of malu (shame) in relation to wom-en’s sexuality. She details various forms of bias and marginalisation that women face in the areas of marriage, motherhood and sexuality, and the strategies they use to meet these challenges. The discussion then turns to government legisla-tion on women’s rights. It is clear that religious, cultural and political inﬂ_uences

combine to create a milieu in which government policy on provision of infor-mation and services lags behind dramatically changing social attitudes, practices and problems. One important consequence of this is that critical needs of single women in particular are not adequately addressed.

Chapters 2 to 4 deal with issues less relevant to the concerns of this journal: the role of religion in shaping women’s bodily practices and sexual socialisation; the dynamics of courtship; and the inﬂ_{uence of issues such as ‘love magic’ and}

elope-ment on the sexuality of youth in the modern era.

Of most interest to BIES readers are the last two chapters. Chapter 5 includes discussion of young women’s experiences with unprotected sex, premarital preg-nancy, and induced abortions. It explores their decision-making processes, their

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reproductive health preferences and the inadequacy of government health poli-cies and services for unmarried/single women. According to the author, the latter problem is linked to the illegality of providing reproductive and maternal health services for women in this category. The ﬁ_{nal chapter considers the rights of}

women regarding reproductive health, and how the government should approach sexual and reproductive health information and services for unmarried women.

There have been a number of studies of young Indonesian women since the early 1970s, based mainly on qualitative research and small-scale surveys. How-ever, most of these are published in Indonesian and are not distributed widely. Thus Bennett’s book ﬁ_{lls a gap in the literature. It is hoped that it will be read by}

Indonesian policy makers and program implementers, as well as health profes-sionals, teachers, parents and academics, and will convince the government of the urgent need to provide young Indonesian women with better information and services on reproductive and sexual health.

Iwu Dwisetyani Utomo

ANU

John G. Butcher (2004), The Closing of the Frontier: A History of the Marine Fisheries of Southeast Asia c. 1850–2000, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies,

Singapore, pp. 442. Paper: S$39.90/US$25.90; Cloth: S$69.90/US$45.90.

This book will be useful to researchers, policy makers and others interested in the

ﬁ_{sheries of Southeast Asia. It nicely sets up the initial conditions of the}ﬁ_sheries

frontier, in terms of ﬁ_{sh stocks, catches, trades, and}ﬁ_{shing technologies, during}

the mid-1800s in various regions of Southeast Asia. It then describes the develop-ment of the frontier, explaining changes in technology and ﬁ_{shing grounds as a}

response to demand for ﬁ_{sh, the nature of the}ﬁ_{sh trade and regulatory measures}

implemented by the relevant authorities in the region. Readers can learn how the rich Southeast Asian ﬁ_{sheries region of the mid-1800s came to be over-exploited}

by the end of the 1900s, so that the ﬁ_{shing grounds in most parts of the region had}

to be closed by the beginning of the 21st century.

For Indonesians, the book partly remedies a long-term lack of good literature on the development of their country’s ﬁ_{shing industry. It covers, in general terms,}

the dynamic interactions between foreign capital, local business players and gov-ernment regulators that characterised large-scale ﬁ_{sheries in Indonesia from 1967}

to 2000. It is disappointing that the book does not cover the development of Indo-nesian ﬁ_{sheries in greater detail. Indonesians must continue to await further work}

in this fi_{eld to}fi_{ll the gap in the country’s}fi_{sheries literature.}

Budy P. Resosudarmo

ANU

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