00074918.2014.896310

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Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] Date: 17 January 2016, At: 23:26

Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies

ISSN: 0007-4918 (Print) 1472-7234 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cbie20

Breaking Barriers: Portraits of Inspiring

Chinese-Indonesian Women

Sherry Tao Kong

To cite this article: Sherry Tao Kong (2014) Breaking Barriers: Portraits of Inspiring

Chinese-Indonesian Women, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 50:1, 145-146, DOI: 10.1080/00074918.2014.896310

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2014.896310

Published online: 24 Mar 2014.

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Book Reviews 145

uses. The collection of articles focuses almost entirely on the regulatory and insti-tutional frameworks for water-sector management in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Recurring themes include the privatisation of water services (especially by means of public–private partnerships, which seem to have had some moderate success in the water sectors of several Southeast Asian countries); centralised versus decentralised management; the role of non-government organisations; complications for political and legal reform; rapid urbanisation; and the wicked problem of reconciling the competing interests of multiple users. The fashion-able approach of integrated water-resource management is sidelined by most of

the chapters, in favour of locally appropriate solutions and experiences.

Ground-water depletion, hydropower development, and transboundary river disputes also receive little attention.

The single chapter on Indonesia is by Budhi Santoso, a water expert from the National Development Planning Agency, and focuses on management reform. It provides a summary of Indonesia’s water sources and the legal framework in which they operate. It outlines the problems of water pricing; water shortages due to seasonal and rainfall variations; river basin damage from environmental

deg-radation; and the conlicts between growing agricultural, industrial, and munici -pal water uses. This overview provides the basis for a discussion of water-sector developments and reforms undertaken since the mid-1990s. The chapter is dense

with facts and igures, and concludes that water is an integral part of sustainable

development. Further changes need to occur, Santoso argues, in the climate of investment, governance, and infrastructure if current growth performance is to deliver the sustained, quality development that Indonesia desires.

Water Issues in Southeast Asia arose out of a forum on regional water issues held at the Institute of Southeast Studies, in Singapore, in late 2005. The papers presented have been subsequently updated and revised for publication, yet the collection as a whole feels uneven in the degree of analysis, research, and com-prehensiveness. Some chapters seem like mere elaborations of presentation notes, whereas others are thoroughly referenced, elegantly written, and make sound, original arguments. Nonetheless, the book provides a good synopsis of water-sector governance in Southeast Asia and holds some important lessons for

poli-cymakers, while its numerous tables, igures, information boxes, and photos

provide a useful reference.

Paula Hanasz The Australian National University

Breaking Barriers: Portraits of Inspiring Chinese-Indonesian Women. By Aimee Dawis. Singapore: Tuttle, 2014. Pp. 160. Paperback: $15.95.

This new book by Aimee Dawis, her second on the Chinese diaspora in Indonesia,

is a ine collection of interviews with women across the spectrum of contempo -rary Indonesian society. It presents an important social theme set against a com-plex backdrop of the somewhat troubled recent history of Indonesians of Chinese

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146 Book Reviews

descent. It presents the life stories of 10 inspiring Chinese Indonesian women, including the economist and cabinet minister Mari Elka Pangestu, the highly

accomplished scholar Mely G. Tan, the iconic igures Dian Muljadi and Obin, the

badminton world champion Susi Susanti, and the author’s grandmother, among other extraordinary women.

These women, with their incredible achievements, emerged from a wide range of professions. They experienced the New Order era (and some the Sukarno era) and the May 1998 riots, and they are now witnessing the revitalisation of Chinese language, culture, and social organisations. They proudly identify themselves as Indonesians, while at the same time acknowledging their ancestral roots in the Middle Kingdom. They are great sources of inspiration for the younger genera-tions of Indonesians, ethnic Chinese or otherwise, men and women alike.

Dawis’s extended introduction provides a critical context for the individual stories that follow. In contrast to many academic papers and monographs on the same topic, this book describes the dense and intricate past of Indonesian Chinese

in an accessible style, while carefully avoiding the pitfalls of oversimpliication.

By revealing details of the lives of these women, this book lends a human face to the daily challenges faced by the many thousands of Chinese Indonesian women. Dawis’s journalistic style makes it easy for readers to delve into the worlds of these remarkable characters. She weaves bourgeois-domestic topics into life in the shadow of authoritarian rule. Dawis strikes the right balance in portraying women with stellar careers, yet she also highlights the fact that the lives of many

Chinese Indonesians have not passed calmly through the last ifty years. In keep -ing with the book’s polished style, a series of artistic portraits of these inspir-ing women gently accentuates their authentic idiosyncrasies.

Breaking Barriers is certainly not meant to thrill the reader in ways a detective story might, but I imagine that many readers will go through the book in a single sitting. I found myself wanting to read more about Chinese Indonesians, their ambitions and fears, their perspectives and confusions, their sense of history, and their plans for the future. For experts already familiar with the works of Wang

Gengwu, Leo Suryadinata, and others in the ield, this book offers a welcome

personal dimension; for the rest of us, it provides an insightful introduction into the diverse and inspiring multicultural world that is Indonesia.

Sherry Tao Kong Peking University

Keizai taikoku Indonesia: 21 seiki no seicho joken (Indonesia as an economic giant: Conditions for growth in the 21st century). By Yuri Sato. Tokyo: Chuko Shinsho, 2011. Pp. 262. Paperback: ¥840.

Indonesia is an active research target, owing to its scale and diversity. Yet rela-tive to other Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and the Philippines, or neighbouring Asian countries, such as China and Korea, Indonesia seems unfa-miliar to many in Japan. For most Japanese, the most recent and striking event in