Seperti kerikil dalam kasut: transnational publications and civil society in New Order Indonesia

Abstract

How did the presence of transnational publications complicate the relationship between civil society, the state and other countries in New Order Indonesia? This thesis responds to this question by analysing how dissidence during Suharto’s New Order presented a unique situation in pushing non-state actors located beyond Indonesian borders, specifically TAPOL and Inside Indonesia, to take an active role in social mobilisation and advocacy surrounding key issues affecting Indonesian civil society. In doing so, this thesis repositions the conceptual boundaries of Indonesian civil society to investigate how transnational publications attempted to shape the contours of foreign policy and transnational decision-making. Furthermore, it contrasts top-down and alternative perspectives by examining the activism of TAPOL and Inside Indonesia in comparison to Indonesian state policies and diplomatic relations. In turn, this thesis contends that these entities constituted an imagined transnational civil society. It was sustained by both domestic and transnational press, of which the latter was a by-product of New Order authoritarian and repressive practices such as press censorship and the forced detention of individuals affiliated with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).