Contested Cities and Urban Activism by Ngai Ming Yip & Miguel Angel Martínez López & Xiaoyi Sun

Author:Ngai Ming Yip & Miguel Angel Martínez López & Xiaoyi Sun
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811317309
Publisher: Springer Singapore

Sociopolitical Context After 1998

Indonesia came back to democracy in 1998, when the ‘Reformation Era’ started, leaving behind the ‘New Order’, a period characterised by an authoritarian regime led by President Suharto in which all organised social groups who could potentially threat the government were dissolved. Citizens could not express freely and were discouraged to think critically. The new democratic era opened the doors for citizens to feel safe to express themselves, becoming involved in public issues and slowly regaining the value of collective action. This was encouraged with a strong decentralisation process started in 2001. This decentralisation involved the delegation of some powers from the national level to the provincial and local governments. It also promoted community participation of ordinary citizens, creating fora at the local level to steer discussions and for people to feel they could speak out, being their views considered. In this spirit, one of the most important programs for poverty alleviation (PNPM, National Program for Community Empowerment)3 aimed at not only improving people’s daily lives, through the provision of infrastructure and training to diversify livelihoods, but also encouraged the organisation of residents in community groups and their participation at the local level in making decisions on how to improve their neighbourhoods.

However, it has not been easy for people to start participating again. As one member of Warga Berdaya explained:

actually the problem is not only about the room or space to give our opinion, but also the habits. If you have been oppressed for more than 30 years, you lose your capacity to talk. That kind of thing, we have to learn again, we have to learn how to express our anger. We have to learn how to express our concerns. People have to learn again how to express their opinion.

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