(CSOs) and political parties in post-Suharto Indonesia

265 Pages·2017·3.17 MB·English

The relationship of civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties
in post-Suharto Indonesia: a women’s CSO perspective

Dissertation
Zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philoshopie
am Fachbereich Sozialwissenschaften
der Universität Hamburg

vorgelegt von

Aditya Perdana

aus Jakarta, Indonesien

Hamburg, Februar 2017
Erstgutachter : PD Dr. Andreas Ufen
Zweitgutachter : Prof. Dr. Cord Jakobeit
Ort und Datum der Disputation: Hamburg, 9.Februar 2017
Eidesstattliche Versicherung

Hiermit erkläre ich, Aditya Perdana, an Eides statt, dass ich die Dissertation mit dem Titel:

The relationship of civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties
in post-Suharto Indonesia: a women’s CSO perspective

Selbständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst habe.

Andere als die von mir angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel habe ich nicht benutzt. Die den
herangezogenen Werken wörtlich oder sinngemäss entnommenen Stellen sind als solche
gekennzeichnet.

Hamburg, 9.Februar 2017
Abstract

The relationship of civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties in
post-Suharto Indonesia: a women’s CSO perspective

This study seeks to examine the distant relationship that exists between CSOs and
parties within the new Indonesian democracy because of their nature of organizations and the
influence of political and social structures to their relations. The main research question in
this study is: How does the distant relationship between women’s CSOs and political parties
affect selected gender equality issues in post-Suharto Indonesia? This is supported by two
sub-questions: (1) to what extent have Indonesian women’s CSOs been linked with political
parties since the fall of Suharto in 1998? (2) How distant relationships between women’s
CSOs and parties contribute to the development of women’s political representation in
Indonesia?
The aim of this study is to contribute to the existing theories about political parties
and society that elaborate on political representation from a women’s civil society
organizational perspective. The results will provide capacity-building development insights
for women’s civil society actors and members of political parties who want to learn more
about the dynamics of both these institutions and the strategies that political parties and CSOs
use to establish and develop relationships in Indonesia.
This study can be categorized as a single case study with a synchronic and diachronic
variations This study uses a combined co-variational analysis and causal-process tracing to
explore suitable inquiries from observations of two events: the policy-making process for
gender issues and women’s political representation roles.
This dissertation broadly asserts two hypotheses. First, it hypothesizes that enabling
environmental factors (internal and external) in the relationship between women’s CSOs and
political parties explain their contribution to political representation in democracies in general.
The second hypothesis is that the informal and distant relations between women’s CSOs and
political parties have contributed to the development of women’s political representation in
the consolidated democracy of post-Suharto Indonesia.
This study confirms that a distant relationship has been maintained between CSOs and
political parties following the decline of the Suharto regime, due to their limited relationship
in the political sphere, weak connections, and limited direct influence. Although the distant
relationship between women’s CSOs and parties in Indonesia appears to support a picture of
weak institutionalized party and fragmented CSO, however the autonomy of each
organization in terms of their political interactions needs to be balanced to succeed.
Two major findings are: the first is enabling combination of environmental factors
(external and internal) to shape the distance of the relationship. The second finding is that
women’s CSOs and party links in the law-making process and certain representation roles are
informed by informal and personal relationships.
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These two major findings indicate a distant relationship between women’s CSOs and
political party interactions over certain gender equality issues. From tracing several
Indonesian historical events and focusing on the late post-Suharto period, the study confirms
that this distant relationship has been caused by certain post-cartelization phenomena and
weak institutionalization phenomena.
What are the implications of this study in terms of the development of
democratization theory? First, this study has contributed to the CSO political party linkage
theories. Secondly, this study also supports the claim that the role of civil society is to
strengthen democratic representation. Third, this study has presented discussions of gender
and political theory, particularly in relation to Pitkin (1967)’s three models of political
representation: formal, descriptive, and substantive.
This study therefore proposes two areas for future research. Firstly, it is suggested that
democratization studies require further exploration into the role that authoritarian legacies
play in political institutions. It was not possible in this study to fully explore and explain how
the roots of authoritarian legacies from the history of Indonesian democracy are still
embedded in society today. Such research could focus on the development of religious
organizations such as NU and Muhammadiyah which have close attachment with parties and
individual politicians until these days. A second rich area for future research is the
development and support of empirical political involvement mechanisms for civil society.

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Acknowledgements

This PhD dissertation is an important part of my academic experiences. It is a journey
of research discovery, challenge, uncertainty and patience. Many individuals and institutions
have supported me to complete this adventure. While it is hard to send my thanks individually,
allow me to show my appreciation to these people through this acknowledgment.
First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor PD Dr.
Andreas Ufen for the continuous support of my PhD study and related research, for his
patience, motivation, and sharing his immense knowledge in Indonesian politics. His guidance
helped me in all the time of research and writing of this dissertation. I am also grateful to have
Prof. Cord Jakobeit as my second advisor to this dissertation. Besides both my advisors, I
would like to thank the rest of my dissertation committee: Prof. Rolf von Lüde and Prof.
Joachim Betz for their insightful comments and encouragements.
Let me express my gratitude to the German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD) that
funded the whole dissertation project during my stay in Hamburg from 2010-2014. I also thank
the GIGA (German Institute of Global and Area Studies) that provided me a one month visiting
fellow to finish my manuscript of dissertation. My sincere thank goes also to Prof. Jan van der
Putten and Yanti Mardiyanti (Institute Asia and Africa AAI Universität Hamburg) who
provided me an opportunity to join their lecturing team, and to the Graduate School Faculty of
Business, Economics, and Social Sciences Universität Hamburg who provided a decent
working space for me. Without they precious support it would have not been possible for me to
conduct and finish this research.
The dissertation would not have been possible without the hospitality and generosity of
my interviewees from various backgrounds such as politicians, activists, academics, journalists
and others. I am glad to hear their comments, valuable insights, background materials, and
suggestions. I have learned and gained a lot of understanding about gender and politics in
Indonesia from them.
My host institute, Department of Political Science Universitas Indonesia, has provided
a great opportunity to release my working activities for gaining this doctoral degree. I am
grateful for my colleagues' support to encourage me to keep calm and patience during my
exhausting final stage of study. I presented ideas of this study at international conferences,
workshops, and doctoral seminars. It was nice to have many insight and valuable comments
from all participants in these conferences. I also thank to my English editors: Suzan Piper and
Janine Murphy for their constructive discussions to edit my manuscript. I am grateful to have
Indonesian friends and families in Hamburg to share their unconditional love and joyful
moments with me and my family.
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Last but not the least, I would like to thank to my family, my parents and to my brother
and sister for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this dissertation and my life in
general.

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Contents
Abstract i
Acknowledgements iii
Contents v
List of tables, diagrams, and tables viii
List of Indonesian terms and acronyms ix
Chapter ONE: Introduction 1
1.1 CSOs and political party linkages – a distant link 1
1.2 Political representation of civil society and political party 3
perspectives
1.3 Indonesian CSOs and parties: women’s political representation 4
issues
1.4 Research arguments and methods 7
1.5 Chapter overview 9
Chapter TWO: Theoretical framework and methodology 12
2.1 Historical institutionalism 12
2.2 The nature of civil society and political parties in democracies 14
2.3 CSOs and parties in post-cartelization era: their relationships 23
2.3.1 Defining the relationships 22
2.3.2 Typologies of relationships in democracies 26
2.4 Women’s political representation: institutions and strategies 27
2.5 Indonesian CSOs and political parties: conceptual clarification 31
2.6 Research arguments and hypotheses 36
2.7 Methodology 41
2.7.1 Case study methodology 41
2.7.2 Case selection 43
2.7.3 Analysis and data collection methodology: combining 46
co-variational analysis and causal-process tracing
2.8 Summary 47
Chapter THREE: Civil society organizations (CSOs) and 49
political parties in Indonesia
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3.1 The historical legacies of the relationships between CSOs and 51
parties in Indonesia
3.1.1 Societal cleavages in Indonesian politics 51
3.1.2 Configuration of representative structures 58
3.1.3 The legacies of the actors 63
3.2 The rule of the game: the legal framework 65
3.3 CSOs and parties: their relationship periods 71
3.4 Conclusion 81
Chapter FOUR: Women and the law-making process 85
4.1 Women in Indonesian social and political structures 85
4.2 Parliamentary quotas for women: Election and Party Laws 92
(1999-2009)
4.3 The Domestic Violence Law (2004) 123
4.4 The Gender Equality and Justice bill 134
4.5 The relations between CSOs and political parties in the 140
law-making process: patterns and political positions
4.6 Conclusion 146
Chapter FIVE: Women and political representation 148
5.1 Female candidate selection problems: 2004 and 2009 elections 148
5.2 Increasing female candidates in an election: the role of civil 158
society organizations
5.2.1 Developing a strategy of cooperation between parties and 158
women’s CSOs
5.2.2 CSO profiling of potential women candidates 160
5.2.3 Training for female candidates 162
5.2.4 Assisting female candidates with campaigning 164
5.3 Women’s CSOs activists and elections: strategies and tactics 167
for winning seats
5.3.1 Social backgrounds 168
5.3.2 Motivations 170
5.3.3 Women’s paths to achieving political ambitions 174
5.3.4 The impact of women activist candidates 182
5.4 The relations of CSOs and political parties during electoral 188
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competition: patterns and political positions
5.5 Conclusion 200
Chapter SIX: Environmental factors shaping the relationship 202
between political parties and women’s CSOs in post-Suharto
Indonesia
6.1 Factors shaping the relationships between CSOs and political 202
parties in post-Suharto Indonesia
6.2 The authoritarian regime legacies in Indonesian contemporary 210
politics
6.3 The impact of relationships on women’s political representation 215
6.4 Conclusion 217
Chapter SEVEN: Conclusion 219
Appendix 1 List of interviews 227
Appendix 2 Interview Guide 230
Bibliography 235

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