This book explores chronologically, for the first time, the representation and redefinition of Indonesia__s regional cultures through recording media, from the introduction of the gramophone record... Show moreThis book explores chronologically, for the first time, the representation and redefinition of Indonesia__s regional cultures through recording media, from the introduction of the gramophone record through the current video compact disc (VCD) era, taking as case study the Minangkabau ethnic group. Based on extensive fieldwork and historical research, the author follows the Dutch East Indies colonial society__s initial encounter with recording media and the later adoption and social uses of various types of recording media among the Minangkabau of West Sumatra and its diaspora. The transformation of Minangkabau culture and identity that came with the extensive reproduction of Minangkabau cultural sounds on commercial recordings is examined. This transformation was facilitated by the West Sumatran recording industry, founded in the early 1970s along with the spread of the audio-cassette in Indonesia. The author describes the workings of the West Sumatran recording industry and how its products become the preferred medium of cultural expressions of the Minangkabau ethnic group to hold on to its identity and existence in the face of a changing world. The representations of Minangkabau culture in regional commercial recordings explored in this study demonstrate the use of recording media technology by a local society to contextualize and maintain the viability and existence of their culture and identity, whose features are changing, adaptive, and fluid Show less
The dissertation analyzes the production of a new elite group in Indonesia, the managers, during the early independence period. Indonesia faced lack of expertise and a government incapable of... Show moreThe dissertation analyzes the production of a new elite group in Indonesia, the managers, during the early independence period. Indonesia faced lack of expertise and a government incapable of managing a national plan. The expansion of the managerial class was the result of the lack of leadership of the political elite, the expansion of tertiary education, the rise of an American-led, international aid structure that provided both expert advisors and scholarship for Indonesian students to study in mostly American universities. This resulted in the import of new ideas that corroborated the strengthening of a managerial or developmental state. These ideas include scientific management and the American modernization theory. These ideas looked at the state executive as the major institution for development. It promoted the military elite to become part of a managerial elite. It also was dismissive of liberal ideas regarding the role of the law and the separation of power. Within this managerial ideology, the state was to function as a corporation. The idea of individual initiative was replaced within a planned system. By analyzing these developments, the thesis wants to show that the foundation of the New Order Developmental State should be traced to this period. Show less
This study discusses the transformation from a colonial into a national economy in Indonesia and Vietnam. It focuses on two intertwined processes of economic decolonization and reconstruction in... Show moreThis study discusses the transformation from a colonial into a national economy in Indonesia and Vietnam. It focuses on two intertwined processes of economic decolonization and reconstruction in the two countries after the Second World War, paying special attention to political and institutional factors involved in these processes. The study demonstrates that, although differences in the political situations resulted in the adoption of divergent strategies, Indonesia and Vietnam were in fact pursuing similar long-term goals, namely: attaining a national independent economy. The Indonesian government was determined to get rid of the economic legacy of Dutch colonialism by placing the whole economy under the strong state control and ownership, in accordance with the spirit of Guided Democracy and Guided Economy in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. This effort resembled much the socialist transformation of North Vietnam in the 1950s and the various means by which the government of South Vietnam concentrated economic power in its hands during the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Show less
