Necessity as a force for change: Refuting reform optimists and reform skeptics of contemporary Indonesia

Abstract

This article seeks to situate the current political polity of post-reformasi Indonesia by arguing against reform optimists and reform skeptics. It argues that necessity had given rise to widespread reforms within Indonesia. However, as a “politics-as-usual” atmosphere re-dominated the political landscape, the pace of reform was not as qualitatively comprehensive, its scope and variety decreased. Nonetheless, earlier necessity-driven reforms had set in place the bulwark of immutable change within Indonesia’s political landscape that makes recentralization, or rather a reversion to New Order authoritarianism quite impractical.