Building relations: Corruption, competition and cooperation in the construction industry

Abstract

Building things has been the essence of development in Indonesia, at least since the oil boom began in the mid-1970s. Indeed, the word pembangunan, a central trope of the New Order regime, means both ‘development’ and ‘building’ (Heryanto 1988). But the very large construction industry is plagued by poor standards and corruption. It is widely known that money is routinely skimmed off construction contracts to pay off tendering committees, public works bureaucrats and other officials with influence over the allocation of public construction contracts, reducing the quality of the material and work. Construction contractors are an important part of the