Oligarchy and Democracy in Indonesia

Abstract

Of all political power resources in Indonesia, material power is by far the most concentrated, versatile, durable, and least constrained. The gap in material power across the population is among the largest in the world. Data from 2010 show that the average net worth of Indonesia’s forty richest oligarchs is over 630,000 times the country’s GDP per capita (in Thailand and South Korea the gap is 190,000 and 69,000 times, respectively). Although these oligarchs constitute less than 2/1,000,000ths of the population, their combined assets equal 10 percent of GDP.1 Even if we widen the lens to include the 43,000 Indonesians with liquid financial assets of at least US$1 million, the result is still an extraordinary concentration of material power resources in very few hands.2 Although these individuals represent barely 2/10,000ths of the population, on average they have at their disposal financial assets that are 1,220 times the annual income of the median Indonesian. Their