From mandala to flowchart: Managerial governmentality and the evidentiary technologies of Indonesia's Reformasi

Abstract

With the dissolution of an authoritarian regime, novel semiotic technologies are mobilized in the service of producing new political imaginaries. Through what visual and discursive practices can “democracy” be made visible? How can “good governance” be convincingly attested? This paper explores the evidentiary infrastructures of Indonesia's s-driven democratic transition to introduce a broader reflection on the role of graphic artifacts in disseminating neoliberal ideologies of transparency and managerial notions of “good governance.” Since the end of Suharto's authoritarian regime, a new genre of graphic artifacts has proliferated within Indonesian government offices: colorful vinyl banners with flowcharts and diagrams illustrating institutional mission statements, bureaucratic procedures, and administrative structures. Marking a clear departure from the traditional iconography of the mandala-like pre-democratic state, these flowcharts are only partially successful. Their aspiration to be iconic materializations of an efficient new mode of governance betrays widespread anxieties that the Reform Era has fallen short of its reformist promise.