Posted in: Analysis

The return of the protest song: Punk aesthetics in an age of a resurgent authoritarianism

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Even in an era of intensifying authoritarianism, independent music communities continue to carve out spaces of resistance, proving that music can be more than just a medium of protest —  it can be a force for real political action.

Danantara: a new hope or a phantom menace?

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The establishment of Danantara, Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund (SWF), has sparked both optimism and scepticism.

Danantara: It’s the politics, stupid!

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For many observers, Danantara potentially reproduces Indonesia’s predatory political economy. On this view, SOEs embody rising economic nationalism, that is state capitalism, and crowd out capital formation by private firms. Yet, digging into its board structure, it is apparent that Danantara instead reflects combined forms of capitalism – private fossil-fuel and tech, as well as state capital – that have overall benefited from Indonesia’s oligarchic politics, as well sustaining its high costs.

Is Prabowo reviving the Soeharto regime?

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It is true that Indonesia’s democracy has come under severe oligarchic pressures that would exist regardless of who won the last presidential election. However, Prabowo seems to have the know-how, and, more importantly, the personal determination, to recreate a socio-political order that closely reflects Soeharto’s Integralistic state — the political model instrumental for the creation and maintenance of his autocratic oligarchic system.

Why Prabowo’s misguided ‘austerity’ is emblematic of his free-wheeling economic policy    

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The Prabowo Subianto administration begins 2025 with a massive Rp 306 trillion fiscal spending cut, representing over 8% of this year’s state budget, delivered by Presidential instruction 1/2025.

Prabowo’s 100 days in office: more grandstanding, less policymaking? 

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The president needs a reality check — how did he fare, really, in his first 100 days?     

Unpaid incentives: Reform of Indonesia’s higher education system long overdue

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The controversy over the government’s refusal to pay civil servant lecturers their overdue performance allowance (tunjangan kinerja, or tukin) — which they are legally entitled to —certainly highlights the vulnerability of academic jobs in Indonesia. But it also exposes how politics and bureaucracy are undermining real reform of the country’s higher education system.

Prabowo’s myth of ‘polite democracy’

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The reproduction of cultural narratives and myths, such as the ideal of a harmonious village, often serves to maintain the existing power hierarchy. The new administration’s emphasis on similar narratives, now presented as ‘polite democracy’, warrants caution because it can be easily abused to silence critics and suppress opposition.

The revival of hip-dut: The dangdut genre that makes Gen-Z hips move 

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While hip-dut is not an entirely new genre (it is part of a long history of dangdut), the song’s release is, without doubt, a landmark moment in Indonesia’s music scene.

Indonesia at Melbourne is supported by:

Melbourne Law School Asia Institute Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society Indonesia Forum Faculty of Arts Indonesia Democracy Hallmark Research Initiative

Indonesia at Melbourne

Room 726, Level 7, 185 Pelham St,
The University of Melbourne
Parkville 3010 VIC Australia

Phone: +61 3 83448581

Email:  indo-at-melb@unimelb.edu.au

Date created: 1 July 2015

Editor: Ary Hermawan

Editorial board: 
Professor Tim Lindsey
Dr Tim Mann
Aron Corbett

We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our campuses are situated.

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