Narratives to power: The case of the Djojohadikusumo family dynasty over four generations

By Jemma Purdey & Jemma Purdey, South East Asia Research SOAS UoL, October 18, 2018

Abstract

At all levels of politics in Indonesia today, political families have a central place. The families of previous presidents and dynasties in regional and local politics have all been central to Indonesia’s decentralised and increasingly personality-driven democracy.

This article presents preliminary work on a biographical study of one of Indonesia’s most prominent and enduring political dynasties, the Djojohadikusumo family, who have held positions of power in key national institutions across four generations.

The study aims to improve our understanding of how this family has conceived itself within political structures as they have shifted over four generations. What characteristics of the dynasty can be identified as enabling its adaptability? How much do external and structural forces sustain the dynasty as a central player? And how much is it sustained by characteristics that are internal, historical, psychological, and culturally specific to the family unit?

Notes

1. Mackie J (2010) Patrimonialism: The new order and beyond. In: Aspinall E and G. Fealy (eds) Soeharto’s New Order and Its Legacy. Acton: ANU ePress, pp. 81–98.

2. Robison R and Hadiz V (2004) Reorganising Power in Indonesia. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon; Aspinall E (2005) Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance and Regime Change in Indonesia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; Aspinall E (2005) Elections and the normalization of politics in Indonesia. South East Asia Research 13(2): 117–156; Buehler M (2010) Decentralisation and local democracy in Indonesia: The marginalisation of the public sphere. In: Aspinall E and Mietzner M (eds) Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia. Singapore: ISEAS, pp. 267–185; Choi N (2011) Local Politics in Indonesia: Pathways to Power. London: Routledge; Winters JA (2011) Oligarchy. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press; Ford M and Pepinsky TB (2013) Beyond oligarchy? Critical exchanges on political power and material inequality in Indonesia. Indonesia 96(1): 1–9.

3. Sidel JT (2005) Bossism and democracy in the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia: Towards an alternative framework for the study of “local strongmen”. In: Harris J, Stokke K and Tornquist O (eds) Politicising Democracy: Local Politics and Democratisation in Developing Countries. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 51–74.

4. Heryanto A (2010) Entertainment, domestication and dispersal: Street politics as popular culture. In: Aspinall E and Mietzner M (eds) Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia. Singapore: ISEAS, pp. 181–198; Tomsa D (2010) The Indonesian party system after the 2009 elections: Towards stability? In: Aspinall E and Mietzner M (eds) Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia. Singapore: ISEAS, pp. 141–159.

5. Buehler (2010); Sidel (2005).

6. Erb M and Priyambudi Sulistiyanto (eds) (2009) Deepening Democracy in Indonesia? Direct Elections for Local Leaders (Pilkada). Singapore: ISEAS; Buehler M (2013) Married with children. Inside Indonesia 112. Available at: http://www.insideindonesia.org/feature-editions/married-with-children.

7. Chen J and Adhi Priamarizki (2014) Why abolishing direct local elections undermines Indonesia’s democracy. East Asia Forum, 9 October. Available at: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2014/10/09/why-abolishing-direct-local-elections-undermines-indonesias-democracy/.

8. Purdey J (2014) US back flip Modi ban a fillip for Prabowo. Jakarta Post, 23 May. Available at: http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/23/us-backflip-modi-ban-a-fillip-prabowo.html.

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South East Asia Research Volume 24, 2016 – Issue 3: Special issue: Political families in Southeast Asia; Cite this article: https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659728

Featured image credit: “Lebaran Dinasti Jokowi” Karya Kartunis Tempo Yuyun Nurrachman

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