Indonesia
The oligarchs have been reconsolidating economic and political power after being fragmented for more than two decades since the democratic reform in the country, as their system of alliances and relationships was never dismantled, political experts have noted.
Protesters hold posters, one of which reads “Oligarchic families should be eradicated', during a rally in front of the General Election Commission (KPU) building in Jakarta on Aug. 23, 2024. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
More than two decades after Indonesia’s democratic transition, the Reform era is drawing to a close as the oligarchic order becomes increasingly re-centralized and concentrates political and economic power despite the presence of democratic institutions, a pair of leading researchers has warned.The oligarchs, who were fragmented and decentralized after the fall of former president Soeharto in May 1998, are now undergoing a process of reconsolidation, according to political analysts Vedi R. Hadiz and Richard Robison.
“Economic and political power is now being recentralized, even though we might still have the institutions of democracy,” said Vedi, professor of Asian Studies at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne.
