Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface and Acknowledgements to the First Edition
- Preface and Acknowledgements to the Second Edition
- Glossary and Abbreviations
- Maps
- 1 Introduction
- 2 An Overview of Economic Development Since 1966
- 3 Money and Finance
- 4 Fiscal Policy
- 5 International Dimensions
- 6 The State and Public Policy: Ideology and Intervention
- 7 Agricultural Modernization
- 8 The Industrial Transformation
- 9 The Services Revolution
- 10 Poverty, Inequality and Social Progress
- 11 The Regional Dimension: Patterns and Issues
- 12 Conclusion: Looking to the Future
- 13 Postscript on the Crisis
- Chronology of Major Economic Events, 1965 to 1993
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of Author Citations
- Index
11 - The Regional Dimension: Patterns and Issues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface and Acknowledgements to the First Edition
- Preface and Acknowledgements to the Second Edition
- Glossary and Abbreviations
- Maps
- 1 Introduction
- 2 An Overview of Economic Development Since 1966
- 3 Money and Finance
- 4 Fiscal Policy
- 5 International Dimensions
- 6 The State and Public Policy: Ideology and Intervention
- 7 Agricultural Modernization
- 8 The Industrial Transformation
- 9 The Services Revolution
- 10 Poverty, Inequality and Social Progress
- 11 The Regional Dimension: Patterns and Issues
- 12 Conclusion: Looking to the Future
- 13 Postscript on the Crisis
- Chronology of Major Economic Events, 1965 to 1993
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of Author Citations
- Index
Summary
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE REGION IN INDONESIA
In most country studies, the regional dimensions of economic development would hardly deserve serious attention. Most of East Asia's success stories have been small, compact nation states, indeed city-states in two cases. In large high-income countries such as the US and Australia, regional differences are evident. Nevertheless, internal economic integration is generally highly developed owing to efficient infrastructure services, and regional income differentials are ameliorated by long-established fiscal equalization mechanisms.
In Indonesia, however, as in other giants of the Third World, such as Brazil, China, and India, the daerah (region) has always been a major preoccupation. No country arguably is as diverse as Indonesia in its ecology, demography, economy and culture. Certainly no other country resembles Indonesia in its unique geography as the world's largest archipelagic state. The nation's motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, freely translated as “Unity in Diversity”, symbolizes the importance attached to the achievement of national unity, while recognizing regional diversity. National unity was a central component of the Independence struggle, and it has been accorded the highest priority by all regimes since 1945.
The colonial administration exacerbated regional differentials through the promotion of a highly uneven development strategy focusing on intensive agricultural development of Java and the development of extractive enclaves, centred mainly on plantations and petroleum, off-Java. Post-independence governments have been grappling with the daunting challenges of establishing central authority throughout the archipelago and of ensuring reasonably uniform development patterns for cosmopolitan urban dwellers and traditional, isolated shifting cultivators alike.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Indonesian Economy , pp. 218 - 242Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000