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- Editors’ Introduction
Peter King and Lily Zubaidah Rahim
This special issue of Policy and Society is based on papers presented by the
editors and other contributors at a symposium held at the Komaba campus
of Tokyo University in December 2005. The theme was “Japan, Australia and
the Changing Asia Pacific Region: Prospects of Peace, Prosperity and Regional
Integration.”
- Korupsi dan Disintegrasi in Indonesia since Suharto
Peter King
Abstract
This article argues that Indonesia since reformasi remains subject to powerful tendencies for disintegrasi – both province-based “separatism” and general socio-political decay. These tendencies are greatly aggravated by the failure of democratically elected presidents and parliaments to effectively tackle endemic corruption or reform the armed forces, which continue to enjoy near-total immunity as a major practitioner, guarantor and enforcer of corrupt business practice and extortion. The article notes the activism of civil society and liberal media on the corruption issue and the commendable new array of anti-corruption institutions. But it argues that reform efforts have been virtually nullified by broad collusion of Indonesia’s political, bureaucratic, military and business elites in
sustaining – but also “democratising” and decentralising – the system of corruption inherited from Suharto. Change must await new social and political struggles initiated outside the parliamentary arena which itself has become a major source of KKN (Korupsi, Kolusi dan Nepotisme).
- East Asia’s Quest for a Regional Community
Tsutomu Kikuchi
Abstract
This article analyses the processes of East Asian community-building, by incorporating competing interpretations on how to organise international relations in East Asia. It also examines the complicated diplomatic instruments adopted as a means of responding to the increasing uncertainties and anxieties caused by dramatic changes in the broader geopolitical and geoeconomic environment.
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