From Colonization to Nation-State The Political Demography of Indonesia

Penulis: Riwanto Tirtosudarmo

Demography is often perceived as a static equilibrium that has little relevance to social transformation. The conventional perception of demography as a static discipline should be challenged as such view no longer able to explain the increasingly complex social and political realities resulted from the often slow but profound demographic changes.

Indonesia, currently the world’s fourth largest country in terms of population size and regionally comprising two thirds of the total population of Southeast Asian countries, constitutes a “sleeping demographic giant” and provides a distinct intricate nexus of demography and politics. Flows and movement of peoples have always been the interest of the state to control anywhere since the ancient time.

The book critically assesses the continuities and changes in the state’s demographic engineering practices from the introduction of the Dutch colonial ethical policy at the beginning of the twentieth century until the dawn of the twenty first century following the collapse of the Indonesia’s New Order regime in 1998. Several issues that cover in the book include transmigration policy, internal and cross-border mobility, ethnic mobility and the politics of migration.

©2013 Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI)