14 - Decentralisation and Women in Indonesia: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward?

Summary

You must come home for the village head election day in July to vote for our new Lurah. We never had any lurah from our own village before. Now we have candidates from our own village and it's time to make sure that our village will be developed …

(letter from Tarmi to Sulasmi, May 2002)

The above quotation was taken from a letter received by my daughters' nanny from her cousin in her home village in Grobogan, Central Java. She told me people were fascinated by the election of the lurah (village head) and that all eligible voters (those with Grobogan ID cards, including herself) were being encouraged to come home to vote.

The story illustrates the changes taking place in Indonesia. For many ordinary people, a new era of popular representation has begun. They now have the opportunity to vote for someone they know to lead their village rather than having their lurah appointed for them by higher authorities. This new development was made possible by the political changes in 1998 that paved the way for the country to embark on a decentralisation program in January 2001. Many of the ‘ordinary people’ affected by these changes are women, who make up around 51 per cent of the Indonesian population and 57 per cent of eligible voters. The sweeping changes brought about by decentralisation will have major impacts on them. It is these impacts that this chapter examines.

The chapter is divided into four sections. The first summarises some of the arguments made in favour of decentralisation and examines the implementation of decentralisation thus far. The second considers the challenges that decentralisation poses for women, and the third examines the opportunities it has brought, at least in some parts of Indonesia. Finally, the chapter argues that both civil society and the state need to favour particular initiatives and policies if women's interests are to be fully served in the decentralisation process.

IMPLEMENTATION OF A REFORMASI AGENDA

The regional autonomy program, as an agenda for reform, was initially introduced as a response to regional disappointment with the central government. Under Soeharto, the state was run from Jakarta with almost no consideration given to the specific conditions of the regions.