Roots of Violence in Indonesia (book review)

Title :-Roots of Violence in Indonesia.

By :- Freek Colombijn and J.Thomas Lindblad (editors)

Published :- Institute of southeast asian studies, Singapore (2003) Paperback (330 pages)

Outline;- An excellent history of violence in Indonesia. Starting with the use of slaves in coal mines and progressing to two periods of Dutch excessive violence to bring the country together. The Indonesian military grew out of this history, and saw one of its early rolls to be heavy handed, and so keep the population from erupting into ethnic / tribal fights that would ultimately destroy Indonesia. We think of Papuan’s tribes fighting with bows & arrows, but early Indonesia such conflicts were pervasive through out Indonesia. The story of violence surrounding various events, particularly the Suharto take over, and events that followed. The book continues to point to the need for stronger civil institutions whereby people can bring grievances, or can bring claims against state violence. Mob violence continues today, and generally involves the spontaneous beating of some outsider, from purse snatching in the city to social crimes in villages (dating out of wedlock). Often such beatings lead to death, and police tend to stand by and wait for the beating to finish. Under Suharto there was a distinct lack of police and legal system, wherein criminality was kept in check by the fear of such punishment. Rural violence and more political violence surrounding East Timor and other places discussed.

An excellent book on a somewhat unique subject, but a very important study to understand a significant part of the unsaid culture and outlook on Indonesia