Power, Change, and Gender Relations in Rural Java

Notes

Notes I n t r o d u c t i o n : A C o n u n d r u m a n d Tw o R e s e a r c h e r s 1. Bahasa Java, or Javanese, has different levels or forms that depend on age, sex, and status of speaker and addressee. Witnessing and understanding who spoke what to whom (for example, which form wives and husbands use with each other) provide important additional cues to power and status. See chapter 1 for more detail. 2. One complication created by the ongoing changes and upheavals is that almost as fast as we write about new developments, they again change. For example, the process of democratizing and decentralizing the political system at both national and local levels, with its consequences for women’s status and gender roles, has seen almost continuous change in the years following Reformasi. A corollary problem is the choice of tense. When reporting the results of past fieldwork or of conditions that typify times past, we often use the past tense; otherwise, we normally use the present tense of scientific and literary narrative. C h a p t e r 1 . L i k e O u r O w n M o t h e r : Th e L i m i t s o f G e n d e r e d P o w e r i n Th e o r y a n d D a i l y L i f e 1. This is questionable, however, since by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) measures, Indonesia compares poorly to other East and Southeast Asian nations on the gender related development index (GDI) and the gender empowerment measure (GEM). Others argue that these rankings are artifacts of the particular indicators used (such as number of women in the legislature) and don’t really fully capture relative situation (Blackburn 2001; Hancock 2001). 222 Notes to Pages 36–51 2. Anderson’s influential perspective on the Javanese conception of power has historical roots in the origins of the Javanese kingdom of Mataram and the history of Javanese colonialism. It was initially the outcome of the insecurity of the Mataram dynasty (ca. 1550–1945 CE) and its need for legitimation. The Mataram dynasty originally came from a peasant family that rose to the throne. Their lower-class origins created an urgent need for a view of power that supported and legitimated their reign (Moedjanto 1986, 26). Institutionalization of a concept of power that arises from divine energy and sources made it difficult for the opposition to question their legitimacy as long as they were able to successfully maintain that they were the people chosen to have the spiritual, divine power. The long influence of the Mataram Kingdom in Java resulted in an ingrained concept of power based on the dynasty’s interests. Suharto’s background is similar to that of the Mataram dynasty—‘he came from a lower-class agrarian family and was not highly educated. He also found it useful to build his legitimacy based upon the Javanese concept of power. 3. The current president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), and his media advisers play to this perspective as well, promoting the image of the strong, quietly confident leader rather than the active initiator of programs and policies. 4. Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., s.v. “syncretic.” 5. Even now this tradition permeates Yogya political debate. The present sultan of Yogyakarta has five daughters and no son. Traditionally , only a son could inherit the throne in Yogyakarta’s kingdom. There have been suggestions that changing cultural values mean that a woman should be able to become sultan. This idea, however, is highly contentious and has generated much debate. 6. In order, the five basic principles of Pancasila are (Frederick and Worden 1993): (1) belief in one God; (2) a just and civilized humanity; (3) the unity of Indonesia; (4) democracy guided by the wisdom of representative deliberation; and (5) social justice for all Indonesians. The use of this ideology and the meanings attributed to the principles changed over time with changing political purposes (Bourchier 2001, 117; Cribb 2001, 307). 7. One of the original objectives of this research was to locate hidden forms of resistance to patriarchal gender roles among village women (James Scott 1990). As will be described in subsequent chapters, we were unable to find meaningful examples. 8. Kompas, May 18, 2004...