‘In Search of Balance’: Understanding Welfare Creation and ...

14
‘In Search of Balance’: Understanding Welfare Creation and Distribution in Indonesia Joint-scholarship programs Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia The University of Agder, Norway 2013

Transcript of ‘In Search of Balance’: Understanding Welfare Creation and ...

‘ In Search of Balance ’ : Understanding Welfare Creation and Distribution in Indonesia

Joint-scholarship programs Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia The University of Agder, Norway 2013

  2  

Table of Contents I. Introduction

3

II. Master Research Scholarship Program A. Description B. Curriculum C. Eligibility D. How to apply E. Monitoring

3-4

III. PhD Scholarship Program A. Introduction B. Sub-themes

1. Sub-theme 1: The roles and improvement potentials of local political and bureaucratic institutions

2. Sub-theme 2: Fair distribution and efficiency of public services in education and health

3. Sub-theme 3: Fair and transparent distribution of REDD+ funds for economic development

4. Sub-theme 4: Employment creation (innovation and entrepreneurship, microcredit, gender perspective)

5. Sub-theme 5: Access to information and challenges of information asymmetry

6. Sub-theme 6: Forest information system for supporting good forest governance

C. Eligibility D. How to apply

5-10

IV. Post-doctoral Scholarship Program A. Description B. Eligibility C. How to apply D. Delivery E. Term of payment F. Research topics

11-13

V. List of Personnel

14

  3  

I . Introduction The project ‘In Search of Balance’ (ISB) is part of the umbrella research project ‘Power, Welfare and Democracy’ (PWD) that aims to contribute to the democratization processes in Indonesia by way of research and advocacy. The aim of the ISB project is to develop and enhance knowledge of welfare creation in Indonesia, focusing on such specific themes as ‘welfare regime’ and ‘local regime’. Under the ISB project, studies should deal with the character of production and the distribution of welfare, and how public resources are managed. They should also analyze the power relationships of individuals, and the management of such relationships. Research shall be conducted on the basis of case studies, including ‘key sectors in welfare regimes’. In addition it shall cover the great diversities of the Indonesia society. This is why ‘mapping out and understanding’ the ways different economic and socio-political regimes are operating at the local and regional contexts is crucial. Inter-disciplinary approaches of the studies are characteristic in the use of theory and methodology from political science, economics, law, cultural studies, and forestry management. To enhance and secure the efficiency and quality of education, research and international publications, the ISB project is designed into three schemes of scholarship programs: Master Scholarship Program, PhD Scholarship Program, and Post-doctoral Scholarship Program.

II . Master Research Scholarship Program A. Description The aim of the Master Research Scholarship Program is to enhance a capacity building of the youth on the issues raised by the In-Search of Balance (ISB) project. It is expected that the Master Research Scholarship Programs help shape a new Indonesian generation of scholars and practitioners who are sensitive of the issues. Indicators of competence include the ability to identify and to map out (the relationship of) core problems, and also to generate knowledge and theoretical explanations in the most recent context through an interdisciplinary approach and perspective. Under the umbrella theme ‘Power, Welfare and Democracy’, the ISB project focuses on ‘Welfare Regime’ and ‘Local Regimes’ within the Indonesian economic and socio-political context. This includes studies of the character of production and distribution of welfare and how public resources are managed. This also includes the analysis of power relations among individuals and institutions, and the management of such relations. Research shall be made by a number of case studies, including, but not limited to, key sectors of welfare regimes such as employment and the supply of public services in education and health, issues of climate change, and democratization. An attention is paid to a balance of perspectives in which the role of government and private sectors, global and local initiatives, gender and minority groups, and youth is critically addressed. The Master Research Scholarship Program provides funding to UGM master students, who are willing to do research and to write a thesis on one of the topics related to the

  4  

project. Prospective recipients of the funding have to have enrolled in one of the graduate programs in the five UGM faculties participating in the ISB project (the Faculties of Economics and Business, Political and Social Science, Forestry, Law, and Humanities). Students must first fulfill all academic requirements set by the corresponding graduate programs in which they enrol, including a successful completion of prerequisite courses. Selection for funding under this scheme will be based on the students’ academic merits. In addition to completing the core curriculum of the respective graduate study program, selected students will take a course specifically designed on the ISB project aiming to facilitate them to prepare a research proposal.

B. Curriculum Core curriculum follows the curriculum of the regular master programs in the participating faculties of UGM. A course related to the ISB research topic is specifically designed in order to facilitate students to (1) be knowledgeable in the ISB research topics, (2) prepare a good research proposal on one of the ISB research topics, and (3) carry out the proposed research. C. Eligibil ity A Master Research Scholarship lasts for one year. Scholarships are open for application by UGM students, who

1. enroll in the graduate programs of the Faculties of Economics and Business, Political and Social Sciences, Forestry, Law, or Humanities.

2. have completed all courses up to the second semester as required by the respective graduate programs in which they enroll.

3. show a keen interest and commitment to deal with the issues of the ISB project as demonstrated by (previous) publications, activities, or other forms of portfolios.

4. have not received a scholarship from any other funding agencies. 5. preferably are able to demonstrate a good mastery of English.

D. How to apply

1. Master scholarship applications are due on July 1 every year for the research commencement on September 1 of the same calendar year.

2. Interested candidates must submit to the Master Program Coordinator, Dr Agus Suwignyo ([email protected]), the following documents: (a) a draft of research proposal (b) a letter of recommendation from the head of study program (c) a copy of academic transcript up to the second semester

E. Monitoring Scholarship grantees must present a report to conferences designed by the ISB project. In the final phase, grantees must submit one copy of their master thesis, and one article designated for publication in an edited book.

  5  

III. PhD Scholarship Program A. Introduction The responsibility of the State in Indonesia in creating welfare has become an official position of public policy making since the turn of the twentieth century by the so-called Ethical Policy and later, most remarkably since 18 August 1945, by the legislation of the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. In practice, the creation of welfare has turned into an issue much more problematic than its original design of concept. Ideological and political contestation, among others between socialist-inspired and neo-liberal governmentality, drifts the imagination of a Welfare State away from an unconditional practice of fair and balanced distribution of economic resources. One of the long-standing debates focuses on whether State responsibility in welfare creation can or cannot work in parallel with the enchancement of democratic participation and the individual authonomy of people, and whether a degree of democractic citizenship is and should become a pre-condition to a fair and balanced distribution of welfare dis-contingent to the ideological undertones of a governing political regime. The aim of the PhD Scholarship Program is to better understand the process of welfare creation in Indonesia by researching the actors and the sectors that have played crucial roles and functions through various perspectives and sub-themes. Applications for this program are welcomed from UGM staff members of the five faculties. B. Sub-themes 1 . Sub-theme 1: The roles and improvement potentials of local political and bureaucratic institutions Supervisors

• Dag Ingvar Jacobsen • Morten Øgaard • Agus Pramusinto

The decentralization policy in Indonesia has devolved the authority of the central government to local governments. This policy has given a blessing for local governments to have more room for manouver in policy making processes. At the same time, it has brought about difficulties for local governments in financing their activities. Financial constraints have become a major issue in implementing public policies created at the local level. However, the autonomy the local institutions have enjoyed from the central government has enabled them to engage in the making of various public policies. The local bureaucracy is not the only institutions responsible for delivering public services. Civil society organizations (NGOs, religious organizations), the private sector, and many other community institutions (cooperatives) can also play an important role. Their roles in various services are getting stronger. They create a synergy for coping with issues faced by the government such as providing public services in education, health and infrastructure. Services in these facilities

  6  

have been provided by the non-state actors. The role of the state and non-state organizations has become a very long debate. The state has been regarded as an institution that can deliver services in a fair manner, whereas the non-state organizations such as the private sector and religious organizations may provide services based on their-own interests. It is commonly perceived that the services provided by the private sector tend to be expensive and inaccessible by the poor. In fact, it is unavoidable that both the state and non-state organizations exist together. Therefore, the intriguing issues to raise are: (1) what conditions lead non-state institutions to involve in public services?; (2) how far are the services provided by the non-state institutions accessible indiscriminatorily by the citizens?; (3) what is the role of the state in facilitating the effectiveness of the non-state organizations? 2. Sub-theme 2: Fair distribution and efficiency of public services in education and health Supervisors

• Liv Bente Hannevik Friestad • Theis Theisen • Agus Suwignyo • Paripurna Sugarda

A fair distribution of public services in education and health is the constitutional raison d’être of Indonesia as a welfare state. Both the Constitution and the Ideology of the state Indonesia explicitly perform a design of welfarism. While the practice has never reached a level comparable to any other experiences especially in continental Europe, from which the concept is originated, those constitutional decrees have been challenged particularly since the 1990s by neoliberal-inspired public policies, which emphasize on individual autonomy and participation in the welfare creation and distribution. The concept of a welfare state in Indonesia owes its legacy in the so-called Ethical Policy, aka Debt-of-Honour Policy initiated by the Netherlands Indies government at the turn of the twentieth century. Such a design of policy fits the clientalistic nature of power relations in Indonesia and generally also other parts of Southeast Asia. In how far does the welfare state idea represent the Indonesian aspiration of state-citizen relationship in the post-colonial context? To what extent does individual autonomy and participation matter in the creation and fair distribution of public services? Does welfarism clash or merge with democratic citizenhip? How should actors and factors of the distribution of public services be identified and explained in this debate? The focus of this sub-theme is the issues of welfare creation and fair distribution of public services, particularly in education and health. An approach combining historical and sociological perspectives, in addition to political one, is highly welcomed. Although the experience of Indonesia should be the main case in this study, comparation with the experiences of other countries in both regional and global contexts is given a special attention.

  7  

3. Sub-theme 3: Fair and transparent distribution of REDD+ funds for economic development Supervisors

• Trond Randøy • Stein Kristiansen • Pujo Semedi • Muhammad Hawin

From on going research on REDD+ in Indonesia several initiatives for program implementation and REDD benefit distribution have come up to surface: the Australian’s KFCP model of community forestry; the National REDD Task Force model of Village Capacity Building; the Palangkaraya University Center of Peat Studies’ model of Buying Living Tree System; the Ministry of Forestry’s model of forest area unit management, and the private sector model of forest concession (Latifah, 2012). Each model has its plus and minus, but all of them are top down in approach. All are invented somewhere higher up by scholars, experts and practitioners to be implemented at the local level. Like many other top down, centralized, monolithic model of development these models will face a high degree of resistance and be doomed to fail since its inception as they hardly fit to local situation, potential and needs. Locally based alternatives for REDD+ implementation are urgent. By tradition or by new adoption farmers in forest areas have been practicing their own models of tree planting and forestry: the Javanese model of perennial garden; the Dayaks rubber and tengkawang fields and sacred hereditary fruit forest; the Papuan sacred hill (Soemarwoto, 1988?; Dove, 1994?). Analyses have been carried out to reveal the practices of ecological functions, local economic roles, and their moral values. Most of the time, the studies are developed on unrealistic assumption of closed tribal or farmer community. While they are good in telling the practices in details, they often fail to disclose the connections to the bigger system. To what extent is then tree planting and forestry as practiced by farmers relevant, or can it be made relevant, to a mondial program such as REDD? This kind of research question calls for an interdisciplinary approach, whichis emphatic to local level practices, sensitive to forestry techniques and analytically sharp to macro economical dynamics. 4. Sub-theme 4: Employment creation (innovation and entrepreneurship, microcredit, gender perspective) Supervisors

• Kristin Dale • Roy Mersland • Jan Inge Jenssen • Wihana Kirana Jaya

  8  

After several years of slow start, palmoil cultivation eventually brought stable and continuous cash revenue at an unprecedented level to small holding farmers, natives and immigrants all alike in West Kalimantan. A district upriver of Kapuas with 27 hamlets earns 22 billion rupiah of monthly revenue. To the farmers’ reflection, life is now better than ever. They have a dependable source of income and an easier road access to market and other public services in the town. In general palmoil farmers enjoy nice economic life. Brand new motorcycles rode by underage youngsters move back and fro in the hamlets roads and pathways; armada of trucks belonging to local entrepreneurs frighteningly speed up along the bumpy, dusty plantation roads. New houses of urban style, brick wall, ceramic floor and tile roof mushroom in every hamlet replacing the old, village style of wooden, stilt ones. Inside, a new model of television sets, even the flat screen ones with vcd stereo accessories, is easy to find in many houses. Electric rice cookers and refrigerators have started to become standard kitchen appliances among the village better-off. People of almost every kind of walks of life hold latest model mobile phones, if it is only to listen to music and watch movies. In the last decade less and less farmers have got engaged in swidden cultivation, but thanks to the large cash supply from palm-oil, rice deficit and hungry season have become a story of the past. Several months prior to August, many hamlets stage a one-month festive, keramaian, under a pretext of the Independence Day celebration. The official attraction of the festive is the inter-hamlet soccer competition. But the real attraction is the night fair, which starts right after dusk, in which coffee and beer stalls, kopi pangku, with attractive waitresses available for sex, and karaoke and dancing floors with shy female dancers in tight jeans and t-shirt, plus gambling circles are available for everybody to enjoy. Of course these attractions are not free of charge. Millions of rupiah is said to have been in transactions in the festive every night. It must be a great cash turnover, which motivates people of Salimbat, several kilometers upstream of the Boyan estuary, to transform their quiet hamlet into a little Las Vegas on Kapuas River every Saturday night. Apparently growth of wealth has led farmers to the problems of consumption and life style. To what extent can it help local farmers escape from cash flood? 5. Sub-theme 5: Access to information and challenges of information asymmetry Supervisors

• Bjørn Furuholt • Maung Sein • Øystein Sæbø • Muhammad Najib Azca

Dramatic social and political changes in the post-1998 Indonesia have altered the concept and practices of welfare as reflected in the growing discourse of information decentralization. Decentralization is viewed as a concept and simultaneously as a method to improve welfare of society. At the level of concept, information decentralization is regarded as something that can provide better services for community. At the level of method, it is seen as a way to provide

  9  

equal opportunity for people. Yet, on the other hand, it is problematic when information decentralization is seen as providing more complicated and asymmetrical services as well as limited opportunities to people. The problems have created changes and shifts on welfare both in terms of its forms and nature. The forms of welfare have shifted from physical (infrastructure) to non-physical (quality life/well-being) whereas its nature has shifted from structural to communal-cultural thus leading to focus on the so-called ‘substantive welfare’, in which community is perceived as a subject rather than as an object.

In response to that, there are four dimensions of problems, which influence to the issues of access to information and the challenges of asymmetrical information. First, the changes of local-central dimension have become an important aspect to implement welfare. During the New Order period, Jakarta has become the center of welfare while in the post-1998 area locality has become the center reference of welfare. Second, the shift in the focus of technological dimensions from users/consumers to managers/inventors reflects the shift of attention and position from people as object to people as subject. Third, the shift and enlargement of tolerance at the macro social context is seen as the dynamic ‘space’ of changing access to information. Finally, the development of talents is expected to grow in various ‘arenas’ of social, political, economic and cultural information.

A study on how access to information and challenges of information asymmetry influences the change of welfare regime in Indonesia should pay attention to the changing discourse of welfare following the regime change. Simultaneously it should deal with the increasing role of information in contemporary development of the archipelago that seems likely to lead to information asymmetry. The research may attempt to answer some questions as follows: How do the drastic changes of social and political system influence the change of discourse and practice of welfare in Indonesia? How does access to information and information asymmetry influence the changing discourse and practices of welfare in the post-Soeharto period? 6. Sub-theme 6: Forest information system for supporting good forest governance Supervisors

• Arne Olav Øyhus • Christian Webersik • Satyawan Pudyatmoko

Indonesia’s forest plays a very important role on the regulation of global climate, especially through its capacity to capture and save carbon dioxide (CO2) in its biomass. Ironically, while Indonesia has the third largest forest in the world, it is also recorded as the third largest CO2 emitter country after China and the USA, due to rapid and massive deforestation. However, the Indonesian goverment is committed to follow global initiatives to reduce emission from deforestation and forest degradation, and at the same time to save the biodiversity of carbon

  10  

rich tropical forest (REDD). The target of the goverment is to reduce 21% to 41% of emission of green house gas before 2020.

To measure the success of the goverment, a reliable forest monitoring and forest information system has to be established both at the local and at the national level. Forest Monitoring and Assessment System (FOMAS) was the first iniative developed by multi-stakeholders to provide forest information in Indonesia. Further, this system was improved and the name of the system was changed as Forest Resource Information System (FRIS). This system is expected to give integrated information of forest in Indonesia as a basic data to support decision in forest management.

A better forest information system is still needed, that means improvement of previous system has to be continued. The information system we need is one that enables the foresters to timely access accurate data including detail condition of current forests both at the local and the national level. The system should also enable people to forecast future forest based on current trend, to share data for collaborative decision making, to improve communication across department and levels, to reduce duplication and efforts, and to give fast service to the goverment and the public.

A study should aim to evaluate and improve the existing forest information system currently implelemented by the Indonesian goverment. Besides creating databases, the system should provide models required to support decision making. The system should also accomodate new paradigm of forest management that focuses on ecosystem and landscape. D. Eligibil ity • Academic staff members of the Universitas Gadjah Mada Faculties of Forestry, Law,

Social and Political Sciences, Economics and Business, and Cultural Sciences with a master degree are eligible to apply for the ISB PhD Scholarship.

• Applicants must perform an excellent mastery of English. • Applicants must not have received a scholarship from any other funding agencies for the

proposed research project. • Successful applicants must stay at the University of Agder, Norway for her/his PhD study,

with a certain period of field research in Indonesia. E. How to apply PhD applications are due on March 10 every year for the commencement of September 1 in the same calendar year. Interested candidates should send to the PhD Scholarship Program coordinator, Dr Muh. Najib Azca ([email protected]), the following documents:

1. a research proposal (2,500 words) 2. a statement of motivation 3. a letter of recommendation from an academics in the field related to the proposed

research project 4. a curriculum vitae, including samples of relevant publications

  11  

IV. Post-doctoral Scholarship Program A. Description The twentieth century may be called as the age of government in Indonesia, where many aspects of everyday life and social institutions were under strong control of government policies. Since the 1870s economic liberalization the role of private sectors in the country had been growing so that by the early twentieth century plantation and mining industries served as the largest contributor to gross domestic product and as the biggest job provider, second to small-holding farming. So powerful the private sectors were that without creating waves they managed to exert control over colonial government policy on fiscal, labour and agrarian issues. The Pacific War put the trend into a halt, and as the post-colonial Indonesian government gained power in 1957 the sectors were summarily nationalized. It was just in the mid 1980s when it became obvious that the economic dynamics of the country was far beyond the government political ability to contain it; then the issue of private sector officially once again re-emerged. Slowly, the private sectors regained their roles as providers of job, infrastructure and public services. In subtler and often more illicit ways, they also provide pseudo budget without which many government agencies—civil and military all alike—could only function minimally. As the twenty-first century dawns, it is for everybody to see whether for Indonesia the new century is the age of private sector.

The emergence of private sectors has in effect led to the rise and empowerment of the middle classes. In the pre-colonial and early colonial era, Indonesian society was divided simply into the ruling class and commoners, with a slice of weak middle-class traders. Later on a bit bigger groups of middle-class elite were formed by a growing number of priyayi, colonial and post-colonial public servants. Nowadays, the presence of the middle classes with mainly citizens of a private sector background is undeniable both economically and politically. Amazingly, it seems, the emergence of the private sectors has led to the re-emergence of cooperatives, the socially based and oriented economic institution. During the heyday of government in the twentieth century, cooperatives suffered a great degree of abuse both at the central and local levels. At the central level cooperatives were transformed into their political vehicle by the ruling government and by politicians and their cronies as to empower their own businesses. At the village levels, cooperatives were manipulated by local elites to maintain their domination over village’s social-economic life. For reasons that still need to be exposed to the lights, the era of private sectors also witnesses the emergence of cooperatives—either under the name of credit union or just cooperative. On the other hands, it seems the emergence of private sectors—and perhaps hand in hand with cooperatives—has led to a serious ecosystem transformation all over the country, of forest into plantations and mining sites, of fertile farmlands into industrial sites and real estates, of infusing tons of carbon into the clean tropical air.

Indonesia is a vast country with high and various degrees of ecological, social, public administration, cultural, and even legal practices. It is also obvious that every aspect is tightly embedded with each other, creating a large, singular pattern of dynamics, which at a closer observation is not singular at all. How do we map and understand these dynamics at local level on a specific regional context, through an inter-disciplinary approach, combining

  12  

knowledge and methodology from political science, economics, cultural studies, laws and forestry management?

B. Eligibil ity Academic staff members of the Faculties of Forestry, Laws, Political and Social Sciences, Economics and Business, and Cultural Sciences of Gadjah Mada University with a Ph.D. degree are eligible to apply. C. How to apply Interested candidates should send a well-developed research proposal of 2,500 words to the Post-doctoral Program coordinator, Prof Dr Wihana Kirana Jaya ([email protected]) by December 7 every year for the program commencing the following year. D. Delivery Each post-doctoral fellow is obliged to produce at least one article for international journal based on research. At the end of the program, a fellow has to submit at least one article accompanied by a letter of acceptance from the editor of an international journal relevant to his/her discipline. E. Term of payment An amount of Rp 200 million is allocated per selected post-doctoral proposal. As much as 75% of the budget will be paid at the start of the program, the rest 25% will be paid at the end of the program as the post-doc fellow produces the expected outcome (an article for international journal accompanied with letter of acceptance from the editor). F. Research topics The following are examples of sub-themes under the overall topic of ‘Welfare and Local Regimes’ that we aim to include in the post-doctoral research. Several of the themes will also be suitable for doctoral studies. A high number of researchers from both Indonesian and Norwegian institutions have participated in identifying these sub-themes and are eager to participate in joint-research activities. - Reformation of current decentralization laws in Indonesia - Roles and improvement potentials for local political and bureaucratic institutions - Impacts of decentralization on economic growth, equity, corruption, and sustainable

development in Indonesia - National rules for the issuing of local regulations (perda) - Mechanisms and processes of local power and welfare distribution - Fair distribution and efficiency of public services in education and health - National laws and local regulations for public service delivery - CSR (corporate social responsibility) as alternative to public services and

infrastructure development - Legal regulations of CSR in Indonesia

  13  

- Legal aspects of cooperatives and non-profit organizations - Popular Indonesian slogan, “The best government is the least government”, - is it

correct? - Regional and social inequalities in Social Safety Net Programs (eg. JPSBK) - Fair and transparent distribution of REDD+ funds for economic development - Abatement cost analyses of land-use change - Social profitability of local environmental services - Climate change and welfare at local level - Problems of top-down and centralized models for environmental protection - Youth and the conscience on environmental degradation - Employment creation by innovation, entrepreneurship and microcredit - Impacts of global trends on local economies - Gender perspectives on local employment - Improved systems for integrating planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation of

public policies and service delivery - Strategies for civil service competence and capacity building - Enhanced local welfare by improved information systems and knowledge

dissemination - Access to information and challenges of information asymmetry - Consumption vs. investment of enhanced local income - Re-establishing welfare after disasters - Potentials and strategies for fair and efficient tax collection - Local cooperatives and the handling of microcredit for investment - Forest resource utilization and environmental sustainability - Legal aspects of forest resource utilization: national vs. adat laws - Overlapping and contradicting laws on resource utilization and environmental

protection - Poverty alleviation and livelihood creation in remote areas - Community involvement in decision making and implementation of forest activities - Fair and equitable benefit-sharing mechanism for natural resource utilization - Non-timber forest products and appropriate processing technologies - Models of community-based forest and resource management - Reestablishing welfare after disasters

  14  

V. List of Personnel Steering Committee :

-Prof. Dr Wihana Kirana Jaya, Dean of Faculty of Economics and Business -Dr Erwan Agus Purwanto, Dean of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences -Dr Satyawan Pudyatmoko, Dean of Faculty of Forestry -Dr Pujo Semedi Hargo Yuwono, Dean of Faculty of Cultural Sciences -Dr Paripurna Sugarda, Dean of Faculty of Law

Chairman : Dr Pujo Semedi Hargo Yuwono Co-chair : Dr Agus Pramusinto Executive officer : Dr Agus Suwignyo Master Program Coordinator : Dr Agus Suwignyo PhD Program Coordinator : Dr Muh. Najib Azca Post-doctoral Program Coordinator : Prof Dr Wihana Kirana Jaya

___________________ Cover photographs: Pujo Semedi Hargo Yuwono

©2912013/