Old Weapons for a New War: Mobilizations of Nationalist Language within Indonesian Political Discourse, 1991-1997

Abstract

This thesis discusses the transformation and political mobilization of the language of Indonesian nationalism in the period of the early 1990s. Political language developed in the framework of cold war politics were adapted to address social changes triggered by the end of the cold war. This analysis is based upon a close reading of two documents: a 1992 issue of Persepsi, a journal of political theory published by a New Order policymaking institution, and an excerpt of a 1997 memoir of businessman and Suharto cousin Sudwikatmono which centers around the 1995 Jimbaran conference. Using these documents, this thesis explores the transformations internal to the policy-making institution’s perception of causes of social change, and the ways in which this language was adapted by a rising oligarchy to consolidate their class power in anticipation of the fall of Suharto.