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Some insight into Ma’rufnomics
A seasoned politician from the pro-government Hanura Party has released a book called Ma'rufnomics: Indonesia's New Economy.
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Ma'rufnomics: Indonesia's New Economy (JP/Paul Sutaryono)
T
hroughout Indonesia’s history, the country’s economic model has proven malleable in accordance with the interests of the governing regime.
From 1945, the Sukarno regime espoused a model dubbed the Berdikari Ekonomi (Self-Reliance Economy). This model was supposedly the practical manifestation of Sukarno’s socialistic ideology known as Marhaenism, in which a society must prioritize the production of enough goods to support itself first.
When dictator Soeharto rose to power in 1968, the approach to developing the Indonesian economy took another turn. Soeharto’s New Order regime put a heavy focus on developmentalism, which needed the support of national stability and high economic growth.
While Soeharto’s economic plan might look good on paper, in its practical development, it led to a high level of corruption, something that was corrected by B.J. Habibie, who replaced Soeharto after the downfall of the New Order regime in 1998.
The end of the New Order marked the beginning of political reforms that led to the continuous improvement of economic models.
After Soeharto, Indonesia practically became an open democracy in which anyone could become the president, thus allowing for new approaches to economic development under various presidents from Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid to Megawati Soekarnoputri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and, most recently, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
Jokowi, recently directly elected for a second and final presidential term, will continue the development of Indonesia’s economic model with his vice president Ma’ruf Amin.
