Electrifying Indonesia: Technology and Social Justice in National Development.

• Date: 01 April 2024
• Author: Sambodo, Maxensius Tri

Electrifying Indonesia: Technology and Social Justice in National Development. By Anto Mohsin. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2023. Hardcover: 247pp.

Instead of exploring energy production through the prism of innovation, Electrifying Indonesia uses theories of "sociotechnical systems" and "patrimonial technopolitics" to examine how increasing society's access to electricity is fundamentally political. Indeed, developing a country's electricity sector is closely related to social justice, national development and nation-building.

Anto Mohsin begins with a sweep of Indonesian history, starting with the colonial period. For the Dutch colonialists, expanding Indonesia's access to electricity was fundamentally for the benefit of Dutch-owned companies, not the indigenous Indonesians. When Japanese troops marched into the country in early 1942, much of its electricity infrastructure was destroyed. It was an uphill battle to get it up and running again after the Indonesian National Revolution (1945-49). The newly independent government's paltry funds and internal disagreements meant it had to make tough choices over nationalizing the...