Reinventing Indonesia.

• Position: Book review

Reinventing Indonesia. By Ginandjar Kartasasmita and Joseph J. Stern. Singapore: World Scientific, 2016. Hardcover: 291pp. Reinventing Indonesia charts the development of Indonesia's political economy and path to democracy since the country achieved independence in 1945. Since the downfall of Suharto's authoritarian regime in May 1998, Indonesia has been regarded as one of the most successful examples of democratization in the world. This co-authored book offers insightful views on the history of Indonesia's political economy, some of the key challenges it faced and how the government dealt with them.

The authors, Ginandjar Kartasasmita and Joseph J. Stern, begin their book by briefly charting Indonesia's sixty-year journey from independence to democracy. They summarize the country's regime changes from President Sukarno to President B.J. Habibie. They also explain how the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis buckled the economy and how the government eventually managed to overcome the crisis and kick start economic growth. Kartasasmita, who served as the Coordinating Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry (1998-99) and had previously been the head of the National Development Planning Agency (1993-98), provides valuable insights into that period of crisis and reform. Stern, the Project Coordinator for the Harvard Institute for International Development, has had extensive professional experience in assisting Indonesian decision-makers. The authors' expertise and familiarity with the country's major political and economic issues accords them in a unique position to analyze Indonesia's democratization and economic development.

The organization of this book allows readers to easily understand the changes to Indonesia's political economy in chronological order. In each chapter, Kartasasmita and Stern describe in detail the country's political changes, the policies adopted by governments and the impact those policies had on Indonesia's economic and political development. Taking note of how Suharto maintained power for thirty-two years, Kartasasmita and Stern explain that the New Order regime relied on three political forces--the military, the Golkar party and the civil service--to retain power, and initiated three major economic reforms--the balanced budget rule, the removal of all restrictions on capital inflows and outflows, and the unification of multiple exchange rates to help maintain the real value of the currency. The Suharto regime also...