Covert Planning for Social Transformation in Indonesia

Public engagement in planning can be viewed as a continuum ranging from local inclusion in synoptic planning schemes devised by the state to participation in grassroots social movements that seek broader social transformation. This continuum is incomplete because it does not elucidate how local people plan for social transformation within highly restrictive political environments where responses to social activism encompass real physical and social harm. The article draws on historical and contemporary analysis of social change in Indonesia and Malaysia together with a case study from Indonesia to demonstrate that social transformation does occur within environments where overt radical action is dangerous. In these circumstances, it takes a more subtle and nuanced form of collective action, here referred to as covert planning.