Conflict management in Indonesia’s post-authoritarian democracy: resource contestation, power dynamics and brokerage

Contestation over land, resource access and rents has long underpinned both sub-national conflicts and centre-periphery tensions in Indonesia. This paper explores resource conflict management in Indonesia, with a particular focus on the political economy of Riau province. It argues a centre-periphery bargain was struck at the onset of democratisation to redistribute a larger proportion of oil and gas rents to Riau, de-escalating support for the emergent Free Riau Movement. Through a combination of national and sub-national political settlements between narrow but adaptive coalitions of political-private sector elite interests, these coalitions have maintained their power and control over resource rents in three key sectors: oil and gas, timber, and palm oil. Brokers have been instrumental in maintaining the influence of these coalitions over time – helping to co-opt households into industry supply chains, who then support aligned political elites. This has produced relative stability in the political order in Riau, but one which displays the tenets of illiberalism in which the space for contestation is limited and social interests tend to acquiesce for small gains.