Social Change in Southeast Asia 0582317347

Citation preview

Social Change in Southeast Asia edited by Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt, Jacques Hersh and Niels Fold

1

LONGMAN

Addison Wesley Longman Limited Edinburgh Gate Harlow

Essex CM20 QJE

United Kingdom and Associated Companies throughout the world

Published in the United States 0f America by Addison Wesley Longman, New York © Addison Wesley Longman Limited 1998 All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without either

the prior written permission of the Fublishers or a iicence permitting restricted copying in the United

Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd., 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. First published 1997 ISBN 0-582-31734-7

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication~Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Fublication Data

Set by 3 in 10/ I lpt Palatino Produced through Longman Malaysia, PA

iv

Contents

Preface Acknowledger enis

vii

ix xi

Abbreviations Map

xiii xiv

Contributotfs Introduction .

Changing realities of social transition in Southeast Asia jolfzannes Dragsbaek Schmidt, jacques Hersh and Niels Fold

I

Part 1 The internal and external dynamics of social conflict in Southeast Asia 1

The impact of US strategy: making Southeast Asia safe for capitalism Jacques Hersh

2 The custodian state and social change creating growth without welfare Ioharmes Dragsbczek Schmidt 3 The emergence of the middle classes in Southeast Asia and the Indonesian case Richard Robeson

23

.-..

40

60

Part 2 Classes, culture and political legitimation

4 Class, culture and Malaysian modernity

foe! S. Kahn.

81

5 The legitimacy of the public sphere and culture of the new urban middle class in the Philippines

Niels Mulder

6 Ethnicity, class and human resource management in Singapore Dravid Drakaki5-Smith

98

114

Part 3 Industrialization and l a b o r regulation 7 8

The wage-labour nexus in Malaysia's industrial development Niels Fold and Arne Wankel

133

The labour market in Vietnam: between state incorporation and

autonomy Irene Noerlund

155 7)

Social change in Southeast Asia 9 Inconsistencies and inequities in Thai industrialization Son boon Siriprachai Conclusion

Societal forces and class constellations behind Southeast Asian capitalism Ioharmes Dragsbaek Schmidt,

Jacques Hersh and Niels Fold

Index

'vi

183

206

228

Prefer ce

-Southeast

This collection of contributions by international specialists on Asia is the result of collaboration made possible through the Nordic Association for Southeast Asian Studies alumni support from Research

Centre on Development and International Relations if Aalborg University, Denmark. The intention of the editors of this volume is to draw attention to the evolution of social relations in a region of the world which finds itself in a dynamic process of economic growth and transformation. The volume is divided into three comprehensive parts around the thematics of the internal and external dynamics behind social change in Southeast Asia; the issue of classes and development, culture and political legitimation, the industrialization process and the question of l a b o r regula son. The editors have written a substantial introduction and concl usion which problernatize these emerging 'miracle societies' and draw some international and general perspectives, theoretically as well as empirically. These two chapters emphasize the need for a reorientation in budding theories and the way scholars approach the subjects involved. The contributions have been commissioned and written so as to reflect as far as possible the variety of substantive subjects involved. Nine of the

chapters were presented in an earlier form to a conference on 'Emerging Classes and Growing Inequalities in Southeast Asia' held in Denmark. All have been substantially rewritten, and some completely recast, in the light of the debate and critical comments which emerged from subsequent exchanges . While the chapters differ markedly in their focus and approach as well as cases, they each constitute an attempt to rethink and reintroduce the nexus of social change taking place in Southeast Asia. The extent to which the state is able to manage the process of transformation through its influence on the behavior of society can be grasped by looking at the economic, political and cultural spheres. Economic growth and industrialization by definition transform the given societal foundations and give rise to new constellations Of interests.

In the final analysis these reflect the social composition of these dynamic

vii

Social change in Southeast Asia

societies. In Southeast Asia, the emergence of a middle class and the ideology of consumerism constitute a novel element in the strategy of late modernization. This creates tensions as to how to stage-manage the reIationship between the different act the state, the market and civil society. Each individual chapter approaches the problem from the point of departure of the author's interest. Thus, themes such as democratization, the role of the middle classes, social engineering, the political economy of industrialization, culture and consumerism, which all reflect the reality of present-day Southeast Asia, are implicitly or explicitly discussed by the

contributors.

viii

Acknowledgements

The editors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Danish Social Science Research Council, the Council. of Development Research and the Department of Development and Planning, at Aalborl University. We express grateful thanks for critical comments from the Chair of the Nordic Association for Southeast Asian Studies, Ingela Palrngren, Department of Economic History at Lund University, and colleagues at the Research Centre on Development and International Relations, Li Xing and Susanne Thorbek. Addison Wesley Longinan's Matthew Smith's encouragement is highly appreciated, and stimulating ideas from three anonymous reviewers have been taken into consideration in the final revision of the book. Furthermore, important and valuable suggestions were given by the following: Kamaruding Absulsomad, Bund fit Pien-Ampai, Anne Jerneck, Leena Orr berg and Xiaolin Pei, Lund University; Rune Tjelland PRIO, Oslo, Thor my Svensson and Hans AntlOv, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies; Anne Karen BOcher, Anne Marie Skovsgaard, Lotte Thomsen and Jakob Lindahl, Institute of Geography, Copenhagen; GOran Lindgren, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala, Monica Lindberg-Falk, Department of Social Anthropology, Gothenburg; I-ledvig

Bronson, Department of History, Stockholm, Lars Kjérholm, School of Social Anthropology, Aarhus; Daniel Flemming International Development Studies, Roskilde; Marja-Leena Heikkila-Horn, Institute an Historical Religion, Aabo; Erja Kettunen, Helsinki School of Economics. The patience and continued support of Ellen Nyrup are highly appreciated. Without her professional skills and good sense this manuscript would never have been improved. We would also like to thank Morten Nejsig Olesen, Yao Christensen and Tommy Andersen for their help at various stages of the project. As always, all ideas and criticisms from any of the above mentioned scholars and friends are totally absolved from blame for the final result in this book. It is, of course, the sole responsibility of the editors and individual authors.

ix

We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material :

The World Bank for tables 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 from Sustaining Rap? Development In; East Asia and the Pacmc. Development in Practice Series. The World Bank 1993; Dr Dang Due Dam for tables 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5 from Dang Due Dam - Vietnam's Economy 1986-1995, The Gioi Fublishers, Hanoi 1995; Proteesor Gerry Rodgers and The International Instinite for Labour Studies for figures 7.1 and 7.2 from Boyer in Gerry Rodgers (ed) Workers, Institu tions and Economic Growth aN Asia, International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva 1994 Whilst every effort has been made to trace owners of copyright material, in a new cases this has proved impossible and we would like to take this opportunity to apologise to any copyright holders whose rights we may have unwittingly infringed.

x

Abbreviations

AFP AFTA ARDP ASEAN ASEAN-4

BOI CENT()

CFI DAP DRV EPR EOI EPZ FDI FELDA PEER PPE GATT

GDP GNP HCMC HDB ICMI ILO ILSSA IMF ISI JPRS LDC MITI MNC

MTUC

Amerce France Press ASEAN Free Trade Area Accelerated Rural Development Program (Thailand) Association of South-East Asian Nations Associ anion of. South-East Asian Nations, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines Board of Investment Central Treaty Organization Consumer Price Index Democratic Action Party Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) Effective Rates of Protection Export Oriented Industrialization

Economic Processing Zones Foreign Direct Investment Federal Land Development Authority Far Eastern Economic Review Financial Public Enterprise General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Cross Domestic Product Gross National Product Ho Chi Minh City

Housing Development Board The Association of Muslim Intellectuals International Labour Organization Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs International Monetary Fund Import-Substitution Indy trialization Joint Press Release Service

Less Developed Country Ministry of International Trade & Industry Multinational Corporation Malayan Trade Union Congress

xi

Social change in Southeast Asia NATO NEP NESDB NFPE NGO NIC NIDL NPA NPP NSC NTUC OPEC PAP PAS (PMIP) PDI SAL SATU SDU SEATO

SMI SOE SSA

STUC TNC UMNO UNDP VGCL

xii

North Atlantic Treaty Organization New Economic Policy (Malaysia) National Economic and Social Development Board Non~Financial. Public Enterprise Non-Governmental Organization Newly Industrializing Country New International Division of Labour (Malaysia) fPhilinnines) New Peebles' Arms __r New Population Policy (Singapore) National Security Council (US) National Trades Union Congress 1

"""""].'["*""';

Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries

Peoples' Action Party (Singapore) Patti Islam Self/lalaysia (Pan-Malayan Islamic Party) Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (Indonesian Democratic Party) Structural Adjustment Loans (Thailand)

Singapore Association of Trade Unions Social Development Unit (Singapore) Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

Small and la/Iedium~sized Industries State-owned Enterprises Social Structure of Accumulation

Singapore Trade Union Congress Transnational Corporation United Malyas National Organization United Nations Development Program

Vietnam General Confederation of Labour

'».

CHINA Hanoi

BURMA LABS

I

•

I

"¥

,,

Taipei

HONG

%

n

».

_; >

P

,

E*