TY - JOUR
T1 - Spooks, Goons, ‘Intellectuals’: The Military-Catholic Network in the Cold War Diplomacy of Suharto’s Indonesia
AU - Nair, Deepak
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - This article foregrounds a case of informal diplomacy with far
reaching consequences for the international politics of
postcolonial Indonesia and capitalist Southeast Asia during the
Cold War. The case is Suharto’s New Order Indonesia (1966–
1998), where the Republic’s diplomacy was dominated not by the
foreign ministry but by a small elite network (jaringan) of
sectarian activists of Catholic faith allied with military officers of
an intelligence background against Communism and Islam.
Operating under the patronage of intelligence czar Ali Murtopo,
this jaringan emerged as a powerful and conservative channel of
influence on the early New Order and steered some of its major
diplomatic initiatives: from the covert diplomacy that ended
Konfrontasi, and the founding and elaboration of ASEAN’s
diplomacy, to planning and justifying the annexation of East
Timor in 1975. The article moves in three steps. One, it situates
the New Order’s informal diplomats in the long arc of diplomacy
in postcolonial Indonesia. Two, it atomizes this network in
sociological terms and probes how the habitus of its members
shaped the substance and style of their diplomatic practices.
Three, it examines the main foreign policy initiatives of this
network. This Indonesian case brings to the study of informal
diplomacy an appreciation of how partisan networks embedded
in domestic and international circuits – rather than standalone
individuals – shore up a strongman. It also offers insight into the
tortured fightback by actors of ‘formal’ diplomacy as they come
under the assault of informal diplomats and their patrons.
AB - This article foregrounds a case of informal diplomacy with far
reaching consequences for the international politics of
postcolonial Indonesia and capitalist Southeast Asia during the
Cold War. The case is Suharto’s New Order Indonesia (1966–
1998), where the Republic’s diplomacy was dominated not by the
foreign ministry but by a small elite network (jaringan) of
sectarian activists of Catholic faith allied with military officers of
an intelligence background against Communism and Islam.
Operating under the patronage of intelligence czar Ali Murtopo,
this jaringan emerged as a powerful and conservative channel of
influence on the early New Order and steered some of its major
diplomatic initiatives: from the covert diplomacy that ended
Konfrontasi, and the founding and elaboration of ASEAN’s
diplomacy, to planning and justifying the annexation of East
Timor in 1975. The article moves in three steps. One, it situates
the New Order’s informal diplomats in the long arc of diplomacy
in postcolonial Indonesia. Two, it atomizes this network in
sociological terms and probes how the habitus of its members
shaped the substance and style of their diplomatic practices.
Three, it examines the main foreign policy initiatives of this
network. This Indonesian case brings to the study of informal
diplomacy an appreciation of how partisan networks embedded
in domestic and international circuits – rather than standalone
individuals – shore up a strongman. It also offers insight into the
tortured fightback by actors of ‘formal’ diplomacy as they come
under the assault of informal diplomats and their patrons.
U2 - 10.1080/02757206.2021.1946051
DO - 10.1080/02757206.2021.1946051
M3 - Article
SN - 0275-7206
VL - 33
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - History and Anthropology
JF - History and Anthropology
IS - 3
ER -