Chapter Five. Urban Poor Activism and Political Agency in Post– New Order Jakarta

This chapter explains that the urban poor played a significant role in the protests that brought down Suharto. Then, after 1998, some organizations emerged that supported the urban poor in their efforts to reform their local communities. But there was no coherent movement during the New Order, nor has there been since. Instead, the urban poor have had to look after themselves, engaging in the politics of the everyday and using defensive forms of action to protect their gains and respond to impending threats. The most significant change since democratization has been the recognition of the urban poor as a voting constituency. Nevertheless, in the absence of a political party with a particular and demonstrated interest in the politics of the poor, activism in support of the urban poor remains fragmented and confined primarily to individual rather than collective action.