NEITHER ORWELLIAN NOR HUXLEYAN: THE AUTHORITARIAN STATE IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Depictions of an authoritarian state most of the time fall into one of the two categories. The first is Orwellian: whereby a central state maintains control through fear, repression, and constant surveillance of its subjects; the other is a Huxleyan state, in which pleasure, happiness, and distraction serve as a better mechanism of control. As a consequence, a dichotomous version of an authoritarian state is presented: either the subjects are forced to comply using state apparatus or their resistance is defused and made unthinkable by constant distractions. Studying the case of Indonesia, neither of these versions could explain the complexity of the mechanisms used during its authoritarian period. Analyzing Suharto’s New Order in Indonesia , this paper argues that recourse to illegitimate violence and repression would not be sufficient to maintain the regime. On the other hand, a Huxleyan vision, which alludes that the subject internalizes their domination and is blindly obedient, renders collective resistance as impossible and thus undermines any social movement that could overthrow the regime. Using a Foucauldian approach to discourse and his conception of governmentality, this study delves into a more subtle, anonymous, form of power that maintained Suharto’s New Order for thirty-two years

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