Arief Budiman

Who is Arief Budiman?

Arief Budiman, also known as Soe Hok Djin, is the older brother of Soe Hok Gie. He graduated from Kolese Kanisius, a Jesuit high school, and then Universitas Indonesia where he earned a bachelor degree in psychology in 1968. In 1980, he earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University, USA. He is a Chinese Indonesian sociologist and was a lecturer at the Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga, Indonesia until 1996. From 1997 until the time of this writing, he is a professor in Indonesian studies in University of Melbourne, Australia.

He is a vocal critic of Indonesian politics. For example, he is quoted in Adam Schwarz's book A Nation in Waiting as having elucidated the following analysis of third world democracy in 1992, while Suharto was still in power:

"The first is what I would call loan democracy. This democracy exists when the state is very strong so it can afford to be criticised. A sort of democratic space then emerges in which people can express their opinions freely. However, when the state thinks the criticism has gone too far, it will simply take back the democracy that it has only lent. The people have no power to resist. There is, second, limited democracy. This democracy exists only when there is a conflict among the state elites ... People can criticise one faction of the 'powers that be' and be protected by the opposite faction ... However, when the conflict within the elite is over, this democratic space will probably disappear also."