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The survival of state-owned enterprises and continued investment by the state were assisted by high rates of economic growth in Indonesia throughout the 1980s. But the 1997 currency crisis in the region had destroyed the expectation that rapid growth would continue. It appears that the crisis has reintroduced momentum for reform in the huge state-enterprise sector. In response to IMF pressure and its own fiscal difficulties, the government took several measures to reform the state sector. The economic crisis provided a catalyst because it forced the government to assess more seriously the value of state companies. With Indonesia in its fifth year of crisis, there is an urgent need to sell state-owned assets to relieve the state budget. The special seminar examines the impact of the crisis on these state enterprises, including the debate over privatization and the emergence of strong resistance against reform. It appears that the crisis has strengthened the hand of reformers seeking to privatize the state sector. However, despite the logic of government efforts to reform inefficient state companies, there has been a battle with every step towards privatization.

This paper discusses the social history of Arab communities in Java during the enormous transformations brought about by nineteenth century Dutch imperialism. In less than one hundred years, colonial rule put in place racialized policies and ideas that had lasting implications. These introductions, nevertheless, did not eliminate longstanding forms of cultural diversity. The advance of 'race' with nineteenth century European imperialism is well known. Its substantive implications for social history, especially in the case of Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has been less widely studied. Dutch colonialists believed Islam and Arabs to be inseparable, and the mix a potential threat to their rule. They were watchful of Arab communities as a result. Who and what constituted 'Arab' was nevertheless always contested.