ABSTRACT
Vivek Neelakantan’s chapter examines the health policies of Indonesia throughout the Cold War era and analyzes the changing interpretation of public health in national reconstruction from the Soekarno era (Old Order, 1949–1966) to the Soeharto government (New Order, 1966–1998). It pays special attention to Indonesia’s policies toward international aid and its efforts to maintain an independent foreign policy under Soekarno before the shift to adopt the American model of economic development during Soeharto’s government. Neelakantan explains that during the Soekarno era the health of the people played an important role in the completion of the national revolution and the establishment of a socialist society. During the Soeharto era, public health was not perceived as a security risk for the state. The central government under Soeharto implemented health policies such as family planning down to the village level and charged significant user fees at health centers in local communities. Neelakantan argues that the overarching theme of health policy across the Old and New Orders was national development (pembangunan), but the paths to which were interpreted very differently by the Old and New Orders. The chapter makes an explicit connection to current public health concerns by investigating how epidemic diseases such as H5N1 influenza and COVID-19 were handled by the decentralized health administration of Indonesia.
