ABSTRACT
This chapter treats the interplay of state apparatuses (wong gede) and the commoners (wong cilik) as a terrain of political contestation. It discusses how each party imagines ‘Indonesia-ness’, during and after the authoritarian rule of Suharto’s regime, and how they contest it in their everyday lives — are the issues. At the level of the wong cilik, ‘Suharto mesem’ has a pejorative sense rather than being a positive or even a neutral term. This is because this money was often used to bribe police officers, for instance, to release any street kids captured on Malioboro Street or to bribe officers in order to get a driving license made. The creativity of the urban wong cilik in expressing the ideas and in challenging the wong gede is manifested in many ways. It highlights the process of continual marginalization of the wong cilik in urban areas which has, to a significant extent, made them more reliant on their own resources.
