Surabaya, Indonesia: Local Agenda 21 in the context of radical political reform

Against a background of unrest and violent demonstrations and the demise of the Suharto regime in Indonesia, Adrian Atkinson highlights the activities of the Metropolitan Environmental Improvement Project (MEIP) in the city of Surabaya. He discusses, how through this project, the Surabaya Urban Forum was established, which in contrast to many Local Agenda 21 forums in the UK, genuinely encouraged "more profound discussions on the nature of politics". In particular, the urban forum was keen to identify itself with civic society rather than the corrupt government and the more technocratic World Bank. However, such bottom-up schemes face major problems in a context such as Indonesia of, for example, implementing participatory techniques alongside centralized forms of governance and of raising awareness in the face of an authoritarian government. While Atkinson's discussion recognizes the need to radically decentralize power and resources, he remains sceptical about the extent to which projects such as the Surabaya Urban Forum can tackle really difficult issues such as inequalities of wealth and income in Indonesia. Atkinson ends by lamenting the lack of consensus as to what "appropriate development" might look like.