A. H. Nasution and Indonesia's Elites by Barry Turner


ISBN
9781498560115
Published
Binding
Hardcover
Pages
294
Dimensions
160 x 237 x 24mm

This is an account of the military, political and personal life of Abdul Harus Nasution who was a seminal figure in modern Indonesian history in the years prior to his effective sidelining in the 1960s. He was an important commander during Indonesia's struggle for independence, who rose to become a key leader of the Indonesian armed forces under the first president, Sukarno. Perhaps more significantly, he developed ideas about guerrilla warfare that developed into a sophisticated and socially conservative doctrine for the mobilising of civilian communities. This, in turn, became the underpinning of the repressive, military-backed New Order regime of Indonesia's second president, Suharto, who ruled from 1966 until 1998, and which Nasution initially supported.

Understanding Nasution's thinking about 'total people's resistance' is therefore very important for understanding the broader trajectory of Indonesian political history. That includes both the New Order and the emerging democratic regime that developed after its collapse. The new political system that called itself 'the Refom Era' was, in many ways, a direct reaction to the New Order military's penetration and close control of Indonesian society but it has never dismantled the 'shadow' state' structure of the armed forces that Nasution designed and Suharto perfected. In other words, as this book shows, Nasution's legacy still looms large today in Jokowi's Indonesia.

This is not the first assessment of Nasution's life but it differs from earlier works by its investigation of Nasution's personal life and, in particular, his relationship with the well-off and well-connected Gondokusumo family, of which he became a member by his marriage to Johana Sunarti Gondokusumo. The author's thorough investigation of Nasution's relationship with Sunarti and her father offers important new insights into how Nasution's ideas evolved, as does the translations of important extracts from Nasution's own voluminous writing included in the text.
Christmas Catalogue 2024 x BookFrenzy
169.99
RRP: $199.99
15% off RRP


This product is unable to be ordered online. Please check in-store availability.
Instore Price: $199.99
Enter your Postcode or Suburb to view availability and delivery times.

Other Titles by Barry Turner


You might also like

Putins People
24.99
21.24
15% Off
A Promised Land
65.00
25.00
62% Off
PATRIOT
55.00
46.75
15% Off

RRP refers to the Recommended Retail Price as set out by the original publisher at time of release.
The RRP set by overseas publishers may vary to those set by local publishers due to exchange rates and shipping costs.
Due to our competitive pricing, we may have not sold all products at their original RRP.