Economic Corridor Policy, Land Concentration and ‘Social Exclusion': Java’s Economic Corridor Policy Implementation, Indonesia

The economic corridor policy can be seen as an attempt to create the location, condition and an expansion target of capital to be circulating. The characteristic of capitalism, which always looks for new areas to invest its surpluses, is the key-word to understand the logic of ‘the economic corridors policy’. Meanwhile, within a country, the need for development and improved economic growth rates are the justification for implementation of the economic corridor’s policy such as the Indonesia’s Master Plan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI). To encourage the MP3EI’s policy initiative, the need for massive economic development, which will create growth, meets the interests of capitalists which must be rotating their capital in order to accumulate surplus value of capital. This study focuses on the grand scheme of economic corridor policy, which leads to land grabbing, land concentration and social exclusion and/or adverse incorporation in Java, Indonesia. Instead of seeing only the economic growth targeted in this scheme, this study will focus on the process that this scenario of economic corridor policy causes on land use. A capital-driven model of economic growth includes in this scheme the symptoms of land grabbing as a process within the operation in which land concentration and social exclusion will be additional results. Based on the indications of Java Economic Corridor implementation, it can be seen that land concentration will occur because of an economic development policy that emphasizes economic growth. In this case, production activities and growth are preferred over the welfare of the people. While 'social exclusion' is happening, not merely because of the fact people have been expelled from their territory, but in this study, more people are being converted into productive workers (adverse incorporation) in the productive sector developed through development projects.