Change or Continuity? Rethinking Neoliberal Trajectory amidst Regime Change in Indonesia

After the Asian crisis and the unfavourable IMF loans to Asia, neoliberalism has faced mounting opposition in Indonesia, for it is considered a political agenda and ideology from outside. Simultaneously, the newly democratic gov-ernment under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is labelled a neoliberal government for the neoliberal technocrats he has appointed and some neolib-eral policies he has made. In contrast, it could also be argued that the legacy of Soeharto‘s authoritarian regime has confined the exogenous pressure of neo-liberal reform. This research will depict and challenge those particular readings of neolib-eralism. In particular, the paper examines the change and continuity of neolib-eral trajectory amidst the regime change; by examining the power structure of the actors, their policies, and historical events in Indonesia’s political economy. Tracing back the neoliberalization from the beginning of Soeharto’s authoritar-ian regime to Yudhoyono’s democratic regime, this research finds that the neo-liberal trajectory in Indonesia is the dialectical process between change and continuity.