Expensive and Dangerous

Indonesia has been renowned as one of the countries that manage to have escaped the natural resource curse (Rosser 2007). This paper presents an analysis of the six Indonesian high-conflict provinces utilizing the recently acquired ViCIS dataset. Preliminary findings from the qualitative case studies challenge the extent of the argument: even though natural resources by itself do not lead to inevitable conflict, it holds an important role in Indonesia‟s development. Its complex interaction with other socio-economic factors such as inequality, poverty, ethnic or religious grievances, and political instabilities should be given closer scrutiny. Recent increases in the global commodity price trends present a growing challenge in better management of these resources. Furthermore, this paper concurs with Bertrand (2004) in the importance of the New Order legacies in characterizing conflict in Indonesia today.