Indonesian Society and Its Intermediaries: The Changing Profile of Middlemen

In some developing countries, intermediaries (middlemen) play an important social role as economic institutions and as structuring elements of a dense social network. Research on the characteristics of middlemen in Indonesia has had several developments in response to changes in the country's political and socio-economic context. During the colonial period, studies focused on the intermediary as a political, socio-economic and customary actor (adat) whose strong social position predisposed him to be an interlocutor with the colonial government; for example, the Chinese Indonesians or the priyaji (Javanese nobility). The intermediaries' considerable economic capacity was often combined with their education and knowledge of the modern world. They acted as a bridge between the modern world and 'inward-looking' traditional societies, and were expected to facilitate balanced communication between these worlds. Then, during the period of Indonesian development ushered in by the Orde Baru regime, most scholars described intermediaries as large-scale capitalists with access to the various institutions of the market and finance, as well as extensive information, which enabled them to exploit small communities that were relatively closed due to their limited access to capital and information. Today, with the development of society and the digital economy favoring more direct, 'disintermediated' access, it is interesting to observe how the profile of intermediaries in Indonesia has changed and whether the disrupted balance of exchange is able to be restored. This paper follows on from a study of the agricultural market in Java, where intermediaries operate on a large scale.