STUDIES ON THE ECONOMIES OF EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA General Editors: Peter Nolan, Lecturer in the Faculty of Economics and Politics, University of Cambridge, and Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics, Jesus College, Cambridge, England; and Malcolm Falkus, Professor of Economic History, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia In the last decades of the twentieth century the small and medium-sized nations of East and South-East Asia have begun a process of potentially enormous political and economic transformation. Explosive growth has occurred already in many parts of the region, and the more slowly grow ing countries are attempting to emulate this vanguard group. The impact of the region upon the world economy has increased rapidly and is likely to continue to do so in the future. In order to understand better economic developments within this vast and diverse region, this series aims to publish books on both contemporary and historical issues. It includes works both by Western scholars and by economists from countries within the region. Published titles include: Melanie Beresford NATIONAL UNIFICATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM John Butcher and Howard Dick (editors) THE RISE AND FALL OF REVENUE FARMING Mark Cleary and Shuang Yann Wong OIL, DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSIFICATION IN BRUNEI DARUSSALAM Yujiro Hayami and Toshihiko Kawagoe THE AGRARIAN ORIGINS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY Jomo K. S. GROWTH AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN THE MALAYSIAN ECONOMY Medhi Krongkaew (editor) THAILAND'S INDUSTRIALIZATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES Lee Sheng-Yi MONEY AND FINANCE IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TAIWAN Rajah Rasiah FOREIGN CAPITAL AND INDUSTRIALIZATION IN MALAYSIA Class Power and Agrarian Change Land and Labour in Rural West Java Jonathan Pincus Management Information Expert Food and Agriculture Organization & as First published in Great Britain 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-333-64578-2 m First published in the United States of America 1996 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 0-312-15827-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pincus, Jonathan. Class power and agrarian change : land and labour in rural West Java / Jonathan Pincus. p. cm. — (Studies in the economies of East and South-East Asia) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-312-15827-0 (cloth) I. Land reform—Indonesia—Java. 2. Social classes—Indonesia- -Java. 3. Power (Social sciences)—Indonesia—Java. I. Title. II. Series. HD1333.I52J386 1996 305.5'23,095982—dc20 96-39114 CIP © Jonathan Pincus 1996 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 10 9 8 7 6 54 3 21 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 Printed in Great Britain by The Ipswich Book Company Ltd, Ipswich. Suffolk Contents List of Tables vii List of Figures xi Preface xii 1 Introduction 1 2 Methodological Issues 19 3 Measuring Class Differentiation 37 4 Wage Labour Relations in Agriculture 93 5 The Process of Accumulation 147 6 Conclusion 188 Appendices A The Subang Rural Price Index 194 B Real Wage Trends in Agriculture 198 C Supplementary Tables 204 Glossary of Terms and Acronyms 222 Bibliography 224 Index 245 v List of Tables 1.1 Producer subsidies in rice in selected Asian cou ntries 6 1.2 Distribution of operated farm sizes, Java 1963-1983 10 1.3 Average annual growth of wage labour force and 11 population of self employed farmers, Java 1980-1990 1.4 Sectoral distribution of increase in wage employment, 12 Java 1980-1990 1.5 Real daily wages for male hoers in some rice- 13 cultivating regions of Asia, 1987 2.1 Population density and agrarian density in North and 23 South Subang subdistricts, 1971 -1990 2.2 Components of the possessions score 28 2.3 Possessions score summary statistics 30 3.1 Female-headed households 43 3.2 Spearman correlation coefficients for possessions 49 scores and control over irrigated rice fields 3.3 Mean possession scores by area controlled 50 3.4 Correlations of labour hiring, family labour, posses- 53 sions scores and access to land 3.5 Correlations of labour hiring, family labour, posses- 54 sions scores and access to land, small and middle farmers 3.6 Spearman correlation coefficients for agricultural 56 labour days hired out with possessions scores and access to land, farming households 3.7 LOGIT analysis of participation in agricultural wage 57 labour among farming households 3.8 Mean values of selected indicators for landless 61 agricultural labour households 3.9 Income from nonagricultural wage labour by 69 land-controlling category 3.10 Migrants to domestic work in the Middle East 70 3.11 Mean earnings from trade and industry by 72 land-controlling groups 3.12 Distribution of households by class 79 3.13 Post-hoc comparisons of group means for small and 80 middle farmers, South and East Subang 4.1 Location of pre-harvest wage employment, agricul- 102 tural workers from North Subang, dry season 1990 4.2 Labour days worked locally by North Subang farm 103 labourers by wage system, dry season 1990 vn viii List of Tables 4.3 Location of harvest employment, North Subang 105 4.4 Labour days worked locally by East Subang farm 109 labourers by wage system, dry season 1990 4.5 Harvest shares under bawon and ceblokan systems 111 by class, East Subang, dry season 1990 4.6 Crosstabulation of ceblokan arrangements by class 113 category of farmer and worker, East Subang 4.7 Correlation matrix of ceblokan earnings from large 114 farmers, East Subang, dry season 1990 4.8 Location of harvest employment, East Subang 115 4.9 Location of pre-harvest wage employment, East 116 Subang 4.10 Location of pre-harvest and harvest labour days, 118 South Subang 4.11 Labour days worked locally by South Subang farm 120 labourers by wage system, dry season 1990 4.12 Earnings per hour for one, two and three task 122 ceblokan arrangements, South Subang (combined harvest and pre-harvest wages) 4A3 Correlation matrix of ceblokan earnings from large 123 farmers, South Subang, dry season 1990 4.14 Real wages for daily wage and contract labour tasks, 129 dry seasons 1971, 1978/79 and 1990, (Rupiah per hour, constant 1971 prices) 4.15 Labour and Capital's share of rice production per 132 hectare for large farmers, constant 1971 prices 5.1 Mean output per hectare and capital costs in rice 150 production by class category, dry season 1990 5.2 Distribution of bank borrowing by class category (Rp. 152 '000) 5.3 Mean output, returns and interest payments for 155 sharecroppers by class category, dry season 1990 5.4 Mean income per hectare from own-cultivation and 159 leasing by class category, dry season 1990 (Rp. '000 per hectare) 5.5 Purchases and sales of rice fields by class category, 163 1985-1990 (hectares) 5.6 Size distribution of rice field ownership, South 164 Subang, 1969,1979 and 1990 5.7 Mortgage of rice fields by class category, dry season 166 1990 5.8 Trade and nonagricultural activities 168 5.9 Ownership of mechanical tractors and rice hullers, 169 List of Tables ix Subang District, 1970-1989 5.10 School enrolment rates for children 7 to 18 years of 171 age, West Java, Java, Indonesia and study villages 1989 5.11 Participation in salaried employment by class 172 category 5.12 Status of Village Co-operative Units and Farmer 174 Credit (Kredit Usaha TanU Subang District 1989- 1990 A. 1 Weights used for Subang 9 commodity price index 195 A.2 Comparison of the Subang rural price index with 196 Subang rice prices and the Java-wide rural price index B.l Percentage Increase in Real Hoeing Wages From 199 Village Studies, 1970 to 1987 B.2 Selected indicators of changes in labour demand and 203 supply, Java 1980-1990 (average growth rates per annum) C.l Size distribution of paddy field ownership, area 204 operated and area controlled, dry season 1990, North Subang C.2 Size distribution of paddy field ownership, area 205 operated and area controlled, dry season 1990, South Subang C.3 Size distribution of paddy field ownership, area 206 operated and controlled, dry season 1990, East Subang C.4 Ownership of dry land fields and fishponds, South 207 Subang C.5 Agrarian density, gini ratios for sawah ownership 208 and per cent landless in 17 Javanese villages C.6 Post-hoc comparisons (Scheffe test) of possessions 209 score means for land-controlling groups C.7 Categorical groups for logit analysis 210 C.8 Participation in nonagricultural wage labour 211 C.9 Mean wages and labour days worked, nonagricul- 212 tural and agricultural wage labour, dry season 19901 C. 10 Trade and industry activities 213 C. 11 Work participation rates by class 214 C.l2 Pre-harvest labour use by task, North Subang 1979 215 and 1990 dry seasons (person-hours per hectare) C.l3 Pre-harvest labour use by task, East Subang 1990 216