Conclusion: Panopticism and Prowess in a Postcolonial City

This chapter examines how democratization transformed everyday policing on Bandung’s largest plaza, as seen in the ongoing interplay of surveillance and territoriality there. Based on ethnographic research on the plaza, it describes how territorial authority became increasingly multipolar and subject to competition as the plaza became a key site for political demonstrations, public events, and an open-air market. The chapter then details how the Bandung mayor and provincial governor sought to rein in the explosion of activity on the plaza and subject it to centralized surveillance and control, using strategies that echoed those developed by the New Order state. The chapter concludes by summarizing the book’s findings on the intertwined historical genealogies of panopticism and prowess in Indonesian policing from colonial times to the present and argues that many of the dynamics described for Indonesia are also evident in urban settings elsewhere in the world, albeit in a slightly different configurations.