1. Challenges to authoritarianism in Indonesia and Malaysia / Ariel Heryanto and Sumit K. Mandal -- 2. Public intellectuals, media and democratization: cultural politics of the middle classes in Indonesia / Ariel Heryanto -- 3. Developing dissent in industrializing localities: civil society in Penang and Batam / Philip F. Kelly -- 4. Changing state-labour relations in Indonesia and Malaysia and the 1997 crisis / Vedi R. Hadiz -- 5. Islamization and democratization in Malaysia in regional and global contexts / Norani Othman -- 6. The blessed tragedy: the making of women's activism during the Reformasi years / Melani Budianta -- 7. Creativity in protest: arts workers and the recasting of politics and society in Indonesia and Malaysia / Sumit K. Mandal