In his influential article written in the late 1970s, Harold Crouch argued that
Soeharto's New Order bore a strong resemblance to the patrimonial model.
Certainly, Indonesia's two most recent ex-presidents,
Soeharto and Habibie, do not appear to be amused.
In one of the most unanticipated shifts since the collapse of the
Soeharto government, top Indonesian officials announced in January that they may grant East Timor independence by the end of this year, after nearly a quarter century of iron-fisted military occupation.
The
Soeharto "New Order" regime portrays itself as the savior of Indonesia's economy, having rescued the country from an incompetent, projectionist communist regime and transforming an agrarian nation into an "Asian Tiger".
This legacy of anti-Chinese policies was politically exploited in later times, culminating during the
Soeharto period.
It takes a very long time to complete, up to 28 years, from the time of planning and design which started in the era of President
Soeharto and finished in the era of President Joko Widodo.
He replaced President
Soeharto and held office from May 21, 1998 to Oct 20, 1999.
The joyful discovery that Chinese-language writing has survived the
Soeharto period colours much secondary work from sources in China, Hong Kong and Singapore (Dongrui 2003 and 2006; Hanchuan 1999).
A brief historical glimpse reveals different paths among these four states: Indonesia's nascent post-war democracy was derailed for decades under
Soeharto's authoritarian regime; Thailand's tumultuous relationship with democracy has resulted in nineteen coups since 1932; the Republic of Korea equivocated between democracy and authoritarianism until the military was finally eliminated from politics in the late 1980s; and the state with the longest democratic history in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, was ruled by a dictatorship from 1972-86.
The similarity with Indonesia's own people power that toppled
Soeharto in 1998 makes it irresistible to draw parallels.