The Reform Order Government

Since the outset of the First Five-Year Development Plan in 1969, Indonesia under the New Order Government of President Soeharto had endeavored to achieve its national devel-opment goals. Indonesia, indeed, had been able to achieve substantial progress in various fields which had been enjoyed by the majority of the Indonesian people. Indonesia had gained success in the national development. Unfortunately, economic crisis, which began with the monetary crisis, struck Indonesia as of July 1997.

Since the middle of 1997, the people's standard of living dropped considerably. The de-cline in the people's standard of living was aggravated by various political tensions arising from the 1997 general elections. The political system which had been developed since 1966 turned out to be unable to accommodate the dynamism of the aspirations and interests of the community. This led to riots and disturbances. To a certain extend, they reflected the malfunctioning of the political order and of the government, finally causing this situation to develop into a political crisis.

The accumulation of the economic crisis and the political crisis became a triggered factor for crisis in confidence. This applied not just to officials and state-running institutions, but also began to touch on the system of values and the legal foundations that underpin the state-running institutions.

A number of student demonstrations ensued, including the occupation of the People's Consultative Assembly/House of People's Representatives compound. They appealed for political and economic reform; demanded President Soeharto to step down and stamp out corruption, collusion and nepotism. Critical moments prevailed in the capital, Jakarta, and other towns from 12 to 21 May 1998.

On 12 May a tragedy happened in the Trisakti University Campus, causing the death of four students. On 18 May the leadership of the House suggested the President resign. The President's effort to accommodate the developing aspirations of the people by forming a re-form cabinet and a reform committee never materialized as there was no adequate support from various circles.

Finally, on 21 May 1998, President Soeharto, after a 32-year rule of the New Order Government resigned. Pursuant to Article 8 of the 1945 Constitution and the People's Consultative Assembly decree no VII/1973, he handed over the country's leadership to Vice-President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie. After the announcement. Habibie took his oath of office before Chief Justice Sarwata to become Indonesia's third President. Earlier President Soeharto disbanded the cabinet which he formed shortly after his reelection for a seventh five-year presidential term in March.

A day after his installment as the third president, Habibie formed the Reform Development Cabinet. He picked the ministers from the various political and social forces, including three politicians from the two minority parties, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), to provide the needed synergy.

1. President B.J. Habibie outlined the agenda for reform during his presidency as follows:
2. rooting out corruption, collusion and nepotism, and create a clean government.
3. reviewing the five political laws upon which the current political system is bound. They are the laws on mass organization, the House of Representatives (DPR), the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), political parties, regional administrations and elections.
4. implementing sweeping reform in all sectors, including in the political, economic, and legal fields, to enable the government to satisfy mounting demands for a strong and clean government.
5. boosting output from the agriculture, agribusiness, export-oriented industry and tourism sectors.
6. safeguarding the implementation of the 1998/99 state budget.
7. accelerating the bank restructuring program.
8. resolving the problem of corporate foreign debts.
9. conducting a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in November 1998, followed by General Elections on May 1999.

East Timor Integration

With the advent of World War II the Japanese ousted both the Dutch and Portuguese from Timor, as well as from the rest of Indonesia. When Japan surrendered to the allied forces in 1945, Indonesians proclaimed the independence of their country which covers the areas of the former Netherlands East Indies. In the mean time, East Timor was returned to the Portuguese by the Allied Forces after the war and the people stayed colonized. They had made several attempts to fight the Portuguese and join Indonesia, but they were suppressed by the colonial regime. Not until 1974 did the Portuguese give them a chance to decide their own political future.

In a statement on May 28, 1974, the Governor of Portuguese Timor, Colonel Fernando Alves Aldela, granted the people permission to form political parties. The response was the emergence of five political parties - UDT (Uniao Democratica Timorese), FRETILIN (Frente Revolucionaria de Timor Leste Independent), APODETI (Associacao Popular Democratica de Timor), KOTA (Klibur Oan Timur Aswain) and TRABALHISTA (Labor Party).

Through lack of popular support, FRETILIN resorted to terror tactics, threats and blackmail in an attempt to intimidate members of the other parties. This caused growing tension throughout the colony and sparked an inevitable civil war.

On August 27, 1975, the Governor and other Portuguese officials abandoned the capital of Dili, fled to Atauro Island and left FRETILIN free to continue its reign of terror. FRETILIN was even supplied with arms from the Portuguese army arsenal.

On November 28 of the same year, FRETILIN unilaterally "declared the independence" of East Timor and announced the formation of "the Democratic Republic of East Timor".

In the light of these developments, on November 30, 1975, at Balibo, UDT, APODETI, KOTA and TRABALHISTA proclaimed the independence of the territory and its simultaneous integration with Indonesia. On December 17, 1975, the four parties announced the establishment of the Provisional Government of East Timor in Dili.

On May 31, 1976, the duly elected People's Assembly of East Timor decided in an open session to formally integrate the territory with the Republic of Indonesia. A bill on this integration was approved by the Indonesian House of Representatives on July 15, 1976 and, with the promulgation by the President, became Law on July 17. East Timor has since been the 27^th province of Indonesia with all the rights and duties under the 1945 Constitution of the Republic.

The New Order Government

Ever since taking office in 1967, the New Order Government of President Soeharto was determined to return constitutional life by upholding the 1945 Constitution in a strict and consistent manner and by respecting Pancasila as the state philosophy and ideology.

To emerge from the political and economic legacy of Soekarno's Old Order, the new government set out to undertake the following:

1. To complete the restoration of order and security and to establish political stability.
2. To carry out economic rehabilitation.
3. To prepare a plan for national development and execute it with the emphasis on economic development.
4. To end confrontation and normalize diplomatic relations with Malaysia.
5. To rejoin to the United Nations, which Indonesia had quit in January 1965.
6. To consistently pursue an independent and active foreign policy.
7. To resolve the West Irian question.
8. To regain Indonesia's economic credibility overseas.
9. To hold general elections once every five years.

Much of the implementation of these policies has been described in the foregoing pages. It remains here to mention some of the more notable achievements of the New Order during the first few years of its existence. Results of national development are presented in this book under the heading "Development Achievements" and are updated each year.

With regard to Malaysia, not only were relations normalized but Indonesia together with Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand joined to establish the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On achieving independence in 1984, Brunei Darussalam became the sixth member of ASEAN. In July 1995, Vietnam was accepted as the seventh member of this regional organization. The objective of the association is the establishment of regional cooperation in the economic, social and cultural fields, but ASEAN also operates in the political area.

To prepare for national development, in addition to economic rehabilitation, Indonesia secured an agreement with creditor countries to reschedule an overseas debt of US$5 billion. With the recovery of the country's overseas credibility, Indonesia succeeded in the formation of a consortium of creditor countries to assist in her economic development. This consortium is known as the Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI) and includes the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Britain and a number of West-European countries. Its annual meetings are held in Amsterdam under the chairmanship of the Netherlands. Currently, the IGGI has been replaced by the Consultative Group for Indonesia (CGI) consisting of the former members of IGGI (except the Netherlands) and five new creditors.

The Beginning Of The New Order Government

Over-confident of their strength and precipitated by the serious illness of President Soekarno, who was undergoing treatment by a Chinese medical team from Beijing, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) attempted another coup on September 30, 1965. The uprising, however, was abrupt and quickly stamped out by the Armed Forces under Major General Soeharto, then Chief of the Army's Strategic Command.

On the night of September 30, or more precisely in the early hours of October 1, 1965, armed PKI men and members of Cakrabirawa, the President's security guard, set out to kidnap, torture and kill six top Army Generals. Their bodies were dumped in an abandoned well at Lubang Buaya, on the outskirts of Jakarta. The coup was staged in the wake of troop deployments to Kalimantan, at the height of Indonesia's confrontation with Malaysia. Moreover, at the time, many cabinet members were attending a celebration of the Chinese October Revolution in Beijing. It was during this power vacuum that the communists struck again.

Under instructions from General Soeharto, crack troops of the Army's Commando Regiment (RPKAD) freed the central radio station (RRI) and the telecommunication center from communist occupation.

Students made for the streets in militant demonstrations to fight for a three-point claim, or "Tritura," that aimed to ban the PKI, replace Soekarno's cabinet ministers, and reduce the prices of basic necessities. They set up a "street parliament" to gather the demands of the people.

Under these explosive conditions, President Soekarno eventually gave in and granted Soeharto full power to restore order and security in the country. The transfer of power was effected by a presidential order known as "the 11th of March order" of 1966. Soon afterwards, on March 12, 1966, General Soeharto banned the PKI. This decision was endorsed and sanctioned by virtue of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly Decree No XXV/MPRS/1966. He also formed a new cabinet, but Soekarno remained as Chief Executive. This brought dualism into the cabinet, particularly when Soekarno did not show support for the cabinet's program to establish political and economic stability. Hence, a special session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) was convened from March 7-12, 1967. The Assembly resolved to relieve Soekarno of his presidential duties and appointed Soeharto as Acting President, pending the election of a new President by an elected People's Consultative Assembly.

source here.