Only 15 years ago, Indonesia was ruled by Soeharto, whose 32-year regime began with the orchestrated massacre of up to a million actual and suspected members of the Communist Party and ended following massive street demonstrations amid economic collapse. The Soeharto regime did reduce the poverty rate and roll out near-universal primary education. But there was tight censorship, suppression of dissent and a rigid, top-down system of administration.
Since then, Indonesia’s path has been not so much ‘two steps forward, one step back’, but rather resembles a drunk staggering irresolutely home. The current president, Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono, widely known as SBY, was a serving military officer in occupied East Timor under Soeharto, but he has been a strong advocate of the army staying out of politics.
