Teks ini hanya tersedia dalam bahasa Inggris
When president Suharto left office in
May 1998 it marked the beginning of a new period in Indonesian history.
After being under the rule of Suharto's authoritarian New Order regime for more than three decades, Indonesia embarked for a new phase called Reformation (Reformasi
in Indonesian). It was envisaged to be the starting period of a
democracy with open and liberal politics in which extensive autonomy
would be transferred to the regions, away from the center
(decentralization). The basis of this transition was formulated in a law
which passed parliament in 1999 and called for the transfer of administrative powers
from the central government to the regional districts. The role of the
central government was to be confined to matters connected to defence,
foreign policy, fiscal-monetary and macroeconomic policy, justice and
religion. Not less important was that the regions would receive a larger
share of revenues from the regional production of natural resources.
However, as not every region is blessed with abundant natural resources,
it increased the gap between richer and poorer regions. Along with
power, corruption was also decentralized to the regional level where
so-called shadow states emerged in which the regional elite is in
control of power, business and money flows. One of the victims is the
environment. In exchange for large sums of money, logging permits were
granted on a large scale.
The process of decentralization was also
accompanied by regional violence entrenched with ethnic or religious
aspects because of the emergence of competition for local political
positions in conjunction with a revival of regional identities. For more
information on this topic, please visit the Ethnic and Religious Violence section.
The Bacharuddin Habibie Administration (1998-1999)
Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, vice
president during Suharto's last presidential term, replaced Suharto in
1998 when the latter stepped down from the presidency. But this did not
mean an end to the political system that had been applied during the New
Order. Many Indonesians were highly suspicious of Habibie because of
his closeness to Suharto (who had been a father figure to Habibie) and
the fact that he had been an important player in Suharto's political
patronage system. Habibie's refusal to order a thorough investigation
into Suharto's accumulated wealth only strengthened this distrust.
Habibie had no other option than to
launch the reform program. It would have been political suicide if he
did not comply with demands of the Indonesian public. During Habibie's
presidency thirty new laws were approved by the parliament (MPR), some
of which characterized by fundamental breaks with the political past. A
number of noteworthy reforms were:
• Introduction of freedom of the press • Allowing the establishment of new political parties and unions
• Release of political prisoners
• Limiting the presidency to two terms of five years
• Decentralization of power to the regions
Another important decision was to
schedule new general elections, to be held in June 1999. Parliament had
no intention yet, however, to reduce political influence of the army and
to order an investigation into Suharto's wealth.
Indonesia entered a period of increasing
violence in the regions. East Java was plagued by mysterious killings
(perhaps led by army units) while religious violence flared up in
Jakarta, Ambon (Moluccas), Kupang (West Timor) and West Kalimantan.
Moreover, three regions rebelled against the central authorities: Aceh
(Sumatra), Irian Jaya (Papua) and East Timor. It caused an environment
in which foreign investors were hesitant to invest, thus holding back
economic recovery for the country. Not less important was the sanitation
of the Indonesian financial sector, which had been the heart of the Asian Financial Crisis
in the late 1990s. The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), set
up in January 1998, became a powerful agency that undertook an
integrated and comprehensive series of activities consisting of matters
such as bank liability programs, the recovery of state funds, bank
restructuring, bank loan restructuring, and shareholders settlements.
The East Timor case was one that caused
much conflict, both nationally and internationally. East Timor had
declared independence in 1975 but was invaded by Indonesia the following
year. This did not end its desire for independence. Habibie had an
open-minded stance towards East Timor's independence. He stated that if
East Timor rejects the special status of autonomous province within
Indonesia, it can become independent. This statement of Habibie was not
agreed upon by the Indonesian army that fiercely wanted to prevent
separation from Indonesia. According to the army East Timor's separation
was dangerous for Indonesian unity as it could lead to a domino effect
in the other provinces. It was decided that the people of East Timor
could express themselves on this matter through a referendum. The
outcome of this referendum was that 78 percent of the voters chose for
independence. The Indonesian army subsequently reacted by ravaging much
of East Timor, killing more than one thousand people.
Habibie's reputation was severely
damaged by losing control over the situation in East Timor. Although it
were army units and civilian militias that committed the extreme
violence, Habibie was personally held responsible being acting
president. Moreover, Habibie himself became linked to a big corruption
scandal involving Bank Bali. This bank received funds from the IBRA for
its recapitalization but -allegedly- almost half of these funds were
used for Habibie's campaign team.
Elections of 1999
After 1955 the Indonesian people were
forced to wait for 44 years to witness another example of free and fair
parliamentary elections. In this election people voted for a political
party, not for an individual. Since there were no limitations on the
establishment of political parties as part of the reform program,
Indonesia had witnessed the mushrooming of many such parties. No less
than 48 parties were allowed to participate in the elections of 1999,
although most of these parties would play an insignificant role. In
modern Indonesian politics a political party can be regarded as a
political vehicle for its leader instead of an institution that
expresses a shared ideology or vision; and only a few people could count
on public support during the 1999 elections.
One of these people was Megawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia's first president Soekarno. She had established a new party PDI-P (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan)
in 1998 after being outcasted from the PDI in 1996. Due to her father's
legacy and her opposition to the New Order towards the end of Suharto's
rule, she enjoyed widespread popularity (especially on the islands of
Java and Bali). Similar to her father, she stressed national unity and
propagated secular nationalism. Another popular national figure was
Abdurrahman Wahid who had founded the PKB (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa)
in 1998. Previously, he worked as chairman of the biggest Muslim
organization in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), but now set his eyes on
the presidency. Wahid propagated a sort of tolerant nationalism and
could rely on popular support from the traditional Muslim community
(mostly on Java). Habibie, acting president, fostered ambitions to
maintain his position. Although not enjoying much popularity, he could
rightfully claim that he launched the reform program and could benefit
from Golkar's powerful political machine which stretched up to the
village level. Lastly, Amien Rais, exponent of opposition against
Suharto's New Order, joined the race with his PAN (Partai Amanat Nasional).
An important matter during these
elections was that seats in parliament would be divided in half. The
island of Java received half of the seats while the other half would go
to all other islands. This was done as a measure to lessen Java's
dominant position in politics. But as Java is much more densely
populated than Outer Java, it basically implied that a non-Javanese vote
was more powerful than a Javanese one. This situation would have far
reaching consequences for the results in this election.
| 1999 | |
| PDI-P | 34% |
| Golkar | 22% |
| PKB | 13% |
| PPP | 11% |
| PAN | 7% |
Around 90 percent of the Indonesian
electorate came to cast their vote on 7 June 1999. As could be expected,
the PDI-P received most of the votes (34 percent) with Golkar coming in
second (22 percent). However, these two parties were allocated almost a
similar amount of seats in the parliament as the PDI-P received most of
the votes from Java, while Golkar enjoyed most votes from the Outer
Islands.
In October Habibie had to deliver an
accountability speech in front of the parliament. This speech was a
report regarding his performance as president and the performance of
policies during his presidency. His speech was rejected by a majority
of the members of parliament. After this rejection Habibie decided to
renounce his bid for the presidency in 1999. This meant that there were
now just two persons who enjoyed significant political support to become
the next president of Indonesia: Megawati and Wahid. In another session
the Indonesian parliament eventually chose Wahid as the new president.
Megawati became the new vice president and Rais was elected as chairman
of the parliament.
The Abdurrahman Wahid Presidency (1999-2001)
In order to establish a broad based
coalition Wahid appointed members from many political parties as well as
army officers as ministers to his cabinet. But this diverse composition
also implied a lack of cohesion within the cabinet and, moreover, it
contained few reformers. Wahid did put effort in reducing the political
role of the army but this led to conflict and the subsequent loss of
support from the army. Without army support there were few means to
survive for the president as Indonesia was plagued by conflicts and
violence in the regions. These regional outbursts needed army
intervention but due to the conflict with Wahid the army did not seem to
have any interest in settling or interfering, resulting in the
undermining of Wahid's presidency.
Corruption cases still seemed to be the
rule rather than the exception. In his first year as president, Wahid
sacked seven ministers who were all involved in alleged corruption
cases. Four of these ministers belonged to the four most important
coalition partners: PDI-P, Golkar, PPP and PAN. This meant that Wahid
became even more isolated. And - even more serious - Wahid himself also
became linked to two corruption scandals which eventually led to his
impeachment. These two scandals were called 'Buloggate' and
'Bruneigate', each involving the abstraction of public funds. Indonesian
parliament saw this as a great opportunity to impeach Wahid and
Megawati was subsequently appointed as the new president, while Hamzah
Haz (leader of the PPP) became the new vice president.
The Megawati Soekarnoputri Presidency (2001-2004)
Towards the end of Suharto's New Order
rule, the late Soekarno (Indonesia's first president) became a symbol of
opposition to the government. Soekarno was the national hero who had
devoted his life to - and succeeded in - reaching independence. Most of
the anti-Suharto protesters were born during the New Order regime which
lasted for more than three decades and therefore probably had
rudimentary knowledge only of the pre-Suharto era. But for them Soekarno
represented freedom, an independence from Suharto. Therefore it was
only logical that his daughter, Megawati, could count on much support
among the people. But this support was based on her status as daughter
of Soekarno only and not based on her political vision nor skills. Her
cabinet did not differ markedly from Wahid's initial cabinet: it
contained a broad parliamentary basis and army officers were well
represented. Megawati herself did not do a lot of decision making, which
she left to her ministers. There were no signs that corruption was
dealt with while the status quo in the government remained.
But although Megawati herself did not
seem highly supportive of political reforms, the reform process had in
fact already been initiated in 1999 when parliament commenced designing
new laws (including constitutional amendments) which would become
effective during Megawati's presidency. These reform measures implied a
significant increase in democratic checks and balances which put an end
to the possibility of an authoritarian regime. It placed power in the
hands of the people instead of the government. Moreover, the executive
and legislative branches were separated more strictly.
Megawati's predecessor made strong
efforts to reduce the influence of the army (which actually undermined
his position) but Megawati herself had no intention to mingle with army
affairs. As a consequence the army would regain some influence in
politics. International developments also enlarged the role of the
Indonesian army. After the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York,
the American government resumed cooperation with the Indonesian army
(which had been halted since the army's participation in violence in
East Timor in 1999) to combat international terrorism. Although
parliament had been careful in reducing the political role of the army,
it was the commander-in-chief of the army himself who stated that by
2004 army fractions in the parliament should be eliminated; a military
officer who wanted to become active in politics would have to resign
from his military position first. These reforms were realized but did
not mean an end to political influence of the army in Indonesian
society. To this day the army is a strong force as former generals who
are active in politics can still rely on a network within the army and,
moreover, the army is still entangled in business activities in the
regions.
Elections of 2004
Parliamentary election
In April 2004 approximately 84 percent
of the Indonesian electorate (constituting around 113,5 million people)
casted their vote for national parliament. Contrary to the election in
1999, this time Indonesians could vote for specific candidates of a
party which brought forward a more personal element in the election. In
this election the two biggest parties of the previous election, to wit
Golkar and PDI-P, lost their absolute majority. The PDI-P tumbled, as
could be expected, from 34 percent to 19 percent as the Indonesian
people were not satisfied with Megawati's presidential performance that
seemed to lack vision and leadership while corruption within her party
was growing. Golkar, that had proved to be able to survive without the
support of Suharto and the army, maintained their share of the votes (22
percent), although they had expected to do better.
But two newcomers, both not having
participated in the 1999 elections, drew attention. The first one being
the Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera,
abbreviated PKS), a party which places great emphasis on the role of
Islam in public life. It received seven percent of the votes in the 2004
election. The second one being the Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat,
abbreviated PD). This party was the political vehicle of Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono (often referred to as SBY), the Coordinating Minister of
Political and Security Affairs in Megawati's cabinet. Yudhoyono had
hoped to become vice president in 2001 but lost out to Hamzah Haz.
Having high political aspirations of his own and the support of a small
group of intellectuals around him (who set up the PD especially for
him), Yudhoyono seemed to be a potential prospective president candidate
for the 2004 elections. This bothered president Megawati and caused a
riff between the two. In early 2004 Yudhoyono left the Megawati cabinet,
a decision which gave him great public sympathy. The PD received just
over seven percent of the votes, enabling Yudhoyono to participate in
the upcoming presidential elections of 2004 (a party needed a minimum of
five percent to be authorized to nominate a candidate for the
presidency).
| 2004 | 1999 | |
| PDI-P | 19% | 34% |
| Golkar | 22% | 22% |
| PKB | 11% | 13% |
| PPP | 8% | 11% |
| PD | 7% | - |
| PKS | 7% | - |
Presidential election
In July 2004 the Indonesian people went
to the ballot boxes for the presidential elections. The winner of this
election would require an absolute majority, therefore it seemed likely
that a second round would be needed in which the top two of the first
round compete each other. Due to the fact that the president and vice
president participate in this election as an inseparable couple, its
composition is of strategic importance. Yudhoyono (PD), leading in the
speculative polls, teamed up with Jusuf Kalla (a businessman from
Eastern Indonesia). Megawati (PDI-P) paired with Hasyim Muzadi (chairman
of the Nahdlatul Ulama). Another pair that seemed to have a chance,
although slight, was Wiranto (a former army general, nominated by
Golkar) who was joined by Sallahudin Wahid (vice chairman of the
National Human Rights Commission).
With 33.5 percent of the votes, less
than expected, Yudhoyono and Kalla became the winners of the first
round. On second place, thus entitled to contest in the second round,
was the Megawati-Muzadi pair who received 26.5 percent of the votes. As
expected, the second round was easily won by Yudhoyono with 60.5 percent
and he was consequently inaugurated as Indonesia's new president on 20
October 2004.
| 2004 (1st round) |
2004 (2nd round) | |
| Yudhoyono, Kalla |
33.5% | 60.5% |
| Megawati, Muzadi |
26.5% | 39.5% |
| Wiranto, Wahid |
22.0% | - |
| Rais, Yudho Husodo |
14.5% | - |
| Haz, Gumelar |
3.0% | - |
The Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Government I (2004-2009)
The Democratic Party (PD) was primarily
established to function as Yudhoyono's political vehicle on his path
towards the Indonesian presidency. It propagated democracy, pluralism
and the professionalization of the army (Yudhoyono himself being a
retired army general). But politics was not something new to Yudhoyono
who was appointed chief of staff for social-political affairs (an army
department) in 1997. At this position he showed his reformist nature
when he presented the 'New Paradigm' which called for an end to direct
military involvement in politics (through a gradual withdrawal from
the national and regional parliaments) and called for a split between
the army and police (this split was decided upon during Habibie's
presidency and became effective during the Wahid administration). Later,
Yudhoyono became minister of Mines and Energy during the Wahid
presidency and coordinating minister for Legal, Political, and Security
Affairs during Megawati's presidency. In both cases a fallout with the
president led to his early departure. But he enjoyed popularity among
the Indonesians due to his reformist ideas, his successful mediating in a
number of regional violent conflicts, and his clean record of
corruption (fighting corruption was in fact an important element in his
campaigns prior to the elections).
From the start expectations were very
high. Yudhoyono, being regarded as a strong and balanced character, took
office with ambitious reformist ideals such as the toppling of
corruption and terrorism, the strengthening of democracy and human
rights, and the fostering of accelerated economic growth. Surely his
ambitions were - realistically speaking - too high as Indonesia is a
difficult country to reform within a timespan of a few years. A slow and
inefficient bureaucracy, opposing forces throughout society and
widespread corruption (especially on the regional level) make it
difficult to implement policies effectively. As promised during his
campaign period, around half of Yudhoyono's cabinet ministers consisted
of non-partisan professionals, especially on positions concerning the
economy, in order to encourage professionalization.
Yudhoyono's presidency is also
characterized by disasters causing some people to label him the
'disaster president'. Most famous natural disaster is the horrific
tsunami in Aceh which killed more than 200,000 people in Aceh in 2004.
Other disasters were the earthquake in Bantul (Central Java) in 2006
killing 6,000 people, the Sidoarjo mud flow ruining hundreds of hectares
in East Java as well as causing the evacuation of thousands of people,
multiple floods in Jakarta triggering the evacuation of about half a
million people in 2007 and, lastly, the Merapi volcano eruptions in 2010
which killed 353 people and caused the evacuating of 350,000 people.
A good achievement of the Yudhoyono administration is the fostering of strong macroeconomic fundamentals:
foreign debt has declined impressively, foreign exchange reserves have
improved and annual GDP growth has been satisfying. These strong
fundamentals are what made Indonesia successfully sail through the
global crisis of 2008-2009.
Elections of 2009
Parliamentary election
The parliamentary elections for the DPR
(People’s Representative Council) and DPD (Regional Representative
Council), held on 9 April 2009, proved a clear victory for Yudhoyono's
PD party (20.8 percent), while Golkar came in second (14.4 percent) and
the PDI-P third (14.0 percent). Factors that contributed to this victory
of the PD were massive cash programs to support the poor and declining
food and fuel prices which contributed to the notion that the national
economy was performing well. The public also considered Yudhoyono to be
sincere in toppling corruption; the PD was known as the least corrupted
political party.
A party (or a coalition of parties)
winning more than 112 seats (twenty percent) in the 560-member DPR or
winning at least 25 percent of the national vote was allowed to
nominate a candidate for the presidency. This put Yudhoyono in a strong
position for the upcoming presidential election. But controversy arose
on the new parliamentary threshold which stipulated that only parties
receiving more than 2.5 percent of the popular vote would be seated in
the DPR. This was a big disadvantage for the smaller parties.
An interesting outcome in this election
was an increasing preference for secular-nationalist parties over
Islamic or Islamist parties. The total of Islamic parties combined
received 27.8 percent of the votes only, indicating a continuing
declining trend compared to previous elections (38.1 percent in 2004).
| 2009 | 2004 | 1999 | |
| PD | 20.8% | 7.5% | - |
| Golkar | 14.5% | 21.6% | 22.4% |
| PDI-P | 14.0% | 18.5% | 33.7% |
| PKS | 7.9% | 7.3% | 1.4% |
| PAN | 6.0% | 6.4% | 7.1% |
Presidential election
There were three pairs that ran for
presidency and vice presidency in the presidential election of 2009.
First of all acting president Yudhoyono whose PD party had won the
parliamentary election and who was entitled for one more term as
president. He chose Boediono as his running mate for the vice
presidency. Boediono, an economist, was not affiliated to any political
party and had been Governor of Bank Indonesia (the central bank) and
coordinating minister for Economic Affairs during Yudhoyono's first
cabinet. The second pair that run for office consisted of Golkar's Jusuf
Kalla (Yudhoyono's former vice president) who partnered with former
army general Wiranto (who had been accused of human rights abuses in
East Timor). And lastly, Megawati joined the race again. This time she
chose Prabowo as her running mate. Prabowo, also a former army general
was son-in-law to Suharto and is believed to have been responsible for
violence against anti-Suharto intellectuals and students, as well as
against the ethnic Chinese community in Jakarta, during the riots in
1998.
Without having to need a second round
this time, Yudhoyono and Boediono won the presidential election with an
absolute majority (60.8 percent). The international community regarded
this as an important element for maintaining political stability in
Indonesia. The Megawati-Prabowo pair received 26.8 percent of the votes,
while Kalla-Wiranto came in third with 12.1 percent.
| 2009 | |
| Yudhoyono, Boediono |
60.8% |
| Megawati, Prabowo |
26.8% |
| Kalla, Wiranto |
12.1% |
The Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Government II (2009-2014)
On 22 October 2009 the inauguration of
the Second United Indonesia Cabinet took place. This cabinet was a
coalition between the PD, Golkar and the four Islamic parties PKS, PAN,
PKB and PPP. Besides appointing ministers from all these six parties,
Yudhoyono also placed quite some professionals (non-partisan figures) on
key ministry posts such as the ministries of Home Affairs, Foreign
Affairs, Finance, Trade, National Education and Health. Only two former
army generals were appointed.
But despite strong macroeconomic
indicators, popular support for Yudhoyono has begun to erode. Yudhoyono
did not meet expectations in toppling corruption, an important campaign slogan
of his party. High corruption cases involving government staff made
frequent headlines. More severely, the PD itself became deeply involved
in corruption scandals when several of its members, including party
treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, were accused and trialled for the 2011
Southeast Asian Games graft case in which - allegedly - bribes were
paid connected to the construction of the athletes’ village. These
scandals severely harmed both Yudhoyono's and his party's popularity.
According to many Indonesians the
emergence of graft cases within the PD is a sign of Yudhoyono's weak
leadership. On other subjects Yudhoyono is regarded to act weak as well.
Many reform-minded Indonesians were disappointed when he did not back
reformist Finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati when she - together
with vice president Boediono - were criticized for mishandling a bank
bailout case in 2008. Sri Mulyani moved to the World Bank Group where
she started working as a managing director. Most people assume,
however, that her early departure was connected to pressures from
certain political forces with major business interests as her reform
policies had led to conflicts with these interests. Another supposed
weakness in Yudhoyono's leadership concerns his slow and unconvincing
condemnation of violent attacks on minority religions, such as the
Ahmadiyya killings in February 2011 when an Islamist mob killed members of the small local Ahmadiyya Islamic sect in the province of Banten.
The future of the PD remains uncertain.
Popular support is declining fast and as Yudhoyono is not allowed to
participate in the 2014 elections, a new candidate(s) for the party's
leadership is needed but is yet to be found.
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