At the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries, Indonesia experienced conflict for political and economic reasons. Although the standard of living had risen throughout Suharto's presidency, corruption had also increased. Suharto's family and friends controlled many of the nation's major businesses. The gap between the rich and the poor had also grown.
As the presidential elections of 1997 approached, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Sukarno, rose as leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party to challenge Suharto's power. In July, 1996, following a police raid on the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters, the most serious rioting in decades broke out in Jakarta. Rioting continued as Suharto's reelection drew nearer, and the violence often turned against the Chinese and Christian minorities.
An economic crisis added to dissatisfaction with the Suharto government. In 1997 the value of many Asian currencies began to drop. In July of that year Indonesia's currency, the rupiah, began to fall. This meant that Indonesian money was worth less compared to other currencies, such as the dollar, and the cost of living in Indonesia became much greater.
In February, 1998, Indonesian university students began to demonstrate against government economic policies. In May, the police reacted to these demonstrations and a number of students were killed. Widespread rioting broke out in major Indonesian cities, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people and the destruction of large parts of Jakarta. The Chinese, who were identified with business activities, became scapegoats once again, and Chinese-owned homes and businesses were particularly targeted for looting and burning.
After the riots, protesters around the country demanded the
Resignation of President Suharto. In Jakarta, an estimated ten thousand students occupied the Indonesian parliament building. It became evident that Suharto no longer enjoyed popular support, and the speaker of the parliament, Harmoko, called on the president to resign. On May 21, 1998, after thirty-two years in power, Suharto resigned. His vice president, Bucharuddin Jusuf Habibie, was sworn in as the new president.
Habibie faced serious problems. In addition to the independence movements in Aceh, Irian Jaya, and East Timor, there were anti-Christian riots by Muslims in the province of Maluku. Since Habibie was associated with Suharto's Golkar Party, he was also criticized when it was discovered that leading party members had been skimming off government funds intended for rebuilding the country's banking system. These domestic conflicts, together with the disastrous secession of East Timor, led the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly to cast a vote of noconfidence in the Habibie government in October, 1999.
In the election that followed, Abdurrahman Wahid, a well-known Muslim leader, was elected president on October 20, with Megawati Sukarnoputri as vice president. Wahid was initially popular for his informal style, but he became notorious for his disorganized approach to administration and for his frequent undiplomatic public remarks. After President Wahid was accused of involvement in financial corruption, the People's Consultative Assembly removed him from office on July 23, 2001. The new president Megawati Sukarnoputri faced the daunting challenges of Muslim violence against Christians, a heritage of political corruption, continuing separatist movements, and an endangered economy that would enter a global economic downturn in 2002.
As in many other countries with predominantly Muslim populations, the activities of radical Islamic groups in Indonesia received new attention after attacks on the United States by Muslim extremists in September, 2001. According to a report published by the International Crisis Group, a private research organization, in the summer of 2002, a network with ties to the al-Qaeda group in Afghanistan and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt had been established by Indonesian activists during the Suharto years. The chief goals of the Indonesian network were reportedly to support other Muslim extremists and to create a new Islamic state in Southeast Asia that would include Indonesia, Malaysia, and the southern Philippines.
Concern over the involvement of Indonesian groups in a radical Islamic network intensified after a bomb exploded in a Bali nightclub catering to foreign tourists on October 12,2002. At least 180 people were killed, and about three hundred were injured. The victims came from eighteen different countries, with the majority of those who died from Australia. Indonesian police suspected that the bombing was the work of the Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Islamic group linked to the al-Qaeda network. A month later, the police arrest Imam Samudra as the suspected organizer and planner of the bombing. Under interrogation, Samudra confessed and reported that the bombing had been ordered by a leader in Jemaah Islamiyah named Hambali, who also headed the al-Qaeda network in the Southeast Asia region.
Carl L. Bankston III
World History
