Indonesia. Archive Article
December 8, 2008

RADIO 2CBA FOCAL POINT COMMENTARY BROADCAST ON FRIDAY JANUARY 28 2000 ON RADIO 2CBA FM.

Indonesia now has more violent clashes than at any time since the May 1998 resignation of the corrupt President Suharto. There is also speculation of a military takeover.

Indonesia is now the world’s third largest democracy (after India and the US). It is having difficulty getting used to democracy. There is no tradition of democracy within the country.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has been in office for only three months. Aged only 59, he has a record of poor health. He is partly blind and has a history of strokes. Few expect him to live long enough to complete his five years in office.

Running Indonesia would be a great burden even for a person in excellent health. Indonesia was the greatest victim of the 1997 Asian economic collapse. Indeed, with the exception of Russia, no country has suffered so much economically in the 1990s as did Indonesia.

All the other Asian countries are now recovering. But Indonesia’s economic situation is not improving. Millions of people are out of work, thousands of companies are technically bankrupt and the banking system is overwhelmed with debt.

The people causing the violence often use religious labels. But this is not in essence a religious war. Much of Indonesia’s violence is due to the economic collapse.

Indonesia has been a country of great religious toleration. Every major faith in the world has members in Indonesia.

Indonesia is the geographical crossroads of Asia and the Pacific. Therefore, people who have moved into Indonesia over the centuries have taken their religion with them. The only religious obligation in Indonesia is that a person has to have a religious faith – just what type is left up to the individual.

There is some variety of religion across the country. This is to be expected since the country consists of 250 ethnic groups, 17,000 islands, each with its own history of settlement.

But until recent months, there has been little tension between the groups themselves. A far greater problem has been the tension from ethnic or religious groups wanting independence, such as the Muslim-dominated Aceh (with five million people), at the western end of the country.

Why, then, is there such a sudden increase in violence? There is speculation that some of the violence is due to the military. The military have had a sudden drop in status and they do not like it.

President Wahid has installed the country’s first ever civilian defence minister. The President’s speeches about the need to end corruption suggests that he will try to reduce the business affairs of the military.

The military may be trying to de-stabilize the civilian government. They may even be trying to create the conditions of chaos that would justify their taking-over the government.

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, warned a few days ago that a military coup “would do Indonesia immense, perhaps irreparable, damage”. But it remains to be seen if the military will listen to the American warning.