Need to Know Indonesia, Part 2

In our last issue, we started to look at Indonesia--hit by terrorism again. We traced Indonesian history and saw the Dutch take control of the region, making it "the Dutch East Indies." But Dutch control would prove to be short-lived.

War and Independence

In 1927, a colorful young leader named Sukarno and his compatriots founded the Indonesian Nationalist Party, dedicated to the principle of Indonesian independence. At first, the powers-that-be were less-than-impressed. During the 1930s, the Dutch simply banned the party and exiled Sukarno (twice). By 1940, however, the Dutch had a much bigger problem: Nazi Germany had overrun the Netherlands.

Japan moved in on Indonesia in 1942. Hoping to garner local support, the Japanese granted symbolic political autonomy to Sukarno and his party. After Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, Sukarno declared Indonesia an independent republic. The Dutch refused to let go until 1949, when a combination of stiff Indonesian resistance and international pressure finally forced them to abandon their claims.

Years of Living Dangerously

The colorful Sukarno--who once told the United States "to hell with your aid"--led the country until 1965, when a series of attempted coups and counter-coups finally caught up with him. In a still much-disputed series of events, a group of army officers attempted one last coup, ostensibly in cahoots with the Indonesian communist party.

In response, the head of the army, General Suharto, crushed the usurpers, assumed control of the government, and turned army units loose on the nation's communists. Between 250,000 and 1,000,000 people died in the ensuing crackdown. Suharto then maneuvered Sukarno out of the picture and instituted his so-called "New Order" regime, which looked a lot like a pro-western Cold War dictatorship.

Four Leaders in Four Years

Suharto clung to power until 1998, when he resigned in the face of popular protests. His successor left office two years later under a cloud of corruption. The next president also faced charges of corruption and was forced out in 2001. Vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of former president Sukarno, stepped up to assume the presidency.

In 2004, constitutional amendments providing for direct presidential elections went into effect for the first time. Megawati urged voters to "vote for the prettiest candidate" (she was the only woman in the race), but she could not persuade Indonesians to keep her in office. Indonesia's first-ever democratic presidential elections put retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in office instead. He looks to have won reelection for another five-year term this month.