HISTORY
By the
time of the Renaissance, the islands of Java and Sumatra had already
enjoyed a 1,000-year heritage of advanced civilization spanning
two major empires. During the 7th-14th centuries, the Buddhist
kingdom of Srivijaya flourished on Sumatra. At its peak, the Srivijaya
Empire reached as far as West Java and the Malay Peninsula. Also
by the 14th century, the Hindu Kingdom of Majapahit had risen
in eastern Java. Gadjah Mada, the empire's chief minister from
1331 to 1364, succeeded in gaining allegiance from most of what
is now modern Indonesia and much of the Malay archipelago as well.
Legacies from Gadjah Mada's time include a codification of law
and an epic poem. Islam arrived in Indonesia sometime during the
12th century and, through assimilation, supplanted Hinduism by
the end of the 16th century in Java and Sumatra. Bali, however,
remains overwhelmingly Hindu. In the eastern archipelago, both
Christian and Islamic proselytizing took place in the 16th and
17th centuries, and, currently, there are large communities of
both religions on these islands.
Beginning
in 1602, the Dutch slowly established themselves as rulers of
present-day Indonesia, exploiting the weakness of the small kingdoms
that had replaced that of Majapahit. The only exception was East
Timor, which remained under Portugal until 1975. During 300 years
of Dutch rule, the Dutch developed the Netherlands East Indies
into one of the world's richest colonial possessions.
During
the first decade of the 20th century, an Indonesian independence
movement began and expanded rapidly, particularly between the
two World Wars. Its leaders came from a small group of young professionals
and students, some of whom had been educated in the Netherlands.
Many, including Indonesia's first president, Soekarno (1945-67),
were imprisoned for political activities.
The Japanese
occupied Indonesia for 3 years during World War II. On August
17, 1945, three days after the Japanese surrender to the Allies,
a small group of Indonesians, led by Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta,
proclaimed independence and established the Republic of Indonesia.
They set up a provisional government and adopted a constitution
to govern the republic until elections could be held and a new
constitution written. Dutch efforts to reestablish complete control
met strong resistance. After 4 years of warfare and negotiations,
the Dutch transferred sovereignty to a federal Indonesian Government.
In 1950, Indonesia became the 60th member of the United Nations.
Shortly after hostilities with the Dutch ended in 1949, Indonesia adopted a new constitution, providing for a parliamentary system of government in which the executive was chosen by and accountable to parliament. Parliament was divided among many political parties before and after the country's first nationwide election in 1955, and stable governmental coalitions were difficult to achieve. The role of Islam in Indonesia became a divisive issue. Soekarno defended a secular state based on Pancasila, five principles of the state philosophy--monotheism, humanitarianism, national unity, representative democracy by consensus, and social justice--codified in the 1945 constitution, while some Muslim groups preferred either an Islamic state or a constitution which included a preambular provision requiring adherents of Islam to be subject to Islamic law. At the time of independence, the Dutch retained control over the western half of New Guinea (known as Irian Jaya in the Soekarno and Soeharto eras and as Papua since 2000) and permitted steps toward self-government and independence.
Negotiations with the Dutch on the incorporation of Irian Jaya into Indonesia failed and armed clashes broke out between Indonesian and Dutch troops in 1961. In August 1962, the two sides reached an agreement and Indonesia assumed administrative responsibility for Irian Jaya on May 1, 1963. The Indonesian Government conducted an "Act of Free Choice" in Irian Jaya under UN supervision in 1969 in which 1,025 Papuan representatives of local councils agreed by consensus to remain a part of Indonesia. A subsequent UN General Assembly resolution confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia. Opposition to Indonesian administration of Papua gave rise to small-scale guerrilla activity in the years following Jakarta's assumption of control. In the more open atmosphere since 1998, there have been more explicit expressions within Papua calling for independence from Indonesia.
Unsuccessful rebellions on Sumatra, Sulawesi, West Java, and other islands beginning in 1958, plus a failure by the constituent assembly to develop a new constitution, weakened the parliamentary system. Consequently, in 1959, when President Soekarno unilaterally revived the provisional 1945 constitution that gave broad presidential powers, he met little resistance. From 1959 to 1965, President Soekarno imposed an authoritarian regime under the label of "Guided Democracy." He also moved Indonesia's foreign policy toward nonalignment, a foreign policy stance supported by other prominent leaders of former colonies who rejected formal alliances with either the West or Soviet bloc. Under Soekarno's auspices, these leaders gathered in Bandung, West Java in 1955 to lay the groundwork for what became known as the Non-Aligned Movement. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, President Soekarno moved closer to Asian communist states and toward the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in domestic affairs. Though the PKI represented the largest communist party outside the Soviet Union and China, its mass support base never demonstrated an ideological adherence typical of communist parties in other countries.
By 1965,
the PKI controlled many of the mass civic and cultural organizations
that Soekarno had established to mobilize support for his regime
and, with Soekarno's acquiescence, embarked on a campaign to establish
a "Fifth Column" by arming its supporters. Army leaders
resisted this campaign. Under circumstances that have never been
fully explained, on October 1, 1965, PKI sympathizers within the
military, including elements from Soekarno's palace guard, occupied
key locations in Jakarta and kidnapped and murdered six senior
generals. Major General Soeharto, the commander of the Army Strategic
Reserve, rallied army troops opposed to the PKI to reestablish
control over the city. Violence swept throughout Indonesia in
the aftermath of the October 1 events, and unsettled conditions
persisted through 1966. Rightist gangs killed tens of thousands
of alleged communists in rural areas. Estimates of the number
of deaths range between 160,000 and 500,000. The violence was
especially brutal in Java and Bali. During this period, PKI members
by the tens of thousands turned in their membership cards. The
emotions and fears of instability created by this crisis persisted
for many years; the communist party remains banned from Indonesia.
Throughout
the 1965-66 period, President Soekarno vainly attempted to restore
his political position and shift the country back to its pre-October
1965 position. Although he remained President, in March 1966,
Soekarno had to transfer key political and military powers to
General Soeharto, who by that time had become head of the armed
forces. In March 1967, the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly
(MPRS) named General Soeharto acting President. Soekarno ceased
to be a political force and lived under virtual house arrest until
his death in 1970.
President
Soeharto proclaimed a "New Order" in Indonesian politics
and dramatically shifted foreign and domestic policies away from
the course set in Soekarno's final years. The New Order established
economic rehabilitation and development as its primary goals and
pursued its policies through an administrative structure dominated
by the military but with advice from Western-educated economic
experts. In 1968, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) formally
selected Soeharto to a full 5-year term as President, and he was
re-elected to successive 5-year terms in 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988,
1993, and 1998. In mid-1997, Indonesia was afflicted by the Asian
financial and economic crisis, accompanied by the worst drought
in 50 years and falling prices for oil, gas, and other commodity
exports. The rupiah plummeted, inflation soared, and capital flight
accelerated. Demonstrators, initially led by students, called
for Soeharto's resignation. Amidst widespread civil unrest, Soeharto
resigned on May 21, 1998, 3 months after the MPR had selected
him for a seventh term. Soeharto's hand-picked Vice President,
B.J. Habibie, became Indonesia's third President. President Habibie
reestablished International Monetary Fund (IMF) and donor community
support for an economic stabilization program. He released several
prominent political and labor prisoners, initiated investigations
into the unrest, and lifted controls on the press, political parties,
and labor unions.
In January
1999, Habibie and the Indonesian Government agreed to a process,
with UN involvement, under which the people of East Timor would
be allowed to choose between autonomy and independence through
a direct ballot. The direct ballot was held on August 30, 1999.
Some 98% of registered voters cast their ballots, and 78.5% of
the voters chose independence over continued integration with
Indonesia. Many persons were killed by Indonesian military forces,
and military-backed militias, in a wave of violence and destruction
after the announcement of the pro-independence vote.
Indonesia’s
first elections in the post-Soeharto period were held for the
national, provincial, and sub-provincial parliaments on June 7,
1999. The elections were contested by 48 political parties. For
the national parliament, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan
(PDI-P, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle led by Megawati
Soekarnoputri) won 34% of the vote; Golkar ("Functional Groups"
party) 22%; Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB, National Awakening
Party linked to Nadhlatul Ulama and headed by Abdurrahman Wahid)
13%; and Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP, United Development
Party led by Hamzah Haz) 11%. The MPR selected Abdurrahman Wahid
as Indonesia's fourth President in November 1999 and replaced
him with Megawati Soekarnoputri in July 2001.
The constitution, as amended in the post-Soeharto era, provides for the direct election by popular vote of the president and vice president. Under the 2004 amendment, only parties or coalitions of parties that gained at least 3% of the House of Representatives (DPR) seats or 5% of the vote in national legislative elections were eligible to nominate a presidential and vice presidential ticket. The 2004 legislative elections took place on April 5 and were considered to be generally free and fair. PDI-P lost its plurality in the House of Representatives, dropping to under 19% of the total vote, while Golkar remained near 1999 levels with 21% of the vote. Five other parties won between 6 and 11% of the national vote. Of the 18 other parties that participated, nine won small numbers of seats in the DPR. The first direct presidential election was held on July 5, 2004, contested by five tickets. As no candidate won at least 50% of the vote, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates, President Megawati Sukarnoputri and retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on September 20, 2004. In this final round, Yudhoyono won 60.6% of the vote. Approximately 76.6% of the eligible voters participated, a total of roughly 117 million people, making Indonesia's presidential election the largest single-day election in the world. The Carter Center, which sent a delegation of election observers, issued a statement congratulating "the people and leaders of Indonesia for the successful conduct of the presidential election and the peaceful atmosphere that has prevailed throughout the ongoing democratic transition."
Natural disasters have devastated many parts of Indonesia over the past few years. On December 26, 2004 a 9.1 to 9.3 magnitude earthquake took place in the Indian Ocean, and the resulting tsunami killed over 130,000 people in Aceh and left more than 500,000 homeless. On March 26, 2005, an 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck between Aceh and northern Sumatra, killing 905 people and displacing tens of thousands. After much media attention of the seismic activity on Mt. Merapi in April and May 2006, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurred 30 miles to the southwest. It killed over 5,000 people and left an estimated 200,000 people homeless in the Yogyakarta region.
