[Nasional-e] INDONESIA'S MESSY TRANSFORMATION

[Holy Uncle]

http://www.feer.com/articles/2003/0302_13/p063current.html
INREVIEW: BOOKS: ECONOMIES

INDONESIA'S MESSY TRANSFORMATION

by Sadanand Dhume

Issue cover-dated February 13, 2003


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Reformasi: The Struggle for Power in Post-Soeharto Indonesia, by Kevin 
O'Rourke. Allen & Unwin. $24.95

Few countries have been through as dramatic a transformation in as brief a 
time as Indonesia. Barely five years ago, it was a picture of stability--a 
rapidly industrializing, highly centralized country, ruled by the same 
military general for over three decades. A poster boy for what the World 
Bank liked to call the East Asian miracle.

Today, the world's fourth most populous country is regarded more with 
concern than with awe. Four presidents in as many years, a raucous 
parliament, restive regions and a moribund economy have altered the face of 
Indonesia. Its people have won more political freedom than they ever had 
before, but the process has not been pretty.

Kevin O'Rourke sets out to chronicle this transformation in Reformasi: The 
Struggle for Power in Post-Soeharto Indonesia. The narrative begins in 1996 
with the economy booming and Gen. Suharto firmly in power. It ends with 
Suharto's political arch-rival, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in the presidential 
palace and the old general's favourite son in prison.

O'Rourke details the twists and turns of recent Indonesian history: the 
devastating impact of the East Asian crisis on the economy; Suharto's 
dramatic resignation; his successor B.J. Habibie's futile machinations to 
retain power; and Abdurrahman Wahid's unexpected ascent to the presidency 
and unceremonious ejection less than a third of the way into his five-year 
term. As a former writer of the Van Zorge Report, a well-regarded journal on 
Indonesian politics and economics, O'Rourke brings authority and a wealth of 
detail to the narrative. The writing is unadorned, but the events themselves 
are infused with drama.

The heart of O'Rourke's thesis is that Indonesia has been let down its elite 
and an electoral system that ensures that political power remains 
concentrated in the hands of a few party bosses. O'Rourke argues that what 
the country needs most is strong and popular leadership.

Reformasi does a fine job of recounting a critical period of Indonesia's 
history. But O'Rourke's mastery of who, what and when doesn't quite extend 
to how and why. With the economy a shambles and Indonesian terrorist 
suspects flitting across international television screens, the Indonesian 
elite may look incapable of putting their house in order. But just five 
years ago that same elite looked very different indeed.

Sadanand Dhume is a REVIEW correspondent based in Jakarta





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