Abstract
As pointed out already in Chap. 1, Indonesia’s security dynamics have undergone a dramatic transformation and the country’s regime change highlights how democratization has its own security dynamics which need to be addressed. In this context of democratization, Indonesia had to come up with certain policies to deal with its security issues. In general, these policies can be categorized into securitization or desecuritization acts. In order to contextualize the regime change, security dynamics, and how securitization and desecuritization occurred in Indonesia, the object of discussion in this chapter is the post-1998 political and security development. For this purpose, I begin with providing a historical narrative at the point when the Asian Financial Crisis severely hit Indonesia, showing its impact on Indonesian economics, the failure of the Suharto government to deal with it, and how Suharto’s political capital declined until finally he entirely lost support from his power circle. In the second section, I will describe how the anti-Suharto popular movements advanced their cause amid the lack of alternative leadership figures, how the student movements become the major driving force for the country’s political changes, and how the political turbulence forced Suharto’s departure. In the third section, I will provide an overview on the nature of post-Suharto regimes, especially B.J. Habibie’s presidency. In essence, while the new regime had broken off from the old authoritarian one, the post-Suharto politics still accommodated elements from the old regime, especially the military. This kind of “pacted transition” occurred mainly due to the fact that the politicians and “reformists” were highly dependent on the political support from the top brass in the military to prevail in the intra-civilian conflicts and power struggles. Since some elements from the old regime still enjoyed significant influence, the repressive security policies still continued as the conflict resolution mechanism to solve various violent conflicts in Indonesia’s post-1998 polity, which provided the grounds for the domination of securitization acts. The act of securitization, especially in the form of the enactment of extraordinary measures and martial law, is the topic of discussion in the last section of this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
O’Rourke (2002) provides a comprehensive account on how waning investor confidence massively undermined Indonesia’s economy.
- 2.
Such government’s policies included, among others: widening the trading band of dollar-rupiah, applying a floating exchange rate policy, selling the government’s dollar reserves, issuing a ban on loans for new land acquisition in the already oversaturated property market, planning austerity measures, cutting the liquidity reserve requirement, and the easing of money market rates (Henderson 1999: 121, 122, 124).
- 3.
Public rumors and speculation on vice-presidential candidates at the time narrowed it down to four names: Try Sutrisno and Edi Sudrajat from the military circle, and Harmoko and Ginandjar Kartasasmita from Golkar (O’Rourke 2002: 63).
- 4.
The People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian : Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR -RI) is part of the legislative branch in Indonesia’s political system. Until the post-New Order constitutional amendments took effect in 2004, it was composed of the country’s 500 members of the legislature, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 353 representatives of so-called functional groups, and 147 delegates of local governments appointed by the President. Since 2004, it is a bicameral body, composed of the 500 members of the People’s Representative Council (Indonesian : Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR—sometimes referred to as the House of Representatives) and the Regional Representative Council (Indonesian : Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD).
- 5.
For a detailed account of the contribution of the Indonesian legislative on the regime change and democratization, see Ziegenhain 2008.
- 6.
For a comprehensive documentary of these events, see Tino Saroengallo’s acclaimed film “Student Movement in Indonesia: They Forced Them to be Violent.” Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjIGA8BU-Vw, accessed on 13 May 2014.
- 7.
- 8.
Indonesia’s Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum—KPU). Available at http://www.kpu.go.id/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42, accessed on 10 November 2013.
- 9.
See for example O’Donnell et al. 1986: 42–54.
- 10.
- 11.
Maj. Gen. Dadi Susanto (the then-Secretary General of Defense Strategy at the defense ministry) led the working group composed of around twenty mid-rank military officers (colonels and lieutenant colonels).
- 12.
Detik Finance, available at http://finance.detik.com/read/2005/08/11/135529/420464/10/tugas-dan-fungsi-tni-polri-akan-disinkronkan-dalam-ruu-hankam, accessed on 8 October 2012.
- 13.
In the Indonesian parliament, there are nine commissions, and this is Commission I on Defense, Foreign Affairs and Information.
- 14.
The Jakarta Post, 23 April 2007.
- 15.
Kompas, 23 October 2012.
- 16.
The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, Article 12.
- 17.
Law No. 3/2002 on State Defense, Article 14; Law No 34/2004 on the Indonesian Military, Article 17 and 18.
- 18.
In the wake of civil war in East Timor , Kiki Syahnakri (a second lieutenant at the time) allowed the first wave of East Timorese refugees to enter Indonesia’s territory in 1975. On 27 September 1999 Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri handed over the authority in East Timor to the Interfet Commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, which marked Indonesia’s permanent departure from the province (da Cruz in Syahnakri, 2013: xli; Syahnakri 2013: 262; interview with Kiki Syahnakri, Jakarta, 26 March 2013).
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Kurniawan, Y. (2018). The Indonesian Political Changes, (In)Security, and Securitization. In: The Politics of Securitization in Democratic Indonesia . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62482-2_4
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