Medan, Indonesia – On the morning of May 21, 1998, Indonesia’s then leader Soeharto stood up at the Presidential Palace and addressed the nation.
For weeks, protesters had filled the streets amid rising prices for fuel, cooking oil and rice as a result of the Asian financial crisis.
The unrest had spread to cities across the country. Ethnic Chinese shops and businesses in the country were attacked and violent clashes took place between demonstrators – mainly students – and security forces. On May 12, four students had been shot dead during a demonstration at Jakarta’s Trisakti University. In total, more than 1,000 people had been killed and there were reports of ethnic Chinese women being raped.
After 30 years in power, the military strongman sometimes called the Smiling General, announced he was stepping down with immediate effect.
Indonesian President Soeharto announces his resignation as his Vice President BJ Habibie looks on at the presidential palace in Jakarta [File: Agus Lolong/AFP]
At Soeharto’s side was his vice president, BJ Habibie, who would take over the top job and allow Indonesians the freedoms that had been denied during Soeharto’s decades in power, a time when activists disappeared and the military deploy to the restive regions of Aceh and Papua.
The administration of the charismatic Soekarno, who led Indonesia to independence from the Dutch in 1945, became increasingly chaotic and in 1965, a failed coup attempt resulted in the deaths of millions of suspected communists.
Amid the chaos, the emergence of Soeharto in 1968 was initially met with optimism. Many hoped that his New Order administration would bring calm and prosperity.
But despite its initial promise, the modernization of the New Order eventually came to embody a highly centralized government focused on consolidating power and an emboldened military designed to support Soeharto and his determination to remain in the presidential palace, whether whatever the cost.
Since his surprise resignation, Indonesia has embraced democracy, albeit imperfectly, and has had five different presidents elected through free and independent elections.
President Joko Widodo was elected for a second term in 2019. Indonesia will elect its next president in 2024 [File: Edgar Su/Reuters]
The economy has also recovered from the 1998 crisis and is now the second fastest growing in the G20, behind India and ahead of China. Indonesia hosted the group’s annual meeting in Bali last year as its current president, Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, also tried to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.
However, there have been challenges and concerns that the legislation, including the new Penal Code and Omnibus law, as well as the rise of hardline religious groups, could erode the freedoms hard-won over the past 25 years. There have also been accusations that some of the corruption, cronyism and nepotism that marred the Soeharto years still run throughout the country.
On the anniversary of one of Indonesia’s most significant historical moments and with the next presidential election due to take place in February 2024, Al Jazeera asked activists, academics and human rights defenders how the country has changed in the past 25 years since the dramatic fall of Soeharto’s power. .
Andreas Harsono, Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher
“We weren’t naive when we tried to topple the Soeharto government in the 1990s, but we really didn’t foresee the rise of Islamism and religious fanaticism in post-Soeharto Indonesia with Shariah-inspired discriminatory regulations against gender, sexuality , and religious minorities.
“There have been 45 anti-LGBT regulations and at least 64 mandatory hijab regulations, out of more than 700 rules in post-Soeharto Indonesia. Obviously, the most important is the new Penal Code.”
Damai Pakpahan, feminist activist
“Indonesia changed dramatically for at least the first five years after 1998. They changed many laws and policies that focused on women and the women’s agenda. We got the Act on the Elimination of Sexual Violence in 2004 under former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, and in 2007 we got the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act during the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
“We also had the Presidential Directive on Gender Transversality in 2000 under President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur). We also changed the age of marriage from 16 for women and 18 for men to 19 years for both women and men in 2019, after lobbying by feminist groups.Last year we got the new Sexual Violence Eradication Act.
“Women’s interests are listened to by the state now at a legal level. But we are also dealing with a backlash where women and girls cannot freely choose what they want. The rise of conservative Islam has forced some women, girls and even babies to wear the hijab. We also have a backlash in the form of discriminatory or unconstitutional local laws in Indonesia that primarily target women and minority rights.”
Yohanes Sulaiman, Professor of International Relations at Jenderal Achmad Yani University
“At that time, I was in Madison, Wisconsin, in the United States. I remember most of the time I learned about 9/11 but, if I’m not mistaken, I read about the fall of Soeharto online.
“In those days, when people held demonstrations or public protests, cities in Indonesia were strangely quiet. Shops were closed and students were told to go home quickly and quietly. We were very afraid of the military. They were basically the kings as they were in power.
“Today I think they are much less arrogant, more accessible and more respectful of the law. When I was a kid, I saw a cop who was stuck in a traffic jam. He simply got out of his car, slapped a traffic cop and told him to drive his car away. I was blown away. I think the status of Chinese has also changed a lot and to some extent for the better. I think people are less discriminating these days, though of course except for the usual suspects.”
Ian Wilson, Professor of Political and Security Studies at Murdoch University
“I was doing my PhD at Murdoch University in Perth and I watched Soeharto’s resignation on campus TV with excitement, but also with apprehension. We just saw this wave of people saying, ‘No, we’ve had enough.” It happened so fast.
“There was no fundamental electoral democracy in Indonesia before 1998 and we have seen a great deal of structural reform in this area which has been imperfect but important. More regional autonomy has meant that a new generation of Indonesians has grown up with a different set of political expectations about power. Government is now expected to be clean and serve the public good.
“While of course there has been some democratic backsliding, public support for electoral politics has remained high and people support public elections. This prevents political parties from wanting to capture the system because they can control it. Now it is more difficult for the elites to get things going. The next few years after the 2024 elections will be critical for Indonesia.”
