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It is generally believed that
the earliest inhabitants of the Indonesian archipelago
originated in India or Burma. In 1890, fossils of Java Man
(homo erectus), some 500,000 years old, were found in east
Java. Later migrants ('Malays') came from southern China and
Indochina, and they began populating the archipelago around
3000 BC. Powerful groups such as the Buddhist Srivijaya
empire and the Hindu Mataram kingdom appeared in Java and
Sumatra towards the end of the 7th century. The last
important kingdom to remain Hindu was the Majapahit, which
was founded in the 13th century. The subsequent spread of
Islam into the archipelago in the 14th century forced the
Majapahits to retreat to Bali in the 15th century.
By this time, a strong Muslim empire had developed with its
centre at Melaka (Malacca) on the Malay Peninsula. Its
influence was shortlived and it fell to the Portuguese in
1511. The Dutch displaced the Portuguese and began making
inroads into Indonesia. The Dutch East India Company based
in Batavia (Jakarta) dominated the spice trade and took
control of Java by the mid 18th century, when its power was
already in decline. The Dutch took control in the early 19th
century and by the early 20th century, the entire
archipelago - including Aceh and Bali - was under their
control.
Burgeoning nationalism combined with Japanese occupation of
the archipelago during WWII served to weaken Dutch resolve,
and it finally transferred sovereignty to the new Indonesian
republic in 1949. Achmed Soekarno, the foremost proponent of
self-rule since the early 1920s, became President. In 1957,
after a rudderless period of parliamentary democracy,
Soekarno overthrew the parliament, declared martial law, and
initiated a more authoritarian style of government, which he
euphemistically dubbed 'Guided Democracy'. Once in the
driving seat, Soekarno, like many like-minded military
strongmen, set about consolidating his power through
monument-building and socialising the economy, a move that
paradoxically opened up a huge divide between the haves and
have-nots and left much of the population teetering on the
edge of starvation. Rebellions broke out in Sumatra and
Sulewesi, Malaysia and Indonesia came perilously close to an
all-out confrontation and instability was the general order
of the day. Things came to a head in 1965, the eponymous
Year Of Living Dangerously, when an attempted coup
(purportedly by a Communist group) threatened Soekarno's
hold on power.
Soekarno won that particular battle but lost the war when
the man responsible for putting the coup down, General
Soeharto, wrested presidential power from him in 1966.
Soeharto started off with a nice line in political
reconstruction, but the promises of economic reform and
greater government transparency quickly degenerated into
much of the same-old same-old. Nepotism, cronyism and
grandiose spending, coupled with the brutal massacre of East
Timorese nationalists in Dilli in 1975, proved that much of
the talk was mere rhetoric. By March 1998 Soeharto was out
of touch with the people and, perhaps seeing the writing on
the wall, awarded himself only five more years in office. He
never made his own benchmark and by the end of May that year
he was out of office and the vice-president, Jusuf Habibie,
was installed.
Habibie, never popular to begin with, mouthed the same
promises of reform and even appeared willing to consider
independence for East Timor, but it was all too little too
late. The uncompromising stance by East Timor set off a
chain reaction and sectarian violence, student protests and
increased demands for independence spread like wild fire
through Ambon, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya. Rogue militia
groups, widely thought to be controlled and equipped by the
Indonesian miltiary, rampaged through East Timor after it
overwhelmingly voted for independence in 1999; local police
forces and parts of the army were sent in to quash other
rebellions; protesting students were killed in the streets
and the whole country went to hell in a handbasket.
After much fiddle-faddle and talk of international protocol,
the UN and Australia got involved in the melee: the UN sent
in a token number of troops to express disapproval of
Indonesia's methods, while Australia sent a sizable
contingent of their army into East Timor. Indonesia was
outraged at what they considered an act of aggression and
unwanted meddling in their domestic affairs, and there were
tense standoffs during many of the highlevel powwows between
the big cheeses. Subtle threats and counter threats were
made, but none eventuated. When the dust finally settled
East Timor had been granted independent rule over the
smoking ruins of its own country; Habibie was out; Mr
Abdurrahman Wahid, the first democratically elected
president was in; General Wiranto, head of the Indonesian
army, had been dismissed; the rogue milita groups had melted
back into the streets of Jakarta; the rupiah was still in
critical condition; and relations between Indonesia and
Australia were still snippety and tense, but marginally
improved.
On 23 July 2001, the People's Consultative Assembly sacked
President Wahid and elected Vice President Megawati
Sukarnoputri in his place. With Indonesia at the forefront
of numerous crisies - the 'War on Terrorism', Ache, West
Papua and the October 2002 Bali attacks to name but a few,
Megawati has a huge job ahead of her.
Information
provided by
Department of Tourism. Government of
Indonesia |
