Democracy, Interrupted in Indonesia

Indonesia’s election is as much about its past as it is about its future — and this vote is a test of how far the nation has come in its transition from dictatorship to democracy.

I grew up in the former dictator Suharto’s Indonesia. He was a ruthless autocrat, who presided over these 17,000 islands with an iron fist, using the full force of the army to enforce his rule. His regime, the Orde Baru — New Order in English — was notorious for stamping out dissent far and wide, but it was also known for delivering economic stability. All of that changed in 1998 in the final months of his rule, as the Asian Financial Crisis decimated the economy, leading to mass student protests. Peaceful demonstrations spilled out onto the streets, and, in what was seen as the equivalent of the nation’s Tiananmen, the military gunned down teenagers, killing at least four of them. Their deaths prompted two days of violent rioting in the capital, Jakarta, in May. Hundreds were killed and the Chinese Indonesian community was targeted. Suharto was forced to step down later that month.