Word: suharto
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...separatist-incited violence in Aceh? Or was it similar to the bloody religious rivalry between Christians and Muslims in Ambon? When the Dayaks carved out the hearts and heads of their victims, was this the kind of tribal blood sport that would have proliferated in Indonesia had former President Suharto not exerted an iron grip on the nation for most of its history? Are all sorts of mad and destructive behaviors ready to rise now that Indonesia's state structures seem to be collapsing? Or how about this for a troubling prospect: Is Indonesia actually carving out its own heart...
...bloody confrontation between the police and the army?for 30 years the country's dominant institution?is depressingly symbolic of the chaos at the center of the nation. Since Suharto fell in 1998, Indonesia has been governed under a makeshift political system that is neither parliamentary nor presidential and in which the two halves are fighting for dominance. On Feb. 1, the parliament voted overwhelmingly to begin impeachment proceedings, a complex and untried process that is supposed to culminate some time before August...
...solidly against the President. His opponents and fairweather political allies censured Wahid last Thursday for his alleged involvement in two corruption scandals, involving a total of more than $6 million. That may seem like small change compared with the billions that vanished from government coffers during the 32-year Suharto regime, but it was just the excuse that Wahid's growing legions of disillusioned parliamentarians needed to pounce...
That won't be easy. Since Suharto's fall in 1998, Indonesia has been left with a political system in which it's unclear who holds more power: the President or parliament. Wahid believes he holds the trump card; parliament sees things differently. Wahid's style isn't helping his cause. Even close friends use words like "arrogant" and "disdainful" to describe his attitude, which may be traced partly to his upbringing. An Islamic scholar, fluent in five languages, Wahid descends from a line of Javanese holy men, and it is difficult to convince him that he is not infallible...
...fallback, Wahid may try to mobilize his Muslim supporters. His party ranks only fourth in parliament?behind both Megawati's group and Golkar, the former ruling party of Suharto?but as leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim religious organization, Wahid can count on more than 40 million followers, mainly in Java. The clergymen within the organization are already preparing the faithful for Wahid's hard times. In mid-December, when Wahid's troubles were mounting, 40 clerics told their congregations they had all shared a prophetic dream: Wahid was sitting atop a coconut tree in a storm...