Word: suhartos
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Amok"--literally, "to go berserk" in the Malay tongue that is spoken across Indonesia--is precisely what the outside world has feared for Jakarta ever since it was hit by a currency crisis late last year that the aging President Suharto, 76, seemed unable to understand or to control. Suharto, in power for 32 years, refused to implement key economic reforms that could damage the private business interests of his family members and close friends, even as food prices spiraled. The fatal shooting of six students by police in the capital last Tuesday sparked riots and looting. "Indonesia needs...
...electronics store in Jakarta's Tanah Abang district. "But we can't afford to buy anything anymore." The precedents were not good--the last time Indonesia went amok was in 1965: half a million people were killed after an abortive communist coup then-President Sukarno could not control. Suharto used the turmoil to maneuver himself into the leadership...
...course, so did Suharto. But Habibie's rather tenuous grip on power -- and his early unpopularity with students and opposition leaders -- could give the IMF crucial leverage when it comes to prodding him into difficult decisions. "For now the IMF will wait a while," says Branegan, "and hope that with Suharto gone, Indonesians will be more willing to bite the bullet next time around...
JAKARTA: Did the IMF bring down Suharto? It was the removal of fuel subsidies, demanded by the IMF's bailout program, that set the events of last week in motion. But the IMF is uncomfortable in the role of Brutus...
...Habibie's record in economic matters does not make the IMF particularly sanguine. "He has a long history of exactly the type of vast, expensive white elephant projects that Indonesia needs to start trimming," says Branegan. But so far Habibie is making the right noises: He's dumped Suharto's eldest daughter from his cabinet, along with Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, one of Indonesia's richest men and a golfing buddy of the former president, and has pledged to follow the IMF program to the letter...